This is why 99% of independent artists fail 

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This is definitely a reminder I needed. "It takes an almost an insane level of self-belief, self-confidence to continue doing something when there are no results to speak of" spoke to me so much. The more I'm on this journey, the more I'm realizing that this self-belief may be the most important ingredient of all and the only way to make it through those extremely tough periods.

Well said Tom. It reminds of a great quote I heard recently from the writer Stephen Marche: 'Persistence is the siege you lay on fortune - you have to relish the rejection.' Thanks again for all of your great advice Tom.

too everyone, we are never giving up no matter what, besides music is what we love to do, its in our veins. don't matter how tough it gets how slow it gets we are never giving up. here's to never giving up. wish all y'all the best.

Thanks for the words of encouragement ,we all have to keep going and push through any adversity!!

Agree heavily with everything you said brother! Well said 🙏🏼

Great video, Tom. In our family we refer to this early phase as "the toughening". Every artist that ever made it had to persist, never knowing if they would ever make it. Recognition is rarely there. Friends and family aren't going to get you there, and much of the time they seem uninterested. 'Going viral' is mostly a thing of the past because all social media platforms have figured out how to monetize views. You're lucky if you get a few comments on Instagram posts or RU-vid videos, so it often feels like nobody is watching or listening. But over time, 500 plays on Spotify becomes 1,000,. Eventually a song gets 10,000, then 50,000, etc. It takes a relentless pursuit. There's a famous quote by George Bernard Shaw that fits your point about how you have to be practically crazy to make it: ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’ Here's to all the unreasonable artists going for it!!!

Been at it for 15 years. Still working on the hockey stick growth moment. Wrote five albums in the meantime.

spot on Tom!

extremely true, its a big battle within myself to keep going no matter what, thank you for reminding me :D

Really needed this reminder, thanks family 🙏

Dude this was so helpful and really speaks to where I’m at as an artist. Artists really don’t have alot of voices telling them to keep going so this video was truly a breath of fresh air. Thank you

Thank you Tom ! Sincere and valuable.

Creating a strong self belief is such a must, if you don’t believe in yourself, why would somebody else? Let’s go everybody, we got this

Such a good video to watch right before studio time! Thank you for sharing and turning me on to Visualize Value. WOOOHOOOO!

this speaks to me on such a deep level ❤‍🔥❤‍🔥

Thanks 🙏🏻 ❤

Tom, thanks so much for sharing your experiences. You uploaded this video at the perfect time (at least for me). I'm also quite a perfectionist and currently try out something new for my upcoming album. This is very motivating to keep going, trying out new things and not overthinking it too much. :)

Awesome stuff, Tom ! thanks for sharing your journey with us.

Hey Tom! Long time no talk! You're still one of my favorite drummers I've ever worked with. Hope all is well and would love to reconnect. Great video!!

THIS VIDEO!!!! Man! everything you said here is on point an accurate! Thank you so much for validating everything we as independent artists have to go through before our BIG BREAK(if that comes to fruition)!! Just creating everyday! that will keep you moving in a forward type progress! KEEP AT IT!!!

Thank you so much for this video, it really helped me

This GOLD!!

All true! Thanks 🙏

crazy quality man, you’ll blow up someday fs

Thanks Tom

4:49 so relateable

Did you upgrade your production value bro? I dig the new look 🔥

Thanks for the video. I’m on this journey too. I’m a Bass Player & Composer for Grammy Award winning artist but Imy solo career is very slow to take off but I’m not giving up. EVER 😎❤️🎵

The Offspring were around for 10 years before Smash.

It’s all to do with listeners and the algorithm

can u plz share ur camera / lighting set up?

It’s not being crazy to continue it’s you have to be realistic. You have to be honest. You have to be a good judgment of your self your music where you’re at where you’re going where you’ve been and when do you think you’re gonna get to where you wanna go because you could do that Pretty easily with the person next to you. You can easily figure out his trajectory by getting some data from him. How much he does it how much he practices how long he’s been doing it then you would hear some of his songs and you would analyze some of the songs find out how many songs he has. How many potential hits. Do they all suck . It’s not that difficult to figure out where someone is and for some reason when it comes to yourself, some people have a really hard or delusional time . But if you are honest with yourself to know exactly where you’re at to know if your music is good or sucks or almost there if you know these things, then anything that you do regardless of who shows up who listen to the song how many listens to the song it wouldn’t matter because you know where you are and everything that’s happening right now it’s just preparing you to get to where you want to be. It’s all practice. And marketing. I don’t think matters much , not the key if you don’t have an album full of hits . I mean could you make a crappy song hit by how much you market it. I would like to say no but I’m not sure. And if you think a song that’s out right now that you think passed the checklist suck does not mean it does suck. I’m not sure if anyone just starting out knows what’s the audience want how they wants in and who from. Hardest worked perfect craft they get in touch with the songwriting gods they release songs and they don’t think it’s the best they could do because they will never think that : nobody cares about what your best is people only care about the song that’s good. It moved them. best in the market as a whole and if your best is not comparable to everyone else’s best in your best and if you did the best you could that means either you’re done or you got a long ways ago. If you’re the person that is so good to yourself, and so confident and everything you do just turns into gold, and all that is not completely true. Then depression is in your future because environmental depression, Is gets you good when your vision of yourself or expectations you’ve had do not match reality you’re in for a world of hurt so it’s great to be confident but it’s also good to be honest with yourself otherwise you get better.

I am definitely a CRAZY person, because I keep making things/Music for going on (5 years) now with LITTLE to NO Results ha.

With respect , if you wanted to be a musician , why did you become a RU-vidr ?

It can be really difficult to keep going when it seems like all the works you do amounts to nothing. Gotta just stay consistent folks, and keep believing. Keep posting, You can do it! 🫡💪🏼