Just a little heads up about the music site Bandcamp, why we regularly mention it and why it is vitally important for the thousands of independent artists who use it.

Bandcamp is a platform that allows it’s users to sell download copies of their music plus also physical merchandise (CDs, vinyl, t-shirts, anything really) direct to fans worldwide for a very small commission.

It is a superb artist alternative to streaming and “expensive to sell on” shopping sites for those wonderful fans who wish to support us directly and many, many artists offer exclusive or limited edition content there. Plus with downloaded music you can integrate it into your streaming playlists so still have the ease of the Spotify, Apple Music etc. interfaces.

It is also a very social place where you can comment and send us messages and you can preview all the music, so “try before you buy”.

On the first Friday of each month Bandcamp have what they call “Bandcamp Friday” where for one day they waive their share of all sales revenue and it is the perfect day to buy stuff as we get to keep all the proceeds.

Today is Bandcamp Friday for May so if you are in the market for discovering new music then do have a search around where you will find a treasure-trove of amazing things.

We’re on there with our “free/pay what you want” download compilation album and our family/friends download album and so are band-members Nancy, Martin and Findlay with their music along with lots of our folksome friends.

So there you go. It is a wonderful resource, which frankly was a lifeline to many artists during COVID, so do have a rummage around there and see what you can find.

Here’s all our links…

The Magpie Arc – https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/

Nancy Kerr – https://nancykerr.bandcamp.com/

Martin Simpson – https://martinsimpson.bandcamp.com/

Findlay Napier – https://findlaynapier.bandcamp.com/

Happy hunting!

TMA xx

Our Martin Simpson’s superb new album “Skydancers” is an Amazon number one bestseller and our Anthology download collection is a Bandcamp bestseller too!

If you haven’t heard it already then do check out Martin’s album which is being hailed by reviewers as possibly his best ever, it really is that good.

Click here for Martin Simpson – Skydancers

And do check out our Anthology compilation which is available on a “pay what you want/pay what you can afford/pay nothing” basis, it’s entirely up to you, all we ask is that you do share The Magpie Arc news by telling someone about us. Or better still you can email the album to someone that you love music with for the princely sum of 50p.

Click here for The Magpie Arc – Anthology

Finally, if you prefer to use streaming for your music listening did you know that you can integrate music downloads that you purchase into your Spotify, Apple etc. playlists so you can support artists by buying directly but still have the convenience of using those platforms?

Here’s a couple of articles which show you how….

How to import music downloads to Spotify

How to import music downloads to Apple Music

Thank you for your continued support everyone, it’s hugely appreciated.

TMA xx 🖤🤍💜

We’re delighted to be playing another summer night gig in Sheffield this year on Wednesday the 14th of August at our spiritual home Yellow Arch Studios and tickets are now on sale so click on the link below to buy yours…

The Magpie Arc Live At Yellow Arch Studios

Anybody who was at our gig there last year will tell you what a lovely setting it is with loads of excellent food places nearby, outside drinks in the secluded venue courtyard and then indoors for some rocking folk!

Also, what a fantastic response to our #NewFansFriday “pay what you want” offer on our Anthology download album this weekend. You’ve helped make it a Bandcamp bestseller and we’ve had loads of new CD and vinyl sales plus mailing list sign-ups.

Fan power indeed!

The “pay nothing/pay something” offer is open till midnight tonight so do share the album link below with anyone who you think should hear us and ask them to check it and us out…

The Magpie Arc 22-Song Anthology Download Album

Thank you everyone and we look forward to seeing you out at a gig somewhere soon.

TMA xx

Sometime this week (or next) is the third anniversary of something that none of us can quite remember and so like everyone else marking spurious occasions our record label is releasing a deluxe “immersive listening experience” box-set of our top 10 UK chart album Glamour In The Grey specially remixed by the ghost of Beatles producer George Martin.

We were completely convinced that this was uniquely the first time that a physical album had EVER been remixed by a non-physical being until somebody mentioned Phil Spector! ‘Sake!

Anyway, here are the details….

* Ten songs spread over 21 CD’s which includes the original album, a 24:7 surround sound version, the “Ghostly Remix” version, alternate versions of the songs when Findlay was hangry and away searching for food, the original demos of all the songs, the original demos of the demos of all the songs and copies of the original EEG printouts of the brain thoughts of each band member about each song before the demos of the demos of all the songs were made.

* Live recordings of all the songs from all the dates on our last tour each of which come with a unique song mixing software developed by our sound engineer Drew Coleman called “NO, I WON’T TURN THE DRUMS DOWN!!!” ™ and which you can use to customise your own live listening experience.

* Five two song 12″ singles in wearable coloured vinyl which can be moulded into lovely hats by simply leaving them out in the sun.

* A 512 page coffee table book which is packed full with a band bio, photos, lyric sheets, over 500 handy empty pages for taking notes or whatever, AND four attachable/detachable legs.

* PLUS each box-set is available in vegan AND gluten-free options!

We’re delighted to say that this will be available to buy (Patent Pending) for only £499 this Friday* and for every copy sold we will donate £10 towards “Stop The Wrendition” a charity aiming to build the worlds first safe space for wrens of which Nancy Kerr is an enthusiastic patron.

