hey hi this is an archive and eventual new home for my career diary.
i will write about my findings on what has brought me success in the music industry and adjacent creative ventures.
please email me or message me on any social media platform with ideas for new entries or questions. thank you.
Making music is more important. Period.
It is not your cover art. Its not your followers. Its not your next collab or the number of plays per track or even the reacts per post on social media.
When I was younger, I could barely average 5 streams a month. I was bad at singing. I threw power chords at the wall.
My drummer sounded like he was playing in an alleyway on tin cans because our mics sucked. I sucked at mixing. I did not deserve people's time and attention.
Today, I can say I was accepted into Berklee, fresh from getting my high school diploma. My music promotes itself when I let it.
How? I played my guitar and my friend's drums throughout middle school. I sang my heart out for years. I picked up bass, then cello,
then pedals and fx processing, then synths and piano, then djing, then the flute, trumpet, violin, steel percussion... I live and breath music.
Everything else will follow when the music you push holds value. Not because you're proud of putting in the absolute bare minimum. That will never carry you.
Success will come when your song makes other people feel. 11-6-2023
While you're learning to make your first songs, don't advertise your mistakes.
I have a rule. My idols in music are odd for the music I produce. Soundgarden, McBaise, Ginger Root, The Dear Hunter, Feed Me Jack, Destrage, Foo Fighters, Lie and A Chameleon...
If I listen to my finished songs and impatiently switch off to #artists I otherwise listen to in my spare time, I know my song requires work. If I publish it now, I have failed.
Why would anyone support my work if it doesn't meet my own standards?
Content comes AFTER you have a marketable idea. No exceptions.
Lets say we have music that's finally great. Our family and friends are no longer going "That sounds so good, honey". No, they're like woah, hold on. Where did this come from?
"I'm actually impressed." That hallmark silence and not just the forced chair wiggle. That's awesome. Take an hour or 2 to feel good about yourself because you deserve it.
Now you have what is explicitly known as a product. One worth selling, at that. Music may not be your entire brand, but it will buy you leverage. Leverage with promoters,
in call to action with fans, when reaching out to new listeners... I know. FINALLY. The whole "I don't have to do EVERYTHING for ONCE in my life." moment.
Quick tip: Earn your share. Provide value to your followers instead of posting memes on your business page and complaining about the algorithm ignoring you. 11-13-2023
A quality mixdown serves a purpose.
Personally, I wish to appeal to people who listen to metal, dubstep, pop, and progressive rock. As a consequence, my rails, or lack thereof, are set by the parts of my favorite
albums that make me say "Oh. That thing they did makes a lot of sense. I want to do that in THIS song."
To achieve this, my #music has entire tracks that sound like the master is distorted to high hell and back, but its all in the processing. I will take my sub bass, duplicate it,
add white noise, add convolution, and slam it with a saturator just to turn the output down -20db and waveshape it for hang time. It pushes -2db on the fader by the way.
However, I don't "mix quiet". I produce in a DAW, or Digital Audio Workshop setting. Clipping is a non-destructive function of the environment.
LUFs are a rule of measurement, not a number to exceed. Maybe you're in a metal/rock band or produce for one like I do. Don't discredit what I'm about to share because it
applies to you as well.
If you want to be as loud as Svdden Death, ok. You only really need -3rms on your drop to be competitive in #EDM. I only encourage learning how to reach that because it will
teach you why dubstep production sounds the way it does. A lot of the #loudness measure comes from the sustained volume of your sub juxtaposed against your mids and highs.
Now lets break down the case use for LUFs. If I am writing a synthpop track, maybe i wouldnt want my sub playing legato for 3 consecutive minutes. I might achieve -5lufs
in the chorus and -11lufs on average. The song is still blaring in the chorus. It sounds good. It is dynamic and punchy.
Your mixdown is good.
Next time a label denies you for your mix or you're upset that it sounds quiet on streaming platforms, ask yourself if you would still promote this song if
someone else made it.
Thank you for reading. Stay focused. By now, the pieces of the puzzle should be showing themselves. If they were already present, this is your sign to pick them back up.
