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One of the hardest parts of being a random-ahh musician in the up-and-coming ‘middle of nowhere scene’ is… figuring everything out. If you’re not signed to a label with a massive structure behind you, two things are guaranteed:

(Pro): You kinda have complete freedom!

(Con): You also have to figure everything out pretty much alone.

One of the biggest questions I’ve been asked/had to figure out myself on a fateful August back in 2021 was “how the fuck does one get their music on Spotify anyways?” One of course doesn’t just upload music like you would a video to YouTube.

It turns out there are two main ways, them being have a record label do it for you, or go through a private distributor. Distributors are companies that you give your songs to, and go “hey pleaseeee pretty pleeaaasseee upload my music to streaming platforms okay yay thanksss?” and then they…do that. It costs money in some way shape or form, and then et viola, your album cover wasn’t the right resolution. You fix that, wait a day or two minimum, aaaaandddd… Luca DiGrigoli’s music exists on the internet now.

Which is neat! I shopped for a while across different distributors and ultimately decided on DistroKid. Their business model (as of Thursday the 8th October 2026) looks like this:

1. Pay a yearly fee to maintain access to the platform
2. You can upload as much shit to streaming services as your little heart desires
3. If you stop paying the yearly fee, everything disappears, UNLESS
4. When you upload you can pay a one time fee and DistroKid will keep it there forever and a day.

That’s kinda it, believe it or not.

That simplicity was a very attractive asset, and it’s why I chose them. Recently, though, DistroKid was purchased by a bunch of corporate finance bros, and seeing how private equity’s stripped away everything good from companies like Toys R. Us and Joann Fabrics (to my friends in the sewing community, I know you’re still mad about this {and should be!}), naturally I’m worried about backpedaling on promises such as “We’ll keep your music up forever!” and pricing creeping up.

I’ll be very explicit: I turn nowhere near a profit on streaming. That of course has absolutely nothing to do with my goals in the music world, but the idea of maintaining my music online becoming far more expensive of course leaves me slightly uneasy. My fellow musicians hopefully understand what I mean.

Now, what does this mean for this random guy I know named

Hey, you said my name?

(Bad) Joke aside, the thought of the move to another distributor has me remembering the complete freedom that comes with being an indie artist. Part of me feels a calling to really use that reminder and do something new. Impulse tells me to make it drastic, like change my artist name and become a rock band, but realistically I think I’m feeling the calling to really define my ‘brand.’ Who am I, what am I, and so on. “The Kiss and Tell Show!” feels like a step in the right direction, but we’re (i.e. “I’m”) still working on it.

I’ve been seeing some of my fellow artists growing into their brands/niches in a way that is very cool! I admire and wish to emulate this.

I have entertained the idea of a stage name, many of my GOATS like Quinn XCII, Always Bethany, and Ricky Jamaraz use such titles, and while I love my name I wouldn’t call my last name searchable content. I love the idea of just using “Luca” as my Spotify/Apple Music/Etc. name, but problem is there are way too many “Luca”s, and since the disney movie, I’m like double cooked.

I’m very interested in listener feedback regarding this! Please please please I need some help on this front and am curious thank you love y’all

… as of right now: nothing! I’m simply in a period of thought and reflection because of some corporate suit dudes. Do watch as this develops; I’m tired of my thoughts not turning into actions, and I intend to lock in. I want to do the music thing, because while work is nice and all, it doesn't fill my heart the way this does. HOLD ME TO IT!

I haven’t really updated y’all on any of my little projects in a while, and that’s because I’ve been super busy with them (amongst other things!)

Firstly, wax. Wax is my son, and I love my son! I want to try and get some users on it, so I need some feedback desperately on what to do with it! How do you want wax to be such that YOU (yes, you!) would use it?

Secondly, I got this little dumb idea to make a new game. It’s like Slay the Spire and Aeon’s End (a board game) had a baby. At first it was an attempt to make a buttonshy style card game on paper (if you have no idea what buttonshy is please check them out they are awesome sauce) and now it’s Doodle Mages, a roguelike deckbuilding boss fight game!

You can griddy in it if that sweetens the pot for you.

Oh, real quick footnote: I’m working on flushing out my bandcamp with all of my recent stuff. As far as supporting artists go, they kinda reign supreme. So please do indulge and check that out if you can!

Also somebody answered my form where you can say things: here’s a question got:

Hi!! So basically it's simple! I woke up, am very in love, wrote that in ten minutes in the shower getting ready for work, and sent it to my girlfriend as a voice memo. A week or two later, it’s on streaming

Feel free to check out my CDs if you’re into that scene! Since you read this far I’m giving away 5 CDs, just email me or dm me and mention that you saw this blog post. Tell me which album you want, and it’s yours :) I thought that’d be a cool way to say thanks for reading my whole blog post, I’ll ship it to you and all :)

Y’all rock! Do say hi! Okay cool, bye for now!!!

~Luca