Welcome to everyone’s favorite time of year again - that time where everyone can cozy up next to their signed Arum poster hung up above the fireplace, boot up Instagram, and post their Spotify Wrapped stats to prove their Arum fan supremacy:
Speaking of Spotify Wrapped…
I got my Artist Wrapped stats for 2024 and wanted to compare growth against my 2023 stats (eagle-eyed Arum-heads will remember that the very first edition of this newsletter started out by talking about my 2023 stats):
These stat changes are insane, especially considering they don’t take into account my latest song, Lush, and the massive growth of that song in such a short amount of time. Since being released on November 1, 2024, Lush has been streamed on Spotify over 10,000 times - much more than any other song I’ve released in that short of an amount of time. As it turns out, the social media crowd also loves that track:
Before I started releasing music seriously in 2023, I had a real desire to make and release more music. I didn’t have the time to make or release music frequently at all (my last released track at that point was 2019’s Bon Jovi, a song that won Phuture Collective’s Too Much remix contest), and I wanted more than anything to just see what my life would be like if I had more time to take music seriously. The answer was something more wonderful than I ever imagined - the possibility to play dingy bars with drunk patrons aggressively yelling and throwing beer bottles at me as I stole the DJ’s decks to mix Stardust’s Music Sounds Better with You with Modjo’s Lady.
My first goal in 2024 was to hit 50,000 annual streams, which seemed lofty at the time. Once I blew past it in about June, I upped my goal to 100,000 streams, which seemed lofty at the time. Once I blew past it in August, I made my final goal - 100,000,000 streams, which seemed easy at the time. Although one-hundred million streams didn’t happen this year, I’m thankful for each and every single person who listened to my music this year. It’s true what they say - you all are the real heroes.
Last note - while it’s true that streaming numbers don’t mean too much in the grand scheme of things and the number of true, supporting fans is much more important in the long run, it can also be true that big number give arum dopamine
Speaking of New Music…
Some of you may have noticed that Lush is a bit different from my previously-released music (it’s good). I’m currently working on rebranding myself from a retrowave artist to a house artist - the differences in these genres would make a medieval peasant’s eyes bleed, but the general idea is that I want to make music that’s more varied and especially more energetic in a live environment. While I’ve had a ton of fun making retro-sounding dance/synthwave music, it’s time to move on to producing something completely different - retro-sounding dance/house music. Hope you all stay for the ride!
Speaking of Bandcamp Friday…
Not much to say here - today is Bandcamp Friday, meaning if you buy my music on Bandcamp, I receive 100% of the purchase instead of the usual 70%. This is the best day to really support me, so if you’ve ever wanted to buy an ipod touch for $150 on eBay so you can listen to my music in a less-convenient format, then it’s your lucky day, cowboy. Here’s the link.
Speaking of Playlist Picks…
Light selection this time! Check out the ever-growing Arum Online newsletter playlist here to listen to a mixture of Indian soul, psychedelic pop, garage rock, and Korean alternative:
Peter Cat Recording Co. - Memory Box
Enjoy this track in the nice cozy freezing weather by cracking open a modelo and day drinking out in your yard, baby
Mcbaise - Ball Pit
As a friend of mine once said, “any song with an organ is a great song”. True? No. Here? Yes.
Nate Mercereau - There You Are
Are you still day drinking out in the yard with a Modelo? Time to switch that up to vodka in your best friend’s dark and dank basement, baby
Shadow Community - Restless Song
A much-needed glass of sparkling lemon water to nurse your hangover from the previous couple songs
Holiday Merch Plug
buy a poster they make great stocking stuffers
Speaking of Upcoming Gigs…
December 6 - Arum Plays the WCW Showcase at Color Club! Last gig of the year!
Speaking of My Upcoming Releases…
Here’s my (painfully tentative) release schedule for the next couple months:
The New 10: 01/03/2025
“The first song to be released in 2025 by any artist in the entire world.”
London: 02/07/2025
“The second song to be released in 2025 by any artist in the entire world”
Stimulus: 03/14/2025
surely somebody else will have released music by march
Thanks for reading this newsletter and for a great year - I’m elated with my growth for this year and can’t wait for bigger and better things in 2025. Send in a question to be answered in the beginning of the next newsletter, and if you wanna get me a gift for Christmas, just play Lush 100,000,000 times. Lastly, remember - A Stream for Arum is a Stream for Mankind.