11-20-2023
Money is inertia. Reciprocity is momentum.
You can't buy respect, and I can not stress this enough. You may lack engagement from potential fans. It's ok. You're still making progress.
There's a chance that a solid promo campaign will get you a few thousand #clicks. If you don't get that organically, its not your time to advertise. Some people lose
money doing these repost chains or playlist features out of pocket. Don't be that person.
Regarding music and money, people will play songs they like ad nauseam. These are songs that the worst promoter can flip without lifting a finger.
I will regularly see some friends and strangers alike playing my songs 5-18 times on release day. That's our cue to jump. To put an example to this, I will have albums
that i listen to front to back weekly for years. I promote those songs for free and You likely have artists you do the same for. If you are not experiencing this
engagement from your friends and early fans, save your money for a while.
If you do get repeat listens from multiple people, it is time to start leveraging reciprocity. People you pay time and attention to will be more inclined to listen
to a new song you published because you were listening when nobody else was. Right? Right. Take action. It works. You may be here reading my posts for that exact reason,
and I can not thank you enough for your time. You keep me looking forward to the future and happy in my present.
For what its worth, Direct Messaging is terribly underutilized on pay to win platforms like oh, i dont know, meta facebook? Soundcloud? Instagram? oh what about Google?
Bluesky? Maybe Reddit? yeah. This is where you can take your friends list and run a test launch. Your "book" of contacts can waive the $8 cpm, per ad you may pay when
starting off. Ads have no value until you have everything to gain from your expenditure.
Focus on the people who bring you today's success and continue to provide quality for tomorrow. 11-27-2023
Audience Retention.
Thriller. Graduation. Nevermind. Discovery. Literally everything that came after.
Writers back in the day had to compete with monumental names to convince labels that
some group of 19 yr olds had "IT". They did not focus on "intros" and "outros." They INTRODUCED riffs. They INTRODUCED a chorus. Golden era producers valued a listener's
time and money. Keep it on point.
My listener retention and overnight plays increased exponentially when I started getting to the point in 2 bars or less; roughly 6 seconds or sooner. I previously bought
the idea of the intro/build concept because i wanted to get on labels. Now, no genre stans will accept me into their cliques. Its only listeners. I tried to meet label
standards for a few years and one of the most dumbfounding critiques I got was how these people love when the sub bass only plays in the drop. like, what?
People have been conditioned to skip half of your song. Doesn't this bother you?
Ever since I've rediscovered writing music like a listener, I exist outside the cycle of making a song, begging for label approval, settling, promoting the song on the
owner's behalf, buying accessory promotion to compensate for the label's 1 hitter repost chain, sacrificing repoir to get 1 solitary play... 1 measly click through.
Now I hit up people in the dms at any time and show em a song from 3 months ago that has had linear engagement since release. The plays on my pages compound with every release.
TRIGGER WARNING: If you think the platform you use stopped promoting your music (instead of people finding someone dedicated to writing more enjoyable music),
don't read this next part.
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You are most likely writing pop music, also known as rap, r&b, electronic, rock, indie, god knows what else - and your audience can not sing the instrumental.
That is insane. Scrap it.
Is your verse ambient by contract? Plagarize a videogame score. I do not care. Let the melody sing in the background.
Put the work in to make a unique second verse following the drop or chorus. You will only publish this song once.
If there is downtime longer than 4 bars, scrap it.
Need a build? conDENSE THE BUILD IN TO the VERSE. Make it musical.
A drop is comparable to a written guitar solo. Do not copy/paste.
Choruses? I love a good chorus. It better be of similar quality to your verse, tho.
Outros? They do not belong on your spotify release unless they are quotable or engaging.
Got it? Sick. I'm more annoyed talking about this than you may be annoyed with me for saying it.
Quit wasting your listener's time. Pick up the keyboard. Fix your shit.
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Thank you for coming again. I know who will blink at this and keep making tearout or whatever trends next. To the rest of you, message me on any platform.
