This is my last post of the year, so thought I’d post – Richard’s 2020 in review. 2020 has been a year of progress, and I think my most productive music year of my life.
The year ending up with 31 blog posts, releasing two albums of original material, and about 40 YouTube videos consisting of original songs, cover songs, and ukulele tutorials.
As of January 2020, we had been in our new home a few months, and were settling in. I had been working on a number of original songs for a couple of years, and was determined to release my first album.
On Valentine’s Day, I released my first album titled Balance In Life, consisting of eleven original songs. I used my Mixcraft audio software by Acoustica to record and mix the songs.
The album was released through cdbaby.com a music “aggregator company” who for a fee, will package the album with the product codes, and send it to all the major music distributors, like Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Deezer, and others.
The album and songs can then be purchased by those who want to purchase, or in the case of Spotify can be listened to by anyone who has an account.
Lyric Videos
While I was working on the song audio, I decided I would create “lyric videos” for each song, to put on my YouTube channel – Richard Lepinsky. This took more time and effort to come up the concepts for each video, and in some cases obtain “royalty free” pictures and / or shoot videos to use in them.
Check them out here.
Merritt Ukulele Circle
After leaving a successful group in Mission, BC, I started the Merritt Ukulele Circle ( MUC ) in Merritt, BC.
We started in January, and had about a dozen members come out to play, mostly brand new or newer players. I was pleased with the interest in ukulele playing. We continued having great sessions until March, when Covid19 came to dampen sessions.
The group is currently not meeting, and will probably not until the recent BC health orders are lifted.
RichardLepinsky.com Website
In March, I started to build a website, to post my music and videos on. I used Word Press software, that is used on about 35% of websites world wide. Check it out.
Thoughts On Life – From Were I Sit Blog
Part of the website, is my written blog titled Thoughts On Life – From Where I Sit. I post periodically, on a handful of topics.
Instrumentals
In May, I released a couple of instrumentals titled Melody In The Streets and Moments, through Distrokid, another music aggregator. Find them at this link.
YouTube OAC – Official Artist Channel
Around June, I applied for and received OAC – Offical Artist Channel status from YouTube. I now have a small “musical note” after the channel name of Richard Lepinsky.
Ukulele Tutorials
After not having ukulele sessions for a few months, I thought I should produce some Ukulele Tutorials for our members and the public at large to use on their own time.
Richard’s Best Drum Rhythms of 50 Years
In the summer I was listening to my “drum only”audios I did about 7 years ago. I decided they were unique and interesting enough to put them out as a “drum only” album, which I did in August. There are 4 tracks titled – Melodic Polyrhythms, Funky Euphony, Improv Throb, and Syncopated Tintinnabulation.
I always had the idea to do a “drum only” album. The challenge is how to make it interesting enough. The use of the wavedrum that I worked with for a few years, made a big difference in adding many new interesting sounds to my drum kit.
Bandcamp.com
Late in the year, I discovered the website Bandcamp.com. This website out of San Fransisco, allows musicians to post their songs and albums. The website allows people to listen to the music, and purchase it, if they like. What I like about Bandcamp is they provides more money to the musician than other online music sellers. Check out my page at – richardlepinsky.bandcamp.com
YouTube Stats
YouTube recently reported to me that for 2020, I created 271 minutes of video content and people spent 5149 minutes watching it.
That’s my year in review. Thank you being on my subscriber list, and taking time to listen to my music and read my blog posts.
If you have any cover songs you would like me to do, please let me know.
Email me at info@richardlepinsky.com .
All the best for 2021,
Richard