In the hopes that my supposed representatives in government will actually listen to reason and the voice of their constituents, I strongly discourage the support of SOPA and PIPA. Any bill proposing to restrict people’s internet access and/or content sharing is not only a violation of our freedom and first amendment rights, but also an obstacle to the evolution of our globally-linked culture. The bills are based on obsolete laws that cannot be properly applied to the internet age. I speak, not just as a concerned citizen, but as an owner of intellectual property myself.

I am a small business owner in New York State, working in the arts and entertainment industries. The internet has become my most reliable tool for nearly every aspect of my business. As such, the issues brought up by SOPA and PIPA affect me personally. If people are restricted in their internet access and not allowed to freely share content, then the future of my career and that of other businesses like my own is extremely bleak. In these rough economic times, it’s difficult enough to keep any small business up and running. When we can’t afford other means of marketing and promotion, us in the entertainment industries rely heavily on word-of-mouth exposure and social media sharing to attain new customers and streams of revenue. Don’t let the larger companies convince you otherwise; much like the bills in question, their policies and procedures are based on obsolete ideals from a time long since past.

I could write a book on the subject (one that I would want the world to share over the internet in the knowledge that a certain percentage of those people would indeed buy it), but I know you’re busy, and so I shall sum up my position. If you support SOPA and PIPA, you are encouraging legislation that could potentially make it much more difficult for me and thousands of NY business owners like me to feed ourselves and provide for our families. You will also be displaying a disregard for the freedom of the people you represent and helping to increase social inequality by supporting bills designed to cater to large corporations rather than small businesses. Once again, I urge you to not support these bills or any similar bills in the future. Thank you for your time, and in advance for doing the right thing.

Joseph VanBuren – I will be reorganizing my licensing catalog, adding more tracks to it, and pursuing jobs in this area. I have already secured one gig as the Lead Composer and Sound Designer for the upcoming video game Precipice. I’ll most likely be bringing my man Randy (GrimWitcH) on board to collab for that. I’ll also be working on treatments for a few more screenplays and some new fiction and poetry.

Dostah Shilailee – There are some Dostah tracks in the licensing catalog as well. He’ll probably release one album in 2012 that nobody gives a shit about, yet somehow get song placement on a cable TV show (never mind, that already happened).

joe DOE – Jahg (Black-Jack) and I finished up the tracks for our collab album right before he was deployed for the Army, so that album will surface sometime in early 2012. There are also collabs with Christel South on the table; we’re hoping to have one song in particular released in January. As for DOE’s next two official solo albums, they will be the prequel and sequel to Democalypse. The trilogy will finally be revealed.

Triple Vision – We have been slowly but surely working on new material all throughout 2011. By the spring, we should have a mixtape and/or album ready for release, and possibly even a small tour to support the release(s).

Mother Prick of Misery – Anyone remember this? Well, my first screenplay features a band by this very name, and I’ll be writing and recording the songs to appear in the film. So even if the screenplay never goes anywhere, some MPoM music is likely to surface sometime in 2012.

Dark Domain – My oldest and biggest project. Every year I make progress on this work, only to find that it somehow grew beyond my former expectations. It’s a whole world of fiction, taking on a life of its own. Will 2012 be the year that this project finally gets presented to the world in some shape or form? Only time will tell.

Once again, from the bottom of my heart: eternal gratitude to all of my fans, friends and family that stuck with me throughout a sometimes rough 2011. Sykophunk is only getting stronger, so stay tuned for more epic awesomeness in 2012!

I started 2011 off making instrumental music for my licensing catalog. Some of these tracks were compiled into the album Where Angels and Eagles Soar, which I released under my birth name and dedicated to my stepfather, who left this earth on January 20 after a seven-year battle with cancer. After a period of grief and reflection, I made the album available in March. The other project I did under my birth name was Abandoned, a multimedia experience of horror and Hudson Valley folklore consisting of 15 tracks and 6 videos, co-produced by Ryan McClellan of Khaos Records/New Breed Media. In June, Indaba interviewed me about film music, which made me feel awesome.

As joe DOE, I recorded a total of three releases. Originally a mixtape idea, Mostly Recycled was released to fans in two volumes (including bonus tracks) before the official retail album was released in June. It’s available worldwide, on iTunes, Amazon, etc. I started work on new joe DOE material in September, including solo stuff and collaborations, occasionally posting previews on Sykophunk Weekly and/or Facebook. Being on top of the Occupy movement from the beginning, I made a sick video for the rEvolution. I played a kick-ass Halloween show at the biggest local music venue in my area. In December, I dropped the EP Tripolar and the mixtape Collaboremixtape 2011, both for free download.

Under my most mysterious alias, Dostah Shilailee, I released an album for free download, Copyright Laws Are For Pussies, in April. As the name suggests, the music contains its share of uncleared samples and unlicensed remixes; perhaps that is one reason why I didn’t promote this release much. Dostah is always my most incognito alter ego, and 2011 proved no different in this regard.

As for writing projects, I started the Other Shadows blog in May, named after my short story collection. Within two months, I was already too wrapped up in music projects to show my writing any love, so the blog became inactive. Towards the end of the year, however, I decided to meet a self-given deadline and finish the first draft of my first screenplay by the end of the year. I have other writing projects on the table and hope to bring the blog back from the dead early next year.

And what else is in store for Sykophunk Productions in 2012? I’ll break it down in my next post… keep your third eye open. And for anyone that actually read this whole thing, you’re probably the same down-ass people that stuck with me and all my craziness all year. I can’t express how much I appreciate it. The only way I know to thank yall is to keep going despite the odds.

