FAQ

For Listeners:

Can I listen to your music for free?

Yes! Feel free to download and listen to any of my songs for free. In return my site asks you to join my email newsletter when you download a song. I send out occasional updates on new songs and videos. You can unsubscribe at any time.

How can I buy your music?

If you would like to show your support for my work, please purchase the Every Song Bundle. It includes every song I’ve released, plus bonus material. 70+ tracks for $25!

How does giving your music away for free help you?

I love to make music, and I like to share it. I've found that making my music available for free has helped get it out to people who would have never found out about it otherwise. And many listeners end up purchasing the the strong>Every Song Bundle after finding out about me.

Where can I find lyrics?

Go to the Music page and click on any song title—you will see song info and lyrics.

Can I make remixes of State Shirt songs?

Absolutely! I provide source files for many of my songs, ready for your remixes and mash-ups. These include every separate instrument, loop and vocal part recorded for each song. Grab them and go crazy. And be sure to send me a link, I love listening to these. If you do a remix, make sure credit for me is listed anywhere the song is used. Your remixes can be shared online but not sold or distributed commercially.

Using My Music In Your Project:

Can I use your song in my non-commercial project?

Yes! You are free to use my music in your personal, non-commercial, and non-monetized videos and projects with one requirement: you must list me in the credits. Go to the Music page, select a song, click GET LICENSE, and choose Non-Commercial license.

Can I use your song in a monetized YouTube video?

Yes—in order to use my song in your monetized project, such as a monetized YouTube video, you’ll need to purchase a Monetized Video license for $9, which will cover the usage of the song in your video. This license has one requirement: that you list me in the credits.

How can I purchase a Monetized Video license?

Go to the Music page, select a song, click GET LICENSE, and choose Monetized Video license. A link to download the song will be emailed to you after purchase. I accept credit card and Paypal.

How do I credit you in my project?

List me in the credits wherever the video will appear. On YouTube and Vimeo, enter the credit in the description box. On other video sites, add the credit within the video. The credit must be easily found and not hidden.

How do I write the credit?

Include the text as shown here:

Music: "SONG TITLE HERE" by State Shirt - http://stateshirt.com

Replace "SONG TITLE HERE" with the actual title of the song you’re using. When you download a song the site will give you an option to copy/paste the credits which makes this simple.

What if I can’t provide a credit? Can I purchase a royalty-free license?

Yes! I sell royalty-free licenses that allow the use of my songs without providing a credit. Go to the Music page, select a song, click GET LICENSE, and choose the Standard or Premium royalty-free license.

The Standard license ($49) covers one usage in one the following areas: online videos, online advertising, radio, video games, and apps. The Premium license ($99) covers television, movies, on hold music, and in store music.

Why do some songs not have a Licensing option?

These are likely cover songs, or songs that have other rights holders involved. These are not covered under the same Creative Commons license as the majority of my music.

Is your music public domain?

No. All State Shirt songs are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial Share Alike license.

More Stuff:

What music do you like?

Some of my faves: Subtle, Mogwai, Moby, Tycho, Sebadoh, Drive Like Jehu, Hayden, Com Truise, Coltrane, Crowded House, Beck, New Order, The Cure, The Folk Implosion, Duran Duran, Peter Murphy, Cut Copy, Digitalism, DJ Shadow, Tiger Lou, Elliott Smith, Pinback, Swans, Jason Falkner, Low, Doves, Blur, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Radiohead, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Phil Collins, John Fahey, Kool Keith, Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varese, Godflesh, Neurosis, Fugazi.

Tell me some more useless facts.

• State Shirt isn't really State Shirt's name. It's something other than State Shirt. But he does wear a lot of State Shirts.
• Bought a keyboard in 5th grade, brought it to school and got made fun of. Went back home and recorded 1000 goofy seven second long songs on portable cassette player.
• Forms a wack Phil Collins inspired light-rock band with friends from grade school. Plays the Easthampton, MA fall festival among other fine establishments.
• Buys a $200 drum set, breaks a lot of cymbals. As a drummer, bassist and guitarist, he plays in a death metal band, a light rock band, and an indie emocore band.
• Begs for and borrows music gear to record indie rock songs in his bedroom. Comes home from high school and records nearly every day. Records "The Ethan Album" and gives the cassette to friends. Goes to work at Caldor in the evenings.
• Gets a small scholarship and attends Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. Drops out of school and delivers pizza.
• Goes on tour with noise-punk band. They play clubs and dives all across the east coast. Band calls it quits, back to delivering pizza.
• Relocates to Los Angeles.
• Moves back to Massachusetts and works at a car wash. He doesn't record anything for a year. Gets drunk.
• Relocates to Los Angeles.
• Gets sucked into a mind-numbing day job and isn't heard from for a while.
• SongFight inspires State Shirt to start writing and recording songs again. Songs are received well and he keeps recording.
• Saves up some money, self-releases two albums and people actually buy them.
• Surprised by the shitload of radio airplay across the US, celebrates with a frosty Sam Adams.
• Disappears once again into obscurity.
• Wastes away at a droning, mind-numbing day job for years.
• Slowly finds spare moments to record This Is Old
• Wonders if leaving the pizza delivery industry was a bad idea
• Actually finds time to record new songs, works with online collaborators
• Releases Let's get Bloody
• Music actually finds its way into TV and movies.
• Finds a slightly less mind numbing day job to pay the bills in between licensing deals (no pizza this time)
• He spends a lot of time making looping videos, drinking beer, and sitting in LA traffic.
• Finally gets back into the studio. Spends a lot of time thinking about his past, and the music that he listened to during his childhood. This inspires his latest album Lost Hills.

Is it true your songs have been on MTV's Teen Mom?

Yes, this is true. No, I am not nor have I ever been a teen mom.

Is it true that "This is Old" was featured in My Super Psycho Sweet 16 Part 2?

Why yes, this is true as well. It's actually a pretty good slasher film!

For Music Gear Nerds:

What gear do you use in the studio and for live shows?

Here is a little tour of my studio:

And some of the gear that I use in the studio (updated July 2017):

• Ableton Live 9, Native Instruments Komplete
• Macbook Pro
• Universal Audio Apollo 16
• Oberheim Matrix-6, Yamaha DX21, Casio SK8, Roland Juno-6, Wurlitzer 200a, kid's toys, a bunch of other knickknacks and crap
• A crapload of effects pedals, Strymon TimeLine, Strymon BigSky, Line 6 DL4, etc
• Fender Toronado, P.O.S. Peavey bass, Gibson acoustic
• Pieced together 1980s Slingerland/Ludwig/Pearl/Zildjian/Sabian drum kit and cymbals. And a nice new Pork Pie kit.
• Yamaha T116 upright piano

Here is a video of my live looping rig that I use to perform live shows:

And some of the gear that I use live (updated July 2017):

• Fender Toronado
• In the past I used two Gibson Echoplex Digital Pros for live looping, but now I primarily use Circular Labs Mobius.
• Ableton Live
• Slightly broken Keith McMillen Softstep (replaced the slightly broken Behringer FCB1010)
• Strymon TimeLine, Strymon BigSky, Strymon Deco, Line 6 DL4
• Audix OM7 mic
• About 1000 cables, chewing gum, scotch tape and a prayer

What is your involvement with Strymon?

Since 2010, I have been a marketer, designer, and partner at Strymon.