[A Petition] Help Promote the Homestuck Music Team!

[konec0]

A petition? What?

You see the top banner? The one that MSPA has outgrown (so, so proud)? The one that's being used for the Kickstarter right now? I'm proposing a petition asking Andrew to use that banner to promote the Homestuck music team. (...after the Kickstarter ends, of course.)

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Sweet! So the Homestuck albums are gonna be on the front page?

Um... actually, no. Specifically, I'm asking for the banner to be used to promote the music team's non-Homestuck music. To wit:

Michael Guy Bowman has an independently-produced solo album being sold on Bandcamp, called "Ithaca", released in January of this year. If you liked "Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido" at all, you'll love it. He's planning to release a Ithaca remix album later this year as well. He's also formed a band with fellow music team members Erik "Jit" Scheele and Clark "Plazmataz" Powell, as well as fanmusicians Mark Nabors and Riki a.k.a. Astro Kid. They recently put in a performance at South by Southwest. (It was great.)

Thomas Ferkol, otherwise known as Eidolon Orpheus, has an album out on Bandcamp as well, called "The Earthern Scar", which combines lush orchestral soundscapes with sweet electric guitar. It's a familiar style. You'll probably remember it from Bargaining with the Beast or Infinity Mechanism. He's working on another album as well, "The Liminal Descent", which will be a sequel to Earthern Scar.

Jeremy Iamurri (a.k.a. Solatrus) and Nick Smalley have teamed up to form a band called Block Monster. Recently, they crafted the soundtrack to a little game called "Starhaven". Jeremy is also working on two more game soundtracks: one for the game "Spiritwake", the other for "Starbound" (in conjunction with fellow team member Toby "Radiation" Fox!), so look out for those! (Incidentally, you may know Solatrus from solo album "Prospit and Derse", and Nick from Ohgodwhat and Stargaze. They've also worked before on tracks such as Miasmajesty and Gilded Sands.)

Robert J! Lake, who you might remember from The Beginning of Something Really Excellent and that song that gave everybody nightmares and not being able to sleep in a casino, composed the soundtrack to a charming game called "Omegalodon", in which you play a giant shark that destroys buildings. Repeat: a giant shark. That destroys buildings. Needless to say, the soundtrack is awesome.

Robert Blaker, known elsewhere as Screamcatcher, has a trio of albums out on his Bandcamp page: "Pathology", "Do Without" and "Home". He is an amazing producer, and you should definitely check it out if you're into electronic music at all. In Homestuck, Robert's known best for the (note: unofficial!) "Tomb of the Ancestors" album, as well as perennial favourite Upward Movement (Dave Owns).

Svix is probably one of the lesser-known members of the team, but no less impressive. His tracks for Homestuck include the chiptune-esque gems Trepidation and Havoc He has an album released on Bandcamp, called "Induction". Check it out!

These are only the works that have been released so far so there may be MORE IN THE FUTURE??????!?!?

[#tw: non-Homestuck]

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You dare defile my front page with non-Homestuck stuff?! RAAAAAAGE!!

Dude did you not read my trigger warning. Besides, that banner's always been an ad anyway, so technically your front page has always been "defiled" with non-Homestuck stuff up till now. But now, it'll (hopefully) be an ad advertising the stuff that was done by the people who did Homestuck music!... damn that was a long sentence.

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Okay, fine. But why are you doing this? Why the petition?

Three reasons:

1) They deserve it. If you've been tracking the Homestuck Bandcamp... actually no, if you've been reading the comic with your audio on at ALL, you'll know that pretty much everything these guys put out is absolute quality. However...

2) Despite the sheer talent the music team has, they're woefully underappreciated in the fandom. They need the exposure. There are fans who think the music team is one person. There are fans who DON'T KNOW THERE'S A MUSIC TEAM. And even among those who do, only a small number of them know anything about the music team's other endeavours, and only a tiny fraction of those actually buy these albums. Which brings me to my final point...

3) A lot of you are probably thinking now, "okay, but I already buy the Homestuck music; why should I buy their other stuff as well?" The answer is simple: gratitude. Think of it as a thank-you for contributing so much quality music to Homestuck. It's important to remember that these are people with other artistic works besides Homestuck; shouldn't we thank them by helping them to succeed at their endeavours? And so they can continue to inundate the world (actually more like the internet) with awesome music!

...okay maybe that's a bit of a lofty goal. Let's at least help them not-starve so they don't have to go "hey, what's food." GOOD PLAN?

Good plan.

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But... what's in it for me?

Need I remind you that this music is made by the Homestuck music team folks? (read: great music for cheap!!?!?!?!!)

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So how will this work?

Simple: just make a post in this thread with signed in bold! Optionally, you may also specify the name you wish to be identified as; if nothing is specified I will just use your forum username.

