Reflections: 6 Months of Releases
The Last Six Months
Starting in November of 2024, I decided I was going to post a new release to my streaming platforms every month for as long as I am able. the rooftop cassette was my launchpad for what has become the last six months of releases, and I'm really proud of myself for sticking with it so far. The reason I began to release a song every month was so I could get back to my roots in songwriting. I had spent so much time the last five years becoming a better music producer, that I became completely absorbed in the process and was barely creating new music. I was mostly a sound designer, and mix engineer. My goal in life is to write songs and perform them; that is my singular passion and the discipline that I have the most talent in as far as I can tell. With that in mind, the process of releasing music every month has been freeing, and stripping my focus away from the slog of feeding the endless content machine of social media has been a blessing for my longevity as an artist. I've finally been able to undertake projects I could only dream of when I was chasing the likes and looking for the clout. Now I'm focused on what will make me a better songwriter and performer.
The Process
The process of writing has been a bit difficult, at least keeping pace with the one song per month quota that is. The writing itself is timeless. I sit down to write and when I've finished a song 8 hours have gone by and I've forgotten to eat dinner. It just feels effortless. But then being able to find the time to sit down and do that on top of everything else that I have to do in a day, or a week, that is where the struggle is. Weeks blend into months and suddenly it's mid-April and I forgot to upload the song that I had in March and now my "April" release is coming out on May 2nd. Whoops... Point being, a calendar and scheduled time to work on original music is critical for the success of this sort of release strategy.
Another qualm related to releasing every month is that I can't seem to persuade even myself to give each song its time in the spotlight. If I release a song that I love, I only really have a few weeks before the next one comes out that I'm less partial to, but still have to promote or at bare minimum talk about before the next one releases. It kind of feels like I'm struggling to stay ahead of this machine that I've created, or at least in the traditional social media way that people are used to seeing. But maybe that works to my advantage. You can't get tired of hearing a song that you've never heard. If I can get people interested in my songs through other avenues and just use my social platforms as a means for introducing new listeners to my personality and the exciting events that life has to offer, then the songs can almost be a secondary focus. That feels more authentic to me, because I really don't talk about my personal releases all that much in my relationships anyway, so me spamming the online community with messages SURELY reads as "inauthentic". I wrote a song about that actually...
Moving forward
This summer, 2025, will be a momentous season for me. I will be getting out and performing more than I have ever before, in part because I've actually left my room. A crazy thought in this age of technology, but maybe the archaic way of playing shows and building a local fanbase is actually based in some sort of reality. Especially when that reality is Los Angeles California, where I've been fortunate enough to have been born and raised. I'll make a separate post for this, but I have begun planning a concert series that I will host for rising artists such as myself, to give them a venue and an opportunity to perform and get solid media for their press kits and hopefully generate a bit of an online buzz for them. From that point, it's really in their hands as to what opportunities that will create, but I believe having events like that to give artists their start is crucial in this day and age. Not everyone can make a viral post, but if you want to be an artist you have to be able to perform. You have to be able to give the audience a good show, and connect with people in a way that brings them closer to you. My songs are like a window into my soul, and it gives my listener a front row seat to my heart-ache, my joy, my boredom, my frustration, my universe. I believe that by allowing my listener to know me in this way, I'm giving back to the Creator who gave me this gift, and by connecting with others I will bring about the good of creativity into the world.
Stay tuned, pun intended.
