Mark Elliot Cullen: 366 Songs In One Year

An Interview by Thord Daniel Hedengren

Mark Elliot Cullen is a very ambitious man. He’s the guy behind 366Songs.com, a site dedicated to bring a song a day, for free, for a whole year. That is some project, and Mark is committed to it for sure. Naturally, being interested in music and that whole “free” thing, I wanted to talk to this guy, to see what drives him to doing this.

Let’s find out, shall we?

You’re the musician behind 366Songs.com, a really ambitious project. Why don’t you start by telling the readers a little bit about it, and what made you do it?
Well I’d been writing poetry and studying it at college for a few years. I’d always wanted to get into songwriting but I didn’t really have the gumption to get into it. The idea behind 366 Songs was that I would force myself to learn how to write songs and also provide a free resource for other, probably more talented, musicians by waving the publishing rights.

So it’s an experiment to learn something new. I can relate to that for sure. How do you think it is turning out?
Well I feel like I’ve gotten better at knowing what I can put into a song, and what to expect out of it. Really I have never had trouble making a songs, it’s making it good that takes more time. Because I’ve been forced to do it everyday I think my guitar playing and recording techniques have gotten better. I’m starting to write songs I can enjoy, so I think that’s a step in the right direction.

How has the project been treated by outsiders so far? Got any press coverage yet, for instance?
Well, some other songwriters I know have enjoyed it. Most of the people who stumble upon the site probably have no idea what they’re getting into. The type of music I tend to write right now appeals to a specific type of person. As for press coverage… I guess you’d call this an exclusive interview.

Tell us about being on the front page of Pilkipedia!
I read Ricky Gervais’ blog about Karl Pilkington and he gave an inspiring speech about pestering Karl, so I thought I’d put in my two cents. I made a song and a music video for Karl, and I put it on
Pilkipedia. They put it on the front page. I’ve downloaded so many shows from there, I was really excited to see it up there. It made me want to go back and record a better version of the song, but I’m just glad I could entertain the people at Pilkipedia since they’ve done a great job
of archiving old Ricky Gervais shows. The thought also crossed my mind that Ricky Gervais might see it, and then I did the next degree of separation to his friend David Bowie, who’s music I cherish. I was pretty giddy, but then I thought the chances were pretty slim and I decided to lower my expectations. Still, it’s fun to imagine the possibilities.

366 songs in one year is a lot of songs. Aren’t you afraid of repeating yourself?
I’m sure I will. If I’m certain that I will repeat myself it’s one less self-made obstacle to writing a song. Most artists repeat themselves on the space of one album, sometimes the repetition of themes can make a great album like Lou Reed’s Magic and Loss or Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Track, really hammering it in.

What do you hope that 366Songs.com will lead to? A record deal? Something else?
I don’t know if I’d want to put out a record, I haven’t been into a CD store in years. I hope that other musicians who struggle with songwriting might help themselves to some of my songs or just use parts
of them as a jumping off points for their own material. Of course money would be nice, too. Hard to get when you’re giving away everything for free, but I’ll work on figuring out a way.

Well, the open source community isn’t all just people doing stuff for fun, so I’m sure you’ll find a way. The most obvious ones would be to sell songs (digitally, I take it?), and of course do live performances. Any thoughts around this?
I read some report recently in the Guardian where they estimated that only twenty percent of digital music is downloaded legally. Of course, that’s probably exaggerated by the so-called “artist rights”
organizations. In any case, I think people have gotten used to getting music for free. If I could figure out a way to distribute my music for free but still make ends meet, I’d do it full-time. I’m happy with what I’m doing for now though.

As for performing, I’ve done some busking here in Glasgow, but I don’t have the equipment I need for a real performance. After I’m done studying here, and I get back to the states I’ll start performing. I’d
like to find a drummer first, and they’re quite hard to come by. Drum machines are much cheeper I hear, so I’ll look into that too. I don’t know why people would come to see someone with just a guitar.
The concerts I’ve most enjoyed are bands, like Bob Dylan’s band or Patti Smith’s or the Strokes. When you see a really tight band like that, there’s something mystical about the way the entire band comes together, which for me is what concerts are about.

Speaking of the music industry, and not being into a CD store in years, what do you think of the state of things? Are you downloading music yourself, for instance?
I steal everything if I can find it for free. Most of the time at college I’m worried about budgeting enough money to buy food each week, so I wouldn’t buy a record. I don’t think economic circumstance should prevent someone from exploring musical possibilities. When a band or artist I enjoy comes to my area I always make a point of seeing them in concert because I know they’re getting the money. It’s not being funneled through the distributor, through the record company, through their agent. More money gets to the artist. Most musicians make their money by touring. Really though we’re at the first point in recorded history where internet access and music sharing sites are so prevalent that there’s no limit to what anyone in any economic class can listen to if they have the will. I find that inspiring.

The content is released under the Creative Commons license. Why is that?
People who write songs always talk about having a feeling like the song came from somewhere else. I usually feel the same way so I don’t think the songs are mine to begin with. I also wanted to return to the way things had been before the 20th century’s copyright laws got in the way. Folk and blues musicians used to trade songs and parts of songs freely without fear of repercussion from any sort of royalty agency or being called a thief. I think we’ve had about a hundred years of that, I’d like to see it return to it’s original state.

You are a published poet as well. Where can we find your work?
There’s a great literary magazine that’s published at my university called Dossier. It just started back up after a long hiatus. I’m in both issues, which are free online.

I’d like to thank Mark Elliot Cullen for doing this interview, and wish him the best of luck with his ambitious project. Do check in on 366Songs.com and listen to his work. A new song every day, how about that?

This Interview was published on April 9, 2008 at 10:36 am • Did you like it? Subscribe!
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