I'm aiming for a minimum of 500 at least, with an upper limit of no-upper-limit because the more the merrier. I'm setting October 1st, 2012 as the deadline - coinciding (almost!) with the end of the Kickstarter. I will then be emailing Andrew personally with the details of the petition and our request, as well as the namelist of people who signed the petition. And then we can work things out from there.

Let's do this, guys. The music team really deserves our support. And heck, we can raise $700,000 in one and a half days; we can totally do this.

Thanks in advance!

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Signed! What else can I do?

Plenty! For example:
- Buy the albums!
- Signal boost this on Tumblr! Or any other social networking thing you might have. Maybe even ALL OF THEM??
- Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! TELL EVERYONE. (About the albums. And also this petition??)
- HAVE A NICE DAY!... that... that wasn't really like, a Thing you can do, with regards to the petition, it was just like... have a nice day regardless, okay?

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People who have signed so far:

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Mai Yishan (konec0)
Well Manicured Man
Astro Kid
Luke "Xzaz" Bledsoe
Hanyaan
Robin Sillars
Touchy
i300
Khold
SNHigginsss

Lcheeseboy
Slogbait
Ducky
Kasu
Nimz
-Benedict
Elaine "OJ" Wang
Maxey McSwain
seastormjt
gabberforth

cheesewithnutella
ahhyes-thescalenetriangle
latulas-rad-shades
MaskedClaus
cryonicDjinni
VeritasUnae
Gilligan-Pantyhose
ALLOFTHEUSERNAMES
Cespinarve
UNDERWATER BASKETWEAVING

Imbrog
chaoticDreamer
Shadolith
Glen D. Sanger
Omar B.
Liza
MrOwn1
concaveWizard
Fish
Limanya

felicitousArtisan
kaoticAntagonist
Wacom Guy
hellaciousHappenstance (Batman?)
Elanor Pam
Neesee
Pheonix561
David "Dirtiest" Dycus
Vladith
WTFstuck

Kitaruheart
Kyntello
undyingSwordsman
nefariousRenegade
draconicAlgorithm
JayShay
Jujux
Pemm
applefroggie
sirbuttsalot

S-Guy
DeathDefied
DesiredDelusion
KievaNightwing
thischick25
wistfulAbandon
JonahSanctferum
AgentSAMa
Seiyaku
ellipsesificate

TimeToDai
thereminBeholder
Arsenicum
VibrantPareidolia
temporalPeregrine
facelessBUS1N3SSM4N
breezyBrisa
cranialBibliognost
Allen "MegaRock" Slone
ArmsAreLoud

Sixteen
Holly
vanquishedValiant
techloveArtist
Ranter
Luun
Naristar
El Ninja Monkey
shudder
Daysi

ravemastaj
yetanotherasian
Nicky
Zalonar
Raikonos
CrimsonChaos
Triskelli
sequenceTraveler
Deanna T
SweetBroseph

Maria Y.
reverseswirl
braincurd
germyfrinkles
geronimo-gal
Stel Winters
Jericu Boritox
ocarines
fatecantberepaired
ethreain

Even Makara
aurapaladin
evergreenWanderer
seekercat
Ambystoma Maculatum
Bearstronaut
theAmuzing
Raidell
Varkarrus
MetalGlen

Havakazoo
1angelette
Minty-Pixie
heresthemail
Joe "DoubleJoeSeven" Ouellet
badassPinnacle
Lune
Elycien
Pomegranata
annyanimous

zealousRebel
RetrieveArmsFrom
FanczorEric
WordsHere
mistytpednaem
Obscurity
corvidaetales
Mags
mistspinner
hyelium

chivalrousGambler
Wessolf27
trueBug
researcherWisemon
gluedGlue
TimelessGallifreyan
Syth
myceliumCirrus
Vanymstorm
Karhs12

harlequinNeuroses
birillification
nuclearmongoose
redheadindandyshiningarmour
Timepainter
Avinoch
mas369
rottenTaxidermist
Wonderlamy

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p.s. mods I don't know if this is the right place to put this thing if it's not please tell me THANK YOU!!!

[Well Manicured Man]

Signed: Well Manicured Man

[Astro Kid]

signed

[Touchy]

Signed
~Touchy

[i300]

signed

This is really a great idea. All the music team guys are really inspiring to me. As an aspiring musician it is so cool to see people doing what they love and succeeding.

[Khold]

Signed

[SNHigginsss]

signed

[Lcheeseboy]

SIGNED, because the music team is good people.

[Slogbait]

Signed.

[MSDucky]

signed
-- Ducky
Good luck. The music is just as much a part of my life as the comic, itself.

[ShoutyMcNubs]

Signed

-Kasu

[Nimz]

Nimz I am - signed (sealed and delivered pending)
You had me at hello. Wait, there wasn't a 'hello' in that post. Regardless, this would be a really cool thing to see happen.

[orngjce223]

Signed by the one 'n only Elaine "OJ" Wang.

