Here we are for post number two: no worries I'll stop soon saying " hey post number 3, number 4…"...
I promised myself that I'll always speak my mind saying things how they are and this is what you'll always get from me in this blog.
So I hope I will never offend anyone and if it happens please accept my apologies in advance: I learned that usually people don't get offended, they just get hit in that emotional spot that make them react. Not necessarily a bad thing but sometimes a wake up to reevaluate some prospectives in life.
After this little prologue let's get to the point!
After I wrote, recorded, produced, and done all the administrative things to release the singles, the big thing I had to face was to build a presence on social medias.
First reaction was rolling my eyes because I wasn't very happy about it.
Through the years social medias have changed a lot: 10 years ago they were happy places, platforms where people were sharing the most absurd things in a very entertaining way, places were genuinely people offered help to each other, places where you could communicate and interact with new people and maybe make friends sharing the same interests: no drama, everybody was living the perfect life, never a bad day, always smiling.
Nowadays things have changed quite a lot and those happy places became home of angry people, often unfiltered in the name of the freedom of speech, entitled to say what they want without thinking that some comments might hurt someone.
Since day one, when social medias appeared in people's lives, there were always people seeking for attention hoping to go viral with their posts and make a name for themselves, some other that want to support a cause finding in the cyberspace the comfort zone where their voices are heard: there are so many reasons why people feel the need to share their lives online but I don't judge, I just observe.
I decided to start using social media as a necessity to share my music around and I watched tons of videos about "how to gain followers", "how to expend your fanbase" and I was very excited seeing some successful stories of people gaining 1K followers overnight so full of confidence I started.
I signed up for Instagram first, then I got an advice to join Twitter as well and I took the decision to focus on these two because my goal was and is to write music especially doing everything by myself without any help ( besides feedback! ). I didn't want to be overwhelmed and spending my time in front of a computer all day…. oh was I wrong….
After the first couple of days as soon as I woke up I was grabbing my phone waiting for the miracle that punctually didn't come: I said myself that I have to be patient, checking my content, doing everything that all the "experts" said I had to do…. I was scratching my head wondering what I was doing wrong and my days became browsing Internet asking question about "how" and "what".
It was hilarious (not really!) to write a post being happy to have 100 followers and seeing right after my post got published someone else cheering to have had 10k followers he got in the past two days… YAY!!!!
I just kept going…..
I read tons of article about organic followers vs bots that at the time they were very weird words and concepts. Even more videos and tutorials about " do this" "don't do that"…. it seemed an impossible task, the highest mountain every to climb!
I'm still learning about this universe but little by little I came to peace that it's a long process and it's not immediate overnight success.
The more I was digging the more I released that you have to be committed and put hard work.
Unless you have a huge budget and can afford those platforms that give you thousands of followers (with the little side effect to keep paying to keep up those great numbers up!) the other solution is to create a network with other artists ready to support each other with the old method of "knocking each door". And here is when I became familiar with a word that is the terror of every independent musician: ALGORITHM!!!!
Still trying to figure it out!!!!
"I'd like your music but if I follow it messes up my algorithm"….I've heard that and I couldn't understand the meaning: why if someone likes your music they decide to not support? I was very confused…..maybe I still am because for me music is music, good music is good music, that simple.
Another truth: as I read somewhere," it doesn't matter if you have good music, it all depends how you market it, if you have a good strategy". So it's not about the music but how you sell it, like you can have an ok product but you sell it well and it will sell, you have an amazing product but you don't know how to sell it and it will stay on the shelf…. interesting concept for me but it made sense.
I believe in quality and in timing: if you can find ONE person that has some influence, that like your music, it will go viral and I'm sure that's what it takes.
Of course at the beginning you have to do the heavy lifting and put your product out somehow. That means probably you will follow people hoping they follow you back, then maybe you start chatting with some sharing ideas and frustrations and you never know who you can meet.
I have to say that I found couple of fantastic persons with whom I talk and established a mutual support: quality after quantity.
My personal advice is to don't believe everything you see: even the big influencers out there put the work in at a price ( no privacy, being exposed to ugly criticisms, living their lives with their smartphones as an extension of their body, and I could go on and on…) but it's always a choice how you want to live your life.
Work hard for your dream, be consistent, reach out and engage people. Don't be afraid to ask for help and most important thing is to look at the big picture. The questions are: would you prefer to build up something for yourself that stay or something that comes overnight and leave you the day after?
Don't give up if you really believe in what you are doing! I won't!