The latest from joe DOE marks a transitional period for Sykophunk Productions, resulting in freebies for fans. The 6-song EP Tripolar consists of all the genre-bending artcore and epic awesomeness DOE is known for, with hard-hitting & heartfelt hip hop mixing with dark soundscapes and morbid content, just as the warmth of summer starts to make room for the witching season. Available for free download, the tracks are being released weekly on Facebook. A new song will be posted on joe DOE’s Facebook page every Friday for six weeks. The first track, “I’m Sorry,” was posted on September 2, 2011.

“In my book, sales have never quantified the talent, skill, or the artistry it takes to move someone through lyrics intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. I say this because I recognize and appreciate all of the people that have reached out to me over the years to express their gratitude for the impact my music has had on them, musically and personally. This satisfies me and makes me proud because these side effects of writing, rhyming, recording and having my music spread so far and wide is no small achievement. It’s because of you that I haven’t quit making music.”

Canibus’ new album Lyrical Law drops in a few days. Support real indie music and pre-order it today, featuring production work from Vherbal (who also provided a couple beats on my latest release, Mostly Recycled).

Indaba was cool enough to give me a quick interview the other day about music in movies. They posted it on their blog – check it out here.

This article on EveningTimes isn’t exactly clear on who said the following quote; I believe it’s Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand. But this is sadly the truth right now for all musicians trying to get their music out to the world, indie or signed: “Most people don’t want to pay for their music, therefore don’t pay for new music to be made, which is fair enough. But they can’t expect to hear anything other than tunes recorded on a laptop in a bedroom.”

Joe DOE: You’re releasing new music after an almost two-year-long hiatus. Why were you inactive for so long?

Dostah Shilailee: I always pop in and out of existence. A while back I released an album that went nowhere. Whether that’s due to Sykophunk Productions’ emphasis on you rather than me or just because I suck, that’s up for debate. Either way, knowing nobody would miss me, I decided to ninja vanish while we figured out what direction to take my music in.

JD: By we, you mean you.

DS: And you.

JD: Right… so what did we learn in the past year?

DS: We learned that people suck and the economy’s worse. Nobody wants to pay for music, so if you can’t download the torrent then it’s obviously not worth having. Real art makes terrible ringtones. People are searching Youtube for Rebecca Black so they can hate on her, instead of looking for something they might actually like. Some clichés are actually true, and it takes money to make money. But it seems nearly impossible to cover your costs when releasing an album independently these days, especially if your music is on the experimental side and defies traditional marketing.

JD: Damn, you just about convinced me to not release another album, ever. Any good news for us, or should I just blow my brains out right now?

DS: No, don’t do that, because I’ll be dead too. But yeah, there is some good news. Composing and licensing. Getting music placed in movies, TV shows, video games, commercials – that shit pays big time. Of course, it depends on the company you’re working with and their budget, but overall that is where the revenue stream is for indies right now, not in album sales. It’s hard times for everyone, financially, so even the major movie studios are looking at independent music, because it’s much cheaper for them.

JD: Yeah, I think all of Sykophunk Productions will be focusing on that area more. And yet, even with your negative view on releasing albums, you’re about to put one out.

DS: Sort of. I have a bunch of songs that we can’t make available for licensing, mostly because they contain uncleared samples. It’s fucking stupid, in my opinion. If I take a clip of something and place it in my music, I’m using it as if it were an instrument or a sound in Fruity Loops or whatever, as part of the arrangement of the song. It‘s now part of my art. But that’s not how the law sees it, and I don’t want to get us in trouble. So I’m calling my album Copyright Laws are for Pussies, it’ll be a free download under Creative Commons. People can steal it, remix it, sell it. I don’t give a damn – as long as they’re listening to it and possibly sharing it with others, that’s all I can really ask for.

JD: Ever since you did that Colbert remix through Indaba, you’ve kind of been anti-copyright.

The Colbert Report interview with Dan Zaccagnino, founder of Indaba [link to the video - Dostah's remix gets Colbert poppin & lockin @ 3:57]

DS: There is a purpose for copyrights, but some of it is bullshit. I register my music with the Copyright Office so that somebody else can’t try to pass it off as their work. It’s just documented proof that I made that music. But if somebody samples a part of one of my songs and incorporates it into one of theirs, I don’t feel like they owe me something for that. My art inspired someone else’s art – that’s awesome! I would feel honored, not cheated.

JD: That actually makes a lot of sense. When did you become so reasonable?

DS: Somewhere in between the time Homo Sapiens first walked the earth and the time you shut the fuck up.

JD: Word. So, are you sticking around for a while this time, or are you just gonna drop another album and disappear again?

DS: Who the hell knows? You’re in the middle of an album right now, plus we have Abandoned coming out next month. We’re only one person, so we’ll see if Sykophunk Productions can afford the time to promote its bastard elder child. I might be taking over for the prequel to Democalypse, because it’s supposed to be more dance-oriented. If that doesn’t pan out, I’ll just move to somewhere in Europe where they still listen to good music.

JD: You sound like Fred Durst right now.

DS: Don’t start with me, Hugo! Seriously, I should kill you for saying that, if not for the aforementioned dilemma of our lives being one in the same.

JD: We are one. Any closing remarks?

DS: Everyone download my new album on April 22, 2011 from sykophunk.com. It will be free because it has to be, and because I want it to be. Stay tuned for other awesome shit too, from joe DOE and JVB. Those guys are alright. Join the rEvolution Underground, or be burned over a basket of living cats! Ghost in a dream, out.

[People who were entertained by this display of my insanity also enjoyed D-O-E interviewing joe DOE]