[konec0]

Thanks for the response, you guys! This is actually moving faster than I thought it would @u@

EDIT to OP: Xzaz has informed me that I completely forgot about Svix. See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. The music team really needs more exposure.
Also: OJ informed me that Jeremy is cancelling the album "Substance". Whoosp. He is, however, working on two game soundtracks, so look out for those!

[seastormjt]

Signed

[-Benedict]

Signed is a thing I just said, because yo okay all of these people are awesome people and this is a fact about the music team.

[Owl]

I don't.. really understand. Can someone explain this more in-depth before I blindly sign this?
Like........................ I can't word this without sounding dumb and possibly starting an argument that doesn't need to happen.
I love the music team and music as much as the next fan, hell my whole ipod and itunes is literally all HS music...

But why exactly... independent work? Why not just promote the MSPA music/the team by informing more people?
Why do we as fans owe gratitude if they make money when we buy MSPA albums? (How much I have no idea, or even if they do. I was just always under the impression that they were paid at least a little for creating music. As for the Art team I have no idea.. haha) Like I am like ???? right now. I rather have the homepage ad-free to be completely honest.
And at least the previous ads helped make money for hosting and other things(?) - What things I have no idea, I am just assuming here.
Why advertise for free other than "its a cool thing to do for these guys"? So yeah. Just confused, I would like some more explanation please... Not trying to start anything.

[dundee998]

signed.

and dude, just get adblock. people want to do this because it will make it easier for the music team to work on music if they don't have to pull multiple jobs, and also because it's a nice thing to do for people who have contributed a huge amount to the Homestuck experience!

[sjasogun]

Signed. HS music has always been extremely awesome and is among my favorites. You have my support!

[konec0]

I don't.. really understand. Can someone explain this more in-depth before I blindly sign this?
Like........................ I can't word this without sounding dumb and possibly starting an argument that doesn't need to happen.
I love the music team and music as much as the next fan, hell my whole ipod and itunes is literally all HS music...

But why exactly... independent work? Why not just promote the MSPA music/the team by informing more people?
Why do we as fans owe gratitude if they make money when we buy MSPA albums? (How much I have no idea, or even if they do. I was just always under the impression that they were paid at least a little for creating music. As for the Art team I have no idea.. haha) Like I am like ???? right now. I rather have the homepage ad-free to be completely honest.
And at least the previous ads helped make money for hosting and other things(?) - What things I have no idea, I am just assuming here.
Why advertise for free other than "its a cool thing to do for these guys"? So yeah. Just confused, I would like some more explanation please... Not trying to start anything.

A valid question. "Why not just promote Homestuck music?"

I'd like to say first that this is my own reason for starting this petition; other people will probably have their own reasons for supporting/not supporting it. So with that disclaimer out of the way...

Homestuck music is not something that simply pops into existence. You know this; I know this. Heck, at some level everyone knows this. But it's not often acknowledged. What do I mean by that? Picture the following scenario:

You're playing some sweet music from a video game, say, Bioshock. Your roommate walks in. He asks you, "dude, sweet music, what's this song?" And you say, "Oh, it's from Bioshock."

How likely is it that that person would ask "yes, but who made it?"

His question's been answered so there's no need for him to dig further. It just gets filed under this label of "Bioshock Music". Who actually made it? Dunno, it's "Bioshock Music". (The answer is probably Garry Schyman, btw.)

The same problem exists with Homestuck music; everything gets filed under this gigantic label of "Homestuck Music". It's even worse, because even if you DO ask "who made it" the answer is... the "Homestuck Music Team". So everyone gets filed under THAT label of "Homestuck Music Team". But the music team isn't some ethereal music-making force (cool as that would be); it's made of actual, living, breathing people.

Now picture the following scenario. Let's say tomorrow, Homestuck ends, for whatever reason (obviously won't happen, but just entertain me for a bit, here). Andrew decides to focus on something else; music is not involved. The music team goes home.

What happens to them then? Well, they'll (probably) continue making music, but they won't have the audience they had before; that audience that goes under the "Homestuck fandom" label. What then? Will they fade back into obscurity? Do you think they deserve that? And even WITH that audience, some of them are struggling right now - financially or otherwise.

Remember that they aren't just the "Homestuck Music Team"; they are "musicians who contribute to Homestuck". If the fandom really thinks the music is so great, shouldn't we recognize the talent of the people behind it?

And that's the fundamental idea behind this petition. You're free to not-subscribe to it or subscribe to it as you wish. And again, a reminder that I don't claim to speak for everyone signing this petition!

Thanks for your time~

[MaskedClaus]

Signed because they really deserve it. I didn't know about some of these albums before seeing this thread...

[cryonicDjinni]

Sounds like a cool idea to me.
Signed!

[VeritasUnae]

oh dear lord signeeeeed

[Gilligan-Pantyhose]

Let's make this happen! Signed!!

[ALLOFTHEUSERNAMES]

signed!! c: