Backhand Sally

Hey all! Another week, another blog! We hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and have a great week in store. We just finished our radio interview on 89.3 KNON this morning (9-16-19) and it spurred the thoughts for this week's blog about our musical journey.

Is Anybody Listening? (To Our Music)

Ideally, the answer to that question is a resounding yes! The reality is probably more like, well, maybe(shoulder shrug emoji) According to Spotify and a few other tracking sources, yes people are listening, but maybe not at the rate or as much as we'd like.  Who doesn't want their song to sell thousands or more as soon as it's published? Perhaps there are some musicians, but those are musicians are not us. We would love for our album to be on all sorts of charts and trending and streamed again and again and again, but we're just not quite there yet. We're pushing and there are new listeners every day which we are very grateful for. 

Maybe Nobody Is Listening, So What? 

There is a possibility that when you release an album as a completely independent artist, that nobody or very few people will ever hear it.  This is why you can't think of music as money, you must think of it as the art it is. Does not selling millions of copies=failure, does selling millions=success? To the latter, yes, financially (obviously) selling millions is some sort of success. But for the many, many albums that never sell more than a few copies a month or just a few to a few hundred downloads, success is viewed differently. For starters, writing an entire album, recording it, producing it and publishing it is a form of success. Even if the album sucks, you still created it and there is merit in that. Putting an album out completely independent of a label or financial backer is a form of success. Getting radio stations, any of them, to play the songs is a form of success and being able to play venues that encourage original music is also a form of success. So, if you knew that not very many people would ever listen to the music you spent so much time and effort on, would you still do it? I certainly hope so; after all, music is art, and it should be shared with the world, even if the world isn't listening. 

No Is A Four- Letter Word

When we decided to put an album out, we really had no idea what we were doing. We spend a lot of time researching and connecting with promoters and radio stations, blogs, etc... and in general, we have received nothing but positive reviews, but we've also received a lot of no(s) too. No(s) from radio stations, promoters, venues, bloggers, etc... if it's an avenue to release or perform independent, original music, we have had our fair share of no(s) from it. To the softer or new artist, no can be a four-letter word that slaps you across the face like a wet towel. For us, it's a reason to look at why there was a no. Sometimes we're not the right fit or style of music, sometimes we just aren't established enough in the area, sometimes you have to be a pest to get a yes, and sometimes, for whatever reason, the station, blogger, venue, just doesn't like us. All of the reasons kind of suck, the last reason the most, but you have to learn from the sometimes(read last week's post) and move on from it, or that wet stinging slap sinks into a resolve of failure. 

Staying Power

Do we have what it takes to stick around, or to make it really big? We think we do, but maybe we don't, who knows. Who knows what the music cosmos have in store for us. Regardless of how well the album does or doesn't do, we're not going anywhere anytime soon. We're going to keep playing, keep writing and keep putting out albums, even if we're the only ones listening. We hope we're not, but if we are then we're going to make sure we're making the best music we've ever heard! 

Stay Groovy Friends(oh and buy a copy of the album today!)

-Backhand Sally

Unless you've been hiding in a soundproof music free cave for the last 10 years, you are familiar with Independent Musicians, or more commonly, "Indie Artists." Years ago the term was used to describe the type of singer/songwriter you found in coffee shops and street corners. Busking musicians with a gritty, unrefined sound that played for tips or barely above. Now, independent artists seemingly run the music world. You can't open a music blog on social media without being hit by some "Indie artist" that are making "big waves" and "creating a buzz" in the music biz. When you read the article you probably think to yourself, "wow that's amazing look how much that unknown person's talent  has done for them, so good that after one YouTube video they are an overnight sensation." Sometimes that's actually the case, a musician posts a song, it goes viral, and bam overnight success. More often than not it's years of hard work and in the past, the goal was usually a record deal, but now, you really can have success as an independent artist, even without overnight fame. 

Pretty cool right? Making your own rules and making it on your all your own. Being independent means you don't have to work under the constraints of a label or investor, and you can just "focus on the music," super cool you get to just play music for a living, and it is. But, what if I were to tell you that truly independent artists work so hard at the business of music that often the last thing they usually get to focus on is the actual music part of being a musician.  Are you shocked? If you're a business owner you might not be, but if you're a music lover you might be. When you go to a live show or listen to your favorite local artist's album, you might never consider all of the work that went into making that album or putting on that live show.  I'm sure you've put some thought into how much practice went into learning the songs or how long writing a song might have taken, but have you considered how that a musician that isn't signed to a label or backed by an investor gets their music to you all by themselves? Whether you have or you haven't that's the definition of a truly independent artist, or at least my definition, a musician that does IT ALL BY THEMSELVES; no label, no manager, just themselves, sheer talent and determination.  (Note, themselves could be a solo artist, duo, trio, 9 piece band, but still doing it without an outside monetary or management team, aside from the occasional sponsor that might help with some merch or incidentals.)

The artist that has a small, "indie" label backing them? Not a truly independent artist. The artist that has an investor, not a truly independent artist. The artist that works a full-time job while playing 10-20 shows a month and spending every extra penny on studio time or home studio software/equipment, paying for musicians, gear, mixing, mastering, promotion, website, advertising, etc..., that artist is truly independent. That artist is doing it all on their own because regardless of their situation they believe in their music so much they are willing to do anything to create it, perform it, record it, and share it with the listener. 

We are completely independent artists. We work other jobs to pay for the things playing shows won't pay for. We cover the costs of putting an album out from our own pockets. We pay for the instruments, merch, advertising, the band, we book our own gigs, and we spend most of our free time putting the hours into the business side of the music business so that we can get our music to you. We are passionate about our music and believe that the listener will be too, so until we don't have to do it on our own, we believe in what we're doing so much (just like so many other independent artists) that we are going to do it ourselves until maybe one do we don't have to anymore. Even though you might not realize it, independent artists, like ourselves are doing the work of a record label, management, PR, etc... to bring you our singles, EP's, albums and live shows. 

Now that you know a little more about what a truly independent artist is you might better understand how important your support is to keep the musicians you love playing. So buy the album, buy the t-shirts, attend the show, share the show, add to the tip jar, follow on Spotify or Pandora, etc...and share, share, share every video and song. As independent as all "indie" musicians are, it still takes a village, so become the mayor of your favorite musician's village and keep the music alive!