Welcome to Issue 6!
It’s been five months since I released the first music track from the Signal Source Unknown music project. At that point I had no followers or listeners on any of the music streaming services and not much of a clue about how to find an audience on-line or anywhere else! I have travelled through the phase of obsessing over streaming numbers and I think I’m better now. Thanks. But, in the spirit of sharing I’m going back to January 2022 to look at how the number worrying all started …
Twilight Son was loaded up and available on Spotify and the other streaming services on 21st January 2022.
I grabbed the screen shot above on that date as I liked all the zeros.
It says
3
all-time streams for this release
I did initially wonder who the three were.
Then I realised it was me. Three times.
I was disappointed.
I wondered where all my fans were. My followers. My audience.
Then I remembered that I didn’t have any of these things and that was the whole point of what I was just starting to do.
Not that I’m comparing myself to Napoleon but I’m pretty sure his Spotify counts would have been impressive. If not, he would have done something about it.
Probably on a horse.
Let’s be honest though, it’s good to start at zero.
Celebrities sometimes fantasise about anonymity.
They yearn to walk down the High Street in their home town and go unnoticed or do normal things like buying a castle without attracting too much attention from the press.
J.K. Rowling took the idea further. She changed her author name to Robert Galbraith to test the idea of being an unknown again and said this
I was yearning to go back to the beginning of a writing career in this new genre, to work without hype or expectation and to receive totally unvarnished feedback. It was a fantastic experience and I only wish it could have gone on a little longer.
I agree with Bobby on this, it’s good to be a nobody.
But will it last?
Numbers are a strange and powerful thing. People believe that some of them are lucky (7 is lucky - or so I was told) and unlucky (13 is bad luck) but when trying to allocate a number to success or failure of your own or someone else’s work then the whole endeavour can get sprayed in a dark shade of fog.
Is this really something to get hung up on?
Is this all just a hangover from endless money comparisons?
I have more streams than you so I am worth more
I have a million subscribers which makes me a millionaire
Numbers are an ongoing obsession amongst creatives working online.
Including me.
I understand that the numbers are a measure of progress, reach. Even influence.
I’m just not so sure that they measure success.
However, I was pleased that Twilight Son was out in the world instead of just in my head.
That only counts as one.
Wise words, E! It’s all too easy to get caught up in numbers, and I feel it’s sometimes so hard not to feel judged by them. Not just in terms of social engagement, but even things like age, the number on the scales, medical test results...!