More information is not the answer 

There are a thousand ways to learn something new, but the best way? 

By doing it. 

Because consumption does not equal creation. 

While one stores information as perceived knowledge, the other methodically transposes repetition into craft.

Passive versus active. 

And it’s not even close. 

A tale of two pictures 

To illustrate my point, let me paint two distinct pictures for you. 

Picture #1.

You’re a new artist and you want to release your music on Spotify. 

Congrats. 

You head to YouTube and you start watching video after video, learning all you can about distribution, marketing, branding, ads, playlists, and anything else you can find. 

But you don’t release music yet because you want to make sure you know everything you need to know before you drop your first song. 

You want to set yourself up for success and hit the ground running. 

Nothing wrong with that. 

But every time you think you’re ready to release that first track, you encounter something you didn’t know, so you head back to YouTube and binge watch some more videos because, you know, “preparation”. 

Finally, after six months of planning and consuming video after video, article after article, you finally hit publish on that first track. 

And it’s… crickets. 

Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen. 

You were prepared, remember? 

So what now? 

Well, it’s back to the information game. 

Clearly you missed something. 

So you get back into the desk chair, fire up YouTube, and go even deeper down the rabbit hole to make sure you find everything you need to know before you release your next song. 

The first track may have flopped, but this next one? 

This one will be the one. 

Only another six months go by before you even think about hitting publish (again, “preparation”), and by the time song #2 comes out, any semblance of momentum you might have had is gone. 

But hey, at least you were prepared. 

So now you’ve released two flops in a year, but you’re a verified armchair expert on all things marketing. 

Are ya winnin’, son? 

No, probably not. 

Picture #2. 

You’re a new artist ready to release your first song on Spotify. 

Again, congrats. 

Only this time, your plan is to just start and learn what you need along the way. 

To start, you need to get your music on Spotify, but you don’t know how. 

You watch a YouTube video and discover DistroKid, so you use that to schedule your song for release next Friday. 

Should you schedule more songs for release? 

Back to YouTube. 

You find a video that tells you to release a song every week then another that says every two, another that says every four, and another that says every six. 

You decide to release a song a month because that feels right to you, so you schedule the next 11 releases in advance. 

A whole year. 

What next? 

Fast forward to Friday, and your first song is out. 

But guess what? 

That’s right. 

Crickets. 

I guess you have to tell people to listen to your music? 

How do you do that? 

Back to YouTube. 

You watch a couple of videos telling you to make TikToks and Instagram Reels to promote your music. 

You find another that tells you to run ads and walks you through the process. 

A third that tells you about pitching to playlists through SubmitHub. 

You try all three and see what happens. 

When the next release drops, as it turns out, it’s not crickets. 

It’s not a hit, but at least it’s not zero. 

Awesome. 

But your ads could have done better and your content fell flat. 

You watch another couple of videos about how to optimize your ads and create better, more engaging short-form content. 

When release #3 drops, you’ll be ready. 

And so the cycle continues. 

What’s happening 

You see the difference, right? 

In the first scenario, information is simply a form of procrastination used to justify not taking action. 

Because taking action is risky. 

And risk is scary. 

What if you fail? 

Or look stupid? 

Or no one listens? 

It’s a lot easier to go back to the drawing board time and time again than it is to figure it out in public and put yourself out there. 

The only problem is, you never end up actually learning anything of real value. 

Sure, you gather information, but nothing close to true knowledge. 

But in the second scenario, you are the testing ground. 

Every release is a data point. 

And every video you watch or article you read serves a specific purpose in helping you to solve a specific problem. 

In the first scenario, you are waterboarding yourself with information. 

In the second, you are drinking a single glass of water every time you’re thirsty. 

The takeaway 

Ok, Tom, so what’s your point? 

Great question. 

I’m glad you asked. 

If I had to sum this entire letter up in one sentence, it would be this: 

There is no replacement for action. 

Period. 

Day in, day out, I run into artists on social media who throw some wildly creative excuses at me for why they can’t succeed in releasing and promoting their music. 

But they are just that. 

Excuses. 

Meanwhile, there is a vast (and growing) cohort of creators out there who are dropping song after song, most of which gain little to no traction to speak of. 

But every once in a while, they’ll knock one out of the park, and that one winning song will lift the baseline for everything else in their catalog. 

They’ll rise from 4,000 to 40,000 to 400,000 to 4,000,000 average monthly listeners on Spotify slowly, steadily, and seemingly like clockwork simply because they are on the field, playing the game, rather than just reading about it on the sidelines. 

Now I’m obviously not knocking information. 

Information is good. 

In moderation. 

But information is not knowledge. 

Nor is it experience. 

Those two things can only be earned by putting what you learn into practice. 

And practice is the only way to improve. 

So if you find yourself leaning toward information over action, know this: 

First, you’re not alone. 

I’ve been there too. 

In fact, I catch myself mindlessly drifting back there regularly. 

We all do it. 

Remember, the internet is designed for you to consume more than you create. 

And second, nothing is as risky as it seems, especially when it comes to releasing music. 

Your song flops? 

Who cares? 

Your video gets zero views? 

So what? 

Your failures are largely private. 

It’s only the successes that anyone truly sees. 

Besides, it’s all they’re likely to remember anyway. 

So get out there and start playing the game. 

You already have everything you need to get started.