This is not your parent’s music industry anymore.
Long gone are the days of waiting for talent scouts to find you playing live in the basement of some seedy bar so they can offer you a piece of the forbidden fruit. The greedy industry-titans have been steadily losing their firm hold on the doors that they have long kept watch over, the very doors that they have used to keep indie artists away from their supporters; until they sign a contract in their blood, sweat, and tears, that is (and don’t get me started on the 360 Deal that exists to own everything about you).
And right now, openly embracing the new music-business model is the impressive Jake Munro of MUNRO. Absolutely defining his own path on his own terms, and I could not be more impressed by this dedicated artist’s constant effort (and successes) in managing to strengthen his own brand without compromise; and I think that you should be paying close attention to this very fact.
I didn’t come across Jake Munro because of his music.
I came across this master of makeup because of a random thumbnail in my YouTube feed, that one curious little thumbnail that promised a good laugh from watching a goth trying not to laugh at terrible TikTok videos was more than enough to gain my attention in those blurry late-night hours. I hit play, and what followed was a brilliant display of honesty and humor packaged up in a very professional looking box. Immediately clear to me was the fact that Jake doesn’t seem to drop the ball on his attention to detail, whether it be his incredible application of joker-Esque makeup, his interesting studio backdrop that reflects his own idea of comfort, his camera, and lighting setup, or his refreshing candor, this artist respects his audience by caring enough to make sure that he brings his best to every video that he posts and that quality check is one that is so easily missed by many great indie artists on the scene today.
The point here is that I didn’t find Jake Munro’s music through his music, I found it through a random TikTok try-not-laugh-challenge, and that should give all of you indie musicians hope and inspiration for why you can build your audience without walking the same path as the ones that came before you, it should free you from thinking that you need to be like someone else to be as successful as someone else; the possibilities for your music outreach is endless at this point in time (I told you, this is not your parent’s music industry anymore, and I meant it!)
You see, Jake Munro doesn’t shove his great music down your throat by using the same ole tired and weathered tactics that we all avoid like COVID-19. No, he offers us a window into his world through multiple creative paths, each one leading us further down the rabbit hole, and all leading us to the same destination, him.
And you know what? Those varied paths eventually lead to his music, which you want to support because you end up liking the guy for his personality alone, and therein lies the power of your current DIY music industry. The fact that as a musician you can now create other channels not related directly to your music that help strengthen that music through proximity is absolutely craziness! How can anyone not get excited about the fact that right now you can start a channel on YouTube dedicated to your love of something non-music related and still serve your music career!
I liked his video, it made me laugh (seriously, watching this dark metal artist trying not to laugh is easily the hardest part of this challenge for me, and I fail every time) and because of that one video, I came across Jake streaming himself playing videogames, which led me to his very personal vlog entries, which led to me finding his emotionally-charged cover of Linkin Park’s ‘In The End’ which ultimately led me to MUNRO and their incredibly beautiful song called ‘Social Deconstruct’.
You see, I found my way to his music through one of the many paths that he left available to me, and not once did I feel that he was selling his art to me (even when he was) because he just showed up as himself, and he invited me into his world without asking me to cross a paywall first.
I cannot stress enough the power that today’s indie musicians have to build their own audience, but only if you approach everything that you do with as much of the same respect, integrity and professionalism as Jake Munro does.
There is no prize given to those that half-ass their efforts. Either you are in with both feet when you create content or you are already dead in the water, floating among the other rejected artists that foolishly thought that all you needed to do was show up and ask to heard.
What Jake Munro of MUNRO teaches us is that we have the freedom to build our futures without compromise, that the music industry can be approached from a very new and exciting angle (multiple angles in this case) and that one that does not rely on someone else opening doors to their core audience for them anymore, that viewers value the chance to get to know an artist more intimately now, and more importantly, now they can through the various social media platforms! Jake’s actions alone prove that there is great value in all content created by an artist that never forgets to respect their audience through a genuine and authentic effort, that steadily building an audience in one area can only build that audience in another…and that trying not to laugh at Jake Munro trying not to laugh is fucking impossible.
CHECK OUT MUNRO HERE!
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