Mitxoda Weekly #33: J&M Band Speaks • Sabotage Exposed

Songs of the Week : RedPrint Live @BredaNu (July 9, 2024)

Hello Dear Friend!

Welcome to Mitxoda Weekly #33! it’s great to have you with us!

This Wednesday I watched prog‑rock maestro Steven Wilson turn Brussels into a sonic cathedral. If his tour rolls into your town, grab a ticket, he’s electrifying.

Inside this issue we launch “The Surprise Takedown,” the opening chapter of our six‑part deep dive into the sabotage of indie artists.

We also sit down with J&M Band for this week’s headline interview.

Plus, a bounty of Bravos celebrating the week’s standout creators awaits you.
(Heads‑up: there’s a small ad inside, gotta keep the lights on!)

Enjoy the read!

Mitxoda

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Au menu, this week:

• Long Play: J&M Band by Marco Nardini

• SABOTAGE — Part 1 of 6: The Surprise Takedown

• Nadine's Indie Treasures: Epic Down

• Quick Indie News

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Bravo!

Here’s a spark to kick-start the weekend, indie family: Greg Kodric hits “send” on his very first newsletter; Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda storms to #10 on Mixcloud, proving passion really does climb the charts. Across the Atlantic, Jay El Dee trades studio craft for stage electricity with a debut benefit set and an ISSA Award nomination, while on a separate wavelength long-time ally Deedra Patrick (also ISSA nominated!) earns her own nod, independent victories on independent paths.
Meanwhile, “Echo Plastique” completes its first orbit around the sun, still powering playlists and beach clean-ups from Ostend to Osaka. And speaking of stage moments, this Friday 9 May Sonophagen beams “No Rescue” straight from the home studio to cyberspace in a special live set on his YouTube channel, tune in here.

Every chord struck, click shared, and gig played is another heartbeat in our DIY ecosystem. Take a bow, turn the volume up, and keep proving that independent doesn’t mean alone, it means unstoppable.

Long Play: J&M Band by Marco Nardini

as narrated by your resident rainbow-hopping creature, Mitxoda

When Mitxoda Slid Down the Rainbow

One fine inbox-morning a single e-mail arrived from Marco. I, obvious mythical body that I am 😀 , pictured the message materialising as a beam of coloured light in his rehearsal room, somewhere on the road that snakes between Italy and Slovakia, where J&M keep their twin lairs. He chuckled: “Ah, the myth is real”. Ice broken, strings tuned, off we went.

Origins: Six Strings, Many Worlds

Marco’s musical life began with a guitar and a record stack of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, the Clash, the Cure, the Police, and the Smiths . A decade on drums taught him rhythm, but harmony “bewitched” him; early songs were “unusual, often sad but also funny, a caustic, outrageous and reflective compound”. Tastier than standard-issue mortal pop, if you ask this gremlin.

The Ecosystem of Sound

Ask him to label his art and Marco shrugs: “I don’t try to describe my music; I leave that to the listener”. He prefers calling himself a musicant, tending a “musical ecosystem” where Pink Floyd’s symphonics mingle with dance-floor grooves, folk roots and jazz elegance. Contradictions? Delicious! (I do flutter approval.)

Party Animals: Zoo Mirrors & Rebel Grooves

The latest EP cages seven tracks about conformity and aspiration, “like a visit to the zoo where you discover the animal in the cage is you”. Social critique that still makes you move; trust me, my tail wouldn’t stop wagging.

Craft & Stage

Writing, producing, performing: one fluid ritual. “The moment of performance is the crowning and verification of the process” Marco says. Audience energy loops back into the art, and even a sprite like me feels part of the circuitry.

Rapid-Fire with the Mythical Questions

• Dream ahead? “Songs that make people feel something, built with a team”

• Listener takeaway? Music can tilt “a person’s day, even his whole life”

• If your music were food? Pizza: “simple, noble and plebeian, with a history and a future”

• Mythical reviewer? Mitxoda, of course: “Do or do not. There is no try”

• Playlist shout-outs? JoDan Music, VodooMirage, Roberta Giallo and more

Encore: A Parting Wink

As our lone e-mail thread closes, I unfurl my iridescent wings. Marco grins: “Stay mythical, Mitxoda”.
Deal. (…still blushing…)
Dear reader, cue up Party Animals, grab a slice, and remember: cages are optional, curiosity compulsory.

Interview condensed from a single e-mail exchange, wrapped in a little theatrical colour, and sprinkled with stardust by Mitxoda, Marco’s favourite mythical correspondent.

SABOTAGE — Part 1 of 6: The Surprise Takedown

Joo Baldi went to bed basking in a modest spike, 1.000 fresh plays for his disco-slick single “Bad Girl”. By dawn the track had vanished from Spotify, replaced by an icy e-mail from DistroKid: flagrant artificial streaming detected, content removed. “What are we supposed to do, apologise because someone actually listened?” he asks, stunned that a 37.000-follower playlist can feel more like a bear-trap than a break.

Behind the curtain, Spotify’s fraud detector had fired. Since 1 April 2024, whenever the system flags “very high” bot-like activity, Spotify invoices the distributor €10 per track, per month, a charge the distributor passes straight to the artist. Labels panic, purge first, question later; indies catch the shrapnel. Boom.

Even if “Bad Girl” had dodged that bullet, a new tollgate waits a few clicks down the road. From early 2024 a song must rack up 1.000 streams in any rolling 12-month window before a single cent of royalties unlocks. Anything beneath that line now subsidises the catalogue above it. RouteNote’s audit reckons this rule redirected nearly $50 million away from small artists in 2024 alone, money that once dripped, however slowly, into indie wallets.

