Next up in our Artist Spotlight series is Oddshapeshadow, a dynamic producer with nearly two decades in the industry. In this article we’ll explore his journey from producer to performer, his latest drop with NEWM, and how he makes music that keeps people guessing. 

Here’s what he has to say in his own words… 

_{*Disclaimer: The following is a written interview with Oddshapeshadow. All answers/opinions shared by Oddshapeshadow are his own, but may include minor edits for length or clarity.}

Who is Oddshapeshadow?

Oddshapeshadow was born out of love for all genres of music. I knew from a young age that I wanted to produce and recreate sounds in my own strange way. The name “Oddshapeshadow” reflects my goal to always surprise the audience with a range of different styles and the shadow I cast as a producer will always be unpredictable. 

From Lofi to Dnb and sparse acoustic tracks the next release will always be different. My journey as an artist and producer has been lived over the past 17 years as a bedroom producer. Over the last couple of years I have found an amazing community within Cardano to collaborate and develop new sounds on a weekly basis. Recreating retro vibes and pushing the limit with abstract beats is what drives me. Web3 music is a home for a diverse music audience and it’s great to also call it home as a producer.

What inspired you to pursue a career in the music industry?

Being able to unwind, be creative and share that process with the listener has driven me to enter into a more public space. I aim to be one of the many pioneers in the web3 space to showcase that if you have a passion for music anything is possible. As music develops so quickly and streaming becomes more popular we often get drawn into the top40 charts or listen to the same artists daily. Having always produced a range of genres I want to offer a diverse sound and introduce as many people to hybrid genre music. I always focus on motivating an audience to challenge what they consume, help them look around and listen to new music. Variety is what I pride myself on delivering.

What kind of vibe or messages do you deliver with your music?

I’m unpredictable with my production and have phases of hype music, dance music to extreme chill tracks. I love a contrast in the same track so often there will be a switch up of a breakdown that will make you rethink what’s coming next. This is how my personality works. I also love to create a rich sound that can melt into the background and be part of your memory formation to life events. For those out there that dig deeper into past works, you’ll notice reverb used in many ways to thicken and dramatize certain tracks! I use vocal samples heavily and in my other works you’ll find spliced up saxophone and samples stretched to their limits to create some atmosphere. If you walk away with any vibe, my mission is complete! I’m often heavily influenced by late 90’s and 2000’s music. You can’t escape your childhood!

What’s the biggest hurdle or worst experience that you have had in the music industry? 

As a producer, making the step into performing live is a huge hurdle and it’s something that I have always been aware of. In order to market yourself as an artist/producer it takes a large time investment and often the funds to go with it. The step from part-time to full-time is an almost unobtainable gap within the current music industry. I have produced and collaborated for artists and companies before only to be cut out of rights and royalty income in the past. You have to have a thick skin and push forward and remember you do it for the love of the music and the process; streams and income are just measurable secondaries to the passion itself. 

How did you get into the Web3 music space and how do you feel Web3 will impact the music industry going forward? 

I’ve always been one for taking risks and jumping on new opportunities. This is where Web3 allows me the opportunity to control my work and the royalties, and at the same time build genuine synergistic relationships with platforms and projects where all parties benefit from sharing their creativity.

I initially made music for a few NFT projects which showed me there was an audience that had genuine wants for new content in the Web3 space. I focus on supporting the artists around me and showcasing what platforms and other avenues there are to grow your brand from either a Web2 or bedroom producer/artist to a fully fledged Web3 community contributor.

Web3 opens the doors to a new audience, one that prides itself on decentralization and diversity of content. Music’s new home has to be Web3 to ensure new and existing talent receive support and grow in the right creative direction away from the direct management of a mainstream record label. Freedom to put out what you want when you want is key to the next big genre of music developing and the audience/community having variety to own and benefit from.

How did you hear about NEWM?

I initially heard about NEWM through one of the best music communities in the Web3 space. If you haven’t heard of them it’s The Listening Room [@thelistenroom]. 

The founders Dsqise, Andrew Donovan and JUSE have been a huge central hub for the music scene to prosper on Cardano and shout out to them for pushing the educational content and providing a platform for all things music in the Cardano ecosystem!  

The first drop I caught was NIDO’s and he’s been a big part of the music scene and a close friend over the past year. I’m following his lead with this release and hope someone else is inspired by me to do the same.

What does music co-ownership mean to you and the future of the music industry? 

For me it’s all about a closer relationship with fans and listeners. Never before has there been platforms that support the co-operation between artist, platform and fan to all play into supporting each other financially and be in a position to work sustainably to entertain and offer great content on the artists’ own terms. The tracking of wallets, utility that can be assigned to the assets has opened up so much more for the creators and deepens the experience a fan can have.

What are your expectations with this release with NEWM?

As always, the community has always been right behind me and pushed me to develop faster and create more diverse content than ever before. I’d like to think that this will give me the opportunity to meet more listeners of mine. And the biggest plus is exposure to more ears and being able to reward that support of my work by offering future benefits from fractionalized ownership of the track. I have chosen to offer 100% of the streaming tokens to give maximum value to the community. Support works both ways and I hope to collaborate with anyone that likes my sound in the future.

What advice would you give an artist trying to pursue a career in the music industry?

Be yourself, be fearless and know that perfection is your enemy. We are all human and the best music is the type that delivers a vibe and creates a response. Take the opportunities that come your way and stay motivated through your passion for delivering new sounds and styles. For me, financial gain has never been an obstacle– work for free, learn where you can and support others around you. The genuine opportunities are created ultimately by you and the way you move in the community or industry.

Who is your dream collaboration?

Burial. For something that sounds so simple to make is probably the most insanely technical and time consuming music I know about. He switches from major to minor creating huge emotion and has the most wild offbeat kicks and snares/hats that I know about. There’s no sample that could escape his grasp without spinning it into something incredibly genius. He’s about as secretive as you get as a music producer and to bump into him and blast out a track with him would be a dream for sure! For those who’ve never checked him out here’s a link you wont regret clicking:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0uCCBpmg6MrPb1KY2msceF?si=rFjUJjk3QEWgul2eNrLyzw

What’s next for Oddshapeshadow?

As I’ve been around in the Cardano space for a while now I plan to continue to release music in novel ways and continue to support other artists with their journeys too. I have a Dream Lofi project [@dreamloificnft] which will allow me to focus on bringing a different audience to Cardano through anime and lofi beats where “the vibe” is priority No.1. That said, you can claim your free track as an intro to the project here from dirpdropz.io we have over 2.6k claims on this so far! 

I am working on a few projects with SickCity to bring more retrosound music to the blockchain and look forward to releasing a catalog of tracks on this. It’s going to be a huge range of music which is great fun.

Aside from NFT projects and music collaborations which are a weekly adventure, I plan to drop a full album end of year to showcase some of the musical journeys I go on this year! 

In Web2 I’m going to be building more of a presence on Spotify and continue to work with the BBC on showcasing new tracks via the radio. I’ve had 6 placements on shows this year with a couple of tracks and I have that ultimate aim to get a primetime slot in the UK to a huge audience. 

Ready to join the NEWMusic Movement and  earn future streaming royalties on exclusive new music? Don’t miss your chance to get in on the Stream Token Sale of ‘Show Me’ by Oddshapeshadow.  

And if you want to listen to some other fire tracks, you can check out the full Oddshapeshadow catalog here.