Smooth sailing can be a beautiful thing. You release music across a wide range of platforms, getting some decent numbers, generating some blog-buzz, diving into the playlist game, heads-on. It can elevate the mood of a team, and, obviously, that of any creative mind working on a given project.
And if that smooth sailing stretches across a range of releases, well, that’s even better. It CAN go on and on – artists like Billie Eilish or Tom Misch exemplify the way hype can develop and grow. It’s not easy to come by though, and more often than not, developing thick skin will be a necessity.
A necessity and byproduct of growth, both artistically and personally. Being part of and exercising a trade like songwriting or producing inevitably demands the ability to adapt. Within fluid constellations, influx of attention, or – and rarely well handled – lack thereof.
In this article, we want to nudge you towards various spheres of mental endurance. Maybe even help you reframe a situation that COULD be perceived as quite unnerving. Let’s get going:
Metrics are there to serve YOU
A big part of what we do at ForTunes is to figure out the way metrics can actually serve musicians. This means offer actionable insights on where to adjust, where to pivot, where to spend some extra energy.
If, by processing your music data through our service, you come a cross a huge discrepancy between f.e. comment-counts on YouTube and interactions on Instagram, you should ask yourself – in what way is my audience experiencing my art differently across these services.
It shouldn’t frustrate you too much, though. Remember – it’s not your job to cater to metrics. It’s your job to create something engaging, and genuine. Be patient and let the metrics develop over time. With endurance, they will.
Rewind… Then take off.
Sometimes the low-ends of artistic brand development can actually offer space for contemplation. For Rewinding. For getting back to the essentials and changing up the mix.
As long as things are just floating along, quite possibly well, but by no means great, you rarely re-evaluate. Because nothing is at risk. There’s no reason to really stop what you’re doing, maybe fundamentally change. You might as well just keep going. You might as well just be asleep.
And that’s where these so-called “hard times” actually turn into enlightening moments. Sure, they might scratch your ego, but they sure as hell will light a fire. And that’s the essence of longevity. Being able to preserve and constantly re-ignite the willingness to create.
Beautiful songs aren’t necessarily built on happiness. There’s a whole world of mixed, sometimes even uncomfortable emotion underlying creative expansion.
Be aware that feeling comfortable is not necessarily the best mode to roll with.
Embrace Relativity
Our minds tend to arrive and get quite comfortable on various plateaus. These plateaus can have verifiable, physical properties: The amount of people visiting gigs, streams on profiles. views on videos and so on.
They can also be quite abstract, though – the feedback we get, or perceive, verbal pats on the back, emotional states at the studio or at home when revisiting the completed work.
And sometimes, we get so used to being and operating on these levels, that we completely forget the (rocky) paths we overcame to reach these heights. Maybe not yet highest heights, but elevations nonetheless.
Reliving and being aware that our standards constantly change is vital. Accomplishments that seem mundane today were probably quite mind-blowing not too long ago. That’s why you should get used to the relativity of success. Next to quantifiable stats, there’s a huge part of success that is bound to the way we frame our accomplishments.
Sometimes, more often than not, we give ourselves less credit than we might deserve. By embracing relativity, chances are high that we re-learn to appreciate the minor ripples, and upsides, of any given situation or state.