Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly – an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.
𝙈𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢’𝙨 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 – 𝙆𝙚𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜
Charles isn’t yet brave enough…
Hands Up who’s sick to death of Spotify…? Who is absolutely fed up with everything it has become in recent years? The way it is less a music listening platform, and more a social media platform…? Oh, but it goes so much deeper than that. It ain’t just an ugly interface. Sorry, you can all put your hands down now; I saw “y’all”. Spotify has become a fully-fledged greed machine. It has no scruples or morals of any kind. It does not care about a single artist. It does not care about the music industry. It does not care about music. It is (only recently) trying to look like it is doing something about HAL (A.I.) – but even that is all a ruse. It is widely known (though not officially proven) that Spotify is not only adding HAL music to its own editorial playlists, but actually making fully HAL playlists, to the extent that there isn’t a single human-made track on such playlists (again, not proven, but known). Spotify has been punishing innocent independent artists for quite a while now, having whole artist catalogues removed due to one song unknowingly having been placed on a rogue bot-playlist (a playlist that is streamed automatically by robots in order to accrue streaming royalties). The artist did nothing here. And Spotify gives no warning. Because Spotify too is run by robots. Everything is automatic, and humans have little or nothing to do with its running. This is art, baby! And what about royalties? What does the artist get in return for someone listening to their song once? Let’s just say it would take about 300 plays of that song to buy the artist a Mars bar. So, not very much.
Daniel Ek has recently announced that he is stepping down as CEO of Spotify (woo-hoo!), but staying as the executive chair (ugh). Going by most executive chairs I have tried out over the years, I’m sure he’ll be most comfortable. As to whether he’ll be able to stand the weight of artists’ rear ends pressing up against him, it is yet to be seen. But this news of him “stepping down” comes just months after it was announced that he is investing $694 million in A.I. military defence… Hmmm… This doesn’t seem very arty to me. And yet we all continue to stick our music on his music streaming service… Why? Because Spotify is by far the most popular music streaming platform in the world. And why is THAT…? Because there is a free option. A free tier. The only known service that offers a free version. Sadly, most people in this modern world would rather save a few pounds/dollars/yen than have a bit of quality. The free tier means having very low quality playback, tracks in random order, and of course, adverts – what feels like – every few minutes. Let me remind you of how things used to be. More than 25 years ago, we left the house in order to go and buy a record. One CD would cost anywhere from £10 to as much as £17 in London in 1997. And that was at a time when everything was SO much cheaper than it is now. And yet people still did it. It was simply understood that this was how much music cost. There was genuinely a living to be made in music, and listeners respected this. But now, we have not only greed in the the streaming companies, but greed and disrespect in many of the listeners who refuse to pay even as little as £11 a month (£12 for Spotify) for unlimited music in perfect quality. Literally, almost any piece of music ever recorded, at your fingertips and earlobes. Yet most opt for the free tier. It’s enough to reduce you to tiers.
I say “almost” any piece of music, because on Spotify it is starting to trickle away. Two reasons. One: independent art is being thrown out like dirty dishwater, all because of so-called “fraudulent streams”, about which the artist knows absolutely nothing. But Two: oh, this is much more prescient. It isn’t being forced upon the poor artist at all. It is by their own hand. There are now artists so furious with everything to do with Spotify, that they are removing their own music from the platform. Literal boycott. Of course, though, this sort of gesture and movement can only be rendered by those high up on the food chain. Those who have other avenues to explore in order to earn money from their music… Basically, the stars. Take Taylor Swift, for example. She is not entirely unknown. Quite the little starlet, in fact. In 2014, she removed all her music from Spotify. Big publicity. “But I don’t understand. All her music is on Spotify!” – That’s because she had it all put back there 3 years later. More publicity. Quite the stance… Proof that it was just a clever marketing ploy. In the age of streaming, her millions of fans had to either shift platforms or buy all of her music, only to then realise that it wasn’t any good. Sorry, only to realise that it was soon enough all back on Spotify again. Were her fans sick of being used? Well, Taylor’s next plan was to stick it to her record label by becoming her own person, freed from the ties of big business. Which meant releasing all of her albums again (Taylor’s Version). Apparently millions wasn’t enough. The poor obsessive fans needed to buy more duplicates… With Spotify she said she was taking a stance. With her own re-releases she said she was taking a stance. Okay, none of this is really taking a stance. This is greed and publicity. Mainstream artists might “only” get a much smaller percentage of the royalties than we independent artists get, but the percentage is irrelevant. I am sure I could live very comfortably on 1% of the royalties from her least popular song. You see, a percentage is a meaningless figure without estimating the rough total income in the first place. So yeah: stars, eh…? They’re just as bad as the CEOs. And these stars are the only ones able to be so bold as to remove their music from the most popular music streaming service in the world. At least that’s what EYE thought… Until now.
