Book & Channel Updates
Order one of the remaining Failure to Fracture fancypants editions.
Get some merch.
Let us know in the comments:
Why are you subscribed? (Or why aren't you?)
What do you want to see in 2022?
What should we start, stop, and continue doing into next year?
Video Transcript
The holidays are coming up and there’s a lot to share with you about Make Weird Music. I have some important updates about the Failure to Fracture book, how the channel is evolving, and some great new content we have coming for you in 2022. Let’s dig in.
We kicked off 2021 by crossing the 10,000 subscriber mark, which was a huge milestone. I started Make Weird Music hoping I’d REACH 250 people. Almost 8 years later, the channel has over 2.5 million views, almost 18,000 subscribers, and I can’t even count the number of incredible musicians we’ve featured.
So, thank you to everyone who’s helped the site grow this year. I can’t even fathom how much you’ve helped us grow. I’d love to know why you’re subbed and why you continue to watch. Let me know in the comments, please.
Another huge thing in 2021 was the release of the Failure to Fracture book. I can’t believe how well it’s done. I was interviewed by the BBC about it, it was featured in every major guitar publication, Toyah and Robert made a great promotional video for it, and it’s gotten amazing reviews, including a quote from Steve Vai and a glowing 3,000-word review in All About Jazz.
There are two editions of the book: a print-on-demand edition available at every major retailer and what I call “the fancypants edition.” The fancypants edition is almost entirely sold out. We have 40 or 50 copies left and we’re not planning on printing any more of them. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. If you want to order it, you can get it at failuretofracture.com. It makes a fantastic holiday gift for your favorite masochistic guitar player in your life.
To be clear, the print-on-demand edition will be forever available, and it’s a great product. It just lacks the glossy pages and deep, saturated print quality of the fancypants edition.
Next topic: personnel. Make Weird Music is not just me anymore. It’s André Cholmondeley, Colter McCorkindale, Kathy Starkey, and Cedric Hendrix. You probably know André from all the fantastic content he’s brought in the past year, including the sensational Alex Lifeson interview that absolutely exploded earlier this year. Colter has been the guy posting all the great social media questions that spark tons of discussion, Kathy has been getting the word out to all the relevant music communities, and Cedric is just getting started with new interview content.
Colter has been asking you all how you prefer to consume our content. Most of you prefer youtube, but some of you have other preferences. We’d love more input, so please let us know in the comments what we can do for you. We have to balance our time with these accommodations, but we’re very willing to help get the word out about great artists around the world.
Make Weird Music isn’t a real revenue generator. It’s looking like we’ll have made about $6,000 this year, which I’ve shared with the team. Money is not the goal for any of us, but it’s been nice to make more than a few dollars per month in 2021. That being said, I’m going to try to use Patreon more for the fans who want more exclusive content and are willing to throw money in the monthly tip jar. You can join us at Patreon.com/MakeWeirdMusic if you’d like to help.
Speaking of money, we have a bunch of Make Weird Music merchandise you can buy directly from me at MakeWeirdMusic.com/merch. You can also buy a shirt directly on YouTube through an online shirt printer. I’m planning on getting more MWM hats embroidered, so let me know if you want one of those.
Next topic: 2022. I’m not a huge planner, but I think we are going to deliver on some big stuff in 2022. We have some plans with big name artists that have agreed to do interviews. I can’t share their names, but they’re bigger than anyone we’ve had so far. Not that we’re trying to go commercial and feature big-name artists, but those big names are great ways to get people to check out lesser-known artists we typically feature.
For live music, I’m trying to book a concert for my 40th birthday here in Arizona in January and we are looking at putting on another Neal Morse Band show. We’ll probably host a couple more concerts with some really interesting artists and I might travel to film a couple of shows. We’ll see. Some early discussions are in the works.
For recorded music, I’m slowly putting together a few new singles with Michael Manring and Morgan Agren. If it’s at all possible, I’d like to put together a solo album and a Christmas EP next year. I’ve recorded and released a few singles already, and they’ve gotten favorable responses. The Christmas single for this year is one of my least favorite Christmas songs, “Joy to the World.” But this version is going to be really, really cool and it’s extremely difficult to play. So stay tuned for that.
If there’s anything you’d like more or less of here on the channel, let us know! Send an email to team@makeweirdmusic.com or just leave a comment. We’re not short on ideas, but since we’re getting a bit bigger, it’s becoming a little less about what I personally want to do in my free time. As we near 20,000 subscribers, we have a responsibility to you and your requests. So, don’t be shy! Speak up and tell us what you want us to stop, start, and continue in 2022.
