Yes, I’ve deleted the main offenders: “X”, Facebook and Instagram. But my phone is still absolutely full of apps. A lot of them are actually useful and fun: Gemini and Gopher readers, guitar tuner, maps, notes, RSS reader, and radio apps among them. How do I know where to draw the line?

I’ve kept Mastodon apps on my phone, but even on The Fediverse we’ve replicated some of the dark patterns that make social media so damaging and addictive. This comes with being in a transition period, waking up from the sleepwalk-towards-fascism we’ve enabled by granting these Big Tech companies so much power. I would consider gamification of “engagement” (follower counts, like and boost counts), and “clout” chasing behaviour to be a hangover from that.

But for me at least, the problem isn’t just “the apps”. It’s me. I am anxious. There are lots of socio-political reasons for that anxiety, and I need to listen to them and name them. But I also know that on a day-to-day level, where I’m not immediately in danger: it is counterproductive to let myself exist in this state of panic. It is damaging to my physical health, it makes me less effective to fight what needs to be fought, and it sucks energy away from art and intellect.

Therefore, I want to interrogate the root causes making even my browser apps dangerous for my mental health.

the heady mix

I want to know I’ll be OK. My phone has taken on this role of reassurer, comforter, explainer of dangers, giver of good news, giver of bad news — all at once. What a heady mix! Because it’s real: it’s the device which mediates my communication with the outside world. Through this one device, I’ve received messages about family illness and death, grant decisions, job rejections and offers, political disasters — all mixed in with silly and fun messages from friends. How am I, an animal with an animal’s brain, supposed to differentiate all of that survival-level information from the device itself?

Our brains are good at making connections, seeing similarities, patterns. So, the phone becomes a magical thing, dispensing items necessary for our survival. It’s why humans have always turned to divination: it’s the illusion we can just bypass this uncertainty. Every internet prophecy can give approximately 3 milliseconds of comfort, before our anxiety spirals again. Because I do know, intellectually: divinatory answers can be comforting and provide a space to think further about an issue, but we can‘t really see the future. It would spawn infinite time-paradox chaos, because knowing the future would definitely change our behaviour. Unless you’re Oedipus.

What should I do there? Block all anxiety-spiral websites? Unfortunately, I think it’s necessary. Browser extensions can do this, or phone apps — but I use so many browsers as a webby sort of person. I would have to do a URL block in my router’s settings.

I never got addicted to my laptop in this way. But crucially: I work on my laptop. I turn my laptop off, when I’m not using it. It isn’t always with me. Time spent on my laptop is more structured: I can choose when to engage with the world. Because it’s connected with work, it makes more sense to my animal brain. That is where I go to forage. Hilarious side note: as a penniless artist, my work is mostly unpaid — but my brain doesn’t know that.

practical things

On a practical level, I have implemented strategies to combat phone addiction. I have most apps on a timer to reduce “screen time” in the mornings and evenings. But I’ve gotten used to just overriding that. Should I… gasp… just turn my phone off? I do have positive uses for my phone during those times: audio apps that help with insomnia, meditation, exercise, tasks, winding down.

I don’t have the budget to have two separate devices, but that would be helpful. I have an older phone which still works, but Apple has helpfully rendered it almost inoperable with its slow-down OS updates. I’m keeping an eye on postmarketOS for this reason.

In the meantime, I think I’ll try to deal with the root causes: using good old-fashioned nervous system regulation techniques when I get an urge to “reassure myself” in this false, anxiety-perpetuating way.

resources:

i got therapy, once

A while ago, I got some free therapy through a Help Musicians grant. One of my therapist’s insights came back to me recently: I consistently miss out on the “satisfaction” part of the Gestalt Cycle.

Gestalt is quite old-school, but like most useful things its core ideas are replicated again and again. Mindfulness, still flavour-of-the-month at time of writing, has a similar emphasis on what Gestalt calls “the here and now”.

But rushing through the cycle, not allowing myself to feel satisfied with tasks completed? A very concise reading of this chronic anxiety I’m still dealing with. I think I had an impossible concept of what “closing the cycle” would feel like: complete safety.

Even a partial rendering of that concept (for example, freedom from the constant threat of homelessness) would mean changing larger socio-political realities that I’ve no control over. I formulated this fantasy of cycle-closure early in life, as a coping mechanism. It helped me through early isolation and depression, but it’s not helping now.

feeling satisfaction in retrospect

I think I need to learn how to close all these hanging gestalt cycles. To do that, I need to modify what “closure” can mean, in a world where systemic factors often dangle the fruit of our labours eternally out of reach. The first step: allowing myself to feel deep satisfaction in what I’ve done. Even writing that sentence, I felt a rising panic: “it’s not enough!” This is the root of workaholism. Our animal brains expect work (foraging) to result in reward (eating). Under capitalism, this reward is kept behind a barbed wire fence – and we don’t have the admission fee.

Inspired by a Fedi peer I admire, Prin Lu, I think I’ll start actually writing down what I’ve been working on, what I’ve finished and released, and any other things I can think of that have made me feel like a worthwhile human being.

There’s fear in that. My cultural conditioning expects scorn when displaying anything resembling pride. An understandable product of colonialism: where a people aren’t allowed to achieve anything, a good way to deal with it is to be iconoclastic. Redefine those who chase cultural capital as West Brits: Irish people with pretentions to Englishness. Notions: replicating imperialist ideas of social class, usually with specific cutlery.

While the reframing aspect of notions (in its more defiant dimension: enforcement of inherited cultural norms) helped my grandparents’ generation resist total cultural obliteration, its shadow manifestation is to embed shame in any kind of pride. Irish people need to close our gestalt cycles, too! So, here goes.

