Put the Music Out. Your People Will Find It.

Starting before anyone’s watching, because it still counts

Let me be clear.

When I first started writing and recording my own music back in 2015, I struggled with the idea of releasing songs to what felt like no one. I was in college at the time. Once I started performing at campus open mics, people knew I could sing, but that support did not translate online. Seeing fewer than 1,000 plays next to my songs on Spotify messed with my head more than I wanted to admit.

That discomfort shaped my behavior for years.

I fell into a cycle of releasing music, taking it down, disappearing for months, sometimes a year, then repeating the process. I told myself I was being strategic. In reality, I was getting in my own way. That pattern all but guaranteed I would never grow an audience. You cannot build momentum around work that keeps vanishing.

Everything shifted when I finally decided to stop sabotaging myself and let the music live. A big part of that decision was choosing to make the music I genuinely wanted to make, not just the kind I enjoyed listening to or the kind I assumed people would gravitate toward.

I released a song called Smoke Screen. It was never written with release in mind. It was a gift to someone, personal and unpolished in intention. That song eventually became the first single from my album Under the Blue Lights. For the first year it was out, I was one of the only people listening to it. Before the album dropped, I never cracked 10 monthly listeners on any streaming platform, certainly not consistently.

Still, the song stayed up.

Around that same time, I committed to visibility. I showed up on social media with more intention. I joined TikTok. I stopped lurking and started engaging. Eventually, I became a full-time creator, consistently sharing not just my music, but myself. Over time, people found their way in.

In one year, I went from fewer than 10 monthly listeners in February 2024 to over 6,000 in February 2025. The same song I once assumed no one cared about is now my most streamed, with over 18,000 plays and counting.

I am not sharing this to brag. I am sharing it for the Dreamer reading this who is sitting on a finished song, a video, or a story because the audience does not feel big enough yet. Release the song. Post the video. Publish the story. Do the thing you keep saving for later.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is how necessary it is to separate your work from the desire for immediate recognition. Being instantly seen, heard, and validated is not the requirement for growth. Patience is. Consistency is. Giving the process time to unfold is.

Let the platforms do their job. Let the algorithms learn you over time. Let people discover you when they are meant to. It is far more meaningful to build a base of engaged, high-quality supporters who genuinely connect with your work than to chase random clicks and momentary attention.

The last thing I want to share is my Spotify Artist Wrapped for 2025. This year, my music crossed 88,000 total streams across platforms. I am proud of that number, not because it makes me feel chosen, but because it reflects years of learning how to stop hiding.

Your people cannot find what you refuse to release.

Put the music out. They will find it.

2025 Spotify Artist Wrapped