Hey Egomaniacs,
Yes,
I removed our content from Spotify. I know this may be an inconvenience for some of you. We were getting quite a few spins there but, for years now, I've been disappointed with the way they treat artists on their platform. In general, streaming has gutted the remaining means that indie artists like myself have any hope of seeing any fincancial gain from our work, but Spotify was one of the worst in terms of how they share royalties, so that was one thing.
Then when I learned that a comedian who spreads disinformation about vaccines, which could result in actual deaths, not to mention having a history of disrespect for lots of our fellow human beings got a $100M advance on his 11M followers to have an exclusive podcast on that platform, I was done. Naturally, I deleted my app and closed my personal account but I also didn't want my music up on a platform that was effectively sponsoring a destructive voice in the world.
So, I was not a fan of the platform before, and I was spurred to action because of recent news.
I know this may be a bummer for some of you who are used to our music coming up in your Spotify playlists but I hope you respect my ability to choose where my songs are available.
We are still up on Pandora, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. I'm working on getting our stuff up on Tidal, thanks to a recommendation by Jon Svetkey. You can also listen to almost all of our music on jimsbigego.bandcamp.com - and stream the full albums there as much as you like. I still do not have control over 2 albums for which I signed a recording deal that prohibited all online sales and streaming (Titanic & Word Of Particulars). I was an idiot.
I appreciate your interest in Jim's Big Ego and my solo work and writing more than you could ever know.
Tickets are still available for our live shows this Friday & Saturday at Passim. I expected it will be a small live crowd, due to rightful caution regarding COVID. If you want to come in person, consider booking your seats in advance TinyURL.com/TicketsJBE and make sure you have proof of vaccination and booster on you when you come to the club. They require it (proof of booster).
If you don't want to show up in person, I hope you will join us virtually. At our rehearsal last night, Josh suggested that Napkin Poetry could happen via twitter, so you should be able to participate. Tweet requests @jimsBigEgo (put this first in your tweet to "at" us) before the show and "at" us with napkin poetry @jimsBigEgo (again, put this at the start of your tweet) with the hashtag #napkin during the show to be included. You need a ticket for the virtual show. Purchase that one here: TinyURL.com/LivestreamJBE
Wishing you all the best this midwinter. If you want to argue with me about Spotify or anything, or just say hi, - I'm on twitter @jiminfantino.
- Jim