I started making music because, going all the way back to 2011, there is still a void that few people are filling. I have dedicated 13 years now to the skill of
actualizing the music I need in my world. I would hate to die one day and have this gatekept information disappear into the void. Why? Because some of you reading
these posts have a goal in mind.
Learn. Apply. Excel. Overcome. You (probably) got this. 12-4-2023
Take a break. You (probably don't) need (want) it.
If your friends go cold, you may have been working too long. If your friends don't talk to you anymore BECAUSE you worked for too long, they're not your friends.
Another good rule of thumb, btw, is to recognize that people who call on the daily (probably) aren't career producers. I talk to a lot of these guys, albeit briefly,
and the adults in chat who do nothing but gossip and play video games will tell you out loud that they're waiting for a break or they're too busy for one reason or
another. If you feel offended, I'm (probably) not talking about you. If you're still convinced that this is a call out, why? You know what's up. I'm touch starved,
isolated, greying in my 20s, never happy when I'm winning, never satisfied when I meet my goals, haven't been in a relationship in 2 years, have nobody to relate to
beyond the fact that I'm bad at communicating in groups because i refuse to accept a mediocre life... go have sex with your s/o or hug your kids. You don't want what I'm
going through. If you wanted this life bad enough, you'd be alone too.
We're only ever spending time. 12-11-2023
@here, @everyone
Are people annoyed about push notifications? This means the updates are not providing value to your audience.
It means that the livestream sucks. My merch sucks or is overpriced for my perceived value, which also means that my music is not good enough for the price I'm charging.
Worst case scenario - the music sucks.
There's two ways to combat annoyance from fans.
One way which I have spent the past 6 weeks screaming from the rooftops about is to fix your music. I did it. It works. I helped other people do it multiple times.
It works for them, too. To date. Continuously. Still, some people might also hang in my crowd to poach listeners. Are they succeeding? Cool. Now I have to work as hard
as he/she did to earn my listeners loyalty. That's how this works until you're past "hype music". Make such a niche version of what you used to do that people can no
longer predict your next move.
A second viable and effective method is to stop leading the group and start talking to the individual. You are speaking to someone who works 40 hours a week.
They require food. They don't always get perfect sleep. They lose family and friends. They share sentiment with things that only make sense for them. They have their
own dreams too. Reach out in private if this person's attention is important to you. I guarantee they've been watching you scream about your art for as long as you've
been forgetting their name.
Stop using @everyone until what you are announcing positively affects everyone. 12-18-2023
It's almost been 2 months since I said that the #music we sell is the only priority. If this is not your truth, bookmark this post and come back when the MP3 gets
more #shares than the soundcloud link. I promise you this happens once you get off social media.
I view song titles and album covers as a barrier to entry for all music. They communicate the most information about the song in the least amount of time.
Art is a double-edged blade. If your art tells people you are serious but the song sucks, the payoff for clicking your song is negative points. Say goodbye to that
listener for at least 8 months. If the art is unappealing but the music is good (loompaskette), you will have to fight harder for the initial stream. You will,
however, keep everyone on the other side of the play button.
On social media platforms like Soundcloud or YouTube, you have the freedom of naming your song anything in the world. Choose a title that can be googled. Also,
consider making a title that makes people look twice. On release, my songs may get a title like "womp womp say goodbye to your toenails" and have some eerie, tonally
appropriate, dreamcore image off of Google and then get switched to "Hangnail" with the commissioned cover art after I reach 1k streams.
After you reward people for taking the clickbait, strangers now abide by a different social contract known as #curiosity. "Why does this song have 1k streams?"
followed by "Why doesn't this song have 10k streams?" and so on.
Back to the very first thing I said; none of this matters until your music is worthy of plays. Nothing is free. Listeners pay us in attention. We're exchanging
that attention with dopamine and memories. That is a reason why performing and writing music is a business. That's why I get paid for my work.
Join me. 12-25-2023
#Criticism is a reflection of those who criticize.
