The Legend of Taku-San: Part QuaranTEEN (Patreon)

Quick ask: If you don't have time to read all of this message, please hit the three bulletpoints at the bottom!

What's it like for a musician to live in quarantine during the pandemic?

This is a weird question to answer, because on one side of things — when you're at home, anyway — it's just like regular living. Full-time living in an RV, you're alone most of the time, and you work and entertain yourself inside a little box that sits in a parking space. Introvert life at it's finest!

Well, unless you're an extrovert like me. Taku-san is my home, and I love it so, but I like to get out. I had some events lined up this upcoming month of April. The first, Revision, the world's largest demoparty, was to be held over easter weekend in southern Germany. I was finally going to be able to go, thanks to a very generous ticket purchase, but as you can imagine, COVID-19 has shut that down. After Revision, I had an exhibit at VCF East, but that has also now been postponed. Lastly, there were some shows in the works, but — wait for it — pretty much everything is shut down there, too.

There's obvious socializing I miss out on, but the way this affects me specifically is that events are a great way for musicians like me to keep up appearances. I often make connections I wouldn't otherwise make at shows, I can share research and information at large gatherings, that sort of thing. Also, it affects outreach heavily. When I travel to a new area, there's a good chance I'll hit a pocket of people who haven't heard my work, and I'll sell a bunch of music that way. Not being able to sell CDs (people still buy music, hooray!) does put a sizable dent in the pocketbook.

All that said, this isn't supposed to be a post on how COVID-19 has affected me negatively. We're doing the right thing to slow the spread of COVID-19 by socially distancing and staying at home. As a pretty awesome showing of support, Bandcamp waived all revenue shares for musicians on Friday (20 Mar), meaning that after paypal/credit fees, 100% of the revenue went to the artist. Even though the site was hit with 15 times the usual traffic which caused some understandable slowness, and my mailing list message didn't make it out to most people until the event was over, I did pretty okay during this event, and it's helping a great deal. It funded a ramen shopping spree at the local asian market, that's for sure!

You know what else is helping me out a great deal? You. Over the past few years, I've been working to make sure I have a bit more stability during times of crisis, and it's working out. I've got food, a bed, a place to work, and a roof over my head. Also, I'm not sick or dead! Here's a shot of my work-from-home nook:

To boot, during the bandcamp blitz, I dropped a subtle hint about Patreon. A handful of folks signed up; thank you, and welcome! It's with the support of "viewers like you" that I'm able to maintain the other major part of my income here. Please spread the news to your friends ♥️

There are three big things I'm trying to do to make the most of being cooped up:

1. A closed office means significantly less distractions, directly translating to more work and commissions getting done. My 8910 interview transcription and some tunes are coming along; expect something very soon!

2. You know we have a Discord, right? If you go to your app settings here on Patreon and connect your account, you'll get an automatic invite. It's a great way to chat about chiptunes and nerdy stuff, and feel a form of community when you can't get out as much.

3. For a little bit more of a personal touch, I've decided to start livestreaming again. For now it's variety retro livestreaming, playing requests from the audience, that sort of thing. Soon there might be longplays and creative/music composing streams. Follow here! I love chatting with people while playing games. Here's the cute little livestream PC:

My supporter and long time friend James donated a motherboard/CPU combo, pal and patron Glowbush donated a picoPSU, and our supporting museum donated a solar panel.

Thanks for reading this update, and thanks to everyone who's supporting during the pandemic. I hope everyone is staying safe and sane out there!