BACKSPIN #2 - Turning 50
How did this happen?
I turned 50 yesterday.
A sentence that feels strange to type.
The good news is I don’t feel 50.
The bad news is I’m pretty sure everyone who turns 50 says that.
And it makes this idea of trying to get somewhere in the music industry even more ridiculous.
Anyway lot has happened since the last issue. Mainly because I’m not exactly doing a good job of sending this thing out weekly.
At the end of May I released You Gotta Move
It took forever to appear on Apple Music, which meant I held off sharing it properly while I waited for whatever manual review process was happening behind the scenes. But it’s finally there now and available wherever people stream music. (links to stream here)
Quite happy with how You Gotta Move turned out. It’s not too bad creatively but technically I’m getting better. That’s standing out for me.
And my workflow is improving - trying not to reinvent the wheel every track.
A year ago every new track felt like starting from scratch.
Now I’ve got templates, favourite plugins and a process.
I’m still learning, but I’m spending more time making music and less time figuring out where everything goes.
Just after this was released we headed off to Norfolk for a few days.
Sun.
Beach.
Beer.
Good food.
One slightly insane Labrador.
A solid break.
And honestly, I think I needed it.
Now I’m back home with a fresh project sitting in Logic waiting for me.
A simple 8-bar loop right now. But it’s grooving nicely and I can already picture how the full track will sound.
Every finished track I’ve ever made started exactly the same way.
A small idea.
A drum groove.
A bassline.
Then days of trying not to ruin it 🤣
The biggest challenge remains the same one I’ve talked about before.
Vocals.
A track can have a great groove, a solid bassline and a decent arrangement.
But the thing people remember is usually the vocal hook.
That’s the bit stuck in their head while they’re driving to work.
Finding vocals that haven’t been used a thousand times already, then turning them into something that feels unique, is probably the hardest part of the whole process for me.
It’s a grind digging through a lot of junk to find the gold. And often it’s having the vision and skills to turn a very average vocal into something useable.
Got to put in the reps and get better at it.
Marketing
One thing turning 50 does make you realize is that time matters.
If I’m going to do this, I can’t spend forever hiding tracks on my hard drive.
They need to get released.
They need to be heard.
Which means getting better at distribution, even though I’d much rather be making music.
Making music is fun. Promotion is work.
Like any “product” you want to put out in the world, distribution is everything.
The reality is nobody magically discovers your tracks.
I’ve had a little traction recently from TikTok and slowly the numbers are moving in the right direction. Very slowly.
But they’re moving.
Right now I’m starting to spend more time looking for playlists and playlist owners I can reach out to directly.
We’ll see what happens.
Ok… I’ve got 16 seconds of groove to turn into the next hit track. Got to go.
Talk soon
- Paul
P.S. all my streaming and social links can be found at https://metcalfe.io