Lmk what y’all think: open.spotify.com/track/0HJbF…
PS: Link to other apps in bio. 🤞
soundcloud.com/takistakistak…
New music tmrw.
Before I drop gotta say When You Smile was the coolest experience. Watching my first independent record grow & feeling like it's actually mine... hard to explain but it was fire.
PS: I'm aware that an 18hr rollout is insane but I promised myself (& y'all) that when I can drop music, I would drop music... so forgive the shambles promo while I have a little fun.
Every few weeks I go back & listen to @porterrobinson’s “worlds” album front to back & feel the same 2 things:
1. Wow, I love electronic music.
2. Wow, I suck at making electronic music in contrast lmao.
if you're acting like you won the superbowl because a father you don't like was murdered... you're a miserable cornball.
y’all can hate someone & still stop to think about the situation & the little kids who just lost their dad, you know?
seeing how many ppl thought the play was to open X, edit a meme & find the perfect gif for their dusty profile blows my mind.
cruel, cold & dark.
Sharing a very (very) long tweet worth reading if you’ve been following my music over the past few years:
That first screenshot literally means everything to me.. I might frame it ha.
It brought me actual joy. Even through all the drama it felt like a weight has been lifted.
Since 2016, scroll down any Takis record on Spotify or Apple & you’ll see a list of labels under every song. They own them. Add YouTube & the remixes, at least 350 million streams with a label underneath.
What f*cks artists up isn’t just insane $ terms, when we’re in the studio it rarely is about that tbh… it’s ownership, because ownership means control.
You can’t put a price on that feeling of being fully controlled.
Labels didn’t just own my released music, they controlled all my music, released or not.. & are the reason 100+ songs I love never got heard.
They can block & take down your YouTube, IG, TikTok, Spotify. Accounts you made years before. Passwords won’t save you lmao. 2FA is irrelevant haha.
I never wanted a “stage” name... it’s my last name. My dad immigrated from Greece, got thrown into high school in Canada not knowing a word of English. Idk why it’s so important to me but I really care about that sh*t & I can’t separate Takis music from Peter Takis or the history of ppl that took L’s to give me a 0.0001% shot at this.
Things weren’t easy for him & it wasn’t easy growing up.. but somehow they found a way for me to have a computer & wifi to find out this path was even a thing.
That’s where control = ownership of your artist name. In my case, that was my last name. & that became leverage & felt like censorship when these mfers don’t need a password or even to issue lawsuit to shut you down. They just do it.
Not gunne lie, I def knew I was cooked when I woke up to my YouTube being nuked for using my OWN music in a mix, & almost lost my SoundCloud for uploading a remix I made (for my OWN song). Wish I was joking.. was the spider man meme fr.
But I agreed to long ass deals. I own that. Walking back on agreements is corny. 0% blame (admittedly this post is 1% shade tho). Took too long but I now know that artists have more power than we think & that’s what matters.
Btw it’s not lost on me that I’m writing a manifesto length post about immigration while promoting a song called… “When You Smile”.
Anyways…
I believed “you’ll never get on a playlist without us” “nobody is on the radio indie” “can’t collab with major artists without” … then I became independent.
& that month my first record out the deal was a collab with a legend.
Then on Friday my first solo single, no label, no collab, just Takis got more playlist support, DJ support, & radio adds than my last 5 records combined over 3 years under a label I thought I needed. Shutter island level illusion.
Feels like I just left a cult lmao.. what a wild month. This biz is crazy, but it feels pretty chill when you’re dealing with crazy things you own.
I’m sure I’ll get a call about this but now I don’t have answer. Kinda fire tbh. 🤷♂️
PS: someone ask Alex Jones to investigate how an indie single got more industry support than a conglomerate could muster up in 3 years over 5 singles. Are those offices even real... 🤔 *adjusts tin foil hat*
Since I was 21 I never got to drop a song as an independent artist. Some major label always found a way to stop it or own it.
That little section listed some label every Friday, but not this Friday.
I'm so damn happy rn, like deep in my heart happy.
F all the bs going on, this screenshot means everything to me. Ima frame it.
To the first of many... I hope yall like When You Smile. I know it'll remain special to me way beyond the music itself.
ffm.to/tks.OTW