2025: it was a year of stuff

• Finished video and artwork for Translate Me and Data Ghost singles.
• Released Status album.
• Finished and released a new Mustics™ series: The Sound of Mustics™.
• Published two short stories in Emanations and Outhouse Magazine.
• Status singles played on BBC6Music by Deb Grant, Stuart Maconie. Interviewed about Fediwave on BBC6Music’s Scene Spotlight. Thanks to Dwayne Woods and Ellie Ball for making this happen!
• Great reviews in Line of Best Fit and Dublin Enquirer, cover gurl on The Goo Magazine… oh just go and look my full boast-post.
• Recorded a live session in RTÉ studios, Dublin, for Dan Hegarty on 2FM – again, thanks to Dwayne.
• Live gigs in Brighton, London, Dublin, Waterford: Intox Extravaganza; Crux AV; Bello Bar (supporting Mary Ocher, thanks Dwayne & Vinny); At the Coach House; Machines that Bleed; All Together Now festival (thanks Dwayne!); Spirit of Gravity.
• Showcase performance and commission exploring 360° AV in The Old Market, Brighton.
• Submitted final report for 2023 ACE project grant: gravitons.
• Extensive grant-writing. Applied for 6 arts grants. 4 rejections, but got through to the next round of no. 5.
• Livestream interviews with Fireside Fedi and GSG Talk.
• Series of livestreams, including Mustics™ Sound Bath.
• Became house VJ at Spirit of Gravity’s monthly gigs.
• Organised and performed at another gravitons livestream festival with Jim.
• Launched The Indie Beat TV (aka Fedi MTV) with Limebar, Roberta Fidora, Mizkirsten, sknob, Sam, AxWax, and Keef.
• Bittersweet ending of my MGMT partnership with the lovely Dwayne. We accomplished a lot together! But ultimately, the music industry is too much of a shithole to contain our awesomeness.
• Left Meta and Spotify etc. Fedi is where it’s at. Big Tech can get in the bin.
• Skills improvements in DJ and VJ techniques, Linux & SysAdmin, git workflows and a ton of other techie stuff I can’t remember.
• Bought a tiny-but-comfy studio flat with my partner, renovated and moved in.
• Got a new part-time job that, crucially, doesn’t suck.
• Made a new close friend. This is hard for me to do, and I appreciate it so much!
• Got an incredible new haircut.

did that make me feel better?

My first reaction was to look at the list and think: that’s not enough. It’s as if I’m looking at my life through the eyes of the worst kind of internet troll. But I think that is not helping me out.

My goal here is to feel satisfaction at my creative and personal actions. The fact that I’m operating well below the poverty line isn’t under my control. Taking joy and pride in my work IS under my control.

Well done, me. Well done.

It’s late capitalism, and artists have nowhere to go.

Where’s left? Where can people discover new, risk-taking art? We can try our luck in a clickbait-optimised shitpocalypse (YouTube). Or a nightmare panopticon hellscape, where we use coy euphemisms like “unal1ved” so we don’t get banned (TikTok, Instagram).

We need a real human place for real human video art. So, we made one.

Artists on the Fediverse, corralled by @Limebar, have gotten together to make FEDI MTV: aka The Indie Beat TV.

We CAN have nice things.

Decades ago, I guess MTV decided music videos weren’t profitable enough. Instead, we got cheapo reality TV drek — which eventually subsumed every other station on earth. But back in its earlier life, shows like 120 Minutes gave us stuff that wasn’t being played anywhere else. In Ireland, we had No Disco; where I found amazing alternative art from Cibo Matto, Plague Monkeys, Tindersticks, and countless other gems.

Before the internet, niche music options were thin on the ground. Now, Big Tech may have a stranglehold on music discovery — but all is not lost. Concepts like degrowth, mutual aid, small web, and decentralisation are helping us rebuild our DIY networks. We aim to be our own platform, and kick fascist overlords’ platforms into the frickin’ sun.

📆 Put it in your calendar!

We got 3 launches, to accommodate every time zone and body clock! Hopefully! These links will download the event for your calendar:

• 👉 Launch 1: , midday
• 👉 Launch 2:
• 👉 Launch 3:

In your time zone: .

🎉🎊🎈

Or watch right here:

When live, you will be able to enter your fruity chat messages in this box.

Direct link: The Indie Beat TV.

The Fediverse needs YOU!

We’ve been salivating about this for a while! Come and witness the birth of Fedi MTV with us. I hope you’ll find some brilliant new art while you’re at it.

Post by @meljoann@topspicy.social

View on Mastodon

We’ve watched CEO Daniel Ek’s heartwarming journey blossom from platforming and enriching fascists ¹, ², ³, to finally fulfilling his bloodthirsty manifest destiny and directly funding the war machine ⁴.

Culture jamming on me way out

For your convenience, here are some re-useable images I used to communicate, I hope effectively, why I’ve left the platform.

• Blank 🗑️ square overlay
• Blank 🗑️ landscape overlay

Spotify hates art

Almost as a side-effect to Daniel Ek’s scumbag techbro nature, Spotify’s “contentification” of art has all but decimated the independent music scene ⁵.

Yet, most artists are still clinging to the hope of winning the algorithmic lottery. It’s understandable: we are fucking poor. At 0.003c per stream, artists need an unbelievable amount of ’em to reach minimum wage.

Couple that to being directly told by music industry “experts”, several times, that the notoriously game-able Spotify “monthly listeners” metric is the key to any A&R’s cold, data-driven heart? We have ourselves an extreme reliance on Big Tech. The whole thing is a dodgy pyramid scheme, where independent artists are encouraged to waste time making ourselves more acceptable to the platform by “driving our listeners to Spotify with social media ads” ⁶.

Here’s a rundown of my experiences on the platform.

Me: a case study

I am a data ghost. I’m invisible to Spotify.

Spotify claims to playlist 20% of pitches ⁷. 2020 to 2023, we pitched 20 hype amazing songs to them. By that metric, 4 of those pitches would have been playlisted, unless my “songs” are absolute “shit”.

It’s never enough

Lest you believe my “songs” are “shit”, here is some #incredible proof:

• Hype reviews in Pitchfork, Line of Best Fit, RTÉ, Irish Times, Hot Press, Nialler9; and many, many more.
• Queen of niche radio airplay, including BBC6music, BBC Radio 1, RTÉ 2FM, RTÉ RnaG, KEXP. Live sessions on BBC & 2FM & multiple tracks of the week on BBC & 2FM.
• Real cash-money grant awards from the Arts Council of England & Help Musicians UK.

If it wasn’t for those grants, it would’ven take me another 10 years to release my new album, ‘Status’. Squeezing recording sessions in between shit jobs and crying.

