Independent music editorial
Artist features, interviews, reviews, and perspective chosen by Indie Music Bus.
Not touring removes travel, booking, and road logistics. It does not remove the need for discovery, connection, fan contact, and direct support. Those jobs still exist, but the artist has to organize them differently.
AI can play very different roles in a recording. A yes-or-no label tells us very little about what the people behind the music actually created, performed, directed or decided.
People who could never get very far into music creation before can now use AI to develop surprisingly complete songs and demos. Some are already turning to real musicians, singers, arrangers and producers to take those ideas further. If that market grows, will musicians be ready for it?
Why Folk Music Is Special Folk music is special because it does not need much distance between the artist and the listener. A voice, a guitar, and a story can be enough. The songs often come from ordinary life: work, family, travel, loss, love, and the places people call home. It also carries memory. Old…
As generated music becomes abundant, the people who can actually write, play, sing, and perform may be able to charge a premium. Streaming-first artists can build a different premium around visible authorship and craft. I only recently started thinking seriously about what AI music might give back to musicians. As generated recordings become abundant, AI…
Jill Govan’s “GALAXY” is a relaxed love song built around the rush of becoming completely absorbed in someone. Released as a single in 2026, the four-minute track uses stars, heaven, and outer space to describe a relationship that has lifted the narrator out of her ordinary surroundings. The song moves at a fairly slow pace…
Substack has become a real place for music discovery. Writers, artists, listeners, labels, and small publications are sharing records they care about, often with more context than a quick post can provide. This collection gathers artists and releases I discovered through that community. Some came through a recommendation, some through an article or conversation, and…
Listen, discover something new, and support the artists directly when you can.
I first heard Alexandra Kay taking requests on Facebook Live. What came next was not one lucky break, but years of work. The first time I heard Alexandra Kay, she was on Facebook Live with her band. As I remember it, they were sitting around in what looked like a living room, taking song requests…