Max's Music Mondays - What's Next (good stuff I swear)
we're going paid. it's about time if i'm honest.
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays. My ~music discovery newsletter~ where I get too excited about songs I love. I hope you love them too. If you do, you can follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :) paid subscriptions go towards directly supporting the artists you read about here!!
Happy Tuesday, everybody!!!
It really is a happy Tuesday. Nervous, but so excited. Because, I’m here today with a special announcement. The future of MMM’s is here - or at least, the next iteration. So let’s get right to it.
TL;DR
Max’s Music Mondays, this humble music discovery newsletter, now has a paid tier!!! Incredible news, I know!!! You pay $5 per month (please), get the bi-weekly newsletter plus one monthly bonus ~special project~ (exclusive live performances, guest essays, etc).
The money gets split between the artists I write about (50%), me (35%), and the special project (15%). A new way to support this community and a new way to support these inspiring artists. I hope you’ll join me!!
If this speaks to you, and whew I hope it does, because I’m so excited about it… you can update your subscription here.
But no worries - still sending this out bi-weekly for free too :)
The Long-Winded Big News
Yeah, that’s right, we’re doing it, I’m launching a dang paid newsletter. An effort to make this newsletter more impactful for the artists I feature. The gist is, I’ll be writing the newsletter you know and love (I hope) - two discoveries and whatever else I’m listening to - twice per month. This part is still free to anyone who wants it (don’t worry, please don’t go!!) but(!) paying subscribers ($5/mo or $50/yr) aka my personal heroes will also get access once a month to some special/exclusive post - some fun project like those live performances, interviews, guest essays, anything/everything my little brain can come up with. Plus, as we grow, there’s so much more to do together - a discord? the maxies IRL? anything is possible!!! And I’m excited :)
I hear you thinking (cannot read your minds I swear, just projecting here), “But Max, how is paying you for a newsletter going to help the artists??” Oh baby… I’ve been wondering the same thing for years. Finally(!!), I have a good answer. The money? Well that’s gonna go to the musicians too. How about that!!!
That’s what it’s all about right? Being the biggest cheerleaders we can for the music that moves us. I sincerely hope you’ll consider trusting me, joining me, and making that support financial too :)
How It’ll Work
Here’s where the math is now - for transparency’s sake, and hopefully for excitement-about-being-a-paid-member-of-the-community’s sake too.
A paying subscriber, lets call her Debbie (which, yes, is my mom’s name and yes, Mom, if you are reading this, please subscribe!), generously shells out $5/month. After substack & stripe fees, about $4 is landing in ‘ol Max’s Music Mondays town.
We take that $4 and we break it down so that 50% goes to the four artists that month, 35% goes to me, and 15% gets squirreled away to help pay people for those special subscriber posts - live performances, special projects, and whatnot.
It’s a model that feels new to me, that feels mostly on target, and that feels like it can/will get to evolve over time. As I break out my ti84 and start crunching the darn numbies, there are clear points where things will need to change. Eventually, we can expand to six artists per month. With enough people, these subscriber projects can be really incredible (side note: I’m really inspired by the work Wild Hunt Records is doing now, just has the wheels turning about the scope of what’s possible with a little support). As the numbers grow, I’ll keep you updated on the breakdown and hope you’ll trust me to keep you informed. I want you confident in, and thrilled about, where your money is going. But, this feels like a model that can really grow this community.
It’s deeply inspiring to me, that with just 100 paid subscribers, we’re paying out over $50 to each artist I write about. Money for art they’ve already made, a generous thank you from all of us. Between write-ups and projects for subscriber posts, those 100 subs would send over $3100 per year out to artists.
I really think this kind of model will open the door to get more folks here - paid and free. A place where we all value new music and the new artists making it. The more who are here, the more listening, the more impactful this community can be. I’m so stoked about this and hope you can get behind it too. A tiny step in the right direction.
Again - nothing changes here if you don’t want! Still going to publish twice per month for free, the same great music, the same me-trying-to-do-great-writing, the same bad photoshops. Even as a free reader, I hope this change will make you feel even better about being a part of this community, and maybe even appreciate the music that much more.
I have no clue if this is going to work, or to what degree it will. But even one paid subscriber (mom….) will be better than none, progress towards a better world. Thank you so much for trusting me with music until now. I promise I’ll be digging away every day to maintain that trust as we move into this new chapter of Max’s Music Mondays.
And it’s available now - the first subscriber post coming in February.
Also - please reach out if you’d like to support but it just isn’t something financially possible for you right now - whether you’re here from the iMessage days or just signed up today, I’d be happy to get you in for free too :)
Sappy closing section that I don’t have a quippy headline for
I’ve been at this for over five years now, ever since sending a song to a few friends over text as I walked out of the H&M on Michigan Ave back in Chicago *single tear emoji*
Since then, this little project has evolved, from simple recs to goofy yet passionate write-ups, from four iMessage group texts to a substack newsletter and THRIVING spotify playlist.
It’s always felt like my little baby, this humble fulfilling hobby - getting to find music I really love and tell anyone that will listen why they should love it too. To have the space to do that…? Oof, makes me so grateful.
As we’ve grown, I’ve gotten so much from being able to support these artists I love - not to toot my own horn too loud, but sometimes, I find out this is the first place an artist got a real, human, write-up and not someone rehashing their press release or something. A dang honor. It means so much to have the chance to have a positive impact, no matter how big or small, on musicians I really believe in. And now, I’m finally ready to get a little more ambitious with my vision of what that impact can be.
So much love to every single one of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Yours,
Max
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P.S. If you have any questions, concerns, or music recs, you know I’m here for it - please reply to this, I promise to respond to everyone I can :)