Your social media fans want your Spotify links in their faces at LEAST 20 times a day

Lest you think we just “haven’t played the game”, we have tried:

• Massive social media campaigns of pure bullshit, doing everything you’re supposed to do, including that pre-save nonsense that literally no-one likes.
• Loads of 3rd party playlists (shout-out to my BOYZ: SubmitHub, PlaylistSupply, and a really expensive PR company). You pay a “donation”, and all their “listeners” turn out to be bots.
• Social media ads, when we had a budget from our arts grant. Just a little more Arts money flowing straight to Big Tech.
• A ton of pointless radio edits, begging for editorial playlists each time.
• A shitload of pointless “artist playlists” that no-one would ever conceivably want to listen to.
• Embodying The Grindset by means of supernatural invocation.
• Positive Thinking to Attract Limitless Abundance.
• A REALLY good profile picture ⁸.

Incredible metrics

60k tracks are uploaded to Spotify every day ⁹. Currently, 153 out of 14k+ Spotify employees are down as curators on LinkedIn. I honestly don’t think they are reading the pitches, or listening to the music.

Internally, Spotify use audio analysis tools ¹⁰ developed by The Echo Nest ¹¹ to (presumably) make playlist and recommendation decisions. This reduces all of humanity’s music to universally accepted metrics such as “danceability”, “valence” ¹², and “hotttness” ¹³.

Ligeti is 0.0002 hotttness, probably. All of human reactivity to art, reduced to a handful of numerical values. Michael Jackson is 3.004 danceability. Hildegard von Bingen is 1.02 valence and John Coltrane is faring slightly more valent at a disappointing 1.023.

I don’t know, I didn’t even bother to put them into the Spotify API to find out their actual “hotttness”. Random values off the top of my head are as meaningful as whatever is gonna be farted out of that thing.

Data ghost

I consulted the Spotify API, like some sort of oracle.

curl "https://api.spotify.com/v1/artists/07UZ44ZNlh6DxdOMyWuJa8" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer  <my auth token>"

Here’s what we got:

...
  "followers" : {
    "href" : null,
    "total" : 279
  },
  "genres" : [ ],
...
  "name" : "Meljoann",
  "popularity" : 0,
  "type" : "artist",'
...

Personally, I like that my genre is [ ] ¹⁴. However, this isn’t gonna help me algorithmically.

The Spotify for Artists customer support person tells me there “isn’t enough data” to determine my genre, despite us laboriously filling out the genre field on each release upload and fruitless song “pitch”.

The terrible truth, revealed now for the very first time on meljoann dot com

The ‘Content Creators’ have already been chosen by algorithimic lottery, way back when these websites were too new to be enshittified ¹⁵. Meanwhile, smaller artists have been “demonetised” completely ¹⁶, while others are bullied into accepting even lower payments ¹⁷ in a race to the bottom.

A wild alternative appears

Enter, the Fediverse.

I’m hoping this can be a place free of the profit motive, where Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey or Elon Musk or Steve Huffman or Jeff Bezos or random Google Shareholders can’t greasily slide in between us, inserting themselves into every relationship and every piece of art.

Fellow data ghosts, let’s be Fedi Friends. Find my accounts here.

Press King.

Back when I had an Instagram account, I had mastered the art of the #humblebrag. Life hack: boast about how great your life is, then include HASHTAG BLESSED or something, and attribute your good luck to being God’s favourite influencer.

Well, I’ve left all that behind me, now. All that remains is my humble website.

But, how will potential funding bodies and bookers know how popular I am? The answer is: move all my boasting here.

A Modest Selection of Incredible Things Others Have Said About Me Recently

Deb Grant, BBC6Music

“I’ve been fascinated by Meljoann ever since I came across her music. I don’t think anyone out there sounds like her.”

The wonderful Deb Grant has been so supportive of my new album, Status. I also recorded an interview for their BBC6Music Scene Spotlight, in which I bigged up our lovely #Fediwave scene on the Fediverse.

Dean Van Nguyen, Dublin Enquirer

“Meljoann has dined in Prince’s inner sanctum. She has drank from the teacup of Lady Gaga, and worn Rick James’s lightning-bolt suits. I’m sure these things are true. How else do you explain her ability to produce such bold, confident pop music?”

This has got to be one of my favourite reviews ever. Read the whole thing here.

Line of Best Fit

My video for ‘Data Ghost’ was premiered on Line of Best Fit. Camryn Teder described the song as:

"[A] commentary on our broken digital landscape framed through the lens of deliciously weird pop beats."

THE GOO: Cover Gurl

I was Cover Gurl on The Goo Magazine, Dublin! You see, I have a very marketable face. See below for my incredible photos and interview.

Recent Gigs

I just supported Mary Ocher at BelloBar, Dublin. Before that, I was at Crux AV night in London, and Intox Extravaganza in Brighton. Needless to say, my performances were absolutely flawless.

Coming up

• Interview with Nessy on the London Ear, RTÉ 2XM
• RTÉ 2FM “Studio 8 Session”: live session and interview with Dan Hegarty

The hits just keep coming! I am just so HASHTAG BLESSED.

• All buy & stream links.

Today, unclassifiable art (such as my weirdo sound) gets buried under ads and influencers, while Big Social oligarchs cosplay ecologically feckless cartoon villains. We are moving away from stats and clout, and towards a more sustainable culture.

What happens to us when billionaire-owned Big Social owns our politics, relationships… and all human art? Wonder no more: this album explains it all. Suck it, Cory Doctorow!

I made a nostalgic collage-style video for this. We are very chuffed to find has been premiered on The Line of Best Fit. Huge thanks to my manager Dwayne, LOBF music editor Sam & writer Camryn for this brilliant writeup. What really so much to me: they shared my Peertube link, supporting the decision to not upload it to YouTube.

Feels like the tides are shifting a bit. Slowly, slowly…

• Video premiere article: Line of Best Fit
• All buy and streaming links

Translate Me is about the horror of mis-translation: how capital’s mis-translation of art renders it pointless. What if a mis-perception of you can change you?

• Streaming and buy links are here
• Music video is here

If you subscribed on mustics.com, you may have already seen the video and got yer download nice and early.

The full album is out next week!

updated post with more info and resources!

🚫 Byeeeee

I left Meta on April 15th, 2025. I’m hoping other music heads, friends & family will join me elsewhere.

🔎 Where to find me

You can check my socials page for a full list. But mainly:

• Mustics®
• This site’s email list
• Mastodon, & a 2nd, even sillier Masto account
• Bluesky, less so. But I’m there.

