Nerdcore rapper Adam WarRock dropped his debut music video “This Song,” which celebrates his life as a struggling indie artist. The track, off his Longshot mixtape, talks about the ups and downs since he turned to following his passion. As part of the release of the music video, he also doing a donation drive. Every year around the anniversary of the quitting of his job to do music full-time, he does a donation week where he releases a ton of free, exclusive stuff and ask for donations! Here’s his message about why he does donations:

I believe very strongly in releasing free music, and releasing a ton of it for everyone to enjoy. I believe the Internet is a place where we should all share in our enjoyment of awesome sh*t without constantly having to pay money, without throwing everything behind a paywall. I love making this awesome shit for your ears, and hopefully you understand that at a certain point, a brother’s gotta make a livin.’

I pay for everything out of pocket, from music production, to travel, to merch production, to running the entire Adam WarRock business out of my living room with a team of one = me. I’m the guy who books my shows, does my PR, answers the email, ships my merch, and keeps the trains running on time. On top of that, I gotta live, I have school loans, I got bills. But you knew all of this, and yes, this is the one time of the year I ask you to look into your hearts (and wallets) and donate some money. That means I never do a kickstarter, I don’t fundraise, I don’t ask for donations any other time of the year. I work my ass off to throw up free music as fast as I can, while still making professionally mastered albums, great merch, all of that, from the money I have sitting in my bank account. It’s all on me.

Beyond that, I believe that independent music is the last bastion of creative freedom in today’s market, frankly in a music industry that produces a lot of crap. I’ve had numerous discussions with people who work at labels, agencies, who are part of the big machine who say that they like my music, but they don’t believe there’s a place for my music on a bigger stage. That it wouldn’t succeed. That it’s a losing proposition, from the bottom line perspective. I don’t believe that, and I don’t believe they have the right to decide that for you. And to compete on the level of people who have corporate backing, huge sponsors, and gigantic machines of promotion, I need your help.

I love making music, I love it with every fiber of my being. The first thought in the morning and the last thought I have before falling asleep is about music. And I want to keep doing this as long as I possibly can, and without your help, quite simply, I won’t be able to. There’s a point, way sooner than everyone probably assumes, when the money will run out, when I can’t do this anymore, when this website will become a dusty relic of someone who once tried to do something a little off center, and inevitably failed.

But what’s the old thing we say to inevitability? Not today? Something like that.

So please, consider donating, I’ll give you a bunch of exclusive, awesome stuff, and we can keep this machine running for another year.

Learn how you can participate in his donation drive here.

Listen to more Adam WarRock: Ghostal EP, Parks+Rec EP, Browncoats mixtape, and 616

This Song by Adam WarRock