Effective feedback is neither good nor bad. I could choose to let my ego decide that a person doesn't like me for not liking my work in progress, but that would
be a failure to listen. We're writing for other people, and if you aren't, why are you here? This is about marketing. Need to learn music theory and sound engineering?
Go join my server instead. I have $$$ worth of privatized information written by myself and uploaded for free.
Lets say someone offers aimless or loaded criticism.
"vocals bad" - take the hint.
"your drums suck" - what about them? is it the sound of my snare? is the sidechain not working? is the sub bow-tying from my kick? are the hihats too quiet? are they
too busy? too empty?
Some people don't have time to articulate the full idea. Some just can't, but they know how the music makes them feel. If you can ask all this, it might actually be
harder to find peers to critique your demos. You might have to start listening to yourself instead. I used to offer feedback streams every sunday to make up for that,
but my core audience sought topics like this instead. I took my own advice and accepted their feedback. I'm more proud of this in all honesty.
There is still a process to taking feedback constructively. If you haven't developed that mentality of people working toward a "common cause", it's time to start.
I say all the time that I teach/critique so I can have good music to listen to. Thats why I teach for free.
A warning: People who only listen to their "homies" demonstrate a failure of the prefrontal cortex. This self-destructive behavior is on par with drunk driving.
Run from these people because their "inner circle" trades around like a deck of cards on poker night.
While there will be the occasional shit talker, even hate is based in honesty. Learn to listen for the truth and you will go farther. Farther than anyone you may ever know.
I don't expect this one to perform well with anyone. It's too personal for some, common sense for others... The rare few people who want to hear this kind of thing are so
hardcore that they're probably on day 569 of eating bread sandwhiches and muscle milk and doing isometric training at an abandoned elementary school while their omega
dommy mommy goth s/o sinks next months paycheck into a fursuit because furries ball out. mfs got money to spend and they know how to get that bag do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
01-01-2024
Think like a listener.
part 1 - selling music
Are you struggling to get plays? Your #fans aren't. They know exactly what to put on when they want #music. I'd bet you do, too.
Albums build #loyalty through exposure. The singles game is most effective for brand awareness, but you won't always need daily #exposure. Play the long game and come out on top.
Free #album downloads work. Download "DL Gate" gates do not. 2 steps or less. I'll talk more on this next week, but here's why sites like #Bandcamp are effective and valuable.
Email funneling.
If your fans are broke today, snag their email in exchange for offline downloads. Smartphones can unzip compressed files and look just like spotify without the $180/year barrier.
Oh, and would you look at that? Instead of your fans paying you .89c a year in royalties, they can put that $15 back in your pocket via shirts or beanies because you are now their
most played #artist offline. They are biting their nails in hopes they can grab a ticket to your small #show before they run out. Neat!
Exposure.
Free, unobtrusive, music downloads make fans out of passive listeners. I don't know that I'll have an interest in someone until I know they exist. Likewise, I don't end up crushing
on a girl unless I'm around them enough to know I like them. Now, by all means, kill your growth potential and put those walls up. Same deal if someone I enjoyed the company of
consistently shut me down when I try to hang out, I can take the hint.
If the money matters that much, make some CDs and learn how to ship. jewel cases are cheap. printing is cheap. making a 2-sided album cover and some booklets is brain-dead simple.
Bonus points if you include the materials as a .PDF in case the fans need to replace these things later. Talk to your postal services in the area and find one that suits your supply
and demand. see how they handle shipping and add it into the cost of operations. Sneak some CDs into your local goodwill, convince your record stores to take a stack at discount, and so on.
Think like a listener.
I'm finishing this one around 4am on the floor because the hotel bed is too hot. Weird week, but I'm having fun. As much as I'd love to talk more on this topic, these things need room
to breath. DM me on here, insta, snap, twitter, discord if you have more questions. It may be a month or longer until part 2. 01-08-2024
Pay your friends before you pay a venue.
I started small. No family ties, no friends in the industry, no booming metropolitan area to dick ride. All of my success came from listening to the people who wanted to hear me.
When the time came to play, I had a choice. Keep taking opener slots, or build a following. There are right and wrong ways to do this.