📚 Resources for leaving Meta

- Backing up and deleting your accounts

To download your posts, pictures and stuff, log into your account and click these links:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Be sure to select “All Time” as the date range, the default is just the last year. You’ll have to repeat this process for every page you run, by clicking the top right icon to change into your pages’ profiles.

The delete links are here, at time of writing:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Here’s another site with more info & resources:

• Deletefacebook.com

(Big thanks to my Masto friends for helping me with this.)

Deleting your posts

I wanted to leave my accounts visible, so people who are still on Meta could see I’ve left, and hopefully find me elsewhere on the web.

I used a script to delete my old tweets, when I left Twitter/X. I tried a few for Facebook and Instagram, and a chrome extension – but nothing worked. I ended up braving Meta’s buggy nightmare of a website, and deleting posts manually. It took a few hours, but felt GREAT.

Alternatively, you could try some paid services like Redact or Unpost.

- Telling others you’re leaving

The algorithm means your friends never see your posts anyway. But I used this cheeky overlay on all images for a few months. On the blank one, you can write your own leaving date and favourite online hangouts. Feel free to yoink!

• My 🗑️ overlay
• Blank 🗑️ overlay - for your convenience

When I left, I just left an image which hopefully says it all. I’ve made versions without “meljoann.com” on them, if you want to grab them below:

• Square “I’ve left” image
• Landscape “I’ve left” image

⁂ Joining the Fediverse

I’d highly recommend the Fediverse — I’ve found it a way more authentic, ethical way to share art and talk with friends.

What’s cool about it is all the apps (like Mastodon, Pixelfed, Peertube, Owncast) can all follow each other. It’s like being able to follow your crush’s Instagram from your YouTube or Twitter account! What the hey!

If you want to try Mastodon, a Twitter alternative, start here:

• Join Mastodon on your computer
• Join with a mobile app

If you want to try Pixelfed, an Instagram alternative, start here:

• Join Pixelfed on your computer
• Join with a mobile app
• You can also import your Instagram posts to Pixelfed!

Video lovin'

Here’s a short video I made re: my enduring obsession with Mastodon. Let’s just say I really, really like it. Masto is not perfect, it’s not the biggest platform in the world, but it’s ours.

I just strongly feel: our technology shouldn’t be absolutely disgusting.

I love tech. With computers, art is theoretically limitless. You just have your imagination, and your chops. Why should we entrust the future of all human art to Big Tech overlords?

State of the ’net today

The internet can be fun. What’s not fun: the practice of displaying the logos of gross and unethical social media corporations. Arts industries are telling artists: be influencers. Be a brand. The advice is delivered with a shrug, like it’s just a neutral fact. Decision-makers need your “data”, so you need to show some hard numbers.

But corporate algorithms are not neutral. They are profit-seeking ¹, enshittified ², politics-meddling ³, ⁴, planet-killing ⁵, ⁶, genocide-promoting ⁷ and they frickin’ suck.

Corpo nihilism

The dystopian reality: everyone is on Meta, YouTube, Xitter, Spotify. If they don’t approve your schtick, the penalty is your algorithmic exclusion from the wider cultural conversation. Please the algo, or die.

And yet…

Art is at the very centre of my life. As digital artists, our art is made, shared and mediated by computer and phone screens. I need my tools to be mine. I need my experiences of others’ art to be open-hearted and real. We need our art to be unsullied by corpos smearing their gross branding everywhere, sliding their unethical shit under the table.

There are alternatives to Big Tech.

A way forward

We do have a choice.

We can be honest, as artists and as human beings: influencer-ism is bullshit. “Be a Brand” is bullshit. We don’t – and shouldn’t – have to do this obsequious algo-pleasing routine to survive.

So, billionaire-owned Big Social controls our politics, relationships… and all human art? We don’t have to accept that! The internet is open by design. To escape the grasping claws of Zuckerberg, Bezos and them: we can return to our roots. We can do some pruning, and let something new grow.

Under capitalism, our joyful work – art, community, coding – is done under the shadow of poverty and burnout. We all deserve to survive. This is why anarchists actively build Dual Power ⁸: online and IRL networks of mutual aid.

Resources

There are alternatives. I got the links to prove it. We’re building this new scene together, listening to each other, making it better and better. See you on the open web!

• Linux
• Fediverse
• Gotosocial
• Owncast
• Peertube
• Faircamp
• Island Networks
• The Bad Space
• Tildeverse
• Yunohost
• Indieweb

This new single is out on Friday, July 26th.

“Bye” is about hatching an escape plan. I’d like nothing better than to say a permanent FUUU to billionaire-owned Big Social.

• You can buy or listen on Bandcamp
• Or, ironically, all the big streaming sites

The fruity video is out next week.

For those that haven’t already hit “peak subscription,” I wanted to offer a way to put that extra cash to extremely good use: supporting The Arts (that is, MY The Arts).

With Patreon, Substack and similar subscription based platforms, a chunk of your sub goes to supporting the platform. This is something you may not want to do, if you believe in de-platforming fascists. ¹, ²

Enter: Ghost. You can self-host it, pre-empting any issue that might arise with content moderation on their own hosting service (however Ghost seems much better in that regard).³

Bonus: they’re working on ActivityPub integration — so you’ll soon be able to follow Ghost blogs from your Mastodon account or whatevs.

My new Ghost site is incredible

Head over to MUSTICS.COM to see it in action. I’m offering a few “early access” style perks.

I do believe in free access to art, so everything will be available here too at some point. But artists do have to live under capitalism, pay rent and so on, and so here we are.

I hope you’ll consider this incredible opportunity to finally Join Mustics® Today, improving your life instantly for JUST a few dollars a month.

Finding a friendly server

Owncast is not like Twitch: there’s no one place like twitch.tv to get an account. Instead, lots of people are running their own versions of it on their own websites.

If you want to try running it yourself, take a look at owncast.online and their excellent guide on your options. However, there are a few of us running community servers who will be really happy to have you stream with us!

• gravitons is our one: we focus on experimental and electronic music.
• Jnktn programs an eclectic mix of music every Saturday.
• LABR is a house music collective, and run a radio station too.

You can contact us anytime – Jnktn and LABR have emails on their sites, and gravitons have various contact methods on our website – and we’ll help get you started.

