Read this before giving up on your music

Now keep reading 👇

Resonance = self awareness, clearly communicated

---

The most remarkable observation in my 29 years on this planet is that despite how drastically things have changed in my lifetime…. nearly everyone still assumes that things will stay the same.

As humans we’re inclined to believe that just because something is a certain way, it will continue to be that way.

Even when confronted with direct evidence that things are changing, many still bury their head in the sand rather than confronting that life is far more dynamic than we are led to believe.

But you, my friend, are not like that.

Because you…. are an artist.

Artists don’t lose sleep over what’s happened in the past. Nor do they fret about the future.

Artists simply document what is.

And while that sounds simple…. acknowledging what is can be the hardest thing we’ve ever done.

We all have sides of ourselves that we hide, downplay, or flat out convince ourselves don’t exist.

We fear that we won’t be understood and often believe that the ugly sides of ourselves will “ruin” the art.

And so we purposely obfuscate who we are to fit who we think we should be, based on what’s worked in the past for others.

“I need to make content like Billie Eilish”

“I need to sound more like Pearl Jam”

“I should be mysterious like Bon Iver” - (this one is me)

And while we endlessly reach for who we want to be, we waste precious years of discovering who we’ve been all along.

Ask any artist who’s “made it”……… and they’ll tell you that everything changed when they let go of expectation, and simply did what they believed to be true to them.

---

EXHIBIT A: My dear friend Caleb.

A few months ago I ran a 3-month artist development program called “Artist Incubator”.

I had a young student, Caleb Kroeze, a brilliant albeit quirky young lad who, over the course of the program, came to acknowledge and accept that he was clinically autistic.

NOW….. I know it’s trendy to say you're autistic nowadays just because you like trucks or anime or WW2 guns or public transit……..... but this was not that.

Caleb truly struggled with his condition, and sharing his experience with me about his autism was difficult, painful, and emotional.

He felt pressure to hide it…. otherwise his music career might suffer.

But Caleb is an artist, so hiding was not a choice.

Instead, Caleb began talking about his autism in a way that was open, honest, and authentic to himself.

And for a long while, no one cared.

Until he wrote this song:

This video alone got over 500,000 views, and overnight Caleb built an audience of over 7,000 followers who believe in who he is.

The reason it resonated was simply because Caleb was self aware enough to know who he is, and skilled enough to communicate it clearly.

I f***ing love Caleb and this song is f***ing brilliant.

---

EXHIBIT B: My sweet, sweet Claire.

I had another student in the very same “Artist Incubator” program named Claire.

Claire, quite unlike Caleb, is a 67-year old British woman who’s been making music for 50+ years with her twin sister, but has never released a song.

Like LITERALLY EVERYONE ON THE PLANET, she believed that she was too old to release music…… that she somehow missed her chance.

Claire makes music like Fleetwood Mac…. but how was she expected to twirl around onstage like Stevie Nicks if she’s 67 and living at home with her daughter?

Even worse, how is she expected to compete on social media with a bunch of 20-somethings with autism???? COME ON NOW!

But Claire is an artist, she doesn’t have to be anything but herself.

I told Claire to pop a bottle of wine with her sister (just like they always do) and film their interaction.

She came back with this:

This was Claire’s first TikTok, and it got 390,000 views and amassed a fanbase of 4,500 people all demanding she release the song.

A few weeks later, we put out her first single after 50+ years of playing live, and was met with over 10,000 streams on Spotify alone.

Ironically, all she had to do was be who she already was.

---

EXHIBIT C: My wonderful Aunt Sally

Ok, she’s not my aunt, but she certainly feels like it.

Sally is a brilliant, classically-trained composer from the UK who has dreamed of building a career as a film composer.

For the longest time, Sally was fraught about “how she was going to market herself” and “stand out from all the noise” if she’s just a sweet woman from the English countryside.

But Sally…. dear Aunt Sally…… is an artist.

She needn’t be anything but who she already is.

So we hired a videographer to simply follow her around, capturing her as she is.

Here was the result:

This video is now featured loudly and proudly at the top of her website… and Sally has already had sync licensing placements and has been approached by a film-scoring company to help mentor other aspiring composers.

Turns out a gardener from the English hillside is exactly what someone needed.

Who would’ve thought?

---

WHAT’S MY STUPID POINT?

If you spend your life running away from who you are, you’re robbing yourself (and the world) of whatever gifts you were actually meant to share.

Yes - it’s possible to have success by copying others. But most folks who do that end up severely depressed anyways so….. it’s all a wash.

The adventure of a lifetime starts when you’re brave enough to show the world who you always were.

And if you haven’t found your people yet, just know that I believe in you.

Don’t let me down….

🫡⚔️🫡⚔️🫡⚔️🫡⚔️

michael from mad records