What It’s Like to Release Music in 2020
I used to think there was an elevator that would take off and take my music career to some new height all at once. Turns out, that’s not how it works. The old days of some record label discovering your genius and bringing you to the masses – those days are long gone. But something new seems to be happening.
Here we are on the verge of a new decade, and it feels a little like everything’s been changing so fast for so long that we’ve sort of gotten used to it. Do you remember what cell phones looked like a decade ago? I had a Blackberry. Pretty much everything we do looks very different from how it was done not-that-long ago, and a lot of that has to do with the way we “create and consume media.”
For those of us who worry about the role of technology in our lives[1], we have to appreciate how profoundly good it is that so many more people have voices – and so much more access to so many others. But, of course, there are drawbacks to our new paradigm, the most immediately obvious one being that there’s now just a mind-blowingly large amount of voices putting things out there.
While this has affected the entire world to the point of destabilizing geopolitics and the global economy, what’s funny to remember is that the very first thing that the internet and social media “disrupted” was the music industry. And the music industry got good and effed up. At least back in the day, there was such a thing as an A&R man to dream about impressing into a record deal; now your only hope was posting incessantly enough to fall asleep at night with a dream of going viral.
Here’s the good news: that’s begun to change. Enough artists have figured enough out about the internet to start effectively spreading their music using a few simple tools. While individuals have far fewer resources and established distribution channels than record labels still do, we now have the ability to get our music heard using the very same algorithms and targeted advertisements that we spent our Thanksgiving pontificating loudly about. And what’s crazy is that it actually works.
It doesn’t work quickly. It’s definitely not “guaranteed.” But I believe that if you make something good, you now can find people who like it. And that’s what I’m figuring out how to do. I’m simply using modern marketing techniques to get my product in front of people who might dig it. That means using smart social media marketing, finding relevant playlists on Spotify – both the editorial, branded ones and the user-generated playlists that real people make and share – and connecting with my audience in order to tell my story in a way that resonates.
The cool thing is that the “product” I’m marketing is music, something so beautifully human and universal that it is meant to be shared[2]. And the beautiful thing about the New Music Business[3] is that technology now enables artists to reach people directly, to connect more genuinely with the folks listening at home. There’s no one telling me how to “shape my image”; it’s just me sitting here on the other side of the internet. All this change and technology has put the power to reach people in our hands: now we’ve just got to trust that our music speaks for itself.
You see, last year I made a record[4]. I’m really proud of it. I took what I think are eight great songs about what life looked like through my eyes, and I took an absolutely stellar band into a classic Hollywood studio to record them – before meticulously[5] crafting the soundscape and story with the producer so perfect I couldn’t have dreamed it up.
And because I made it without the help of a record label, I own it in its entirety and have the ability steer my career as I see fit. Since officially finishing the record this spring, I’ve been slowly readying myself for its release. I try not to be a quantity over quality kinda guy, so I’ve taken my time to shoot some cool videos, to gather some good ol’ #content, and to personally get ready to share so much of myself.
And I’m going to do that in as steady of a stream as possible. Every couple of weeks or so I’ll share a video – like this one, where I got to cover the best band of all time[6] – and I’ll write something to let you know more of what’s going on. And soon I’ll start releasing official songs from the record to Spotify and other streaming services. The first single will be “Do I Seem Okay,” and as soon as I have a date confirmed, you’ll hear all about it.
I’m still figuring everything out as I go, but with some help, I’m confident that more folks will find out what we’re doing over here. The best thing an artist can ever ask for is to know that their stuff affects people, so if ya feel it, let me know! We live in a world where you can share in so many ways, so share in whatever way you feel comfortable. That could mean passing a link on to a friend, posting a comment somewhere, or just saying hey. I’m a real person, and I’d love to hear from you!
So, let’s stay in touch. Follow/subscribe if you’re feeling it or join my mailing list to hear about new releases and updates. There is no elevator. Let’s build this thing up one step at a time, person by person, connecting across the damn world over something we all love: good songs and rock & roll. That’s what it’s like to release music in 2020: trusting in yourself, trusting in your music, and trusting in other people. Here we go.
[1] <tugs at collar; whispers something about “robot revolution”>
[2] And unlike someone with an e-commerce startup, I also get to go out and play with rock & roll band – more on that to come
[3] Shout out to Ari Herstand
[4] Watch a live video of us playing the first song!
[5] “Obsessively” would also be an appropriate adjective
[6] Seriously, go check out the “Rock of Ages” record by The Band to be reminded of what a live rock & roll band is supposed to sound like