How to stream to Owncast with OBS

• Go to File menu > Settings > Stream
  • Service = “Custom”
  • Server = your new Owncast server buddies will give this to you! It will look something like rtmp://stream.example.com:1935/live
  • Stream key = your Owncast crew will give you your unique stream key.

How to simulcast to Owncast and Twitch

Option 1: OBS, Prism, or Streamlabs

If you use Streamlabs or Prism, you can simulcast right away: these let you add multiple stream destinations already.

• For Streamlabs, the free version currently offers two simulcasting destinations.
• Prism is completely free at time of writing.
• However both apps are based on OBS, which is free forever & open source, and more lightweight – so that’s what I use.

If you’re on OBS, you need the Multi-RTMP Plugin. To install it:

• Go to https://github.com/sorayuki/obs-multi-rtmp. On the right you’ll see “About”, and under that is “Releases”. Click on the the link under that, which will have a green tag and be marked “Latest”.
• Scroll down to the “Assets” section at the bottom of the page, and download the plugin.
• If you’re on Mac, you’ll click the link that has ...macos-universal.pkg at the end.
• If you’re on Windows, you’ll want the one with ...windows-x64-Installer.exe at the end.
• If something goes wrong with the Windows installer, you can download the one with ...windows-x64.zip at the end. Your OBS plugins folder is probably at C:\Program Files\obs-studio\obs-plugins\64bit. You can extract the files in the zip, and then copy the .dll and .pdb files in your OBS plugins folder.

To use the plugin in OBS:

• Docks menu > “Multiple output”
• Hit “Add new target”
  • Name = Owncast
  • URL = the URL your server gave you, starting with rtmp://…
  • Stream key = the stream key your server gave you
  • You can leave all the other settings as default.
• Streaming: after you’ve hit “Start streaming” as normal, you can go to your “Multiple Output” dock and hit “Start all”.

For the Twitch side: you’ve probably connected OBS to your Twitch account already. But if not:

• OBS > File menu > Settings
  • Service = Twitch
  • You’ll be prompted to log into Twitch.

A note on bandwidth

If your internet service is a bit slow, so that you’re struggling to stream to ONE destination already, you might want to look into Streamster.io (more instrucitons below).

If you want to make sure your settings are optimal for a smooth stream, I recommend running the auto-configuration wizard on OBS. You can find it in the Tools menu. For example, I’m on a good fibre internet connection. So, the auto-config wizard said I can stream at a video bitrate of 9000 Kbps, but I left my settings on 2500 kbps for safety.

The Multi-RTMP plugin works great for me, with these settings:

• File > Settings > Output
  • video bitrate = 2500 Kbps
  • audio bitrate 160
• File > Settings > Video
  • base canvas resolution = 1920 x 1080
  • output resolution = 1920 x 1080
  • FPS = 30

Option 2: Streamster.io and similar

There are lots of services that you can use to simulcast, such as Restream.io. However, the only one I’ve found so far that lets you stream to Owncast for free (i.e., using “Custom RTMP”) is Streamster.io.

To use Streamster:

• On the Streamster website, create an account and log in.
  • On the left sidebar, click on “Live stream”.
  • Click on “How to stream with” section, to expand it.
  • In the “External Encoder” section, you’ll see the “Stream URL” and “Stream key” to copy into OBS.
• In OBS, go to File > Settings > Stream.
  • Service = “Custom”
  • Server = Copy the “Stream URL” from Streamster.io
  • Stream key = Copy the “Stream key” from Streamster.io
  • Hit “Apply” and “OK” to close.
• Back in Streamster.io: still in the “Live stream” section, click to expand the “Restreaming Destinations” bit and add your Twitch:
  • Click the “Add channel” button.
  • Here you can add your Twitch account, by selecting the Twitch icon from the list. If you’ve previously connected with the automatic OBS option, here’s how to find your stream key in Twitch:
  • Hit your profile picture on the top right, and go to “Creator Dashboard”.
  • Left sidebar > click the “settings” gear icon > Stream
  • Here, you can copy your primary stream key.
  • The URL should already be filled out for you, but if not it’s rtmp://live.twitch.tv/app
  • When you’re done, click the “Add channel” button.
• In Streamster.io, add Owncast:
  • Click the “Add channel” button in “Restreaming Destinations” again.
  • Click “Custom”, and fill out the box:
  • Name: = “Owncast”, or anything you want
  • Web shortcut = you can leave this blank
  • RTMP URL = your server will give this to you!
  • Stream key = same, you’ll get your own unique stream from your server.

Owncast chat

If you’re like me and love vibing with the witty people, you’ll want keep an eye on all the wonderful compliments flooding in from the chat. You can find our gravitons chat here:

https://stream.gravitons.org/embed/chat/readwrite/

As you can see, it’s just your server’s web address with “/embed/chat/readwrite/” at the end.

To display an overlay of this on your stream, you can add this to your OBS as a “Browser Source”:

• Find the “Sources” dock, probably on the bottom pane of OBS
• Hit the “+” button and select “Browser”
• “Create new”, name it “Owncast chat”
• URL = your server’s web address with “/embed/chat/readwrite/” at the end

Optionally, you can add this nice custom CSS. If the font is the wrong size, you can fix it by adding the below and adjusting the percentage:

html {
font-size: 200%;
}

Chat moderation

Your Owncast server admin can add moderators and ban IP addresses from their admin panel. If they can add you as a mod, you will be able to hide messages and ban users by hovering over a message, clicking the button that appears on the right, and selecting “hide” or “ban”.

I don’t want to jinx it, but so far I’ve never needed to do this.

Why Owncast?

Owncast is an ethical, open source, community owned, billionaire-free, VC-free alternative to twitch & the like. Aside from wanting to avoid world-destroyingly awful corporations like Amazon (who own Twitch) and other Big Tech companies, here are some other great reasons to try it:

Cold, hard CASH

Twitch takes a big bite out of what you earn in subs and bits — a comically enormous bite if you aren’t based in the US. It’s especially galling when the pittance you earn as a musician is being funnelled straight to billionaires like Jeff Bezos.

In contrast, Owncast takes 0% of streamers’ income. It’s completely free to use, because of the kind work of its creator Gabe Kangas, and a community of contributors and volunteers. Like musicians, open source developers rely on donations and grants. You can donate to Owncast here if you can.

