I'm very excited to be releasing my fourth album Springtime In The Heart into the wide world tomorrow, April 17. The recording was made with a great deal of love and care by myself and a handful of the finest musicians in the world, and produced by my dear friend, the great Joe Henry. I’m proud of our work together and I hope you'll take a listen.

But you won't find it on Spotify or Apple Music, or anywhere else for that matter — except for one place: my Bandcamp page, via www.music.heathcullen.com. You can stream the whole record right there, right now — and if you like it, perhaps you'll consider purchasing a copy.

I know that many folks will find this move inconvenient to their listening habits. And I know that many will —as some already have— call it a foolish business move, or ‘music business suicide’. But tell me, dear listener: What else am I to do? My music is what puts the bread (and hopefully the butter too) on my table, and it's an expensive undertaking to create the recordings that we release — a major investment of time and money. Why then should I hand the keys over to some multi-billion dollar company to exploit my music for their own profit? Should I do it because they grant me exposure? How many “exposures” (streams, if you like) does it take before an independent artist can buy a loaf of bread? The answer is simple: Too many. No matter which way I look at it, it just doesn't make sense. "Exposure" won't pay the bills, folks.

Right now, musical artists everywhere are facing a one hundred percent loss of their touring income for the foreseeable future — that means they have zero ability to go to work for possibly a year or even more — but these big companies that are making huge profits by streaming our music are downright refusing to change their business models and help independent artists earn enough money to make a fair living wage.

Does that sound okay with you? Because it's not okay with me.

So... Where does that leave us? On the other side of the coin from all of these big streaming companies sits one lone service: Bandcamp. Bandcamp pays artists based on the principles of fair trade. And what's more, they pay the artist the very instant that each sale is made, not three or four months down the track (I.E. if you buy a download or physical product from an artist through Bandcamp, the artist gets paid right away, which, in this time of crisis is exactly when we need it the most).

So, for the time being, during its initial release period, you will not find Springtime In The Heart on Spotify, or Amazon, or Apple Music, or on any other streaming service, and I make no apologies for that. If you've read this far, you obviously care enough to give a listen. You can do that here. I thank you, and I hope to see you out on the road once we've made it to the other side of this debacle.

With love,

Heath Cullen
Candelo, NSW
April 16, 2020

P.S: If you've been hit hard by COVID-19 and you can't afford the dollars for a download, please write me C/O- info(at)heathcullen.com, and we'll see what we can do. xo