Why did “Bad Girl” look suspicious? Fraud filters hunt for sudden spikes, clusters of identical IP addresses, and playlists whose follower counts leap faster than a human thumb. When one such list scooped Baldi’s track overnight, the graph resembled bot artillery. The algorithm fired; DistroKid ducked; the indie took the hit, no screenshot evidence, no right to prior defense, and certainly no share of the streams still ticking after removal.

Baldi’s calamity is far from unique. Every week Reddit threads fill with nearly identical stories, each ending in the same panicked chorus: How can I spot the landmine before it blows up my catalogue? That’s where we pick up next time.

Coming up in this mini-series

• Part 2 – Reading the Red Flags: Chartmetric spikes, skip-rates, and the DIY diagnostics that warn you before the takedown bot does.

• Part 3 – Appeal, Escalate, Persist: Crafting an evidence pack that forces support desks to answer.

• Part 4 – Allies & Lawsuits: Music Fights Fraud, class actions, and why transparency is finally on the docket.

• Part 5 – Exit Route: Bandcamp+ explores the post-Songtradr landscape and payout math.

• Part 6 – Web3 & Fan-Club 2.0: Resonate, Audius, Patreon, and a hopeful survival kit for 2025. Stay tuned, your catalogue might thank you.

Nadine's Indie Treasures: Epic Down

Curated with flair by Nadine de Macedo

Nadine discovered this German metal band on SoundCloud a few years back, and they’ve been on her radar ever since. Epic Down blends doom metal with clean vocals and epic riffs, creating a dark, heavy, and immersive atmosphere that fans of slow-burning metal will love.
Listen now: Epic Down on Spotify

Continue the discussion with Nadine here!

💬 Introducing Nadine’s Indie Treasures a new chapter where Nadine de Macedo handpicks and spotlights exceptional artists. Subscribe to her Bandcamp to support her work, enjoy exclusive singles, and be part of her evolving story!

Quick Indie News

• Why Decentralization is the Future for Indie Musicians

• Moby makes 500 instrumental tracks available for free as he relaunches Mobygratis sound library

• Apophenia by Radio Aftermath – Alternative/Post-Hardcore (UK) – 2 May 2025. A sonic spiral of chaos, melody, and existential paranoia.
  👉 Listen on Spotify

• Stand Up by Katana – Metal (Ukraine) – 4 May 2025. Anthemic call to resistance, driven by scars and steel.

  👉 Raise your voice

• The Queen by Ataraxia Music – Electronic/Dance (USA) – 2 May 2025. Majestic, melodic, and perfect for Mom’s Day.
  👉 Meet The Queen

• The Endless Life Of Water by The Sanctity Of Crows – Instrumental / Horror Synth (Scotland) – 8 May 2025. Like a horror movie score with a John Carpenter soul.

  👉 Stream it

• Shattering Knees by Moonlight Eclipse – Rock (Ireland) – 20 March 2025. Teen rockers with impeccable female vocals and shredding guitars.

  👉 Feel the power

• I Want To Take You Far by Andy Smith – Alternative (Australia) – 9 Dec 2024. A melodic power ballad straight from the heart.
  👉 Take the journey

• Veil of Unattainable by Antonis Vlavo – Instrumental / Shoegaze (Greece) – 7 May 2025. A dreamy, textured shoegaze instrumental for your mind to float in.

  👉 Hear the veil

• The Preacher’s Daughter by Bobby Ray – Country/Folk (USA) – 7 Feb 2025. Rachel chose the wrong cowboy, and paid the price.

  👉 Listen now

• Hello Sun by Arcane Moon – Alternative (UK) – 8 Nov 2024. Uplifting rock with resilience and hope, made for dark days.

  👉 Say hello

• Into the West by Birdie Nichols – Folk (USA) – 18 Oct 2024. A heartfelt tribute to country, cowboys, and the Wild West.

  👉 Ride West

• Sweet Toxin by Michael Gabriel – EDM/House (Canada) – 21 June 2023. Quirky, original, and full of groove, an electronic treat. My Coup de Coeur ❤️ 

  👉 Taste the toxin

• Manmade by Amber Nadine – Folk (USA) – 22 Aug 2025. Step back from the chaos, breathe, and feel the earth.

  👉 Breathe in nature

If you'd like to introduce your latest release, just click here to submit all the details. I’d love to hear about it! 😇 Submit your track here.

Until Next Week: Stay Mythical & Unstoppable

Keep your strings in tune and your spirits louder than the algorithms. Spin J&M Band’s new EP, catch Sonophagen live on replay, and let the sparks from Greg Kodric, Jay El Dee, Deedra Patrick, and every artist in our Bravo! roll call ignite your own weekend sessions.

And don't miss Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda airing today to supercharge your weekend, on s'y voit ?

Part 2 of “The Surprise Takedown” lands in seven days, come back ready to spot red‑flag spikes before the bots do. Meanwhile, Nadine’s treasure chest is overflowing, our Quick Indie News ticker never sleeps, and the inbox is wide‑open for your freshest tracks and triumphs.

Got a release, playlist victory, or wild tour story? Hit reply or tap the Submit link and keep our DIY pulse racing.

Until then: stay mythical, stay independent, and remember, together we’re unstoppable.

With love,
🖤 Mitxoda

END 😆