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by hellotheretoday 425 days ago
Music is subjective, of course, but I know a lot of people who dedicated an extreme amount of their lives to it. Went to conservatory, practiced for literally hours a day since they were young children into their now late 30s, write music constantly for decades, etc. Some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life has come from these people and they’re all unknown. They teach music, they gig, they work in other career paths, some still do part time stuff hoping it will eventually pan out, but none of them have any kind of fanbase or recognition really. I think the biggest one has like 800 streams a month on Spotify with 2k listeners? It’s nothing, like a few dollars a month
1 comments

There’s an incredible amount of luck involved in making it big in the arts. Some of it is talent. Some of it is hard work. But a lot is luck. Almost certainly compared to professions where reasonable competence and work mostly guarantee a decent living.
I want to believe that but I've never seen any compelling concrete examples. Got any music that's way better than its popularity/recognition would indicate?
I gotta say expected the usual type of "good musicians that can't catch a break," talented but can't write a song with any sincerity or personality. Instead I loved all three! I regret my cynicism and I'm glad I took a listen. I went and bought a couple albums on bandcamp. Thanks!
You're welcome! ... and, ahem, if you value sincerity/personality over talent then you might also like my own band :)

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3O9y7KvDkmr9eRZ1i9IQXZ?si=AA...

There are a number of singer/songwriters/folk who I’ve really liked who were pretty obscure like Heather Alexander, Kathy Mar, etc. may not be to your taste but I’ve liked and certainly not well known.
it depends entirely on your taste but there are some genres that actively avoid broad recognition which include some of my favorite bands (many metal and punk subgenres for example).
beyond luck, lots of famous artists have 'non-famous' composers arranging/composing after their demo stuff