Distinguished guests, brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, friends and enemies*, on behalf of Rising Star it is my honor to present to you:
Beginnings - Rising Star Vol. 1
Releasing on October 24th!!
We've assembled 6 composers from marginalized backgrounds to bring you music inspired by the early parts of video games - I'm talking tentative first steps and first levels, the energy of hyperspeed trailer themes – all with inspirations from Mega Man, Kirby, Kirby Air Ride, puzzle games, platformers, jazz, chiptune, classical - and packed into our little collection of tracks. It sounds great and I think you’ll love it.
Most importantly: we've come together to create the start (maybe even... the beginning??????) of something; these composers were gathered because of the exceptional work they've been able to do in spite of working in an industry that doesn't cater particularly well to ANYONE, much less to anyone with any kind of diversity - gender diversity, neurodiversity, racial diversity - and this is a small proof of concept of the kind of work we're able to do with a little bit of space, time, and financial support. This showing will be a launchpad to help us connect with more individuals and organizations who believe in this cause and can help us power-up to do even more. The world is getting less inclusive these days... so it'll take the power of community coming together to make things better for all of us.
I hope you enjoy the tunes and you'll continue to follow along with us as we continue on this journey.
Announcements & Updates
In case you missed it, we've launched on social media platforms! Find us here:
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/risingstarpatronage.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risingstarpatronage
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risingstarpatronage
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/risingstarpatronage
You might have also seen a few of the things that we've been able to do on behalf of marginalized composers in our last update. I'd like to once again share, (and expand on!) that list. In addition to paying our composers for this collection of tracks we have:
Met with a major game audio company to start discussions about diversity
Started conversations about collaborations with like-minded, diversity-promoting organizations - more to come here!
Compensated our composers for all associated payment processing fees (these will sneak up on you, we've been doing this from day one)
Sponsored a composer to attend a game dev event, for camaraderie and professional networking
Purchased music software for a marginalized composer in our extended network
Provided direct rental support to a composer in a time of severe need
Submitted an application for a collaboration with a major game industry organization
Brought on some additional support to help on the administrative side of things
Provided some informal, professional mentorship to several composers
What's Next?
Thanks to the generous support of all of you, we were able to shoot beyond our first milestone - which means that we were able to support this first release in an extremely meaningful way. This really wouldn’t exist without all of you and I am extremely grateful. Thank you.
As mentioned in June, our target for the time being is shorter, episodic releases. We also want to ensure we continue to support the composers we've already built connections with. Building stability in a difficult industry during an unstable period isn't something that happens overnight and it's definitely not something that happens after one (or two, or even ten) opportunities. My hope is to build Rising Star into a robust platform that can help support careers as much as is reasonably possible, and in as many ways as possible, for as long as we can.
We'll continue to support the wider community as well: through direct financial support when possible and where necessary, educational outreach, community building and support, and anything else that's an organizational and ideological fit. I can't predict everything that we'll be able to do and, truthfully, I can't predict how long we'll be able to do it for - but I am always on the lookout for opportunities and doing what I can.
Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your support.
Stay frosty,
Star
*introduction quoted from Malcolm X because 1) it is absolute heat and 2) i for one think it is gender inclusive