It's very complex, difficult, expensive, interesting and fun to be an independent music producer. Volume three covers my attempts to: make acoustic improvements to the studio; cut down my production times; learn the art of mastering in-house ad muc...
I am writing this, the final chapter of Vol 2 five days after the Change My Mind release on March 27th. It is Aprils Fools Day and I feel like a fool, too. Why? Let me tell you. You need to hear this if you are considering making your own music or continuing as an indie musician.
Lesson #1: This is going to cost you more than you realise:
I spent the last five years learning and investing in my music in order to be able to release this album. It has only cost me money - for gear, a Macbook, a few headphones, microphones, faster Internet, sessions musicians' fees, homepage fees, subscriptions to ad services, distribution services, promotion ads and more. It has cost me all my free time. And after 5 days I have had about 280 streams. Not enough to buy a coffee. I know because I calculated it today on Ditto Music's blog. See here:
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From January this year to date I spent a few months pay without making any. The greatest cost was certainly getting my tracks professionally mastered. The going rate is about $100 per song at a reputable studio but I got a bit of a rebate. So one song costs $100 to master but I need to stream 23,000 times to pay for the mastering of that song.
I really like the fact that all the mastered songs came up to a level that was even from song to song despite each song being so radically dynamically different than the one before and after it. Good job. But the money didn't save me from bad mixes. Which leads me to the second lesson
But it wasn't just the cost of mastering. It was the accountant, the renewal of my homepage with Wix, the cost of an email box, phone calls to the U.S. to try to figure out tax issues. It was the "Show.co" ad, the promotion, the UPC codes, the Linktr.ee subscription (monthly) the Spotify subscription...and so on. I haven't added everything up, but it is massive and I hade NO income whatsoever. Thankfully my husband and I knew this was coming and had managed to save up but at the price of laying low on all other expenditures.
It seems everyone out there is trying to make money off of you and no one is willing to buy music either.
Lesson #2: Only set a release date afteryou are done referencing and mastering your tracks to 100% satisfaction.
I will have to live with at least three of the songs on the Change My Mind album are extremely weak mixes or have som very irritating elements in them. 2/3 of the album is o.k. The professional mastering studio didn't/couldn't warn me because we had a deadline. I say forget thinking about any deadlines until you are 100% ready to drop them. Make sure that everything is good and final and THEN set a release date. If you set a date and then have to rush to meet it you will miss mixing/mastering mistakes just like I did.
Lesson 3: you need a team around you
Being a bit of a loner and introvert i haven't had a team or a band to help me with this project and I have had to do EVERYTHING: music, mixing, planning, project management, guitar, singing, marketing, graphics, videos, social media posts, ... I am pooped and the result is poor. No man or woman for that matter is an island and it would have been great to be able to delegate some of these things to others. If for nothing else, to save my sanity.
After the release I find myself totally wiped out, lacking energy and apathetic. Now there went the glory all at once!
Lesson 4: Force Majuere happens- the Corona scare
Because of the corona virus, no one want us musicians to play gigs. That means no income from streaming (above), and no income from selling merch, CDs/vinyls etc at gigs.
Lesson 5: There is too much noise
To be heard today you have to work your tail off and stick out in a good way. Ugh. Last year there were 14.6 million new songs added to Spotify (IN ONE YEAR!). How do you think people are ever going to hear your music? Even big industry managers say it is very hard to develop a new artist and break through the American Spotify playlists - where the money is.
The days when you could be satisfied by playing music on the corner of your block and hanging out with your friends in a garage someplace. It requires discipline and a lot of money to get your Instagram, Facebook etc flying and you have to keep feeding the fishes every single day or they forget you.
I have made up my mind to be satisfied with getting my music out. We'll see if it gets heard.
The conclusion is, you have to be a fool to start making music at my age, doing it alone. It will NEVER pay, (it will cost you loads), and you may not even be totally satisfied with what you've done in the end. BUT, if you want to carve it in stone for future generations, just in case, you can do it but you are still a fool for trying. At least I am.
Fool or not, I am glad that my self worth doesn't depend on how well I do in music or any other achievement for that matter. No, my worth and yours are constants. Even if the whole world choses to close their ear to my music, God still loves me. That is all that really matters in the long run.
Happy April Fools!
In the future I intend to continue this madness by releasing singles and writing the Change My Mind book. But I will be spending a week or so getting this album off this tarmac, making videos and promoting it as well as I can.
Wish me luck!
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