UPDATE: Just when I thought the year was over, I found out that Forbes picked “PalinDRONE 360” as one of the Essential VR Music Videos of 2018! How amazing is that? So I wanted to update this blog post in case any of you happen to see it after the fact so you’d know about this awesome piece of news. You can read the article at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessedamiani/2018/12/28/the-essential-vr-music-videos-of-2018/#608d921e16d4
It’s the end of the year so you know what that means… Time to look back at 2018 with another year in review blog post.
2018 was a weird year… There were some great things, there were some not so great things, and it was overall very unpredictable, but it’s another year on the books. Lets take a look at some of the stuff that happened.
- Of course the biggest thing that happened this year was the release of my 4th album, A Different Kind Of Dream. After three albums that followed a formula (16 tracks, then a free bonus album of B-Sides & Remixes), A Different Kind Of Dream took a different approach, with only 10 songs and then a series of singles throughout the rest of the year (“Secrets,” “Artificial (Extended Video Remix)” and “Stalker”). I believe the album has some of my best work to date. It’s done quite well too overall. It didn’t really have the impact I exactly planned for though. I didn’t release a CD copy, and although the CD format is basically dead, it did make selling the album sort of difficult. Also the limited 10 song track-list I think lent itself to a sort of wait-and-see feeling from many people. Even though the data says that shorter albums and EPs are more popular nowadays, it seems when you’re operating on this level of the game, people want more value. It’s going to be interesting to see how people respond to my next “album” which will come as three separate 10 song releases. I held a poll and people said it was a great idea, so I’m probably going to stick with the plan. Hopefully the definitive promise of the 30 songs will help make sure people are interested. That’s going to probably not come out until 2020 though, so we’ll see what happens by then haha.
- The second best thing to happen was the release of “Artificial” the music video directed by Ben Yonker. I wrote the video and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. It came out so amazing and did incredible at film festivals. A dozen fests and multiple awards and nominations. The response was incredible. “Artificial” was from my last album Head Like Fire. You can also check out an interview I did with Ben about the video on my Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com/2018/12/17/special-episode-artificial-ben-yonker-interview/
- Another amazing release this year was the first and only music video from A Different Kind Of Dream, “PalinDRONE 360.” This was my 2nd VR music video with NewLine Videography. It’s an incredibly cool video (another trippy concept I came up with) and I’m really happy with how it came out. It was the featured video on YouTube, SamsungVR and Veer, which led to a ton of views. It wasn’t quite as big as our previous video “Constellations 360” but it still did great and I’m very proud of it.
- The biggest film project this year was “Bus Party To Hell.” I talked about this last year (I actually made the song and other music that was in the film last year), but it finally was released this year. The release went amazingly and they ended up getting a ton of press on it and it was available in 50% of all the Redboxes across the country and on many VOD services. I released the song on SoundCloud and got a ton of press about it as well.
- I didn’t get much other film work this year though unfortunately. I’m not gonna sit around and mope about it, and I did get quite a few TV placements through libraries which is great. I also scored a web series called Copper Creek that will come out in 2019. But yeah, 2018 was not the best year for my film scoring career. But to be honest I was probably way too busy to take on a lot of projects… That’s because of the next point…
- Podcasts. I guess I’m a full time podcaster now haha. Who would have thought? Last year I had started the Bird Road Podcast with my best friend Q. Then in March of this year, while continuing to do Bird Road, I branched off and started my own podcast, Piecing It Together. It’s a movie podcast where me and a guest look at a new movie and try to figure out what other movies inspired it. It’s a weird thing to say after 15 years of building my composing career, but I am more invested in and loving spending time with this podcast than I am with my music career right now. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT going to stop making music haha. And on Piecing It Together, I always close up every episode by talking about what I’m doing musically and playing a piece of my music. So it all ties together. But yeah, I’d be lying if I said that Piecing It Together isn’t my new main focus for the time being. You should check it out over at https://www.piecingpod.com or on your favorite podcast app.
- And it wouldn’t be another year without more of my various comedy projects. We released a new D-Mize & Dee. Rockz album called D & Dee. Tox. As much as I try to NOT promote my comedy-rap stuff too much because it’s so awful and offensive… this album rules. The single “Space Force Anthem” was probably the biggest “hit” we’ve ever had. Also, a project I’ve had on the shelf for 10 years called The Pup Pups which is all folk songs about my dogs (and some sung by them) is finally almost done. I just started finishing up after letting it sit for 10 years, and in one weekend I got 5 more songs almost done haha. It’s coming out amazing and will come out in 2019 for sure. We’re also planning another D-Mize & Dee. Rockz album in 2019 haha. Why? I have no idea.
And that’s basically that! Yes it was a strange year. I’m glad I kept this blog up (although I didn’t do a particularly great job at that… especially This Thing Rules haha… RIP?). But overall there were some amazing things that happened this year… mainly A Different Kind Of Dream, “Artificial,” and Piecing It Together. So if you haven’t, make sure to check them all out. And comment on them. And share them… Thanks for the support. Here’s to a great 2019!
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David Rosen is an award-winning music composer. He composes original music for films, commercials, jingles, video-games and all other kinds of media projects. He has a vast music library of original tracks available for licensing and is also available for custom compositions. Contact him on the ABOUT page for pricing and availability for your next project.