The Small Victories of a Musician

I began playing musical instruments when I was six years old, I then joined my first band in high school, and 2020 saw the release of my first original EP with my current band, Disconnected Souls.

The music industry, as I'm sure many of you are fully aware, has taken a huge hit this year and so musicians have had do what they can online to grow their audience. It's difficult, really, very difficult, especially now everyone is using all of their social media platforms more often as their main communication channels. At times, for smaller artists especially, it can feel like shouting into the void.

My band is really quite small in the grand scheme of things. We haven't as yet played a live show (this year was to be the year but nevermind!). And so, we are essentially reliant on growing an online presence. With platforms reducing reach to other users without paying into them (yes Facebook I'm talking about you!), it gets tough. And, unfortunately, this can begin to negatively effect your mood. Feeling like you can never reach those who would enjoy what you do.

However, I want to share some of the good that has come recently. We released our cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'The Power of Love' last week and we have had the most wonderful feedback. Our figures and statistics may be considered fairly (very) small but the amount of feedback we have received from a smaller number of listeners is incredible! It has given me a real boost and has been a wonderful reminder of why I do this - to make other people happy; to share emotions through music that people have a genuine connection to.

Another recent boost has been through a couple of CD orders we've had. We have a small amount of merchandise available because, quite frankly, it's the only way to bring in any money to help cover production costs. We don't sell much, but anything helps and it's wonderful when someone actually decides to support us with a purchase. It means the world to know we have a small group of fans who care that much!

These are small victories, but in a world obsessed with figures and statistics rather than real, living, breathing fans, I think these are far more important!

If you're interested to see what I do, you can find our single below!

Disconnected Souls: 'The Power of Love'

I would love to hear your stories!

Much love,

Holly