Just One Reality of Life and Music…

Last week, I saw a post on one of the socials by another independent musician exclaiming horror, possibly distress, that they’d sold just two copies of their last two releases. I admired them for their brutal honesty, because in trying to navigate the technological landscape in which most music is consumed these days, all musicians are finding it really tough out there and somewhat despairing.

There’s a wonderful irony about my own last two releases. I chose to release “Elevation” in 2023 100% from this website, but spent about seven months previous promoting it on limited social media. It sold better than any of my previous albums – not massive numbers, but enough to more than justify its CD run. In 2025, I released the deliberately titled “A Proliferation of Pointlessness” (APOP1) entirely to highlight the difficulties that my fellow independent musician was banging on about last week. We had a great listening party for APOP1 with loads of positive comments, but during the past year the album has sold just 8 copies. I therefore justify my album title!

Essentially, this means we are all guilty to a greater or lesser degree of not putting our money where our supportive comments may have been, but this really isn’t a simple issue. It combines a range of changes to the entire music landscape since the early days of Napster, from where the brilliant idea of streaming first publicly emerged. Great ideas are often appropriated by men in grey suits with big wallets or borrowed wealth. As the host of a weekly independent radio show on a minor channel, I have a pretty good idea of the sheer volume of music being produced – and missed – across the world. I’m frequently sent albums by artists who are entirely new to me, even though they may have been living off their music creations for most of their lives.

People cite the global pandemic as being one of the single most devastating agents of change in music infrastructure, and that is certainly true for the live music scene. However, the damage to recorded music was done long before, as consumer habit replaced buying the music they loved with paying a significantly lower streaming subscription. When markets change like that, you aren’t going to change them back, so you have to sail with the tide.

You do need to stand your ground though, whatever level you’re at, just as our independent musician friend did last week. As independent musicians we’re either part of the conversation or we aren’t. Independent music and art has always, always in the end, helped to shape its future. We are creators, therefore it is our role to create. Nothing is a given but we don’t give up, even when the proliferation may seem pointless. I very nearly did.

Peace.

John