Click on a question below to jump to its answer…
Why are you giving away your music for free? Don’t you think it’s worth anything?
How can you afford to do this? Don’t you want to make your living with music?
I don’t quite understand how this site is organized. Where is the song I heard last week?
Can I really have any of these songs for free?
Can I distribute your songs to my friends?
Could I chop up your song and make my own thing with it?
I have a project that needs music, and I was wondering if you could provide it.
I really like what you’re doing. How can I help you out?
Is your music for sale online, like on iTunes?
How can we start working together?
Why can’t I hear your songs? Is your website broken?
Why are you giving away your music for free? Don’t you think it’s worth anything?
I’m giving you my music specifically because I think it’s worth something! To be honest, I’m getting pretty happy with the quality of my music, and I want more than anything to share it. But I also have to face reality, which is that not too many people know me yet. Would you pay money – even just a dollar – to download a track from somebody you’d never heard of? Maybe a cumbersome, lo-fi 30 second sample would change your mind?
The point is that I want you to connect with my music, and it seems foolish to put up barriers and try to keep you away from what I want you to hear. At the same time, I put a lot of my own money into producing these albums, and I want to make that back, so the albums themselves are for sale. But the singles, tracks in progress, and unmastered tracks are free to download, and I want you to have them!
How can you afford to do this? Don’t you want to make your living with music?
Well, I’m no millionaire, and of course I’d love to earn my livelihood this way. I will too, someday. And one of the steps on that path is letting people get to know my music and me, and this is the best way I can think of to do that.
For money, I have composed video game soundtracks for AddictingGames.com and Shockwave.com in San Francisco, and translated between Russian and English at Lavalingua. I lovelovelove making soundtracks for fractal zooms for the Fractal Foundation, and there’s some money in that too, when it gets licensed. And of course I’ve taught music lessons, both privately and at Raskob Day School in Oakland.
Who are you, anyway?
My name is Daniel Wolfe, and I’ve played around with music and writing as far back as I can remember. I was born in New Mexico, grew up on the hop between Albuquerque and Geneva, Switzerland, earned a degree in Russian at Grinnell College in Iowa, and lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, before moving out to Berkeley, California, where I am now. I have always wanted to create beautiful things and share them, and I hope that my work makes a connection with you.
I’m not sure I understand quite how this site is organized. Where is the song I heard last week?
Well, first off there are those sliding pictures at the top of each page – those are clickable, if you didn’t know, and will take you all around the site. There is also a static table of contents box on the right side of the page, if you prefer.
The site itself is of course based around my music. Singles, demos, works in progress, as well as random bloviations on life, the universe, and everything, are found on the Blog.
Best, mostly-finished tracks from the current project I’m working on are found on Work In Progress.
You can buy my albums and support me in this calculated madness at the WolfeStore.
Check out my fractal videos, music videos, and narcissism on Videos and Photos.
And see some of my video game soundtrack work at Video Game Soundtracks.
Can I really have these songs for free?
Yes! I am giving them to you in the hope that they will resonate with you, and that they will become part of your life. I can’t imagine a better outcome of this experiment than the pleasure and honor of people all around the world connecting with my music.
When you get down to it, I’m not giving you a song. I’m actually asking you for the most valuable thing in the world – your time. I figure I’d better have something pretty special to warrant asking you for that, or else I’m the worst kind of thief.
Can I distribute your songs to my friends?
Are you kidding? I’d be thrilled! My only caveat is that you keep my name on it, and not make money off my work, which is why I’ve licensed my work through a Creative Commons license. If you want to use my music in a commercial enterprise, please contact me and we’ll come to an arrangement.
Could I chop up your song and make my own thing with it?
Sure. I love seeing what people come up with. I’d love to hear it when you’re done, because it might inspire me in new directions, too. Only, please don’t make money with it or take my name away from it (see above).
I have a project that needs music, and I was wondering if you could provide it.
Yup.
I really like what you’re doing. How can I help you out?
Well, I like you too! Telling friends who may be interested is always a great start, and very much appreciated, and you can always buy some albums at the WolfeStore. Tell your friends, buy some music, give it away, come see me play… you know the drill.
Is your music for sale online, like on iTunes?
Yup, kinda. Ferns is on there, but Blue Book is not, and I’ve not really been happy with the service I use to put my stuff up on big name stores like that. Finding a better way to do it is on my list of things to do.
How can we start working together?
Well, get in touch! Contact.
Why can’t I hear your songs? Is your website broken?
There are several possible reasons that I can think of: 1) Your internet connection may be too slow. If you’re using dial-up, there is no chance that you’ll be able to hear the songs streaming live. However, you can still download the songs by clicking the “Download Free” link by each song, and then listen to it on your computer later. 2) Your speakers may be off, or you may not have speakers. Or worse, something wrong with the sound drivers on your computer. Are you able to hear anything at all? For instance, could you play a CD? 3) This site’s mp3 player may be acting funny with your browser. I regularly test the site’s usability and am pretty good about catching errors, but still they crop up from time to time. If you notice a broken song that persists in being broken, please contact me privately and I’ll get on it right away!
What is the meaning of life?
As far as I can tell, I think this whole show is about finding and following your own path with the most amount of kindness and the least amount of damage to you or those around you.
If, on the way to your goals, you’re plowing down everyone around you, you’re sinning against your community. But if, through cowardice or sloth, you’re not following your path, I think you’re committing a pretty big sin against yourself.
Anyway, following my path without damaging anyone else is pretty much what I’m trying to do with this project. And thanks for helping me out along the way.
