The life of an Independant artist
At a glance, one would assume that musicians live an incredible life, whilst some do.. Most just don’t.
There is a lot of underlying things to consider as an artist trying to achieve a comfortable lifestyle through their passion. It’s nice to think that we are just doing art, writing songs and having all the fun in the world, that we upload our creations, it gains traction and we can now start living the dream. After years in the industry, you come to a lot of rather quick, harsh lessons and some more longer term realizations.
There are a lot of ups and downs along the way. Looking back, some of the proudest moments in my life were based around music. Mixed among them are some of the lowest ”lets be realistic“ moments.
In my younger thoughts.. How am I ever going to keep up with industry experts that have access to the best studios and equipment? They then have professional studio engineers, marketing and content creation teams, videographers, photographers, live sound engineers, high end music gear, publicists, social media managers as well as an actual manager.
Unfortunately, for most, there is no one fix solution to these problems. We need to understand that there is only a lot of study and a huge workload ahead, no guarantees at any point either.
In my current thoughts.. Like a fingerprint, no two artists or their journeys will look the same, you are the only version of you to have ever existed and that is where our power truly lies. Over the years I have learned to just enjoy this journey. What is the point in climbing these mountains of never ending work if we don’t stop to snap up some views and enjoy awesome moments along the way? Looking back over the landscape now, I see old mountains of seemingly near impossible work, unknowingly at the time, future me would be super proud to have conquered and call them some of my greatest life achievements.
This journey forces you to harden, refine and sharpen your craft every step along the way and to learn about other avenues that are important in music success today.
The life of an independent artist for me.. Though it can be difficult at times, it is also very rewarding. It is constantly embracing hard work so that I can live a life sharing my passions, stories and inspiration with other people. It is aiming to leave a positive effect in everything I do by helping others on their own difficult fingerprint of a journey through life.
Carl Browne
