The Future of Jointz Of The Day at our One Year Anniversary

Help us change the world by continuing to spotlight unsung old school music that frees minds and shakes behinds with messages of peace, love, equality, and freedom.

Thank you for subscribing to Jointz Of The Day. Since we launched a year ago last week, it seems like a good time to check in with everyone who’s helped us get this far. And talk about the newsletter’s future. Spoiler alert: We’re launching paid subscriptions! With some extra special incentives to sign up.

We are on a mission to help change the world by turning folks on to unheard old school music, especially message songs that promote peace, love, equality, and freedom. Often they’re also the funkiest jams around. What a different society we could have if songs like these were the soundtrack of more people’s lives.

Unfortunately, the corporations that control major media outlets would prefer we remain mindless, complacent consumers instead of listening to music with the power to free minds and shake behinds.

Over 500 readers have subscribed so far, which is amazing and we sincerely appreciate you. You’ve put up with brief editions that had to be rushed to meet midnight deadlines (but always expanded later for the archived versions), and late editions that have threatened at times to turn this newsletter into Jointz Of The Yesterday. But we haven’t missed a date all year, and don’t plan to.

What we do plan to change is making it possible for subscribers to support this project through paid subscriptions. It will allow us to keep bringing you a high-quality, daily dose of unsung gems that help funk up your playlist. Subscriptions also make a great gift for someone you know who loves old school.

It’s hard to find accurate information about many old school artists who never found the stardom they deserved. We strive to deliver well-researched posts on these artists and the back stories behind their songs, and want to keep doing it.

Whether you’re a new subscriber or have been with us from the start, you’ve read us in your inbox. Take a minute and look at our extensive archive of past posts. In a year’s time it has developed into a valuable, searchable resource, what one reader described as “an encyclopedia of funky music.” Paid subscribers will continue to have full access to the archive.

We also want to bring you more interviews with unsung artists, songwriters, and producers, like the one we did last year with O’Jays original member Walter Williams for an exclusive career retrospective that we and Micro-Chop co-published on his 80th birthday. Sadly, countless legends who gave us the golden age of soul, funk, disco and jazz in the 1960s and 70s are now passing from this earthly plane. Many of their stories remain untold.

Your financial support will help us devote time and energy to Jointz Of The Day going forward, and dig up even more unheard masterpieces and back stories about the music we all love. We will occasionally post behind-the-scenes updates on this project which will only go out to paid subscribers. But we want as many folks as possible to discover the music we write about, so most new posts should remain free and available to the public.

Here are a few funky incentives to subscribe. If you sign on as a monthly subscriber (for $5/month), after only three months we’ll email you a cartoon shout-out personally thanking you by name (or whichever username/handle you prefer) for your support. If you subscribe for a year up front ($50), we’ll not only send you a cartoon, it will be a printed, signed copy and arrive inside a vintage vinyl 12” or LP (international subscribers add $10 S&H) straight from Harold’s crates (aka DJ Moon Ra). You’ll also get this if you remain a monthly subscriber for a full year.

If you’re feeling especially generous and want to become a founding member for $100, you’ll get a cartoon, two records, and a “Love Is The Message” t-shirt (like the design at the end of this email, but without the URL). And you’ll be listed in the movie credits as one of our early backers. Plus a lifetime subscription for as long as we publish.

After several million views on Twitter and a few hundred thousand on the newsletter and our YouTube channel, the planet’s still a mess, but the songs we’ve spotlighted over the past few years are being heard more widely. With your support, they’ll continue to be.

If you have questions or feedback about any of this, or just want to say hi, we want to hear from you. You can email us at info.jointzoftheday -at- gmail.com.

Finally, here’s some of the nice things people have said about this project:

“I have learned about so much music that I never would have come across without Jointz Of The Day.” - Duff Goldman

“I look forward to your posts. Thank you for sharing so many gems! Continually discovering and remembering because of you!” - Electric Lady

“Your substack is becoming one of my new favorites. Thank you for highlighting many important artists and songs that would otherwise be lost or buried. Each of your articles a spectacular read!” - Glynnis Wiggins, My Point Is

“Jointz Of The Day is one of my favorite music ‘stacks. The writing is excellent. The research is thorough. The stories on soul music’s more forgotten heroes are incredible. They’ve just launched paid content after a year on Substack and I think your money is well spent here.” - Jami Smith, Songs That Saved Your Life

“Really want to encourage you to check out the excellent Jointz Of the Day newsletter. Impeccable song selection with interesting facts about the artist, historical context, and song creation. Highly recommended.” - Gino Sorcinelli, Micro-Chop

Thank you all again and Happy New Year!

- DJ Dyn-O-Mite (editor) and the Jointz Of The Day crew (Harold, Emma, Cheryl, Jonah, Stanley, Samantha, Mark, Bill, Ted, and Mr. Kincaid).

#soul #funk #disco #jazz #JointzOfTheDay