Keeping It Personal

"...everything you do is just a test: an experiment to see what happens." Derek Sivers: Your Music And People

After a 38-year hiatus in tech, I'm 3 weeks into my full-time return to the music industry. It's largely because of my son, Sam, and a supportive partner, my wife, Reva. Together, we opened a recording studio, The Greenhouse.

In between recording and mixing projects for others, Sam has been busy writing, recording and releasing his own music. To be clear, despite my earlier career as a singer/songwriter, Sam is both the engineering talent and increasingly the songwriter and producer talent.

Over the past eight years, Sam has released music under two different artist names: qlmaX5 for EDM and CHG Music for his less genre-specific EPs and singles. Indulge my proud-father moment for a minute while I say, "His music is good. Some of it is excellent." But outside of a small network of friends and a little local radio play, it hasn't garnered much attention. Sam is at the beginning of his career. And he is not a performing musician and doesn't want to be one. Instead he is focused on songwriting and producing. So how can I help him grow an audience?

I spoke with my nephew, Michael McArthur, who has a growing music career and has opened for some of my favorite songwriters: Judy Collins, Liz Longley, Delbert McClinton and David Wilcox. In talking with him, he suggested I focus on one thing: "Keeping it personal." So that's what I've done.

Over the past three weeks, I've done a test. Remember, "everything you do is just a test." And after three weeks of personal outreach through LinkedIn messaging, Facebook messaging, some texting, and a few posts in Instagram and Facebook, today CHG Music crossed the "100 monthly listeners" mark on Spotify.

If you compare those numbers to the numbers that some artists are achieving, it's not a lot. But that's the wrong comparison. Following my mantra, "Always be improving," the only comparison that matters is the comparison with yourself. At 101 monthly listeners, this comparison looks good.

So, here's the ask. If you'd like to hear "Hold You," the latest release from CHG Music, head to your favorite platform: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube.

And if you'd like to support CHG Music at higher-than-streaming rates, head over to Bandcamp to purchase downloads of his music. Closing out this extraordinary year, Sam's next single, Tree of Ages, will be out December 13, and his EP, Midwinter part two, will be out December 20.

Please post a comment, if you have ideas and opinions or want to share your own experience with building or helping others build an audience.

By the way, this post is just another test.

Thanks, Derek, for the inspiration.