In 2023, I released 233 recordings under many different names. About 2/3 are music and 1/3 are field recordings of nature and noise.
Of those recordings, I pitched around 75 tracks to Spotify for Artists and Amazon Music for Artists for curated playlist consideration, and a much smaller number to curators on other sites. Some tracks got added to curated playlists, but a lot more got picked up by random people crafting their own playlists. I sent inquiries to 19 sync licensing agencies and didn’t get a bite. I added about 60 tracks to my stock music library at Pond5.
I’ve always been into making playlists. I crafted about 345 public playlists on Spotify, and had those distributed to about 10 other streaming service accounts around the world. Most “die on the vine”, but some take root. I don’t know what the key is for crafting a playlist that obtains an audience, but I do know what doesn’t work and I will try to not do that in 2024. I’m always experimenting.
On the art side, I added 109 images to the Mark Rushton Gallery. A lot of the images get used as single or album covers for my recordings.
Through 2023, I moved from “book paintings” to “abstract landscape” to thermal paper collages, and now I seem to be headed towards stylized portraiture with the help of thermal ribbon printing and ink washes.
All this probably seems like a ridiculous amount of work. I’m fairly efficient and I don’t watch much TV beyond some YouTube videos. I don’t chase the muse. I like what I do. I’ve developed some good processes - they didn’t happen overnight. There’s no silver bullet for being an artist, but here’s a few things that have helped me get to where I am today.
Sister Corita Kent’s rules (plus one by John Cage):
And then there’s the excellent advice that Brian Eno said at the end of an interview hardly anybody read in 2011:
Also, Andy Warhol:
And Carmen Villain:
And Fairfield Porter’s writings, where are always interesting, although it’s funny how he goes off the deep end here:
Then there’s always Steve Martin:
Happy New Year, Mark!