A venue can't afford you when:
- you can't afford their hosting fee. That sticker-shock is meant to deter you. Anyone who disagrees is scamming.
- you publicly promote and endorse illegal substances.
A promoter can't afford you when:
- you have no audience.
- you can't (are refusing to) sell your own tickets.
- you treat shows like you're on payroll.
- your name is tied to unprovoked violence.
Most can swing it for a paycheck, but your event is DOA if your branding sucks + any of the above.
How would I fix this? Here's a few options.
Throw house parties.
Pay someone you trust + the home owner (with a legally binding contract) to host the party or use your own place, provided you have legal authority and/or a contract +
signature from your lessor.
| $15 walmart table & white cloth
| + rgb strip lighting to go behind the cloth.
| custom print shirts in the back for cash flow
| byob, kush in the garage, smoking in the back
| cars away from your neighbor's front lawn
| rent or borrow a sub and 2 PAs.
Have 3 friends DJ if they bring their own friends and agree to stay til after you play - incentivize with real food (pulled pork, sliders, ziti, curry, enchiladas, bao...
get creative + deserts) and maybe .5g per dj, but no chips and mt dew. please. thanks.
***
Do free entry house shows for 2 months. Plan month 3 out to where you make an event out of this 3rd show. Upgrade the lighting, bring a projector for visuals, and emulate
the show you would have at a venue as a taster. Once we've demonstrated the quality to the core fans, charge $5/head starting month 4 and hold this quality until you're packing
the house. Let's say a minimum of 25 people every time.
/OR
Do "the thing" in a public space. I decline tips in exchange for socials. My linktree or qr code to my website is slapped on my speaker. Get your videos, ask for reposts during
your performance, and let people see what you do for free. Nobody will steal your ideas. They were too lazy to walk out the door and try even when everything was handed to em.
Nobody will compete with you either. That requires more work than following my template and we all know where those "competitors" are at right now.
When you have 500+ local contacts and people proudly shout your name in passing, thats when you can run surveys.
Ask what people would pay to see you in a venue and if they would even come out. Dont do it through google forms yet. Copy/paste the questions you need to ask one by one and
then enter the data into a spreadhseet. Those who respond with warm reception should be asked for their email so when time comes to perform, you can go straight to their inbox.
Add these emails to the spreadsheet as well.
At this point, you're ready to provide proof of interest to your promoters. Event Organizers already pay for the venue. I would be careful to take sanctioned shows after 40 or
so regulars. This way, when you can guarantee 40 and only 15 show up, you can feel proud that you brought more people than the opener. If you really want to send a message,
the whole crew leaves after your set. You are now the event, not the club. You brought the money, not the promoter. All eyes stay on you and nobody second guesses who needs
to start headlining.
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sup.
I reccomend getting these numbers through streaming platforms too, but this is strictly a grass roots guide. If your music is so good that you have 1000 fans in
each major city and non-industry fans regularly asking you for shirts and to play out, you don't even need to stay for anything but your slot. You are the money. The promoter
will recognize this or lose their job in the process. 01-15-2024
Burnt out from social media? How could you not be?
Humans are not built for social media. Modern networking isn't healthy. Here's a couple platform specific tricks I use every day to reduce social media fatigue.
Facebook:
- Unfollow friends who only post memes. You can still keep them on your list.
- Reposted memes won't sell tickets to your next show. Make original content with your music or post your music.
- Posting jokes as "updates" - nobody wants to be the one to say you look desperate. My demographic and engagement performs best when I exclusively give them music and maybe
a cool recap/photo edit of a show from last weekend.
- Stop watching reels and hop back over to youtube. Learn something new.
- Stop complaining to your coworkers. Post your music instead. Get therapy if you have nobody to vent to.
Instagram:
- Don't use the discover feature unless you're learning what to post to your story.
- Like the posts from people you follow and get off. If you follow 4 follow, stop that too. People who do that do not play your music. I've had a decade to confirm this.
- Stick to youtube. There's actual educational content on there that will impact your life.
