Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and Berklee College of Music alumn Munk Duane has built a reputation as a respected indie artist, leveraging his diverse musical tastes, pop songwriting sensibility and guerilla new media marketing savvy into a package that is at once approachable and tenacious. His music has been featured in over 200 media and television placements, such as HBO’s The Soprano’s, CBS’s NCIS, ABC’s One Life To Live and CBS Sports broadcasts for the NCAA (March Madness) and the NFL, including the 2010 Super Bowl Half Time show, to name a few.
After the release of his electronic tinged debut ANIME SWEETHEART (2001) and the darkly confessional, hard rock follow-up SEVERED (2003), Munk was critically lauded in traditional press, regional major market radio and national college radio.
He was invited by the Program Director at WFNX, Boston, to perform alongside signed touring artists in theWFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll concert, was the listener voted feature artist on WBCN’s Buzzcut for two weeks and had the phone lines lit for a solid hour at WAAF after an interview and debut of tracks from SEVERED. The tracks YOU WILL KNOW and IF I from SEVERED received honors in the 11th Annual Billboard World Song Contest, noted as“demonstrations of the talent and dedication it takes to write a hit song” by Billboard Contest Director David Kindred. Munk also earned Top 30 airplay on over 100 college radio stations around the country.
The thing I like so much about Munk is there really is no pigeon-holing this guy… I love that. I love that he has not had to give in to the corporate machine that says you can only create one kind of music and fit into a corporatized mold of what people expect you to sound like. He’s free to create and be creative. That’s what I believe this new phase of the music business is all about.”
— Cruze, former Program Director, WFNX
It was a strong, grassroots start but the landscape of the music industry was changing. Munk saw which way the wind was blowing with Digital Distribution and New Media, and seized upon an aggressive and experimental strategy to utilize both outlets.
In 2005, Munk was approached by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff who was hosting a Podcast rapidly growing in popularity called Pacific Coast Hellway. Nemcoff suggested that podcasting, as a movement, needed an irreverent call to arms. In response, Munk wrote and recorded a song called Podpeople which was originally broken on PCH. The song rapidly made its way to the ears of podcasting pioneer and former MTV VJ Adam Curry, who inaugurated the song on his popular podcast Daily Source Code. Curry proclaimed Podpeople “the anthem for the podcasting revolution”. Virtually overnight, Podpeople saw plays on hundreds of podcasts all over the world, instantly exposing Munk to tens of thousands of new listeners and a new global audience.
“Munk has written, performed and produced some of the biggest indie-rock songs in all of Podcasting, garnering plays on nearly a thousand different shows reaching millions of ears around the world. In the nascent and exploding world of New Media, he is universally considered to be one of its musical crown jewels. Not only does he have a tremendous amount of talent and heart, but he is an artist with an incredible work ethic and the mind of a businessman”.
— Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, Director of Content Development, Podshow
Munk proceeded to make his music available in digital distribution outlets such as iTunes, Rhaposdy, Napster, Sony Connect, Verizon, Music Match, MSN Music, to name a few. He also made his songs freely available to the fledgling Podsafe Music Network, a site created by Adam Curry’s company Podshow Inc. The PMN was created to offer content to Podcasters and Munk’s music became some of the most popular.
After 18 short months, Munk audited his international Digital Distribution for his previous releases ANIME SWEETHEART and SEVERED through 12/13/07 and discovered 12,151 purchased downloads were registered—an impressive number for an indie artist that had not released a full-length album since 2003. It became apparent that leveraging New Media was a sound approach. In 2008, Munk was featured in Billboard Magazine in an article focused on the success of his New Media marketing approach.
Podcasting was only one part of Munk’s three-tiered strategy. He teamed with music publishers to get his songs featured in over 100 placements on network and cable television such as HBO’s The Sopranos, CBS’s NCIS, CBS Sports, CBS’s The Young and The Restless, ABC’s One Life To Live, ABC’s All My Children, The WB’s Charmed, composed music for the video game Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, the score for podcast drama Shadow Falls and the game show Boned and the list goes on.
“Munk’s done it again. Wow! – that has monster smash written all over it”.
— Adam Curry, Daily Source Code #422
His third and last solo release was imbued with the musical mood swings that have become Munk’s signature. MODEST AMONG THE LIVING (2008) weaved its way into a cohesive allegory about unexpected second chances and major life changes. Songs like 30 Days, Grave and Tell Me Nothing Is Wrong lay themselves bare to the reality of existential crises of faith, families that tear themselves apart and the indignity of old age while Awake and Waiting and Superheroes focus on vigilance against those in power and personal accountability. Countering the more serious tones are the upbeat and pop-laden Dirty Work, Sometimes Life Starts To Fall Into Place and the “Beatle-esque” Beautiful (I Know You’re). Also of note is the haunting track I Am, which was a “hit” for Munk in the Podcast world as the theme to the popular original dramatic series Shadow Falls, of which he also wrote the score.
As of 2011, Munk has sold over 22,000 downloads of his discography through digital distribution outlets like iTunes. His latest project, the Country Rock/Americana self-titled Munk Duane Band released their worldwide debut on 10/11/11. Munk also continues to score for TV and Film. He completed his first feature length score for the indie feature Conned (Eyeth Films) and is taking on his second full-length feature film score, the thriller The House Across The Street in 2012.