No ads

As these enshittified Big Tech companies struggle to turn their monopolised user base into actual profit, they always ramp up the ads. With Owncast, your audience isn’t put off by increasingly intrusive ads blasting at them, and as a streamer you don’t have your music performance interrupted by random terrible companies and their obnoxious bullshit.

No Megacorp

Twitch can change its policies on a whim, suspend your channel, and mute your videos whenever its automated music copyright system hallucinates that prog epic jam is actually Ed Sheeran’s IP. As small streamers, we most likely haven’t even read that coercive “terms of service agreement”. What would be the point?

Owncast servers are decentralised, community-run and community-owned. If you can’t find a crew to stream with, you can roll your own. Jeff Bezos doesn’t have to be the King of you! He WISHES.

Owncast’s challenges

Small vs Big

There are more people on Twitch, but I would argue that this isn’t an issue for most small streamers, as discoverability is very poor for most of us.

Like all real-life electronic music communities: not many of us can make a living from art alone. It’s all about us supporting each other.

Payment tools

Financial support is important for artists. Owncast lacks a “one-click-payment” type of system for subs and bits, so presently it is more difficult to use than Twitch in this regard.

However, Owncast is very extensible: you can add whatever bots, widgets, webhooks and payment options you want. So I think this ecosystem is only going to grow in the future.

In the meantime, we are mostly sharing our donation links the old-school way. Like dis: https://ko-fi.com/meljoann

Discoverability

The Owncast community is working on building tools for discoverability. Already, we have:

• An Owncast Directory so you can see who’s live, and in what category. Currently, we are using tags so electronic music streamers and listeners can find each other easily.
• Raiding. Owncast is working on raid functionality, but we are already starting to create our own events (such as the New Year’s Day Parade 2024 organised by Radio Free Fedi).
• Super slick social media integration. You can already follow an Owncast stream from your Fediverse account (e.g., Mastodon), and get notified when they go live. These interactions show up live in your chat feed!

See you on Owncast, buddies

Well. I think it comes across that I’m super into Owncast. We are building a real community out here on the Fediverse, and I hope more friends will join us.

This is a tutorial for setting up your own Faircamp, Simon Repp’s beautiful music site design. I’m aiming to fill in the gaps, providing extra instructions for musicians who may be new to the indie web, or coming back to it to find it’s all changed.

If you take a look at the longgg instructions below, then think “nah”, there are community initiatives offering to host Faircamp site for musicians, at time of writing.

Static site generator

As the Faircamp website says, Faircamp is a static site generator. This just means you run a command in your shell, instead of coding your whole website by hand. You’ll build the website on your own (local) computer, then tweak and personalise it. When it’s all done, you will upload the built website to your own webspace.

The glorious shell

If you’re on Windows or Mac, you mightn’t have used shell commands before, or you might be a bit rusty. Now is your chance to feel like a feckin’ hacker!

Windows

Note: since I first wrote this tutorial, there’s now a Windows Installer. Most of the commands here will still work using the Terminal or PowerShell program.

Another way to do it: you’ll be installing Linux on Windows (WSL). This might seem like a lot, but it’s easier than it sounds and will save you a whole load of hassle compared to building from source. You can re-use these skills for other web development (like Hugo websites) or even server sysadmin stuff later.

Mac

You’ll be using the Terminal program. You’ll first need to install brew, there are good installation instructions here. You can then type brew install faircamp to install faircamp.

If this doesn’t work for you, another option is to use Linux in your terminal, using ‘Lima’. This blog post describes how to set up Lima (Linux Virtual Machine) on your Terminal.

On both WSL and Lima, you’ll have an option to choose from a list of different ‘flavours’ of Linux: I recommend choosing Ubuntu.

Download Faircamp

Go to this page and download the the package for the Linux distro you installed on WSL or Lima (for Ubuntu, you’ll want “Debian 12, Ubuntu 23.04” or similar).

Windows WSL

Your Windows Explorer will have a new drive on the left (under Quick Access, This PC, your hard drives, etc.) called “Linux”. This may even feature a cute penguin icon, if you’re lucky. You can drag and drop files to this.

Mac

Skip this bit if you’ve installed using brew.

On Mac, your new Linux will be installed in your Home folder, in a hidden folder called .lima. If you can’t see it, you can show hidden folders in Finder: Go > Computer > select Macintosh HD and press Shift + Command + . (period).

Linux, so fancy

Open your new Linux home folder in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder:

Ubuntu > home > and your new Linux user’s home folder will be called whatever name you chose during installation.

Prepare for Faircamp install

Make a new folder called “faircamp”, and drag and drop your Faircamp install file you just downloaded.

Windows WSL

Open Ubuntu program on Windows (you can search for it in the Start menu). When the window opens, you’ll see a “prompt”, like: yourName@ComputerName:~$

Mac

Lima: You’re just using Terminal to interact with Linux, and can follow these instructions to jump into your Linux shell. After that, all commands below should be the same.

Linux, the slinky minx

Now, you can type the “change directory” command cd to go to your new Faircamp folder (it’s case-sensitive).

cd faircamp

To see the contents of this folder, type:

ls

This “lists” everything in the current directory, so you should see the name of your the Faircamp install file. Something like faircamp_0.8.0-1+deb12_amd64.deb.

Install Faircamp

On Windows, you can just double-click the Faircamp installer download, to unzip and run it.

If you’ve run brew install faircamp, it’s already installed!

To install Faircamp, type the below – substituting the name of your install file if it’s slightly different.

sudo dpkg -i faircamp_0.8.0-1+deb12_amd64.deb

The “sudo” bit gives you Linux superpowers to do whatever you want. Sometimes if you don’t use “sudo” before a naughty little command, it gives you some random bullshit error. So try this if something doesn’t work.

Copy & paste in the shell

Windows

If you need to copy/paste the exact name of the .deb file, you can use copy/paste keyboard shortcuts in your Ubuntu. To enable this, right-click on the Ubuntu menu bar > Properties > and make sure there’s a checkmark on “Enable Ctrl key shortcuts” and “Use Ctrl+Shift+C/V as Copy/Paste”.

Mac

On Mac Terminal, you can use Command-C/V for copy/paste, as normal.