Snapchat:
This is actually a funny one.
Use snapchat as an excuse to be a little more adventurous. Story posts can be a great excuse to climb the highest building in your city, record skate footage to
overlay with your music, do weird interviews with strangers... Stories are for you to entertain your fans. Don't sleep on snapchat, but don't consume snapchat either. Be the creator.
Twitter:
- just reply.
- Do like the people one level ahead of you and keep tweets brief. Make a call to action when you have ways to entertain your fans off platform.
- Get off Twitter and make music.
- Stop following accounts to get follows. F4F harms your reach.
Tiktok:
- Use youtube.
- Post on youtube.
- Recognize that social media is a vehicle for sales.
The average tiktok user is 4-17. If you have nothing to sell to a toddler, dont worry about making content for tiktok and especially stop justifying your views if you have no
intention of sponsoring products you do not benefit from.
Reddit:
- Delete your account.
- Schedule posts on meta business suite instead.
- stay off reddit.
Soundcloud
- Stop asking producers to listen to your music and start sending it to listeners.
WE. YOU and ME. We do not have time to listen to other people while we make our own music. Why would your producer homies be any different?
- Send that track to people who exclusively DJ.
- Send that track to people who exclusively work in non-music careers (fitness/film/gaming/lifestyle/food/creative-adjacent)
- Send the link in DMs using my method (on instagram, facebook, twitter, threads). Make it a conversation. Buy them a coffee. Earn your trust by providing first.
The harder you go in the dms, the more plays you earn.
- Old songs deserve as much love as new ones. Share what you're proud of.
...unless your song sucks. the number of streams will reflect the quality of your music relative to how many people you share it with. Repost chains dont count.
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Sup. There was a time when the bulk of my relationships with peers were so fragile that they were based on transactional behaviors. I had since taken some time to reflect on
what's gained. I see now that these people were so lost in numbers that they couldn't catch up to their idols. Its all about having more followers or plays to them and nothing
about who the followers are or how many of these followers will buy tickets to shows. Dont be like them. Provide quality and earn your keep. 01-22-2024
Think like a listener part 2 - Demographic
Earning fans, in essence.
I know what gets me excited with album art and I do exactly what's required to achieve it. I know what I'm craving in a song so I write it in a notebook or in a DAW. When I
have a video idea, I write the script and the scene as if it were a play so when I can afford to begin work, i know exactly how to make the most of my time.
Supporting your producer friends is not limited to shout-outs.
For me, it could mean sending custom presets, teaching sound design or non-invasive promotion, feedback on art/mixdown/arrangement, sending links to rare plugins, explaining
my "signature" mixdown (It was invented in the 20s and normalized in the 90s. Stay humble).
The beauty of being supportive is that I won't be discredited for blowing up a rare plugin. Quality producers evolve with every release. I might get phased out for being a
fraud, but not for sharing the same sound as massively popular artists.
Before I get controversial, lets make our intentions clear.
It's ok to:
- Share music you love and people not do the same in return. Promoting music you enjoy tells your fans more about your interests and builds reputation.
- Buy merch you love without expecting a prize. Stick to designer brands if you can't separate the artist from the "favor".
- Comment on people's stuff when they're not being an ass. If they are, dm them or dont touch it. They're showing a side of them that isn't tailored to me alone and I have
learned to be grateful when they tell on themselves outright.
- Attend good shows as a listener. Don't attend bad shows at all. Bad actors thrive on this "think of the kids!" argument so don't worry about the "support local music" wave.
Local scenes will thrive when the gatekeepers' wallets dry up.
- Do mutually agreed upon favors. Keyword is mutual.
This is all obvious stuff, but I do not want to be mistaken on any of these points.
Teaching people that they deserve recognition for participation is not supportive. Teaching people that showing up is all that's required keeps them satisfied with mediocrity.
I will not play emotional support coach for immature people and neither should you. It takes hours out of my day that I will never see again. I put that same energy into people
who are invested in their own future. I don't like all of my friends music, but I have an ear for what will perform well and why. If the music is hard to enjoy, I might help
them fix their issues and only share their stuff around after they iron out the kinks in their brand. If we haven't done this yet and you're interested, shoot me a DM.
