I started this adventure without any expectations and, while I still don’t have any grandiose visions, I decided to add some structure and goals to my hobby. Can I make a living off of music, as a 45 y/o beginner? No! Lots of younger, more talented people are struggling to earn a living wage. I am not quitting my day job anytime soon! But despite the low-expectations, I will still treat this a little more seriously than I have in the past.
So what is the “big idea” then?
I have this goal of 10k youtube subscribers in the next 5 to 8 years. Why? It’s an arbitrary goal but also a very challenging, “impossible” one that will push me to become better at my hobby and spend my free time to learn the current skills gaps I have. Also, while 10k subscribers won’t earn any real money it could be enough to support the hobby on its own which I think is a reasonable expectation.
With that being said, I’m certain I can help actual rock musicians achieve their goals with the skills, systems, and processes I am developing along the way.
Why this goal, why bother?
Even in my hobbies, I need to have goals and roadmaps and some form of structure to feel comfortable. I guess product management is in my DNA (laughs in tears). So that’s why I set this very lofty long term goal as well as incremental objectives (like reaching 1000 followers by EOY 2024, please subscribe to help me lol).
Why bother? A big part of that is developing a repeatable process that I can share with musicians and be a contributing member of the community. The other part, admittedly, is ego driven haha!
Heads up! It’s not just about the art!
There’s time involved with creating the music itself but all the steps that need to happen after. I’m quickly finding out, that the art itself is a very small portion of the activities, I’d argue probably 10% of the overall effort. Once the creative is completed, it needs to go through various production/mixing stages and once you have your wav file, you need videos, you need written content, social media posts, marketing campaigns, etc… There’s a ton of real effort to get stuff to ears and all this doesn’t mean the song will resonate with people either. You need to learn from the song to see what “didn’t work” and build your own inventory of “lessons learned”.
How the heck will you achieve this?
At the time of posting this, I do not have a fully fleshed out plan yet. What I’m doing is breaking down the main goal of 10k subs and how to implement strategies to reach 1000, 1500, 2000, etc… Strategies include things like changing how I create the music, singing lessons, better guitar practice sessions, better music videos, vlog entries, more consistency, marketing, advertising, etc…
In conclusion? Wish me luck lol