If you don’t need a whole post justifying a sale on royalty accounting software and just want the discount, get a free trial and use code JANSPECIAL50 to get 50% off for three months or an entire year if you pay annually :)

Greetings, fellow reluctant capitalists!

I came across this term in reference to independent booksellers awhile back and it’s stuck with me ever since.

The independent music industry is, I suspect, also chock full of reluctant capitalists, whether it’s artists or the many people who dedicate their lives to helping them.

Reluctant, because we don’t really want or agree with the idea that our lives should be oriented around making money. (If we did, we’d be working elsewhere.)

Capitalists, because, well, this was the world we inherited. To participate in culture is to participate in this system, whether we like it or not. To quote Jay Som, an artist who’s released records with two beloved IC customers (Polyvinyl and Lucky Number Music): “Everybody Works”

Squaring the circle of art and commerce is our challenge, and the stakes are high.

If we don’t do this work, day after day, generation after generation, culture itself will become just another enshittified asset on some true capitalists balance sheet.

We must continue to figure out ways to do this for culture in a way that preserves both it and our very souls, and allows for the next generation to fight the same good fight.

Upholding this tradition is not easy, but it is possible, especially if we work together. And working together is the whole premise of profit share-style royalty accounting, the style of record and publishing deals that Infinite Catalog was built to serve.

So allow me to pivot here to talking about our January Special, about which, as a reluctant capitalist, I have conflicted feelings.

“How dare you write a post decrying capitalism only to sell me something” I imagine you thinking. I hear you, I relate, and I, like you, must get over it, at least in this case.

Because we at IC we are deadly serious in our commitment to helping move the culture forward without sacrificing it on the altar of capitalism, and if that means me risking looking like a hypocrite to advance our cause so be it.

(I might also remind you that we are 100% independently owned and operated, and if you want a free template for doing royalties on your own you can grab that from us right here.)

There are tens of thousands of independent record labels, publishers, managers, and self-releasing artists out there struggling to get royalties done easily and transparently, the thing Infinite Catalog helps you do.

There are certainly thousands more who are just getting started or interested in trying, and would benefit from the world-class support and time-saving software that Infinite Catalog endeavors to provide.

And for better or worse, running a big sale does seem to work. We’ve run one in January the past few years, and it’s always led to a healthy bump in sign ups.

So, swallowing my pride, I’ll say it in bold: if you’re a record label, publisher, manager, or artist who self-releases, and royalties are a pain or holding you back, January is a great time to try out Infinite Catalog.

Get a free trial today and use code JANSPECIAL50 to get 50% off for three months or an entire year if you pay annually.

We can’t let the true capitalists win, and we can’t let our reluctance about engaging with the often-dirty business of capitalism hold us back, nor allow it to corrupt our souls more than it already has. If you feel the same, we hope you’ll join us.

— Hunter, IC co-founder and man who relates to the lyrics below

I’m a good kid
I swear I don’t lie
I’ll get a job
Turn into one lovely guy

Hey you’re a rockstar
But do you have the time?
Did you pay your way through?
The right place the right time?

Try to make ends meet
Penny pinch til I’m dying
Everybody works

My folks they don’t
Think it’s right to be living in a shell
I’ll just bite hard
On my luck
I’ve read it in the books
I swear I’ll be good

Make a move
Count to ten
Little steps
I need a friend

Try to make ends meet
Penny pinch til I’m dying
Everybody works

I’m calling everyone I know
I’m lying on the telephone
My promises were never made
I guess I’ll never be okay

Everybody works

(You don’t want to see me like this)