Your first song will probably flop (and that’s ok) 

The moment your first song goes live is a feeling like no other, but excitement can quickly turn to despair. 

You refresh Spotify for Artists every few minutes it seems, hoping to see that inevitable spike in streams you’ve been hoping for. 

Only it never comes. 

One stream. 

Three streams. 

Ten. 

Yay? 

At this rate, you think you’ll be lucky to crack triple digits by the end of the week, if at all. 

Unfortunately, that’s not too far from the truth. 

You see, while you’ve spent months looking forward to this moment, you’re likely the only one for whom that’s the case. 

Yes, you’ve gotten some kind words from friends and family the few times you’ve posted “new music coming soon”. 

And yes, there are a handful of people in your circle who are genuinely interested in supporting you. 

But for the most part, everyone else is living their own lives. 

They haven’t been anticipating this day like you have. 

And the numbers reflect that. 

A handful of people you know might show up to listen on day one, but everyone else will get to it when they have the time. 

If they have the time. 

Fortunately, they’re not really your audience anyway. 

A fresh start 

When we first start releasing music, our “fanbase” is comprised of people we know personally, those who love us and just want to see us succeed, no matter what we do. 

The reality is, if we’re going to build something of substance with our music, our audience has to become much more than that. 

And to do that, we have to have something for people to gravitate to. 

Our music. 

The irony here is that until we have a body of work for these “strangers” to consume and enjoy, they have no reason to pay attention. 

Which brings us back to our initial release. 

That first song we put out is simply “step one” on a long journey of rolling a snowball downhill. 

We start with something small that fits in the palm of our hands, but as we push, and as we gain momentum, that snowball gets bigger and bigger over time. 

And what’s more is that the longer we push, and the further that snowfall rolls, the faster it increases in size. 

This is the beauty of compounding. 

More than money 

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the concept of compounding as it relates to our finances. 

The stock market is predicated upon it. 

But compound interest applies everywhere. 

It is, as a certain someone once said, “the eighth wonder of the world”. 

Every song we release, every video we make, everything we post—all of these are little interest-bearing data points that increase our luck surface area and add to our snowball. 

So when we only have one song out, and it’s the first day of release, our luck surface area (and our snowball) is miniscule. 

But fast forward a few years, increase the catalog to hundreds of songs and thousands of pieces of content, and that snowball is now much, much bigger. 

We have the benefit of a broad body of work. 

And we also have the benefit of a constant 24-hour cycle of hundreds, maybe thousands of days, of content and music working on our behalf. 

Throw ads in there to automate audience acquisition, and the horizon increases exponentially. 

The timeline 

In the realm of releasing music, just as in investing, time is your friend. 

The longer you work at it, the more opportunities will come your way. 

Or as they say, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” 

So instead of focusing solely on release day, perhaps it’s best to take a multi-year (or, my favorite, a multi-decade) approach to building your body of work. 

Create a brand that can only come to fruition on an extended timeline. 

Play the long game, learn as much as you can from every release, whether success or flop, and keep pushing that snowball downhill. 

If you can do that, you will create something of value. 

And what’s more, you’ll likely be more fulfilled along the way.