My first year as a recording artist
Exactly one year ago today, I released my first ever single on Bandcamp. It was recorded as part of a full-length album, my first real studio experiece.
Perhaps jumping straight into recording an album wihout any prior single or EP releases is considered unwise, but the way I saw it, I wanted to make an album and if I invested in an EP first that meant more money I had to save and more songs I had to write before I was finally able to afford to record a full-length project. I might never be able to return to the studio again so for me, it was an album or nothing.
Much of the writing process was me trying to figure out how songwriting even works and from there what my style is. Once I had figured out a style and method that worked for me, I had just about cobbled together 10 songs spanning 44 minutes that I could record professionally over summer break between university semesters. Much of the peculiarities of the record come from my inexperience as a songwriter and others come from my somewhat odd compositional and lyrical taste.
If you ask me, the album turned out pretty great; it's just the right balance of messy garage punk and hi-fi alt rock and each song is distinctly identifiable while reamining (for the most part) stylistically cohesive.
I filmed music videos with my friends for five of the songs over the span of about two weeks in October/November because I belive that is the peak of autumn and I wanted to give the project a cohesive autumnal aesthetic.
On the 9th May 2025, something like a week after I submitted my final project for school, Parasite was released onto Bandcamp. As expected of a no-name new artist with no lablel, it did absolutely nothing and went absolutely nowhere. I didn't care, I'm not in it for the money and I really don't want to be famous, the high of having released music into the world with my name on it was enough.
The same happened when I released the other singles and even the full album six months later, but this was to be expected. It's only the beginning and I can only go up from here.
The rationale behind releasing the album as Bandcamp exclusive was two-fold:
1) This record was damn expensive to make, especially for a uni student, and I wanted to encourage people to actually pay for the single rather than just stream it so that I would have half a chance at making my money back and therefore being able to afford to make another project. This did not happen.
2) Mystique. An artist that wasn't on streaming required a listener to actively go out and find them which might give them a deeper connection to the music and give it some kind of air of exclusivity. I never got enough exposure for this to work either.
My album will likely be released onto streaming services some time in the future because I need the exposure, but not Spotify if I can help it. I don't like them.
Live gigs are seemingly hard to come by. I'm not sure promoters know what to do with my eccelctic mix of influences. Or maybe it's hard to sell a rock musician who only plays live by themself on an acoustic guitar. I think I'm a decent live act, I just need to do it more.
I started releasing tracks onto Tumblr to see if anyone was interested and eventually someone was. I received a couple of asks asking if I was interested in my music being played on indie radio stations and potentially doing an interview. Only one DJ actually followed through, one Mecedes Lindsay of KUSF Radio in California, who interviewed me for a piece they wanted to write about the album and later had me live on air as a guest. This was an incredibly surreal experience, knowing that someone not only liked my work but that it resonated so deeply with someone so far away. The magic of the Internet. I hope I get more opportunities like it in the future.
And so while hopefully I'll never be famous, my quest to make enough money on my music that it funds itself continues. I'm continuing to build an audience so that I can branch out into other ventures like merch or Patreon and I'm continuing to write more and more music. I'm very excited about the next project, whatever form it takes.
Thank you to everyone who's supported me so far and wants to come along for the ride.
pixelskylines
blakekathryn
origamiaround
kaledo-art
titsay
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
snowghoul
areudirty
