21/02/2024
Why doesn’t your music make money? Well, if it doesn’t make money, it must be bad, right?
Why don’t you go listen to the top 40 hits and try to make something like that?
Everybody seems to like that. It’s gotta be good music, right?
Well, why don’t you just try doing something else? Music has a hobby init, after all?
They don’t ask me the last one was actually Went to university for Music Production. So I generally shove the degree upon their faces, (which “They” approve of, as legitimate) along with my middle finger.
But besides the cushion of the last question, How many of Y’all have had this fair share of questions been thrown at you?
I’m sure my imagination ran out after the first lot of questions, but the questions that you have been asked by those around you are way more intricate, vivid and craftfully executed to be painful, for those of you with a burning desire to express the music which is at the core of your very being.
If these questions sound familiar and you’re on the verge of quitting on your dream, then I feel you and understand you.
Everyone around, you seems to be getting it right. Everybody around, you seems to be doing ‘normal’ professions, which people around them do not question.
Everybody around, you seems to be giving you the look of “I told you so…”
I know you’re trying to look away and stay focused On bringing interpretation, the music that you love and deeply .
But as the bills pile on, As the sacrifices you are making for your music, are becoming bigger than the fruits of your efforts, You see two cross roads.
One is you sellout.
Make music that is commercial.
Cause everybody likes it.
And if everybody likes it, it has to be good right?
A mental picture of your neighbours and your family members around you nodding to that, is a very very familiar scene.
I’m sure you have played this reel in your mind hundreds of times.
The second option is you quit music and do what everybody who quits their dream generally does-
Gets a job that doesn’t draw too much attention; it isn’t low enough to raise criticism but also not too high to invite jealousy.
Get a job that makes the questions stop. Get a job that makes you fit in.
Get a job that makes you fit in with all those who never tried to pursue their dreams.
Get a job that makes ‘them’ feel comforted that dreams are not to be pursued, but hushed.
I have compassion for you If these are the only two crossroads you see right now.
But with the same compassion for you, I also ask:
Aren’t you a Musician?
Aren’t you a creative person?
Don’t you frequently use a part of your brain which others seldom do?
Don’t you have a heart which is bigger then the fear your mind produces?
By tapping into these qualities, these inherent qualities of yours that make you this condemned soul, in the society around you, can’t you come up with option number three??!
Option #1 was to sell out.
Option #2 was to do what everybody does: get a job and fit in.
Option #3….
Hmm…
I see that I am not going to catch up right now. The current scene ain’t favourable for me and I see that it is going to take some time.
But I am willing to quit my dream?
Hell NO.
Am I willing to strategize to find a way out?
Hmm…
Am I willing to chunk it into smaller parts so it’s achievable?
Am I willing to make a long-term plan and a short-term plan, that leads to the long-term plan?
Hmm…
What are the things that I lack right now?
1. My music isn’t Similar to mass consumed music. So I can’t plug it directly into the network.
2. Since my music is different, I am having to tweak it too much to make it fit into Existing formulas that labels promote.
3. As I am working on refining my music which is taking time, my lifestyle is deteriorating. This is taking a too long, and is taking a toll, not just on my music, but on my mental health too.
Hmm…
How do we go about achieving our life long dream then?
Hmm….
Chunk it. Chunk into two parts. Instituted together, when both the parts are individually ready.
Part #1:
Build a network for myself, build a brand for myself, based on my most authentic deepest self. Why? Because that’s where the adrenaline to make music comes from. I want to keep this close to that source.
Build a network of fiery like-minded people, Who are as driven, but far away from their goals as you are.
Build a network of people who are going to be with you when the time to launch is right.
But this is gonna take time…
Till then you gotta eat…
So let’s try to see how we can make money, and scale the money at the same rate that our network is scaling.
Hmm…
Is there someone who will pay you to do this?
Businesses who will benefit from your network building?
find a business, find an opportunity, find an affiliation that pays you as you are benefiting them.
Found it now. Now Keep scaling with them.
Part #2: Since part number one is taken care of your lifestyle, F**k the “fitting in” and get to work on creating the most authentic music that you possibly can...
Since part number one is letting me work from anywhere, I can keep remaining my music and practising pretty much the whole day…
Refining Option #3:
How I see this coming together:
If I have a network, that’s paying me, if I have accumulated the finances through this business over a few years, and refined my music to a satisfactory level, what in the world is stopping me from starting a record label that gets to set the rules,…, the same rules that ‘They’ tortured me with?
If I can get to this point with option #3, can’t I see that This is how musical movements and genres are actually created?
If I can get to this point with option #3, can’t I see that my music would be the same as the music that is listened to by a lot of people, or considered ‘normal’ by ‘Them’ cause ‘everybody’ listens to it?
If I can get to this point with option #3, can’t I see that I can actually be at the forefront Of something that I truly believe in?
If I can get to this point with option #3, can I see that I would not just have bo my deepest desires to reality, but also have helped a full network of musicians and artists and creatives and misfits, just like me, to Be able to find a way out of:
Option #1: to sell out.
Option #2: to do what everybody does: get a job and fit in.
If I can get to this point with option #3, Can me and all those musicians with me, on this path, Not have pulled this off in the most f**k yeah, rock ‘n’ roll-style imaginable??!
If I can get to this point with option #3, Can me and all those musicians with me, on this path, Not only have shown the finger to ‘Them’ but also pave the way with an option #3, for our future generation of musicians to come?
If I can get to this point with option #3, Can me and all those musicians with me, on this path, Make it ‘normal’ That when children with a love for music, ask their parents about it, they are shown:
Option #1: to sell out.
Option #2: to do what everybody does: get a job and fit in.
Option #3: show the middle finger to ‘Them’ and find and join people as crazy as you and keep following your dreams?
