An insight into my creative world, sharing my knowledge and experience, to help artists, songwriters and producers take their careers to the next level.
why most listeners never become fans.
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i think one of the hardest things about releasing music is knowing what to measure. everything is numbers. streams. followers. views. playlist adds. and naturally, those become the things we chase. and i get it. i’ve done the exact same thing. for the last few years, most of my artist releases have been through labels. and when a song comes out through a label, you get used to a certain process. the song goes live. the playlists start moving. the numbers start climbing. and without realising, it becomes really easy to judge the success of a release based on those numbers. but releasing independently has started to change the way i think about that. getting someone to listen is not the same as getting someone to care. someone can discover your song in a playlist. listen. enjoy it. and then move onto the next song without ever knowing who made it. that doesn’t mean those moments aren’t important. they are. getting your music heard matters. but the real challenge is turning attention into connection. the person who listens again. the person who follows the journey. the person who remembers your name when the next song comes out. those are the moments that build something bigger. and they’re harder to measure. i think a lot of artists struggle with this. because deep down, i don’t think most artists are chasing numbers just for the sake of numbers. they’re chasing what those numbers represent. a sign that something is working. that the hours spent creating something alone actually meant something to someone else. and that’s the difficult part. the things that make us feel like we’re moving forward aren’t always the things that are easiest to measure. a playlist might give you a listener. but the song, the story and the connection are what create a fan. and i think that’s the balance we’re all trying to figure out. the goal was never just attention. it was connection. |
Rich Pilkington.
An insight into my creative world, sharing my knowledge and experience, to help artists, songwriters and producers take their careers to the next level.
there comes a point where your song stops belonging to you. I'm three songs into releasing music from my album. and while I've learned plenty about ads, playlists, release strategy and what works, the biggest lesson hasn't really been about any of that. it's been about letting go. when you make something, it's near impossible not to attach expectations to it. this song should do well. this playlist should accept it. people should care. and if you've spent weeks or months making something,...
two years ago, I started a song that I couldn’t finish. it came from a writing session with a good friend of mine in London. I’d put together a quick instrumental idea beforehand, played it to him, and we spent a couple of hours writing a hook and a verse. and that was pretty much it. I went back home to Toronto knowing there was something special there. every few months I’d open the project again. change the arrangement. try some new sounds. add something. take something away. then...
my process when I start a song usually looks something like this. I'll spend some time throwing ideas around. most won't go anywhere. but eventually, one does. there's that moment where something clicks and I think, fuck yeah. this is special. so I start building it out. then I go deep. hours spent improving the production. layering sounds. changing instruments. working on the arrangement. adding things. taking things away. listening over and over again. I usually bounce the track and take it...