Today I was asked when my next release was planned for and it had me thinking.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll put out new music for a long time. Here is why —>

I’m not much of a data guy, but it doesn’t take a brainiac to conclude that my releases are not sticking. While I feel like I’m doing a solid job earning trust in a first listen (100+ listeners release day), play counts immediately drop after a listener’s first impression.

On days following release, the play count rapidly decreases to less than double digit streams per day. All 4 of my releases so far did this. Any music analyst would tell you this should work exponentially the opposite way for strong releases

The part I’m trying wrap my head around is why this happens after the initial release date, and how I can pivot to try and flip the script a little bit. Here are my top 5 hypotheses as to why this happens each time

1. plain & simple, maybe the music itself it just not very good (yet)

It’s fun putting out music early because there’s going to be improvement. The first couple releases have been fun, but I’m aware that they just aren’t quite all there yet. It’s all subjective so who knows

2. Audience

I’d wager that I personally know about 95% of the people who end up playing one of my releases. The audience right now is majority friends and family, but maybe not people who are particularly interested in music in general. Regardless, s/o to my F&F, you all rock

3. I was doomed from the start

Overload of new music options and limited listening time. I’m guilty of this. I often brush off recommendations or listen once and then forget about a song forever, even if I like the song. It’s nothing personal.

4. I need to research more, maybe my facts aren’t straight

Maybe this is how a majority of release stream counts go, no matter how good or bad the song is, based of the sheer volume of new songs uploaded daily (it’s 50k new each day btw)

Maybe only unicorn songs perform well

5. I need more help, especially post release

Solo promoting music is like a full time job, and maybe the avenues aren’t right. Maybe I need help reaching blogs, media outlets, playlisting methods...people who can actually put the music where it needs to be, should it make sense

So back to the driver of this thread, I don’t want to put out new music for a while. I need to make changes

I’m stepping back and changing the strategy

“They say insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting results to change.”

Not trying to be the definition of insanity, you know

This is not a negative thread. Just a little mind dump. I’ve got about a dozen songs finished and waiting for the right time. But I think it’s going to be a while until I approach this project differently. I’ll be trying those “changes” out in the next 3 months for you to see