What Does Success Look Like?

Sep 11

Success is one of those words everybody uses as if we all agreed on what it means.

We do not.

For one artist, success might mean selling out Madison Square Garden. For another, it could mean writing a song that gets recorded by somebody else. A producer may want credits. A composer may want placements. A touring artist may measure success in ticket sales. An independent creator may simply want enough income from intellectual property to keep creating without having to build an entire life around celebrity.

That became the conversation behind Episode 096 of Why Make Music… — “What Does Success Look Like?”

This episode came together differently from some of our longer conversations. We finished the entire discussion in roughly 45 minutes and only used three songs between segments. Nothing felt missing. Nothing needed to be stretched.

The conversation simply worked.

And maybe that is appropriate for an episode about defining enough.

WHOSE DEFINITION OF SUCCESS ARE WE USING?

One of the biggest problems with the music industry is that we often use the wrong scoreboard.

A songwriter can be enormously successful without being famous.

A producer can earn a living without anybody recognizing them walking through a grocery store.

A composer can have music appearing in television, advertising, film, games and digital media while remaining almost completely invisible to the people consuming the work.

Meanwhile, the performer standing in front of the audience may be only one person inside a much larger creative structure.

When I was younger, I assumed the person singing the song probably wrote it, produced it and somehow created most of what I was hearing.

Then you learn how records are actually made.

Songwriters.

Producers.

Composers.

Arrangers.

Engineers.

Session musicians.

Publishers.

Managers.

Labels.

Licensing companies.

Music supervisors.

Entire teams can exist behind one three-minute recording.

Once you understand that, the definition of a music career gets much larger.

And your definition of success can change with it.

I KNOW WHAT POSITION I WANT TO PLAY

I have no desire to become the front person.

I do not need to be the artist standing in the center of the stage acting as the liaison between the music and the audience.

My position is behind the music.

Writing.

Producing.

Composing.

Building the catalog.

Owning intellectual property.

Developing relationships.

Creating material that another artist, filmmaker, advertiser, supervisor or production company may eventually need.

That distinction matters because you cannot measure a songwriter's success using the same standards you would use for a touring pop star.

They are playing different positions.

WHAT DOES ENOUGH MONEY LOOK LIKE?

This may have been the most important part of the conversation.

There is no application you fill out that says:

Congratulations. You have now become a professional songwriter.

There is no corporate ladder telling you that you are now Songwriter Level Two with a predetermined salary.

The business is much more fragmented than that.

A creator might earn money through production fees, publishing, songwriting splits, performance royalties, mechanical royalties, master ownership, sync licensing, licensing fees and other forms of intellectual-property participation.

My own goal is much simpler.

If WDMNation MEDIA could eventually produce an additional $50,000 to $60,000 per year through songwriting, production, publishing, licensing and sync opportunities, I would consider that successful.

That number is not based on trying to imitate somebody else's career.

It is based on my household.

My life.

My goals.

I had a career before music became more than a hobby. Due to circumstances beyond my control, that career changed. Music eventually became something that could potentially help offset some of what disappeared.

And the beautiful part is that the work is intellectual property.

I can create from home.

I can build something once that may continue producing value later.

I do not need millions of dollars for that concept to make sense.

I just need enough.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with living comfortably.

There is also nothing wrong with trying to live a little more comfortably.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT THE SAME THING AS NETWORKING

Social media can create visibility.

But visibility and opportunity are not always the same thing.

A person liking a post may genuinely enjoy what you are doing, and that support matters.

But that person may not have any connection to the infrastructure capable of moving your career forward.

That is one reason I began thinking about platforms like LinkedIn differently.

Instead of only asking:

“How many people liked this?”

I started asking:

“Who am I connected with?”

Music supervisors.

Publishers.

Artists.

Songwriters.

Producers.

Licensing professionals.

Managers.

People working inside entertainment.

Those relationships may ultimately be far more valuable than another thousand passive views.

Likes can be applause.

Relationships can become opportunity.

NO APPLAUSE REQUIRED

That thought connects directly to one of the philosophies behind what we have been building.

No applause required.

No audience required.

That does not mean audiences are meaningless.

It means applause cannot be the only reason to create.

If every creative decision depends upon somebody clicking a heart, leaving a comment or validating the work, then eventually the creator starts working for the reaction instead of the craft.

There is a psychological component to all of this.

People tend to function better when they experience autonomy, competence and meaningful connection.

Autonomy means having control over the direction.

Competence means getting better.

Connection means forming relationships with other people.

Those things can sustain creativity far longer than chasing another notification.

STREAMS ARE NOT THE SAME THING AS FANS

We also discussed something increasingly visible throughout the modern music business.

An artist can have enormous streaming numbers without having an equally enormous number of people willing to buy concert tickets.

That does not necessarily mean the music failed.

It may mean people are consuming the music differently.

Music exists everywhere now.

Gyms.

Restaurants.

Retail stores.

Playlists.

Social videos.

Television.

Advertising.

Sports programming.

Public spaces.

People may hear and enjoy a song repeatedly without ever becoming dedicated fans of the person who made it.

For some artists, that creates a problem.

For someone working primarily as a songwriter, producer or composer?

That may be perfect.

I would have no problem with millions of people becoming familiar with something I created without knowing who I am.

I do not need the work to make me famous.

I need the work to work.

TECHNOLOGY, FEAR AND “WARNING SHOT”

Near the end of the episode, the conversation shifted toward artificial intelligence and the increasingly dramatic headlines surrounding emerging technology.

Some of the concerns are legitimate.

Powerful technology should be questioned.

It should be examined.

It should be regulated intelligently where appropriate.

But human beings also have a remarkable history of fearing technologies that eventually become completely ordinary.

Television.

Computers.

The internet.

Mobile phones.

Digital recording.

Streaming.

Automation.

Every major technological transition seems to produce a moment when society believes the machine may somehow destroy everything that came before it.

Meanwhile, we quietly incorporate that same technology into everyday life.

That contradiction inspired the track “Warning Shot,” which we included in this episode.

The song is not saying technology is harmless.

It is asking people to think.

Question the headlines.

Question the fear.

Question the financial interests behind the conversation.

And most importantly, understand the tools before deciding what they represent.

Technology has dramatically changed what one independent creator can accomplish.

One person can now write, record, produce, distribute, register, promote, edit, design, communicate and build relationships from a room that once might have required an entire organization.

The technology did not remove the creator.

It increased the creator's leverage.

SO WHAT DOES SUCCESS ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE?

Maybe success is not becoming bigger than everybody else.

Maybe it is becoming capable enough to build the life you actually wanted.

Maybe it means owning your work.

Maybe it means earning enough money.

Maybe it means never having to tour.

Maybe it means touring every year.

Maybe it means writing the song instead of singing it.

Maybe it means building a catalog nobody notices until somebody suddenly needs exactly what you created.

The important part is deciding what your definition is before somebody else defines it for you.

Because if you do not establish your own finish line, the world will keep moving it.

More followers.

More streams.

More money.

More attention.