First Blog of 2025

(Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

As promised, this is the return of Musician Coop for 2025. If you’re new here, thanks for clicking and giving this a shot. If you’re returning, welcome back! I thought I’d start the year off with a little discussion on some of the posts coming up this year. Year two of Musician Coop begins now!

This past year has not been an easy one for many, and it’s looking like the next isn’t going to be any easier. I want this blog to be a hub of discussions to address concerns as they come up. As a result, the ideas I have now for posts for the year may change as new concerns arise. I still want to focus on musical issues, but it’s become clearer and clearer to me (especially with the research behind last year’s blogs) that all the issues we see in the world of music are inherently political, and connected inseparably from the broader flawed system we find ourselves a part of.

There is still hope for a brighter future, and as hard as the next year might be, it could serve as the impetus for broader action and change.

​(Photo by Alexandra Khudyntseva on Unsplash)

This year, there’s some more wonderful music organizations I’d love to share with you. One of these is Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra’s “Healing Bells”, which is an organization which leverages the healing power of the arts to “partner with survivors to transform trauma into healing empowerment through arts engagement.” Learning more about organizations like this over the last has been so inspiring, and I look forward to doing more of it!

My usual “how to” blogs will make a return as I go over taxes for musicians again. These posts are more for me than anything else (I have a remarkable ability to forget how to do things if I don’t write them down), but I welcome anyone else to take a look. With the new administration coming in, we may see some changes on this front - we can cope with those changes together… 

In musical news, there have been changes to Spotify royalties... They’ve unfortunately gotten even worse. I’ll be diving into that topic again, and refining some solutions we were brainstorming in the last post on the subject. There’s also been some recent concerning news surrounding music competitions and their insistence on upholding inequitable practices that keep the exclusivity of the arts alive and well. I want to explore ways that competitions can be forces for positive change rather than enforcement of status-quo. Not to shamelessly plug, but East Zodiac has been doing a bang-up job of it!

​(Photo by Adrian Korte on Unsplash)

​I’m certain the next year will bring additional topics for discussion, and there are so many, but I can only procrastinate composing music for so much time! I’m grateful to have such a supportive community here. Seeing the work you all do gives me so much hope for the future. Here goes 2025! Thank you for reading, all the best to you in the new year, and here’s to more happy jamming!