Jamie's list, month 2: the state of the union is strong
Jamie’s list is two months old! It seems like I’ve been doing this for a lot longer. I think that’s a sign that I’m where I need to be with this.
Here are some stats for the last month of Jamie’s list:
New subscribers: +19% 🏆
New paid subscribers: +38% 🏆
Jamie’s list is currently being read in 20 US states and 12 countries! That’s a surprising but cool states-to-countries ratio. Special shout-out to my single reader in the Czech Republic 🖤
Here are the five most-read posts from September:
How to help a muddy guitar sound — part III
Get up and go to work
Combine drum machines with live drums
Listen to all the speakers
How to help a muddy guitar sound — part IV
You have probably realized, perhaps even with a certain amount of pleasure, that these emails are a free resource — as in, freely available to anyone and everyone. You can just sign up, and you can get a new thought from me on diy music production every single day of the year!
That structure is intentional, and I’d like to talk about it for a minute.
I work with a lot of people who don’t have a lot of money. Indeed, Shannon and I frequently don’t have a lot of money. It’s kind of part of the deal if you’re a working artist.
Given that, it’s a bedrock value for me that, as much as possible, I give more than I get. That I share myself as freely as possible with others, with the end goal being community. Community is what has sustained Shannon’s and my work, and it’s my belief that mutual aid in the context of strong artistic communities will be the path forward for independent and diy music, seeing as how all the default music structures seem hell-bent on transferring as much of our income into their pockets as possible. Which seems … short-sighted? But I digress.
Because of this, I’ve been doing all of my work on a sliding scale for years now. “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” I let everyone I work with know what my full rate is, and I ask them that if they can pay my full rate, please do — because some people paying my full rate is what enables me to cut my rate for others, which I do constantly. Easily 75% of the work I do is at a discounted rate.
Which brings me back to this little newsletter! I’m getting the impression that this is a resource that people value and enjoy. And so I want to ask you, if you have the means, to simply become a supporting subscriber.
Supporting subscriptions are $10/mo. And, I do want to be very clear about something: if that’s an amount of extra money that you don’t have, then I want you to stay on the free plan. As noted above, a foundational premise of this list is that it should be a freely-available public resource. This entire project was conceived with under-resourced people in mind, and I’m so glad you’re here.
(If that describes you, and you want to help out in a way that doesn’t cost money: simply share the list with other diy music-makers in your life. Spreading the word is a fantastic way to help the list grow.)
And, in keeping with how I run things in every other area of my work life, I would ask that if $10/mo is in fact an amount that you can easily afford, then please do become a supporting subscriber:
As with everything else I do, the people who can afford to pay cover the cost for the people who can’t. It’s a nice way to do things, and it’s a morally right way to do things — and also, I think it’s inspiring to be a part of! Together, we can do our little piece to change the paradigm away from haves and have-nots. We can flatten the hierarchy a tiny bit, and we can contribute each as we are able to a communal resource from which we all benefit. It’s a beautiful thing.
Finally: I’ve been hearing from the Jamie’s list community that there might be some interest in ways to engage more with one another. I just want to let you know that I hear you, and that I’m thinking about it now that we’re back from tour, and that I’ll have more on that front hopefully soon!
Gratefully — jamie