The 'Tips N Tricks' tutorials!

I decided a long time ago that when i got to a comfortable position in my music that i would then share all the secrets and techniques I've used to get where i am.

There are of course many better tutorials on how to make the actual music side of things, and so the whole point of my tutorials is to examine the background side such as self-promotion, distribution and fan-growth.

So far i have made 2 episodes of 'Tips N Tricks' and the aim is to have this as a weekly episodic series.

All i really want is for people to understand that they can do most of the leg work themselves and not have to rely on record labels and big companies to gain a good footing in the music industry.
The Music industry itself is a very odd place and for new musicians and artists its very easy to get lost.
Hopefully with some of my tips it might just make things a little easier.

So here are episode 1 and 2;

Straight outta somewhere!

My new album has been out for a few days now, four out of the eleven tracks are available to check out on Soundcloud right now;









and of course the album itself is available here; BANDCAMP

Its Discount time!

Happy Saturday!
As a token of good will; there is 50% off my new album with the code 'cheapskate' at the checkout https://occamslaser.bandcamp.com/album/take-your-time

Th new album has been released into the wild!! Hopefully it wont be shot by a Dentist :P

Take Your Time is a 13 track future-funk album, with a vocal-heavy style combined with a tonne of signature synthesizers, designed to get your foot tapping and your juices flowing! 

Many of the tracks revolve around the themes of love, relationships and break-ups. These started as accidental themes that mirrored my feelings at the time of writing the album. 

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In the addition to the 8 original tracks there are three remixes by Volt Age, EAR and STEREOSPREAD who all made amazing tracks that i am proud to have feature on the album. 

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A huge thanks to Drive Radio who got the original single of 'Take Your Time' noticed, which then inspired me to push that concept further and create a full album of funkier tracks. 

Vocals by Tom ‘Occams Laser’ Stuart, with the addition of Jona Raischi (Volt Age) and Sara Snyder (STEREOSPREAD) on their versions of my track ‘Take Your Time’. 

Check out Volt Age here; 
soundcloud.com/ageofvolt 

Check out EAR here; 
soundcloud.com/ear-music 

Check out STEREOSPREAD here; 
soundcloud.com/stereospread 

A big thanks to Synthetix Sunday and the whole RPG Crew who continue to make the best radio shows our synth addled brains can handle, as well as Nigel Silva, Matt Canon, Mike Mendoza, Renz Wilde and to everyone who has been supportive of my music, and everyone that I have had the pleasure of working with recently! You all continue to make this the best job I could ever ask for.

New album out tomorrow!

As you may remember, i released a single called 'Take Your Time' around 4 months ago. The track was a funky new approach style wise for me, and due to the response i got from it i decided to push the idea a bit further and create a whole future funk album!

Alongside the 8 new tracks there will be 3 remixes by Volt Age, Stereospread and EAR.

Keep an eye out for more details tomorrow!

Here is the finalized album artwork that i created;

The flattery of piracy!

Today i found that my album 'The Road to Fury' is available on multiple torrent sites, uploaded by a few different people. Now you would assume that this would annoy me; however, i could not think of a better compliment!
The fact that i have made something that people deem worth pirating means that i must be doing something right.
There have always been milestones that i wanted to breach with my music, the first was to be listed on iTunes, the second was to make a noticeable profit, and finally to be pirated!
Now it seems i need to set a few more and carry on enjoying the ride!


-Just in case you might wonder why i am fine with my album being pirated, i shall elaborate;

Piracy has become a strange thing for the music and film industry, many big companies use the stats from torrent sites to gauge popularity of products/films/music/etc.
For instance; Netflix uses the stats from sites such as the Pirate Bay to gauge which films and tv shows they should host through their service. The amount of seeders and leechers of a pirate file acts as a very realistic measure of how popular something is. No more surveys, or focus groups.

One of my favorite artists and musicians; Trent Reznor, openly suggested pirating his albums due to the high cost of them in certain countries. These high costs were set by his record label.
Other artists in the past have even sent out blank cd's to fans so they could burn their albums.
Metallica famously released an album with some of the songs being lower quality than the copies ripped from the sound libraries of Guitar Hero!

Nature finds a way, but piracy finds it faster!

rant over :)

Occams Laser over and out!

So earlier todayi hit 80,000 plays on Soundcloud, and as well as that  i also just hit 30,000 followers on Twitter! 
So HOLY SHIT! 
i have no words...
As a small token of my appreciation; my latest EP is now 'Name your price' on bandcamp so please go help yourself to a free slice of love!

OCCAMS LASER BANDCAMP