Subscription Based Posts
'Weekly Wednesday Jams' & 'Inside the Songwriting' are moving to the Substack subscription model. Regular episodes provide a front row seat to concert footage and 2024's songwriting processes.
Notebooks of the past few decades are here, feeding today’s songwriting.
Given all the ‘free’ content across the web, some artist feel reticent to leverage the subscription model Substack is built on. I don’t, Substack is a perfect tool for the creative mind, it helps the artists stay organized in their work. I assume that’s why I like it, and many of the artists I respect use it as well. So many features consolidated into a single, easy to use, platform. A few weeks ago, the day after a show, I easily scheduled out concert footage with commentary as weekly podcasts thru October on Substack. I’ve found it to be a perfect place to manage my band’s existing email list.
It feels like a local artist community.
The subscription model? Brilliant. Paid subscription? Like it or not, it’s how commerce works now. Most musicians that use ProTools understand the subscription model already and have been using it for years, all of us have. Subscriptions are how we buy music, software, services, entertainment, etc. Why not learn how to leverage subscriptions as an artist? With a bit of playing around there are easy ways to manage the cost of your paid subscription tiers. I currently set mine (with discount code) at $5 annually. Nothing.
It’s the cost of a beer at a dive bar.
Music lovers are by nature, generous people. Last Friday after the show, a guy in a sweet Jerry shirt was serious when he asked me if I wanted it off his back. I told him how awesome the shirt was, a killer psychedelic Jerry Garcia shirt, and he straight up, offering to give it to me was his response. So awesome. It was a nice gesture, but taking it would’ve been taking advantage of the situation. That crew danced their ass off all night. Especially when we did an encore of ‘Bertha’ and ‘Motor Kine’. They made the entire band play harder, freaky Friday style. Freaky Friday, so hilarious.
I’m inspired by Jeff Tweedy’s Starship Casual. I’ve already bought albums, books, tickets to shows. His Substack is another facet of the experience.
I’ve decided after tomorrow’s second ‘Weekly Wednesday Jam’ podcast most content will be made for subscribers in mind. There will be a preview of the podcast video and writing, but not the full monty. Substack doesn’t allow you to charge below a $30 annual price, but I was able to work around that by setting a ‘locals only’ discount in place for friends. I have my paid subscription tier now set to $5 annually, and intend to eventually raise it to $20 annually, but I’m in no hurry.
It’s been a year since I started on Substack, and I’m grateful for it. I regularly fill up notebooks with lyrics, noodles, notes, setlist, and storytelling concepts for albums. Most of those notebooks retire to a bookshelf to collect dust. Same goes for my phone’s video banks, loaded with song sketches, my computer drive with unreleased music. This Substack, ‘Saltwater & Music’ is just a huge living notebook, where I can organize my work.
I just listened to Dylan’s ‘Philosophy of Modern Song’, it’s an amazing framework for discussing songs. Each chapter dedicated to a single song, it inspired me to share and comment on my own live concert footage. I love how Dylan recites the lyrics like a poem, talks about the artist and the time the song was written.
My version is no where near as cool, but should still prove a good listen. This is the recipe for ‘Weekly Wednesday Jams’:
A live song I’ve performed with my band
Followed by commentary from the home studio
Check it out:
All this writing is an exercise in remembering and recording life events, while getting used to doing it habitually to maintain the songwriting process. Every released song needs to come with liner notes, press releases, photography, art, and a backstory. Whether people read or watch any of this, is besides the point. I’m write new songs, performing them, putting them out, so that I can quickly move on to the next new song.
It’s just part of telling your own story, on your own terms.
Right now, just trying to stay organized and keep the wheel rolling is good enough for me. Any way you look at it, all life disciplines end up intertwined with the songwriting process at hand. One creative output feeds the others. It’s never been about the destination, because the journey’s where the stories live.
Till next time. Got to get back to mixing last Friday’s show and cutting the videos. Everything came out quite nice. I thought I blew the performance of the new song ‘Everything’, we nailed it.
About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer, producer, filmmaker, multi-instrumental performer, designer, and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired rock-and-roll music on the West Coast.
For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com
More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.
Lyrics from ‘Listen to the Cold’. Written in Pennsylvania, winter 2023.