First off, let me say thank you for reading my post and I hope you are doing well!
For as long as I can remember, I have loved music. Listening. Feeling. Sharing. Creating.
The fact that different audible patterns and pitches can create such strong emotions for people really fascinates me.
It was only until somewhat recently (Early 2014) I took the dive into composing and producing original music.
At first, it was rough. I didn't have much, if any, musical knowledge to go off of and receiving harsh criticism for something you put copious amounts of time and effort into isn't something that many people look forward to when it comes to making art because your art, whatever it may be, is a direct reflection of you or your mind.
But for some reason I did.
I don't know what it was, but getting ANY feedback on my music was almost like a fuel and I was the engine.
Knowing someone out there took the time to listen to my music and tell me things I could do differently or more efficiently really made me just want to keep going. I didn't want to stop. Nothing was going to get in the way of my dream of making music and helping other people get through tough situations or whatever it may be. I didn't want to do it for the money or fame (lets be honest, it isn't the easiest to make it in the music industry anyways), but for the simple fact I could make another person, with their own thoughts and emotions, feel something.
Sadness. Happiness. Nostalgia. Euphoria.
Whatever it may be, It didn't matter to me. As long as my music was touching the minds of others, I was happy.
Well after months of hard work, dedication, and my emotions being tossed around like a beach ball, I started garnering support from many organizations that I looked up to and many I wasn't even aware of! Many youtube channels started uploading my music for promotion and I started to gain a following! I was ecstatic! Having any platform of people who would regularly listen to my music was a gift. I started to receive messages from people all around the world telling me about how my music had helped them in different ways, and thats when I realized how much music ACTUALLY meant to me. This is all I wanted.
Early 2015 came around and I was not ready for what was going to happen.
I got in contact with a label known as Ninety9lives. They hadn't launched yet so I was a little wary at first to sign anything with them. We ended up going to lunch and talking about what I wanted out of music, where I saw myself in a few years, etc.
I realized they were just like me! All they wanted to do was share music with people that they can use for what they see fit!
I ended up signing this track I did with my friend Noctilucent to them and I owe a big part of my "small success" to them.
At around the same time, one of the Youtube channels / Organizations that I looked up to for years sent me an email. They wanted me to make some tracks for them for a mix they were doing. Obviously I couldn't decline, but the pressure was on. I never felt such an immense amount of anxiety and excitement to impress somebody that I looked up to. I ended up making an instrumental with my friend Zeni and we got a vocalist named Koo Read on board.
This is the track that came from that opportunity, that to this day, I am immensely thankful for.
I never once thought something I created with some friends would attract this amount of attention and affect as many peoples lives as it did. Thank you MrSuicideSheep and everyone involved with this release.
(Has over 2,000,000 views, still unbelievable to me)
Now, I am a verified "starving" artist on Spotify with an average monthly listener count of around 20,000 people (that keeps growing!). Like I said before, no words can describe how thankful I am for the opportunities and people that helped me get my "small success". By no means am I done creating music, I'm just getting started.
So to sum up my story -
Music can change lives.
Don't give up on your dreams and wishes because you have no clue what can happen in such a short amount of time. The only way you can find out if its going to work is by trying.
Hope you enjoyed my little story.
if you want to keep following my music endeavors, you can follow me at these links
Twitter - https://twitter.com/KozoroMusic
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KozoroMusic/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/2cCoJDNez7SlrY5HuFHTWD
Contact Email - Kozoromusic@gmail.com
Thank you!