Your gorgeous music

Make sure your albums are tagged first (track numbers, embedded album art and all). You can tag your WAVs (or AIFs, or whatever else) with these free programs:

• Mp3tag for Windows and Mac
• Easytag for Linux

This is how Faircamp sees your track order, in each release.

You’re going to set up a file system that Faircamp understands, like this. Basically, it’s:

faircamp > Artist > Release > your WAVs & album art.

New folders

Go back to good old Windows Explorer or Mac Finder, open Linux and open your “faircamp” folder again.

1. Create a new folder and give it your artist name (e.g., “Meljoann”, if you are the great artiste known as Meljoann).
2. Inside your Artist folder, create a folder for each release you want on your Faircamp, and name them the same as your release.
3. Drag and drop the corresponding WAV files into each Release folder.

All set up!

Tweaking and personalising

Faircamp uses ENO files to put all your website’s configuration (bits of text, images, download options, etc.). You can edit ENO files in any text editor.

You can use your default text editor (making sure the file is saved with .eno on the end, not .txt or whatever). You can also use text editors in the shell (e.g., nano, emacs, vim), but in the long run it might be easier to install VS Code for your WSL (Windows), or XCode on Mac. It’s been a while since I used XCode, but you should be able to open your Linux files in it from your Finder.

Otherwise, the easiest option is to use nano. However it’s a little fiddly, as there’s no default way to select text using the mouse. But I’ll include some nano instructions below.

Windows: VS Code on WSL

If you want to install VS Code, follow these instructions for Ubuntu. OK, the instructions are a bit crap for beginners. But basically, you will download a .deb installation file as before, and use a command called apt to install it and some other dependencies.

First, cd into your home folder by typing this:

cd ~

Then you can run this command:

code .

This opens VS Code, letting you create and write in some files we’re gonna need to tweak.

In VS Code, you’ll see a pane on the left with your Artist and Release folders. Right-click on your Artist folder and select “New file”. You’re going to create two files. Call them:

catalog.eno

and

artist.eno

The manual has examples for both Catalog and Artist eno files.

Your albums, or whatever the kids are making these days

Now, you’re going to do the same thing for your “Releases”.

In each release folder, create an ENO file called:

release.eno

The manual has an example Release eno file here.

To change the order your releases are displayed in, use the “date” field in your release ENO.

Drag and drop each album cover art JPG into its corresponding Release folder in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder, and make sure it has the same name in the ENO file.

nano

If you’d prefer to use nano as your text editor, you can create a file in your “faircamp” directory by typing:

cd faircamp

then:

nano catalog.eno to start editing the catalog eno file.

All the nano keyboard shortcuts are written along the bottom of the screen. For example, to save the file, it’s Ctrl + O. To wrap text along the screen, it’s Ctrl + J.

Going ENO

The Faircamp manual provides a sample ‘Catalog’ ENO file, to get started. Copy and paste that into your VS Code catalog.eno and tweak away.

It also provides an example Artist ENO file, as a good starting point for your artist.eno

Go to town. ENO town.

If it’s not obvious, in the example file the red and green text bits you keep, and the black text you personalise. It probably won’t be colour coded in your text editor, but it’s easier to get the idea when you see it in the manual.

I have many sexy press shots of my incredible face

As you can see, there is a line where you can specify the name of an JPG file for your artist. This displays a gorgeous picture of you on your main Faircamp page. If you want to do this, you can drag and drop your JPG into the Faircamp folder on Windows Explorer.

Are you kidding me. I want to remain anonymous

If you don’t want an image, you can delete the whole “image:” section. Or, in case you change your mind later, you comment it out so Faircamp doesn’t see it. To turn something into a comment, add this at the start of a line:

>

So the image section, commented out, looks like:

> home_image:
> description = All four bandmembers against a bright blue sky, wearing pink velvet top-hats
> file = heston_exchange.jpg

Begging for sweet cash

You can put a “soft pay curtain” in. Technically people can still download your stuff for free, which I like, because not everyone is hella-rich.

To do this, you will add a section to the bottom of each release.eno file. The manual gives a good example here:

-- payment_info
Most easily you can transfer the money for your purchase
via my [liberapay account](https://liberapay.com/somewhatsynthwave)

Another option is supporting me through my [ko-fi page](https://ko-fi.com/satanclaus92)

If you're in europe you can send the money via SEPA, contact me at
[lila@thatawesomeartist42.com](mailto:lila@thatawesomeartist42.com) and I'll
send you the account details.

On Dec 19th I'm playing a show at *Substage Indenhoven* - you can get the
digital album now and meet me at the merch stand in december in person to give
me the money yourself as well, make sure to make a note of it though! :)
-- payment_info

As you can see, the link is in square brackets first, then in round brackets. The square brackets is what is displayed as the link text – you can put anything you want in there. The round brackets are your URL.

The </br> is just a bit of HTML code: a line break.

Physical releases & merch

You can also put links to buy your CDs or whatever. The release.eno files support putting in some HTML scripts, so you can put your Stripe or Paypal button embed in there.

You’ll be putting it in the “more” field, like this:

-- more
Written, produced, & performed by Meljoann.

*Released on 31 October, 2050.*

<script async
  src="https://js.stripe.com/...">
</script>
<stripe-buy-button
  buy-button-id="buy_btn_..."
  publishable-key="pk_live_...">
</stripe-buy-button>
<script async
  src="https://js.stripe.com/...">
</script>
<stripe-buy-button
  buy-button-id="buy_btn_..."
  publishable-key="pk_live_...">
</stripe-buy-button>

-- more

Watch that Faircamp goooo

Going back to Ubuntu (Linux) or Terminal, make sure your “working directory” is the faircamp folder you made earlier. You may have to put the whole path in, like cd ~/faircamp, cd 'C:\Users\Meljoann\Music' on Windows, or something like cd /Music/faircamp on Mac.

One handy tip: to go back one folder, you can type cd ..

When you’re “in” the faircamp folder in your Terminal, type:

faircamp --preview

Whoosh! It’ll start transcoding all your music files, and building the site. You’ll probably get some errors, but don’t worry, we’ll be fixing those later.

When it’s finished, it will automatically open a preview of your Faircamp site in your web browser.

By the way, it’s important you run faircamp --preview ONLY when you have cd-ed into your Faircamp folder, or it will try to build the site again in whatever random folder you are in.