Say no to vampires. Nobody enjoys their company. You will not be responsible for burning a bridge if that bridge fails to stand on its own. Most promoters complaining about
artists are not business savvy. Most performers complaining about gatekeeping are DJs who fail to make enjoyable music while also having access to...
Let's break out the list again. this will be funny.
1. Google. Its everywhere.
2. Cracked software - which I do not endorse for legal reasons.
3. Free and highly accessible software synths.
4. Thousands of loops made by Excision/Subtronics/Nimda/Truth/Bandlez/Megalodon's label roster... I won't even dare to bring up splice.
5. A litany of formulas for writing catchy and timeless music that has existed for 230 years.
I wanted to kick myself in the teeth after writing that last one. To think I even write these posts and expect that demographic to read them... I'm obviously the idiot in this scenario.
Signal boosting "the homie" harms your reputation if their music sucks. If they try to guilt trip, bounce. That's not your friend. 02-09-2024
Your friends are your future.
There is no luck involved in music. The vision we walk in with and the vision we settle on are what opens and closes all of our doors. Some watch our backs, others watch for our downfall.
We're all watching eachother at the end of the day.
To stay on the right side of history, a couple things I avoid are gossip, complaining, parasocial behavior, gloating, entitlement, clout chasing... In myself and in others. Saying no
will make the fastest and most permanent change. I don't know who most people I talk to are anymore because I've muted so many accounts.
While I say to bring the vibe you want others to match, I usually distance myself from people who can't reciprocate. Don't blame them. Don't hate them. They are not able to return
kindness to people whose value comes from within. That's usually something wrong with their personality. You have your own story to tell. If you didn't, you wouldn't be a writer/producer/musician/etc.
Here's the why to all this.
If I were to spend my days bitching and whining about how toxic and gatekept the scene is, I'd earn my place in the underground. The bad actors love that shit because this attitude
guarantees I stay out of circles that help eachother and cheer eachother on. If I even deserve to, I'm playing another $15 cover club show with 4 free DJs and their best friend from
work is headlining because fuck it. This "gatekeeper" is just spinning the wheel.
Growing up in music though, I realize that the best of the best don't have time to spend feeling bad about themselves. They're too busy winning. Too busy providing value to others.
Too busy spreading good will and nurturing a vibrant and thriving community. Why would they spend their time on people who can't appreciate what they have?
The sun rose again today. Smile. 02-16-2024
Consistency is not binary.
Its been a year since my last post and I'm now writing to you in code.
I can't think of a better way to illustrate what consistency looks like than doing hard work with a goal in mind. This may be picking up extra shifts, skipping meals to hire a promoter,
self-funding out of state travel, or simply developing skills that improve how one dictates the idea of what their project should look like. For me, this has been 5 months of 65 hour work weeks, improving my dev skills, consolidating my debt, buying a computer that enables experimentation, and upgrading my audio tools.
That last one has grown more relevant as the array of speakers I perform on increase in volume.
"...but what does this have to do with consistency?"
Consistency, as I mentioned earlier, is not plugging 20 hours a week into a DAW or an instrument or art. Consistency is doing the hard thing, and pursuing your vision without compromise.
There is no limit to the ways I could show commitment to my name, but the moment I give in to doom scrolling and arguing with strangers and accepting odd jobs and "helping" people too lazy
to helop themselves is the moment I have broken the promise I made to myself.
Every obstacle I have removed for tomorrow's me is progress made on my album. This may sound like a cope, but I would have the means to complete any songs with the setup I was using previously.
This is an unfortunate reality of must self funded operations. For those of us who feel left behind or stuck, stop trying. By accepting my barriers and by doing the logical opposite of finishing
my music, I became free to work on music again and there is no reason why you can't do the same.
Those of you who are here with me now are the ones I truly believe in with all of my heart. I want to see your art thrive. I want you to flourish.
You are greater than your struggles.