2023 Interview With Kevin MacLeod! (Composer of "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" and "Sneaky Snitch")
77@incompetech_kmac is the man responsible for thousands of pieces of music that have been listened to billions of times on almost every corner of the internet! Even if you never heard of his name, the chances are you've heard the music he has done.
In this interview, I ask Kevin how he wrote his most successful tune "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", why he made a calculator app for the iPad and what it was like working with Element Animation on their animated short videos!
[Chapters]
0:00 Intro
0:55 How did Kevin get into music?
1:47 What was the first piece of music Kevin put out?
2:30 Why does Kevin release his music under a royalty free license?
3:49 How Kevin made Monkeys Spinning Monkeys
6:04 Where did the name "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" come from?
6:35 Has other people frequently came up with the names of his tunes?
7:08 Where does Kevin come up with the names of his music?
8:31 How Kevin made Sneaky Snitch
9:40 Kevin talks about writing scores for films / TV / games
11:15 How Kevin got his music in Martin Scorsese's "Hugo"
14:11 What other films / TV / games did Kevin's music appear in?
14:53 has he scored a video game?
15:57 Kevin talks about his public domain website "FreePD"
19:27 What was the strangest place Kevin found his music in?
20:42 How Kevin made the ukulele song "Carefree"
24:07 Is Kevin's goal to make royalty free music that doesn't sound like "Royalty Free Music"?
26:27 Why Kevin donated his entire catalogue to companies making AI music generators.
28:10 How Kevin made the song "Local Forecast - Elevator"
30:34 Kevin reacts to his tune "Electro Cabello" being used in @Jerma985's "Rat Birthday Mixtape"
32:26 Kevin finds out why his tune "Big Rock" is used in a bunch of "GoAnimate" videos
35:24 Kevin reacts to his tune "Take a Chance" being used by @thejoshrevell in his Lord Mahaveer joke
37:57 What it was like to work with @elementanimation
40:31 How does Kevin approach writing a new tune?
41:25 Does Kevin have a minimalistic approach to writing music?
42:29 How is Kevin able to make music in so many genres?
43:47 Does Kevin prefer to work with real musicians or perform it all on a computer?
45:31 Jack and Kevin's experiences with great session musicians!
47:17 Kevin's latest pieces of music
48:34 Kevin can write music from a place of anger
49:31 Why Kevin made graph paper
51:30 Why did Kevin switch to Bing?
52:47 Why Kevin made a calculator for the iPad
1:01:14 Why did Kevin make a "Text to Morse code to MIDI" app?
1:03:59 Was there any other apps Kevin made?
1:06:27 What is Kevin doing in the future?
1:11:30 Will Kevin distribute a CD or vinyl of his tunes?
1:13:21 Kevin reacts to my remix of "Sneaky Snitch"
1:15:55 Outro