GlassTear is a collective of passionate musicians to engage in a "free musical fermentation project". The project aims to "ferment" the musical ideas of each member, mixing experiences, tastes, and skills towards the joint production of songs.
Purposes
The GlassTear project is made up of individuals for whom music plays a vital role in their lives, united by the goal of producing music by weaving together various ideas into a single creative flow.
Unshared ideas represent wasted energy; therefore, GlassTear aims to cultivate each member's musical concepts and channel creative energy into fully realized tracks, free from the constraints of any specific genre label.
Participation and working mode
Participation in the GlassTear project is free and voluntary. Anyone can contribute creatively in whatever manner, intensity, or frequency they deem appropriate. The project operates asynchronously, involving the exchange of audio files to collaboratively create musical tracks.
The project is coordinated by Max Grosso Sgarrillo, with all participants contributing their own ideas around this central figure.
The core concept is to let the initial idea—whether a riff, melody, arpeggio, or otherwise—evolve through the contributions of anyone wishing to follow the creative flow.
Constraints
There are no "label-imposed" constraints on the production of tracks for the GlassTear project; there are no limits regarding composition, genre, or style. There are no deadlines for completing or releasing the tracks. The only "constraints" concern:
quality. There is a difference between "gathering" fragments to avoid waste and producing unlistenable material. Only tracks meeting a certain standard of listening quality will be released under the GlassTear project.
instrumentation. Each member is required to have a minimum level of equipment to work on the shared fragments—specifically: instruments (guitar, bass, keyboards, microphone, etc.) and recording hardware and software (PC, audio interface, DAW).
no AI. GlassTear does not and will never use Artificial Intelligence to produce music tracks. AI is permitted only for creating album artwork and/or promotional material.
Distribution
Max Grosso Sgarrillo will handle:
the artistic production, arrangement, mixing, and mastering of the tracks;
the release of the tracks via digital distributors (CD Baby) on all platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, etc.);
contents for the YouTube, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp channels;
registration of the works (Patamu), naturally allocating authorship shares based on the actual creative contribution each person made to the track, and agreeing upon these shares prior to registration.
Prices
Participation in the GlassTear project is entirely free of charge and always will be.
Max Grosso Sgarrillo will cover all costs associated with registering the works and publishing them on streaming platforms via digital distributors.
The GlassTear project is strictly non-profit and does not aim for monetization, specific listener counts, follower growth, etc.
There is only one goal: to harness everyone's creative energy and channel it into finished tracks.
The name "GlassTear"
The name GlassTear comes from the so-called "Prince Rupert's Drop", also known as the "Batavia's Tear": a drop of molten glass that immediately hardens when it comes into contact with water, causing enormous tensions inside the bulb.
Through this extreme hardening, the head of the drop becomes almost indestructible, resistant to hammer blows, bullets and even hydraulic presses. However, even the slightest pressure along the tail causes the instantaneous release of all the accumulated tension and the drop explodes, pulverizing.
The meaning
The drop serves as a metaphor for the human personality: outwardly, it often appears solid—at times even impenetrable—while deep within, it is liquid and unstable.
Time renders us greedy, selfish, and intolerant. In our pursuit of materialism and aesthetic appearances, we lose sight of substance and the depth of our being, constructing an indestructible shell—much like the bulbous head of the drop.
Yet, our psyche remains incredibly fragile—like the droplet’s tail: slender and nearly invisible. If nicked by even the slightest pressure, that psychic fragility can cause the entire personality to shatter, instantly toppling all accumulated certainties and pulverizing every external shield.
No matter how indestructible our temperament may seem, we must always reckon with a mind that is fragile and sensitive—one capable, at any moment, of completely overturning every balance and every tension built up over time.
Who's behind GlassTear
Max Grosso Sgarrillo (born in 1985) is an Italian songwriter, musician and record producer since early '10. Formerly drummer and producer of Blupetrolio, he is currently founder and artistic producer of GlassTear (published two singles and one EP) and Bilge Music Project (published one album). As a solo artist he has released 5 albums (entirely written, recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by himself). As a producer he is constantly committed to in recording and releasing high-quality work.
GlassTear does not and will never use Artificial Intelligence to produce music.
