The journey continues, even though I’ve momentarily paused new releases. June will be a more favorable month; I’m going to use April and May to squeeze every last drop out of the songs already released—much like beekeepers do when they remove the wax (made by bees to hold the honey) from the frames during extraction to press it and get even more honey out.
From constantly dealing with curators, promoters, journalists, and various industry figures, I’m realizing that almost everyone gives the same compliments and, roughly speaking, the same critiques. To be honest, given my personality, the criticism affects me more and more—especially when it echoes doubts I already had internally. “The track lacks dynamics,” “you should have come up with something to make it unique,” “it has an old sound, I’m looking for something more modern,” “it sounds like a good demo but not a final version,” and the most popular one: “it didn’t hook me!” Once, I would have taken it personally. Now I just say: “whatever!” At the end of the day, I know the audio isn’t perfect, and I understand why they reject it. For curators, influencers, and music journalists, reputation is everything; it’s logical that they’re looking for top-tier products to promote. Regardless, I keep moving forward. Meanwhile, together with the site admin, I’ve made some changes: the issue with fake sign-ups should be resolved, and we’ve prepped the site for the new June releases.
In the meantime, I’m still dealing with total assholes. There aren’t many of them, but they pop up cyclically, and the “best” part is they all want to land on their feet like some fucking Olympic gymnast! I’ve mentioned the accountant who messed up my mother’s succession; by filing it late, it cost me 1,159 euros. He’s supposed to pay me back, but so far, nothing. On January 5th, I reported a leak from the ceiling to the building manager (I live on the top floor). We had a meeting, decided to redo the roof terrace, but did the manager open an insurance claim so the damages would be covered? NO. I had to tell her myself after a neighbor who’s a lawyer suggested it… anyone can manage a building like that—even a child—if all you do is absolutely nothing! Even the contractor for the roof assured me the ceiling wouldn’t be an issue. Last week I asked for an update, and he told me he was waiting for the manager’s okay because it requires a separate quote and cost. So much for my ceiling “not being a problem.”
These people should spend their lives suffering. I don’t want them to die; I want to see them suffer. I’ve always respected them, even more than I should have, and this is how they treated me. I even had to explain to the manager who the fuck I was because she hadn’t realized. What pieces of shit. I wish them the same treatment they gave me, though it wouldn’t matter because they’re at an age where they’ll never change; they’re assholes and assholes they’ll remain. I hope to never deal with them again, starting with that accountant.
Get everything in writing, formalize everything, and report them or have your lawyers send cease and desist letters to people like this. You have to be aggressive and rude—that’s the one thing I regret about my upbringing. Life has always shown me that those who yell, who threaten lawsuits, who raise their voices, and who cause a scene (without physical aggression, let’s be clear) are often served first and with care, just to stop them from being a pain in the ass or causing damage. That’s my advice for winning almost every time: the “crying baby” technique. Otherwise, there’s always the “thug technique”: act like a mobster and bring some shady people with you. You’ll see how well they treat you then, because even a piece of shit cares about their own safety. A broken nose carries weight. A torched car does too. If I were a criminal, that 1,159 euros the Italian State took from me would have been reimbursed by the accountant that same day. Luckily for him, I’m an honest, naive, dumbass citizen. Only I know how much I’d like to take a club to them.
Anyway, enough talking about human garbage. If you’re a fan of anime themes, search for “julian’s anime list” on Spotify. It’s 101 tracks that struck a chord with me, including old Italian versions of classic anime and the songs I’ve released so far!
Happy listening.