A little while back a website asked me to write a blog – ’20 Ways To Become A Successful Indie Artist”. Of course there had to be a definitive number between 7 and 42, or else it would break #1 of The 35 Sacred Laws Of The Internet.
My first response was to write a long blog about the definition of success, my second was to delete it all and decide I had no bloody idea and shouldn’t comment.
But anyway I’m reneging on all that now – I do have a bit of an idea and should definitely comment.
The basic gist is you don’t have to measure success only by how many Facebook likes you have – choose your own definition. That could be platinum albums and the o2, but it could be producing an EP of songs that you really believe in or overcoming stage fright. What do you want? If you’re true to that then it’s ok to settle for the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, or the Borderline, or the Spice Of Life open mic, or writing a few songs every now and then after you get home from school or from your job as a Quality Assessment Assessor for Quality Ass Assessments Ltd or whatever it is you do.
Maybe the most successful I’ve felt was writing Ghostess. My emotions were so perfectly manifested in the song that they didn’t need to exist any more in my head and sort of evaporated, leaving me weightless. What a release! That’s where the real satisfaction’s at – ask anyone. The process, doing something fulfilling that you love, having fun and working really hard – which I am, apart from yesterday when I mainly watched House of Cards.
I’m going to release Ghostess as my next single on 23rd March. You may have heard it at a gig, or even bought the live EP I released for Record Store Day, and be thinking “Didn’t you already release that?”.
Well not quite – firstly because this is a studio version you’ve not heard before that’s comprehensively badass. And secondly because I’ve never promoted it or sent it to radio stations before. Even if we’ve heard it, other people haven’t and they might like it too.
This is a time to grow, to find new ears to join us online and at gigs. Can you help? There’ll be a video to share, maybe more little tasks to be done. This way when the new album arrives we’ll have a little more company. It’ll be nice to look around and see we’re not the only ones.
What’s your idea of success? I hope you’re not far off. Me I’m aiming for the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
A blogger seems to have inadvertently named his son after me! That’s pretty cool. He also inadvertently got a copy of Ghostess and seemed to like it. I hope you do too.
Big shoutout to Baby Jake
x