i know third time isn't a charm with these things. i'm sure in just a few months, i'll take a look at all of this and think it's either too much or too little and wish i could tear it all down and start over again and maybe i will, but i likely won't - i'll just change my logo and update my website and release a new song and take down some old ones and suddenly i am a brand new artist. or something like that.
please don't misinterpret this. i don't think evolving a project is pointless because if i really felt that way, i wouldn't start any art projects to begin with. what i do think is pointless is the notion that i should pigeonhole myself into a specific style or branding or genre or hashtag. banking on any project blowing up is silly, so why follow a formula that isn't even 100%? i had a really interesting discussion with a couple music producers via a fb group chat about streaming services and playlist curators being the gatekeepers of "emerging" talent. it is nearly impossible to keep up, to follow formula, to "succeed," when the ways in which a musician can succeed are constantly changing and evolving with new technology and growing audiences/users. formulas do exist, actually. in the form of algorithms. you can wait to get lucky and blow all your cash into marketing your product. you can watch other "budding" producers and try to trace their every step hoping you'll end up on a similar path. the whole cookie cutter thing might work in some way, but you will likely find yourself stuck and unable to change course. if all your life you've depended on creative outlets to express yourself to remain sane and satisfied, then you absolutely must know that you will not be genuinely happy or fulfilled by attempting to clone other artists' paths and creations. if all you care about is a check, you won't be getting any checks for surface level art unless you're cutting other people checks to get there in the first place.
anyway, the fact is you need to create something or you'll go absolutely mad. so make that thing and fuck the algorithm. build an experience and build a community. if it is coming from somewhere real, people will catch on. maybe not as fast as you'd like, but if you're that impatient about the success of a project, you likely don't really care about the project itself anyway.
take joy in what you're working on and toward, simultaneously.
otherwise, yes: it's all pointless.
so yeah, here's my new site featuring not only my music, but my photographs, writing and eventually my ramen consumption in the form of an interactive map.
