Why Keep Creating When Nobody Is Watching?

Why Make Music? — Episode 93

After taking two weeks away from the podcast, we came back to Why Make Music? with a question that might be bigger than music itself:

Why keep creating when nobody is watching?

That's a question for musicians, but it's also for writers, painters, filmmakers, photographers, podcasters, designers, entrepreneurs, and anybody else who has spent hours creating something only to put it into the world and hear… silence.

No explosion of likes.

No thousands of comments.

No viral moment.

Sometimes you don't even know whether anybody noticed.

And then tomorrow comes.

You walk back into the room and create something else.

Why?

Maybe Nobody Has to Be Watching

One of the realizations behind WDMNation MEDIA is that we're documenting a journey as much as we're creating individual products.

That's part of why Why Make Music? exists.

Someone could discover ThinkTimm years from now, find this podcast, and have hours of conversations available explaining what was happening behind the music.

What were we thinking?

What were we trying?

What worked?

What didn't?

Why did we make these decisions?

That's valuable to me.

I have always enjoyed seeing behind the curtain of somebody else's creative process. Sometimes understanding whysomebody created something is every bit as fascinating as the finished product.

So we're leaving our own trail behind.

The Catalog Is Bigger Than the Moment

My creative output probably sounds ridiculous when you put numbers around it.

Before the current vocal material, I released instrumental projects containing 26 tracks each. The concept was simple: 26 letters in the alphabet, 26 tracks.

Then If I Was Your Producer evolved into something different.

Ten songs per volume.

We're preparing to release Volume 14, while the actual production process is already far ahead of the releases.

That's intentional.

I never wanted to announce seven projects and then desperately try to finish project number seven while everybody was waiting.

I wanted the work finished first.

Release second.

And while those finished projects are being released, I'm creating the next ones.

That system created momentum.

More importantly, it created a catalog.

Songs Started Talking Back

Something interesting happened when I moved deeper into songs with vocals.

People started asking questions.

Not just, "What equipment did you use?"

They wanted to know:

Why did you write that?

What happened that made you think about this?

Is there something spiritual behind that lyric?

Who are you talking about?

That's when I realized how much storytelling changes the relationship between creator and listener.

An instrumental can create emotion.

But add a voice, character, perspective, lyric, or storyline and suddenly listeners have another doorway into the music.

They begin interpreting it.

And sometimes their interpretation isn't even the one the writer originally intended.

That's part of the magic.

Stop Confusing Attention With Progress

There was a point where I thought I needed to make instructional production videos.

Record the screen. Make a beat. Explain everything. Feed YouTube. Feed Instagram. Feed TikTok. Chase the algorithm.

Then I realized something.

That's not what I'm trying to build.

I'm building a music catalog.

I'm building WDMNation MEDIA.

I'm creating music that can potentially work for television, film, advertising, games, and other sync opportunities.

Twenty thousand random followers might feel good.

But twenty legitimate professional relationships with music supervisors, publishers, licensing professionals, producers, directors, and other decision-makers could completely change the direction of the business.

That realization changed where I put my energy.

I'd rather build relationships than collect numbers.

Sometimes the Right People Really Are Watching

Recently, something happened that reinforced the entire idea behind this episode.

Someone connected to a world of music and business that I have respected for years discovered our work.

They found us.

I didn't chase them down.

They heard a particular song, asked whether it was available, and communication started from there.

Files were requested.

We were ready.

Metadata.

Instrumental.

Vocal version.

Everything necessary to have a professional conversation about the music.

Additional briefs followed.

Around the same period, another opportunity appeared involving presenting material to a sync licensing production company.

And here's the funny part:

I was on vacation.

While I was taking time away from the studio, the catalog wasn't taking a vacation.

The music was still working.

That's something worth remembering.

The Music Business Has Two Words

We love the first word:

Music.

But there's another one sitting right beside it:

Business.

Publishing matters.

Metadata matters.

Rights matter.

File organization matters.

Professional correspondence matters.

Relationships matter.

Having the correct instrumental, master, alternate version, and information ready when somebody asks matters.

Opportunity isn't always somebody handing you a giant check.

Sometimes opportunity sounds like:

"I like this. Can I use it?"

When that question arrives, I want the WDMNation answer to be:

Yes. We're ready.

Not:

"Give me three weeks while I figure out where everything is."

That's the difference between simply creating music and building a music business.

AI, Technology and the Independent Creator

We also got into one of today's unavoidable conversations: artificial intelligence.

Yes, AI-assisted technology is part of my workflow.

So are Logic Pro, FL Studio, digital production tools, software instruments, synthesizers, effects, and everything else I've accumulated through years of making music.

Technology doesn't embarrass me.

Musicians have always turned objects into instruments.

Hip-hop transformed turntables and records into an entirely new musical language.

Electronic musicians turned machines into bands.

Stomp turned everyday objects into percussion.

Blue Man Group made PVC pipes musical.

Technology changes.

The creative question remains:

What are you doing with it?

My ideas matter.

My arrangements matter.

My lyrics matter.

My decisions matter.

Technology gives me additional ways to realize ideas that previously existed only inside my head.

For an independent producer, that's exciting.

Creativity Is a Practice

Maybe this is ultimately the answer to Episode 93.

Creating isn't something I switch on because people are watching.

At this point, it's part of my day.

I hear a phrase—I write it down.

I watch something—a concept appears.

I'm sitting outside—a lyric arrives.

I hear music—I start dissecting why somebody made a particular production decision.

Some ideas become finished records.

Some become experiments.

Some will probably never leave the hard drive.

That's okay.

Not everything you create needs an audience.

Sometimes you're practicing.

Sometimes you're experimenting.

Sometimes you're preparing yourself for the piece that will matter.

No Audience Required

There's a major difference between saying:

"I don't want an audience."

and saying:

"I don't require an audience to continue."

Of course we appreciate everybody listening to the podcast.

We appreciate the people streaming the music.

We appreciate comments.

We appreciate people buying and wearing the merchandise.

We appreciate everybody who has helped WDMNation MEDIA move forward, including the people working quietly behind the scenes.

But appreciation cannot become dependency.

Because algorithms change.

Platforms change.

Numbers go up.

Numbers go down.

People discover you.

People forget you.

And tomorrow morning, the creator still has to wake up and decide:

Am I making something today?

For me, the answer continues to be yes.

Somebody May Find It Tomorrow

That's the thought I want to leave behind with Episode 93.

Maybe nobody is watching today.

Create anyway.

Maybe the song gets 20 plays.

Create another one.

Maybe the podcast doesn't explode.

Record Episode 94.

Maybe somebody scrolls right past your artwork.

Make the next piece.

Because you're not only creating for the person standing in front of you today.

You're building a body of work.

A catalog.

An archive.

A legacy.

And somewhere—today, tomorrow, or years from now—somebody is going to be searching for something.

Maybe what you created while nobody was watching will be exactly what they were looking for.

That's why we keep creating.

That's why we keep documenting.

And that's Why Make Music?

— ThinkTimm / WDMNation MEDIA