First Blog of 2026

Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash (but I added the chicken to it)

​As promised, this is the return of Musician Coop for 2026. If you’re new here, thanks for clicking and giving this a shot. If you’re returning, welcome back! As always, I like to start the first post off with a discussion of what you can expect in the coming year. Year three of Musician Coop begins now!

Well, last year I stated that 2024 wasn’t an easy year… I gotta say, I think it might be even worse now, somehow. I think I was right in saying it wouldn’t be any easier, but 2025 was actually garbage. It looks like we can look forward to more political content from the blog this year. Focusing on anything else at the moment, is difficult! I’ll definitely be continuing the “Contacting Congress" series which many of you have told me you appreciate - thank you for the kind words, and for joining me on the weekly calls. I’ll plan on making the next blog, Friday February 20th, one of those. There is quite a lot to catch up on with the prompts. If you’re eager for something to call about though, join me in demanding the defunding of ICE from our representatives. I’m personally more interested in having health care than having concentration camps, anyone else?

​Yes, things are rough, but I still have hope for a better future. The last few times I called John Mannion (representative from NY), I couldn’t even get through initially - all the lines were supposedly busy. If that’s true and not just another way for our representatives to shirk their responsibilities, it’s heartening to see so many people making their voices heard.

I also want to offer some additional resources beyond the directly political this year. I’ll do a discussion on taxes for musicians again, and I’d also like to create a guide for navigating copyright law as well - there’s a lot of abuse from large corporations in this area, which is exactly what I like looking into! I did a little post last year discussing my personal gripes with this process, especially fighting off fraudulent claims. You can read that little guide here. ​This year, I may also get into a little crash course on copyright history and how to know what is okay to use and what isn’t. Helpful tips for folks who like to do remixes and arrangements!

​As always, this little list of ideas isn’t exhaustive and I will change/add things as needed. Thank you to the folks reading these posts, I hope that I can continue to provide some value/resources in the coming year. You’re all making incredible art and change in the world. I’m honored to be in a community that has you in it! 2026 doesn’t stand a chance! All the best to you in the new year, and here’s to a year of happy jamming for the hell of it, and very importantly, to spite fascism!