There is a large gap between where I am and where I want to be.  I am an artist–I make music, record, and play shows. In the long run, I hope to be able to make enough money to be able to support myself solely through music.  To me, that is the definition of success. To others, the definition of success varies. I look at the small victories and the little steps up the mountain while others expect every bit of progress to happen overnight.  To more practical people, they judge success in the music industry as signing your life away to a record label, playing sold out arena shows, and being on the cover of every magazine from Rolling Stone to Playboy.  For me, I don’t see success in that light.  If that’s the only path to achieving a dream, I’m not sure if I would even follow it because being famous sounds daunting.  I would go mad if I couldn’t go out without being recognized all the time. For me, success isn’t about the vanity or the fame; it’s about connecting with people and hopefully connecting with enough of them to pay money for what I like to do.  Making a living and paying the bills through music is success to me, but it’s a leap and a lot of time to pave that way.

The music industry has become more modernized; now musicians can make records from the comfort of their own bedrooms, build followings on social media, and achieve the life they’ve always wanted without playing arenas or signing to major record labels.  People who are not well-versed on this new music industry don’t understand that, and that’s understandable. Those aren’t the types of people I should truly be listening to, since they don’t know the space as well as I do. They don’t read the books, case studies, or anything of the sort, and I’m not taking advice from people who don’t believe in me.  In the end, I know I am going to get from point A to B on my own terms. I believe in myself and sometimes that is the only person who really matters.