The hardest part of being an independent musician is not the composing, not even the recording—it is facing the odds.
Numbers are brutally honest. Out of a few thousand views, perhaps one or two turn into clicks or likes, and only a fraction of those become actual listeners. Sometimes it takes ten thousand (or even more) plays for a single person to finish a track. On my latest release, at a specific point of time there were eighty-five track plays, sixty-five of which were partial. That is not unusual—it is the rule.
If I were to translate this into practical terms, it would mean that to reach real engagement, I would need hundreds of thousands of views. But for an independent musician, this is little more than an illusion. To generate those kinds of numbers, you would have to pour in enormous amounts of time, energy, and resources—time that for many of us is already consumed by work, family, or simply the desire to preserve some semblance of life outside music.
This is the paradox: to be heard, you must market yourself endlessly, but the more you do so, the less time remains to create. I have written before about the dangers of approaching music as a mechanical process (“The Art of Authenticity: Rethinking Success in Music”) or the feeling of hitting a glass ceiling despite relentless effort (“Lost in the Noise: The Struggle of Independent Musicians“). What I feel now is a continuation of those same themes: that music cannot and should not be reduced to numbers, strategies, and promotional metrics.
And yet, here I am, counting the odds.
It is disheartening, but not defeating. Because in the end, music is a two-way street and it’s not just about being heard—it is also about the act of expression itself, the need to give shape to something that would otherwise remain unspoken. Even if the odds are against us, the music still exists. And perhaps, that is enough.
For those interested in exploring these thoughts further, you can find my earlier reflections here:
– Lost in the Noise: The Struggle of Independent Musicians
– The Art of Authenticity: Rethinking Success in Music