I’m sure most of you know Canadian extraordinaire, Kele Fleming. She’s a fabulous artist I have reviewed three times in the past. Have you played her music recently on Spotify? If you say yes, you’re lying. Have you TRIED playing her music on Spotify recently? If you have, you’ll know that it ain’t there. Well, it MOSTLY ain’t there, anyway… You see, Kele Fleming has plucked up the courage to do what so many artists have wanted to do, but haven’t had the guts to follow through and actually do. She has removed her music from the platform. It’s done! But she’s gone one step further. And this step for me is what makes Kele truly admirable in SO many ways. It is bold, it is brave, and it is downright cool and exceedingly clever. Kele released one final track on Spotify, called ‘Crickets’. The title is absolutely inspired. It is a monologue of sorts. All spoken word. But while not being poetry, there’s poetry here. It is an explanation to all her fans about what she is doing and why she is doing it. It is an advert for how to find her on other platforms and listening methods. It is a true STAND. While I do wish this was Kele’s idea (I won’t hide that fact), I admire her for telling us where she got the idea from (Laura Bird of the Mynabirds). It instils trust in an artist when they themselves admit things like this “live on air”. She is not hiding the fact that she was inspired by someone else. Kele’s reasons remain the same, and they remain her own. The thing is, what struck me the most when listening to this for the first time (yes, I’ve listened multiple times), was the professionalism of the piece as a whole. It isn’t just a voice memo hastily recorded on a phone. It’s a 5-minute piece of art! The voice is crisp and balanced. There is a well written script. The pacing is spot on; not rushed or laboured. But it also has sound effects and music! A lot of this was done using her MicroFreak synth to such great effect. And all mixed to perfection by her fabulous ongoing sound engineer, Sheldon Zaharko. But it’s those words of hers that strike with such confident ease. You will be struck, just a warning. Correction: you will be moved and slightly chilled. You see, although Kele’s music is still available on all other streaming platforms (for now), she is not a fan of “streaming”. While you can still play all her music on Apple Music – with which she also has problems (valid reasons) – and any of the other streaming services, she admits her thoughts that streaming as a concept should never have existed. And I know what she means. But, like HAL, once it’s here, there’s no killing it. Which is why we all use it.
What Kele REALLY wants, though, is fair earnings for artists. And I don’t think ANY of us can argue with that! This isn’t greed in the slightest; this is economic balance! Which is why her ACTUAL latest single (released around a week before ‘Crickets’) is available on Kele’s Patreon and Bandcamp pages. Of course, it is also available on all other streaming platforms (that pay the artist far more than Spotify ever did). Let’s look into the REAL music. Please welcome Kele Fleming with her latest release, ‘Molly Bloom’s Monologue’!!! But don’t worry, this one’s not actually a monologue. Oh, the irony. Does Molly Bloom ring a bell to any of you? No, not the celebrity. I’m talking about James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. ‘Molly Bloom’s Soliloquy’ is the final part of the mega-read, where Molly reflects and brings to light her most inner thoughts and feelings. I can’t help but see a connection between ‘Molly Bloom’s Monologue’ and ‘Crickets’… And I’m starting to feel like Kele Fleming is perhaps the reincarnation of Molly Bloom. The difference being, Kele Fleming is a fabulous singer, writer and musician. Let me just state that I think this latest single from Kele is one of the very best tracks to have come from any member of the New Artist Spotlight this year. It is unique and truly exciting. And today, we are going to be playing it loud and proud!
‘Molly Bloom’s Monologue’ was written in the early 90s. It’s a song that concentrates on the injustice of the world. While it may have been written over 30 years ago, it is still as relevant now as it ever was. Perhaps even more so. We are all fighting far more than we were in the early 90s. Things have become more serious. At least back then, we had our music. Artists had their art. Artists earned their money! Fred Astaire once sang “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”… Sadly, he was wrong. They bloody well can, and they bloody well have. But let’s simmer down and think musically. We start with a chorused electric guitar strum. It is somehow a little naked. Partly because it is only one chord, but mainly because it is only the lonely. That is, until Kele/Molly joins in with few tattered rags (for the rest is worn away). A voice that seems as though it is only here to serve, with malnourished arms. But as the whole band joins forces (“a bitter pill we swallow”), the confidence of a backlash is apparent. It’s as though she has been hushed up for so long, she can barely remember or realise how it was ever supposed to be. But at this moment, it is like she has been faced with just two words: “Tell me”. And so she does. Kele explains. She gives us her innermost feelings. At times, her “sisters” (her own backing vocals) join her in attempting to hold her spirits high. They are the sweetest creatures. But after a while of recent gruelling memories, we open up into double-time and blast into “Your flesh is just a little too SHALLOW”!! It’s exhilarating. Like running through a storm, in tears but helplessly laughing, and all the while limitlessly determined to keep going. But all calms down, as even the bravest need to breathe. At all times, each instrument is playing the only thing it could be playing. Everything is perfect. The snare’s backbeat is integral to the entire track whether it be the slow verses or the double-time choruses. The bass is so musical and melodic, it could easily be played by McCartney or Sting, while the guitars are simply refined. They know when to do the right thing, and realise the answer is: always. Kele’s singing voice is incredibly versatile, and frankly absolutely stunning. From the angelic backing vocals to the iron strength of the lead in the chorus, she hits it all with confident precision FULL of heart. Thank you, Kele, for such a refreshing song, and for a further dose of extra wow on Spotify!
Kele is so brave, and so daring. It is THIS that I miss in music these days. That and utterly original music! You want to listen to ‘Molly Bloom’s Monologue’ on YouTube? Perhaps don’t. Use another streaming service (like Apple Music). Or… HERE’S her Bandcamp page where you can listen to all her music. But better still, why not support her by BUYING the music on the same page? Should you feel that after having read all this, you really don’t want to use Spotify in order to listen to ‘Crickets’, you can hear it HERE on Kele’s Patreon page. Feel free to browse around while you’re there – there’s a lot of interesting stuff. Or, you can just listen to it on Spotify. I couldn’t decide if it was a good idea or a bad idea to send you to Spotify, so I’m leaving it up to you, the listener. It’s your call. If you choose not to continue following the career and music of Kele Fleming, then you’re going to be sorely missing out. Follow the artist, not the platform.
3 things for you all: Don’t be greedy. Stay true to your word. And be kind.
There are now SO MANY streaming platforms to choose from, but by far the most popular are Spotify and Apple Music. Whichever you choose, it’s a tale of two shitties. But some animals are more shitty than others.
Listen to 𝘾𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙨 on the 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 Spotify playlist HERE!
Listen to 𝙈𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢’𝙨 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 on the 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 Apple Music playlist HERE!
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