The Beauty of being an Indie Artist
So here I am. Sitting in my home office/studio. Prayerfully considering the next step in this music thing I do. I don't do it for money. I don't do it for fame. I do it because I love doing it and I think God has something unique to say though me.
While the details of the next project are still forming; I notice something very interesting. There's no pressure. Because I don't make my living with music (and no one else derives their living from me making music), I have all the freedom in the world to take my time and get it right. Getting right not just the product. But the motives and the message.
Very few professional artists and even fewer successful ones have that luxury. There is always a reason to rush the next product out the door. Anyone who is a lover of music knows the cycle. Record a CD, release the CD, go on tour, rinse, repeat. Interesting thing here is that a professionally produced CD is not cheap. And to compound problems, the sales of a CD rarely make much money for the artist. The bulk of the money goes into the pockets of the record label (You know, the lawsuit happy people funding the RIAA). So the artist is forced to tour relentlessly in order to sell product and make a little money of their own.
Here's the thing. I don't want that. Going into massive amounts of debt in the hopes that maybe someone might notice and give me a shot at a record deal? No thanks. Being away from home 50 weekends a year in the hopes of selling enough merch to scrape out a living? I would rather stay home and watch my JJ grow up.
Do I sometimes wish that the music I write might reach a wider audience? Surely. The Gospel's message of love and hope is a message I want to spread as far and wide as possible. But the freedom I have to express that same love and hope in my own unique way, in my own time and on my own terms (all with God's leading) is a freedom I'm not willing to hand over to anyone.
And that freedom is beautiful.
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