Greetings Gunn Runner
Is Black Friday an ethical holiday? Overcoming fear is the theme of a new song inspired by the hobbit. Top 10 songs on Spotify.
It's all on my monthly update, Celtfather Unkilted, show #287.
The podcast is brought to you by my amazing Patrons in the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon. I have some new subscribers, and I hope to make this an even more important part of my general promotion in the weeks ahead.
0:42 – SHOWS PLANNED FOR THE COMING MONTH
DEC 1: Coffee with The Celtfather @ 11 AM EST
DEC 5: Grant Park Farmer's Market @ 9 AM – Noon
DEC 8: Coffee with The Celtfather @ 11 AM EST
DEC 15: Season 9 Finale Coffee with The Celtfather @ 11 AM EST
DEC 16: Celtfather Live @ 7 PM EST
1:14 – MUSINGS: The Ethics of Black Friday
I'm pretty confident that you know all about Black Friday. Now, we also have Cyber Monday. These are two days when people open up their wallets and many businesses offer HUGE discounts.
I confess I am very torn by those holidays. On the one hand, I have my own business. CD sales are still one of the big ways I make money. My Patreon needs to be twice what it is for me to remove my dependence on CD and merch sales.
On the other hand is consumerism. We create so much waste. I'm not even gonna go into what that waste does to our environment and its effect on climate change.
One of the things I love about the new digital revolution is I can potentially create music and make a living without adding to the waste. One day I hope to sell out all my CDs. Then I will just release them on a limited basis, for those who truly love the media. My storage shelves will be mostly empty.
The Christmas holiday doesn't help. It's all about spending. It bothered me a lot more back in the 90s when I first heard about Buy Nothing Day.
That day was created in response to the consumerism. It's on the very same day as Black Friday. “Don't buy” is the message.
Back around 2001, it became possible to accept credit cards at gigs. But at the time, I was $15K in debt. All because of MY irresponsible use of credit cards.
It got me questioning. Should I accept credit card payments…and potentially have you, my customer, go into debt because of my products?
Eventually, I decided you should be responsible for yourself. But at the same time is that cop out?
This is one of those ethical dilemmas.
I was talking recently with people about ethics in healthcare. The question was raised: should a parent have full control of their child's healthcare? Do they know what's best for their child?
The quick answer is yes. I know what's best for my daughters.
But that comes from my privileged, fairly healthy family background. A parent who is strung out on drugs, sick, or poor or in abusive relationship. They might not be healthy enough to do what is best for their child.
There are so many nuances. There isn't one right answer. It's each different for each person.
My biggest complaint with corporations is that in order to be successful, they need to do what will make the most-profit for their business. That sounds reasonable. They should be allowed to make money freely, without government interference.
That is until you realize that they can dump sewage into our water, poison our air, and destroy our environment. They can murder people and not be culpable.
Because they are a business. The actions of the business will not financially impact the owners of that business.
Reminds of McDonalds: “Would you like to Supersize that?”
That phrase made them boatloads of money. The cost was the increased obesity of their customers.
It took regulations to stop them from using that simple sales phrase. Sure it made them more money. But was it ethical?
We are all manipulated by businesses trying to make a buck. That's why Black Friday changed from businesses saying, “Huh. We get a lot more sales on the day after Thanksgiving” to “Let's capitalize on that and start a holiday!”
I decided not to do a Black Friday sale this year. I thought about it. And I plan to put together a sale on my website soon. I'm not abandoning sales altogether.
But I'm torn.
If nothing else, I think it's important to think about what's right. The ethics of sales. Just because you think it's fine. Doesn't mean it's ethically right. It could be. But think about it.
CELTFATHER MONTHLY UPDATES
6:34 – PODCASTS
- New logo. Songs & Stories
- Wild Mountain Thyme, Coast.
- Mingulay Boat Song, Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer, Jiggle Your Old Bones
- Rankin & Bass' 1977 animated movie The Hobbit. Song about overcoming fear.
- Come Adventure With Me
- New format
- Playlist focused, easier with all the cover songs
Stories on Patreon: Still need to release my Conjuration Stories. I had a theme epiphany
11:27 – VIDEOS
- Wednesdays at 11 AM Eastern.
- Last episode of Season 9 is Weds, Dec 15
- Season 10 gonna do songs from CDs
Watch “Blink” Video inspired by Doctor Who.
12:12 – IN THE STUDIO
Selcouth progress
Trying to record “Blink” and “Come Adventure With Me”
“Yuletide” released on Nov 29. On playlists.
14:47 – MERCH
Plan to release Christmas ornaments soon.
Re-release of CDs
Remember, subscribe to my mailing list, you get a discount code to save 15%. Patrons save 25%!
– WEBSITES
I made a special page for people who take my business card and use the QR code. It'll be interesting to see if this works. But the basic idea is the card will give you a quick link to listen to music, subscribe to my podcast and mailing list. It's similar to what you'll find at Celtfather.net but even more focused.
I updated lyrics for the Irish Song Lyrics website, including:
16:17 – STATS
Mailing list subscribers = 1152 is up from 1151
Celtic Music Magazine = 4100 is up from 4087
YouTube Subscribers = 5578 is up 26 from 5552
Facebook Likes = 3820 is up from 3817
Instagram = 1915 is up from 1900
Spotify followers: 1888 is up 19 from 1869
# Number of listens on Spotify: 4901 is up from 3153
LATEST SPOTIFY ALBUM STATS
Most-popular songs on Spotify:
- “The Widow and the Devil” (2336),
- “Frosty the Irish Snowman” (1275),
- “The Hero of Christmas” (763),
- “Christmas in the Shire” (592),
- “Doctor of Gallifrey” (592),
- “Slainte Mhaith Christmas” (571),
- “Hobbit Hornpipe” (507),
- “O’er the Way” (357),
- “A Working in the Garden” (344),
- “Jingle Bells” (297)
Most-popular songs on Amazon Music: “Doctor of Gallifrey” (442), “Hero of Canton” (319), “The Widow and the Devil” (159), “Close Your Eyes” (54), “Christmas in Scotland” (40)
Top albums on Amazon: Sci Fi Drinking Songs (703), As Long As I'm Flyin (423), Kilted For Her Pleasure (397), Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion (342), Going for Brogue (132)
Last year's playlists from this time last year:
Top Irish & Celtic Music: 604 is up from 602
Sci F'Irish Music: 14 is up from 13
Nagians Only: 21 (same)
Celtfather Experience: 31 (same)
Hobbit Drinking Songs: 5 (same)
Firefly Drinking Songs: 138 (same)
Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers: 81 is up from 80
Jedi Drinking Songs: 34 is up from 33
Marc Gunn Songwriting: 3
Joyful Celtic Christmas Music: 113 is up from 110
Fun Christmas Songs for Kids & Families: 1967 is up from 1941
Christmas Drinking Songs: 41
Celtic Christmas Women: 11
Irish Christmas Songs for Kids: 5
Celtic Christmas Songs: 13
Christmas Drive:
19:01 – PATREON
Patreon Subscribers: 168 is up from 165
Patreon Monthly Income: $1285 is down from $1286
Thanks as always for supporting my music. Streaming music gives you a quick and easy way to sample all of my music. Digital sales keep my business running. Tips and CD sales allow me to tour. Kickstarter funds physical products like CDs, shirts, pin and other merch. And Patreon funds my songwriting!
Join the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon to support my songwriting. You will step behind-the-scenes with new music, bonus podcasts, videos, and live concerts.
Thank you for supporting Sci F'Irish music at Celtfather.com!
#CFMonthly
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