Theme tweaks

If you want tweak your Faircamp site’s colours and stuff, you can run:

faircamp --preview --theming-widget

In your catalog.eno, you can copy and paste the code it generates in there. Also you can add a background image with:

background_image: gorgeousBackgroundImage.jpg

And copy your gorgeous background image into your Faircamp folder.

When you’ve finished tweaking, remember to run faircamp --preview again, otherwise it might upload the “theming widget” version of your site, and chaos will reign.

Getting webspace

You’ll need your own website for this a web host, with an FTP program (like Cyberduck) for uploading your files. If you don’t have this already set up, you can get free webspace with Netlify (requires a free Netlify account).

Another option for free webspace is GItHub Pages, but as far as I know that requires learning about git and version management. Which is fun, but I’ve no space to put that here!

Deploying Faircamp, to the wild Interwebs

When in your Artist directory in Ubuntu, type

ls --all

This is the “list” command you typed earlier, but with an “–all” flag to show the hidden folders (that have a period in front of them). You’ll see a folder called:

.faircamp_build

The contents of this folder is your new Faircamp website!

Go to Windows Explorer or Mac Finder:

Linux > home > yourName > faircamp > artistName

In Windows, if you can’t see the hidden .faircamp_build folder, go to View > check “Hidden items”.

In Mac, íf you haven’t already, show hidden folders with: Go > Computer > select Macintosh HD and press Shift + Command + . (period).

Select all the items and drag them to your FTP program, Netlify Site, or similar.

FTP

You’ll probably want to make a folder called “faircamp” in your website’s home directory, so you can reach your Faircamp site with https://example.com/faircamp.

Netlify

If you’re on Netlify, you go to:

• Sites > Add new site > Deploy manually
• Then you can drag and drop the contents of the .faircamp_build/ folder.
• Click on your site > Site Details > Site information > Change site name
• Then you can name your site something like https://<your name>.netlify.app

It’s alive!

Give yourself a treat today. You did great work.

A new single. Incredible.

When you release a single, you have to write a few words about it. This is put in the press release, which is then copied into blog posts by hero writers who plough through hundreds of indie artists’ tunes per day for nowt.

Here’s the nugget of pure truth I wrote for this one:

Broke is about your life under capitalism (probably), and less interestingly it’s about my life under the music industry. I appear naked in the video; to express openness, vulnerability, and as a sincere fuck-you to Big Tech’s distaste for the human body.

• You can buy or listen on Bandcamp
• Or all the big streaming sites <– this link contains tracking, so if you’re cool with that
• The video: ‘Broke’ on Peertube or on YouTube

Let’s work backwards from now, to relive the incredible events that brought me to this incredible state.

Two Incredible Singles are Released in 2022

Last year, I released two incredible singles. Secondly, Secrets.

Firstly, Rainbow Language (is for Losers). This was with support from the legends at Help Musicians. I also got some free therapy and let me tell you, I needed it.

My Incredible Album ‘H.R.’ Receives a Glowing Review in Pitchfork

In 2021, I released H.R., an album that got a good review in Pitchfork. I hardly every mention that H.R. got a great review in Pitchfork, yet here we are.

‘H.R.’ and its Sensational Singles

To celebrate my sensational album, I emitted a single called Overtime.

Then, I excreted the incredible I Quit.

Four Incredibly Stunning Music Videos from the Pitchfork-supported Album ‘H.R.’

In 2020, I released a series of videos. Funding for this was kindly provided by the Arts Council of England. Those vids were Company Retreat, O Supervisor, Business Card, and Trophy Wife.

Go on, click the links. These music videos are stunning, and hosted on Peertube so I’m not even monetising or tracking you.

I also started working with the lovely Dwayne from Butter Wouldn’t Melt, who later became my manager.

Mustics®

Around this time, I became involved with a mind-expanding new lifestyle brand called Mustics®. I am proud to say I work as an unpaid volunteer for them, to this day.

An Underappreciated Work of Pure Genius

In 2012, I finished making an album called Masterkinder: Rainbows of my Mind - Scout Hardcastle. The artwork is by Lisa Crowne, and Liezl Erasmus was the photographer. We giggled a lot.

I played a lot of gigs in drag, impersonating someone that can only be described as Scout Hardcastle. In retrospect, I don’t think that was what a move the Music Industry expected from an “emerging Irish female artist”, and I began a rapid descent into even lower depths than I had sunk to previously.

Farewell to the girls of Old Ireland

I moved to Brighton in 2012, with my partner and label-mate Brontis (aka Herv). I released the Scout Hardcastle album in 2014, on Boy Scout Audio.

In England, I had several terrible jobs: a call centre (full terrible), vintage clothes shops (nice customers, terrible boss), bartending (nice boss, some terrible customers).

Don’t worry, I get my musical revenge later – in the form of a Pitchfork-approved album, that will go on to rack up I don’t know… like 40k streams. Incredible.

A Glorious Gem of a Debut Album: ‘Squick’

Before that, in 2010 I released Squick. The artwork is again by the brilliant Lisa Crowne of A4 Sounds. Nialler9 done us a premiere.

I was living in Dublin at the time, and played lot of gigs. The lovely Freda from Poster Fish booked a fun Irish tour. They even let me on Irish telly once, which is quite funny.

A Taste-Whetting Debut EP: ‘Tour Guide’

In 2008 I put my first EP, Tour Guide up on my own website, and put it out on my label in 2009. The artwork is by my mate Sarah Mixtapes.

I made the EP while working at a nice, sadly now closed vintage clothes shop in Temple Bar called The Eager Beaver. One of my first gigs playing Tour Guide was at the local anarchist community centre, Seomra Spraoi. This later opened as a music venue called Jigsaw, also sadly now closed.

Luckily, Dublin alternative culture has now been replaced by hotels and luxury apartments no-one can afford to live in. Incredible.

Interesting Closing Remarks Regarding Myself

I make all my own music and videos in my sitting room. I run my own label called Boy Scout Audio.

I mean I could tell you some more stuff, but then there’d be nothing left for my forthcoming tell-all celebrity memoir.

This has been absolutely incredible. Goodbye.

Join my Mailing List for tour dates.

Livestreams are @ Owncast & Twitch. Calendar here.

Photo by Regan O’ Brien