Fifteen Minutes of Fame: An Independent Artist Music Review Blog

Originally published January 10th, 2025 About the Artist It’s no secret that the British can produce music. Being a guy who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, I know what it’s like to come from a community where everybody seems to play music. This comes with a number of positives and sometimes, can also bring about some deflating elements as well. On one hand, it’s pretty easy to find people to artistically connect with. There’s always an opportunity to hear great live music. So many people can relate with you. On the other hand, in an effort to deploy their own marketability, independent musicians tend to create unspoken competitions with one another in an effort to stand out and achieve their own goals. This might limit attendance at our live performances and hurt traffic on social media or streaming sites. I can post a picture about my dog and get a hundred likes and turn around and post promotional things about an upcoming release and it might not get 10 views. This feeling can leave...

Originally Published on January 9th, 2025 About the Artist What can I say, except that “The struggle is real?” As an independent artist, I know how difficult it is to think of ways to catch the attention of a viewer. Every day, I spend some form of time thinking of the hook that might possibly help my music get noticed. Honestly, it becomes less about music and more about finding a trend that sticks. Before we know it, we introverted artisty-types have found ourselves playing the part of eccentric content creators.  I try to be mindful of that when I see other artists putting themselves out there. I like to stop and give them a moment of my time. We all deserve that moment. I don’t always do it. But it’s always great when I do because I never know what I will find. As was the case with  Western Jaguar . Last month, while scrolling the ole’ Threads feed, I stumbled upon this artist who had committed himself to posting every day for a month until his newly released song,  L...

Originally Published on January 8th About the Artist I’ve always been obsessively curious about the songwriting process; not just my own, but my peers’ experiences as well. Sometimes, it is difficult, sometimes the pen doesn’t stop. Sometimes the music is written and the lyrics are plugged in afterwards. Sometimes some words are written down and we spend minutes, hours, days, or months at our instruments trying to find the perfect melody to tell our story.  Whatever the case, whatever the process, it always seems to be the most absolutely necessary process for the work. My working theory is that is a cohesive bond with where we are in our lives, emotionally. It relates to what we’re experiencing and how those experiences make us feel. This obviously dictates they style our music is written in; happy, sad, up tempo, down tempo, but it also dictates the simplicity or complexities of our writing processes. And one doesn’t dictate good or bad. Ive personally experienced writing songs I...

Originally Published on January 6th About the Artist Independent music is interesting to me for several reasons. One of the best parts about independent music is the fact that there is no red tape to navigate. There are no producers saying, “Don’t do that, do it this way.” There are no labels saying, “We don’t want to release this because this isn’t what Beyoncé’s doing.” Or Taylor, or Billie, or Kanye, etc. In many ways, we are getting unfiltered, unedited interpretations of artists’ perception. Most artist have relevance in mind, of course, but they’re typically the ones calling the shot on how that’s defined.  I appreciate the work of every single recording artist, big or small. But the fact of the matter is some artists have a better understanding of what is going to be impactful and what isn’t. Some artists are very clearly fixated on a time, or a style, and they struggle with transcending the eras that inspired them. To be critical for a moment, this paradox seems to be more ...

Originally Published January 3rd, 2025 In the Beginning… I had zero expectations going into this. An independent artist, wanting to make a name for myself, I had discovered there were so many other artists out there who wanted that exact same thing; to be heard. After trials, errors, and little to no interest, I thought of the blog. Sure, blogs are a little bit dated, but it’s a permanent publication. It’s something artists can reference that tells people who they are and what their music is. Whether it is something that an artist references from time to time for their own purpose or if it is used as a platform for more people to discover an artist, I feel like it accomplishes something. I can happily say, I am a fan of every single artist I’ve reviewed. My hope is they each find their audience and, if the Fifteen Minutes of Fame blog helps them reach that audience, then I am fulfilled. On Threads, I posted for the first time mentioning the blog on June 29th. I wasn’t expecting much, a...