grargh. not happening, i guess. back to post-production...

yeah. they'll let me link the account to paypal, but they won't let me use it for this purpose. it's not like i really want to pay paypal, but at least it would work.

gah...

i decided to give uploading to google play a shot. it's almost five cents a stream. that's far more realistic as a payout. i'd expect that what google is doing is undercutting the competition, and that they will eventually raise the price. i'm on the other side of this, and i'd have to argue this is the right way forward. spotify isn't paying the artists. if google is paying the artists, that's a start, but the price it's charging isn't sustainable, either....

it's $25 to sign up, which is what stopped me from signing up before. but i've got $25 in my paypal account from sales. that's how i want this to work.

they only take google wallet. ok. so, i go to sign up and they won't take my debit card. i'm using a canadian grocery store card, so i guess they don't have it setup. that's reasonable, but then why make it the only option?

that's not what creeped me out, though. realizing that i can't make this transaction, i went to delete the wallet account i'd created.

apparently, google wants to phone you.

i don't have a phone, either, but that's not the point. about the last thing in the world that i want is a phone call from google. i just about had a heart attack.

scary shit.

it turns out google wallet has general problems in canada.

we can't use their phone software, either.

it's probably a "regulatory problem". which means that the oligopoly doesn't want to let in foreign companies.

our regulatory bodies get praise outside the country, and there are some upsides, i'll admit that. but they're generally driven by the desire to control the market, to keep rates higher. i'm one to argue for other options than market liberalization, as i don't think that is beneficial to consumers, either. but when you're dealing with these big companies, conflicts develop - because they want to control the entire process.

as the united states is a large and close market, it's a problem for canadian businesses, in general. there has to be some kind of workaround...

i ended up tweaking the mix yesterday. i think i'm finally happy.

i'm going to have to wait until 10:00 before i'm comfortable hitting the kit. i don't think he can hear it, but noise carries differently at 3:00 am than it does in the afternoon, and i'm considerate about this.

i'm considering maybe soundscaping the drums for the third part, anyways. on the one hand, the section kind of screams "zeppelin"; on the other hand, i want to avoid the cliches. i've actually got too many ideas floating through my head rather than not enough and am having difficulty ordering them.

it'll happen.

things always take longer than i expect. but it's part of the freedom of not working with boundaries. i love the fact that i don't have a producer yelling at me to get things done before a release date, so i can fit a marketing cycle. i wouldn't give that freedom up for anything.

a friend of mine at the time heard the song and claimed it was stairway, which was wrong by any reasonable metric, but it's stuck with me and i'm conscious of avoiding the bonham cliches for that reason.

with all the electronic noises and glitchy beats and stuff, it's definitely nowhere close to stairway now. i do admit that riff is admittedly rather page in character, but it's a rock riff, and it's kind of true of every rock riff - if it's not page, it's iommi or clapton or mclaughlin or hendrix. they invented it, so, you can't avoid a comparison on some level.

if it sounds like an existing riff, i can't place it, it's a stylistic thing...

...but there's really a big sign in my head that states, quite clearly, NO BONHAM. and i'm obeying it....