Tag: behind the scenes music production

  • New Song “Echo” Continues Jody Whitesides’ 2026 Releases

    New Song “Echo” Continues Jody Whitesides’ 2026 Releases

    It’s already off to a rockin’ start for 2026. In the past couple of weeks releases for some heavier tunes have hit the ground running. I got to eat at a restaurant where Presidents dine. We’re slowly getting one of the coolest animated covers finished. I’m back in the studio and it’s nearly all systems go!

    Kicking off the new year with another year of new songs coming out every single week. Started off with Publicity, followed by Digital Empire. This week it will be a mellow song with a heavy vibe called Echo.

    If you haven’t been paying attention, new goodies hit the store for each release. If you’re clever enough, you’ll find the current week’s upcoming release items at a discount. The latest edition, besides the full blown studio mixes, transcriptions and shirts is… Wall posters of the artwork. All printed on high quality paper and shipped right to you.

    Echo Cover Art thumbnail

    Last week I spent some time in city where Jazz was born. I played hooky from my own work to help out my girlfriend and her high school’s Jazz band. While in the city of New Orleans we ate some amazing food! Saw some incredible live music and enjoyed the mild weather.

    There’s a spot in New Orleans called Dooky Chase’s. This particular spot came highly recommended by a good friend. A small group of us hoofed to the joint and got incredibly lucky to get a table. Seems a group of 4 in front of us decided not to wait the hour+ of time and we got to sneak right in.

    After scarfing down a plate of stuffed shrimp, I asked the waitress about former President Obama and what he ordered. Turns out, she knew what he ordered. The gumbo. Then we were privy to a little story about that order of gumbo and what happened to President Obama. If you want to know the story, I strongly suggest that you get yourself to New Orleans and get your butt to Dooky Chase’s. Don’t forget to ask, as it’s a funny and worthy anecdote.

    My time of distribution to get animated covers to Apple Music has dropped from what would normally take nearly a week per cover, to one day for all the art. Not the production of the covers themselves. Some are still in production and taking much much longer than anticipated.

    There is a cover that I saw a test run of the animation last night and I’ll say this – it was fuckin awesome. Fingers crossed it gets done in the next couple of days.

    Back in the studio. Getting more merch done for the store. Rounding up the next batch of animated covers and getting it all planned out for release. Plus getting more music bits into fixed form. Also, there’s multiple updates that happen right here on my dot com every week, from this blog, to the about page, store items, and more.

    If you haven’t signed up for the Jody Army, it’s high time you did. You can snag a nice discount on top of newly discounted items each week.

    2026 is look like a whirlwind of happenings all year long, every single week. You don’t want to miss it.

  • Why 2025 Changed Everything: Music Tech, Direct Fan Connection, and What’s Coming in 2026

    Why 2025 Changed Everything: Music Tech, Direct Fan Connection, and What’s Coming in 2026

    Goodbye 2025, it’s been nice knowing ya. But I’m damn glad to give you a swift kick out the door. There’s been some awesome highs and a few horrid lows. Here’s looking at 2026 with delusions of grandeur while giving a 2025 review.

    Starting with the road of improvements. This year brought a massive redesign of my website. Part of it is thanks to building a new backend and more advanced server. The tech part has been more blessing than curse, and I happy about that.

    Along with the redesign came the added feature of bringing the email list under personal control, where there isn’t a 3rd party with prying eyes. Plus I’ve added features of fan levels. A lot of work but worth every painful minute of frustration that now works as intended.

    Another massive feat was releasing music every week. Talk about a massive undertaking, and I’m finally getting into the swing of it. 2026 will see more of the same, new releases every week. What’s more awesome is how my website can integrate each new release with the fan list.

    The music releases are also building to Atmos versions. Which is exciting and fun. They bring back the giddiness of what made music feel special when I was growing up. Which is exciting.

    Publicity cover art

    Along with the music releases are the new animated covers. Sadly it’s only Apple Music that currently does animated covers. Though non Apple Music users can still see the animations right here on jodywhitesides.com.

    Getting used to the new tech of it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were some tragic setbacks. For every step back it’s been three steps forward. And with just a puzzle piece or two left to complete the entire picture, I’m stoked with what I’ll be able to announce in 2026.

    It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the clown show in the White House. That has been a tremendous bummer. What makes it worse is having to inadvertently see it and hear about it every day. I like it better when politicians are not a constant never-ending news cycle.

    Which leads to the ironic lead off single for 2026: Publicity. A song all about what it takes for fame. Good news, bad news, it’s all fake news. Oh what a prophetic lyric that became. That now comes with the updated mix and master you can now get right here in full studio quality. Not that watered down streaming.

    So yes, I want to engage you more on a personal level. Not via social media, but between you and I. Which is what all the work in 2025 was for, to make 2026 a year to really shine for the music and the direct connection between you and I.

    I’m telling ya, 2026 is gonna be bright.

  • How My Breakup Anthem Survived Censorship and Found New Life

    How My Breakup Anthem Survived Censorship and Found New Life

    Maybe You’re The Problem: Once Upon A Time…

    There was a pop princess that was loved throughout the land. She came up thru the ranks and wowed people in one genre then shifted to another genre. All the while, she was growing up in front of everyone’s eyes – to a height of 5’10”. Being so public her dating life became fodder for chatting around the water cooler and for the gossip tabloids. She’d bounce from guy to guy, cavorting and having fun. Much as one would do as a teenager in anywheresville the universe.

    Yet, the songs this troubadour was creating dealt with how every guy had done her wrong. That she was a victim of the male counterpart at any given point in her story. Making them out to be “the bad guy” was the m.o.

    At one point in this tumultuous time of her dating life a comedian suggested that a male songwriter ought to write a song from the perspective of a former boyfriend who had been dumped by the songstress. What he went thru. How he felt about it. And then… His response.

    That’s where I stepped in. I wrote just such a song called Maybe You’re The Problem. Recorded a demo of it and made a makeshift music video to go along with it. All in good fun. Posted it to YouTube where a PR friend caught wind of it and posted the link to the video. All of a sudden it went viral! Racking up 10s of thousands of views in a matter of hours.

    Comments started pouring in. Lots of hate filled comments defending the songstress. Others were a bit more jovial, getting the joke and the fact that its only a song and meant to be on the humorous side.

    The song remained in its little silo for a few months getting more views and more comments. Then one day, POOF! It was gone. The video had been yanked from the video site claiming violations of the end user agreement. Or rather violations that were a bit more vague. Honestly, I’m still not clear as to exactly why it got deleted.

    Shortly thereafter a lovely woman wanted to be my manager and suggested that I rerecord the song and pull the reference to the songstress out. I thought, why the hell not. I can do that. No big deal. This manager really loved the song, just not the reference. Voilá the song now exists in the world without the reference to the imaginary songstress. It’s dressed up in new sonic beauty and ready to be shared in the world.

    Which is why you’ve spent time reading this far. Be my royal fan and find you streaming service to press play.