THE MAMMALS SHARE FIVE NEW SINGLES GIVING PROCEEDS TO “SUNSHINERS”
Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda of The Mammals make their home in West Hurley, NY (near
Woodstock) and while they’ve supported their family thus far thru their music career, this recent
turn has been a head scratcher. Live shows are still a source of income, but the actual sale of
physical or digital recordings has become a novelty rather than a mainstay. Rather than stop
creating new work, though, they keep doing it. Why?
“The monetary value of music was always secondary to the emotional value for me,” says
Ungar. “If recordings are valued at zero dollars now, maybe the creators who will remain in the
game have always made music for deeper reasons and are able to survive on other income
streams, like touring, teaching, and direct fan patronage. We’ve discovered support from our
fans via Patreon, and with their help we’d like to keep going deeper into our craft and welcoming
the new technology that allows us to share songs with fans directly.”
With that in mind The Mammals chose December 2018 to release a series of five new singles
on the streaming and downloading website bandcamp.com.
All five tracks are previously unreleased recordings from the sessions for their album
Sunshiner.
The Mammals are donating 100% of download sales from the new singles to specific causes
that relate to the message of each song. In Merenda’s words, “Our actual donation may be
humble but we’re proud to shine a light on the good work of others, those who have inspired us and who are using their energy to effect positive change in our community and our world. These are the Sunshiners!”
