TOP 5 New Year Facebook Quotes

1. Don't give up – Yolanda Charles

Yolanda Charles is a phenomenal bassist who has played with Paul Weller, Robbie Williams, Mick Jagger and Hans Zimmer and is currently working hard on her own original work called Project PH (which, by the way, features my friend and great guitarist Nick Linnik).

Her words struck me deeply, so I hope they will have a similar effect on your mind.

"100,000 tracks being uploaded daily folks and that's expected to double perhaps by the end of this year. I suggest musicians find a different way to share music. Spotify is not the standard by which you should measure your success or worth. There's always someone who will do something more outrageous and attention-grabbing than you would ever stoop to.

My hope is to play live as much as possible this year. My job is playing music – not dropping 50 tracks a year to wait for royalties to come in. Making music is an occupation not a money-making scheme so more live work for real players is the dream for many of us. Most of those uploading music aren't dedicated musicians they're just jumping on the idea of "easy money" – that ppl following them for doing make-up or something can be "monetised" aka used to turn their attention into cash. 

Releasing tracks is an option because of the royalty system meant to protect rights – instead, it's just a money-making scheme for some people who never worked towards being an artist before streaming came along. I hope musicians aren't demoralised by the way a lot of this music is made compared to the hours/weeks/months of work we all put in, plus the training years and money spent on degrees etc. 

Keep working on figuring out how to make the best music you can and then release it, but also spend time working on creating support for your lifestyle with an income until your music brings in the majority of your income. We need high-quality music to be composed and actual musicians are the best hope for that." 

2. Practice  – Tim Lefebvre & Ron Carter

These two bass hotshots are incredible. Tim Lefebvre made his last record with David Bowie and has played with Sting, John Mayer and The Black Crows. His playing oozes animalism, musicality and, above all, joy. Ron Carter, on the other hand, is a jazz professor. A double bass legend who has earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the most-recorded jazz bassist in history with 2,221 recordings. He might have played with almost everyone in the business, but he is probably most noted as Miles Davis' double bassist. 

Their message for the new year (and every year) is absolutely foolproof: practice and work on your musical skills. Be cool, and most importantly, be consistent in your efforts.

3. Faith in the creative impulse – Robert Fripp

"In strange and uncertain times such as those we are living in, sometimes a reasonable person might despair. But hope is unreasonable and love is greater even than this. May we trust the inexpressible benevolence of the creative impulse."

Wonderful words from the guitar genius of weirdness, prog rock emperor and absolute ruler in an otherworldly band called King Crimson. When Robert Fripp speaks or plays, I listen quietly in awe.

4. No time to stop – The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones have been with us since 1962 when they started wailing their blues rock riffs in London. Seven decades later, they're still one of the most popular and, more importantly, enduring bands of the rock era. Last year they released the brilliant Hackney Diamonds, the band's first new album of original material in eighteen years, which became their fourteenth UK chart-topping album. And their message for the new year?

"2024! No time to stop..."

5.  Faith in kindness – Bertrand Russell

Our final quote comes not from a musician, but from the British mathematician, philosopher and intellectual Bertrand Russell, who has greatly influenced mathematics, linguistics, cognitive science, and various areas of analytic philosophy. His words are wise, beautiful and full of charming artistic naivety that I value above all else.

"I allow myself to hope that the world will emerge from its present troubles, that it will one day learn to give the direction of its affairs, not to cruel swindlers and scoundrels, but to men possessed of wisdom and courage. I see before me a shining vision: a world where none are hungry, where few are ill, where work is pleasant and not excessive, where kindly feeling is common, and where minds released from fear create delight for eye, ear and heart. 

Do not say this is impossible. It is not impossible. I do not say it can be done tomorrow, but I do say that it could be done within a thousand years if only men would bend their minds to the achievement of the kind of happiness that should be distinctive of man."

Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and Politics (1954), Part II: The Conflict of Passions, Chapter X, Prologue or Epilogue?, p. 238.