Or, like every other album ever made, you can just buy the bog-standard version if you haven’t got it yet from themagpiearc.com/shop

TMA xx

(*unless it’s not)

Our Martin Simpson and Findlay Napier are both releasing new albums very shortly and you can check out all their details at the links below…

Click here for Martin Simpson – Skydancers album

In a 50 year career this is being hailed as one of Martin’s best ever albums and you can see the video for the astounding title song that he wrote especially for nature presenter Chris Packham by clicking here

Click here for Findlay Napier – Outsider album and tour news

Anyone who saw us on tour will have heard the beautiful song that Findlay wrote for his young daughter, Call Me If You Need Me, and you can see the video of him “wild singing” it on a hill on Arran by clicking here

Band-wise as we head south to our late Friday afternoon slot at the Beautiful Days festival in Devon on the 16th of August we are playing at the legendary venue The Robin in Bilston between Wolverhampton and Birmingham on Thursday the 15th.

Tickets are on sale for that now and you can get ticket link with all the details at https://themagpiearc.com/live/

And there are special UK offers on all formats of our First Three EP’s and Glamour In The Grey albums as we go back to square one and start writing and recording for our next chapter in the Magpie Arc story so if you have a space to fill in your collection then now would be a good time to do it.

You can check these out at https://themagpiearc.company.site/

There is also a special offer on our 22-song Anthology download album of the combined EP’s and Glamour too.

You can check that out at https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/album/the-magpie-arc-anthology

Finally, thank you so much to everyone who came out to see us on our recent UK tour, we had an absolute blast and it was great to properly belt out the songs in some classic rock venues around the country!

Thank you as ever for your continued support everyone and see you soon.

TMA xx 🖤💜

We’re delighted to have been announced to play The Levellers excellent Beautiful Days festival in Devon on Friday the 16th of August and are making a stop en-route the day before to play a one-off gig at the classic rock venue The Robin in Bilston, near Wolverhampton on Friday the 15th. Tickets are available to buy for that now so click here for the information link…

The Magpie Arc at The Robin, Bilston – https://themagpiearc.com/live/

And today is Bandcamp Friday the day that they waive their revenue for all the artists who sell on there so it’s an excellent day for us if you buy as we get to keep 100% of the sales.

We’re on there, as are Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr, Findlay Napier and many of our folk friends so do have a look and a listen and maybe you’ll discover something new to buy.

We have a small amount of our limited edition coloured vinyl copies of Glamour In The Grey in sea foam green with lyric insert and photos available today on special offer plus all our other music and also our “family album” sampler featuring our “nearest and dearest’s” all of whom just happen to be some of the best folk musicians in the country!

And finally there is also our “pay what you want” EP sampler on there that you can email gift to somebody that you love music with so why not spread The Magpie Arc word?!

Click here for further details – https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/

Thank you as ever for your support everyone and keep on folkin’

TMA xx

We had the absolute pleasure of hosting some fantastic artists and guests at our Indoor Festival of Folk at Cecil Sharp House a few weeks ago and now available to listen to is the superb interview by Matthew Bannister of the Folk On Foot podcast with UK folk/rock production legends Joe Boyd and John Wood.

Fascinating stories, insights and gossip on the genre, the time and the artists so grab yourself a coffee and click below to listen to some musical history!

Indoor Festival of Folk Interview with Joe Boyd and John Wood

And next years date is in for the 8th of Feb 2025 with more cracking guests in the pipeline so get that in your diary too and follow the festivals Facebook page below to hear all the news.

Indoor Festival of Folk Facebook page

We are so honoured to have helped make this happen!

TMA xx

We’ve had a fantastic first two weeks of touring and thank you so much to everyone who has come along and for your wonderful clapping, cheering, singing and arm-waving!

We are now heading to The Cast in Doncaster tomorrow and The Fire Station in Sunderland on Sunday, whilst next week sees us off to Goole, Bury and Leicester.

The Cast is the scene of our first ever gig in June 2022 and we can’t wait to play there again so if you were there for that one then do come and say hello!

It’s also been absolutely wonderful to see more and more young folks coming to gigs and hopefully that is being reflected amongst other folks bands too.

If we can ask one small favour though, there is absolutely nothing to beat word of mouth, whether it’s on social media or down the pub a recommendation is always welcome so it would be wonderful if you could use the following link and let a music loving friend know about The Magpie Arc.

The Magpie Arc EP Sampler – https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/album/the-magpie-arc-free-ep

This is a free/pay what you want download EP and if you can take a few seconds to share it round that would be wonderful. You can also send it by email as a gift!

Our remaining tour dates and tickets links are also available at – https://themagpiearc.com/live/ and we’ll hopefully see you out there somewhere.

TMA xx

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to our Indoor Festival of Folk 2024 at Cecil Sharp House on Saturday, it was an absolutely fantastic day with amazing music from all the artists and a fascinating and touching interview by Matthew Bannister with folk/rock and production legends Joe Boyd and John Wood.

We will be making the interview available online very soon as the demand to hear it from people who couldn’t attend has been immense.

AND we’re doing it all again next year! Plans are already afoot for another great indoor day of music in 2025 so do pencil the 8th of February at CSH in your diary and follow us here or on social media to find out who will be joining us. We have a VERY special target for the interview session and if we can pull this one off it will be rather tremendous indeed!

Thank you also to everyone who has joined us on tour at our first two gigs in Glasgow and Sevenoaks. Both sell-outs and both great nights playing to wonderful folk/rock-loving folks!

We are rolling on to Southport for the Love Folk Festival at the Atkinson on Friday, the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon on Saturday, the Phoenix Exeter on Sunday and tickets are flying so do get in there quick if you’re intending to come along.

You can check out all our tour dates here – https://themagpiearc.com/live/

And as ever our music is available to buy here – https://themagpiearc.com/shop/

Hopefully see you somewhere out there!

TMA xx