What defines success? How does a musician know when they are successful?

Am I a success? I have a lot of music written. Hours upon hours. But I rarely get performances, so most of my music is self-produced, self-recorded, and published online as CDs, videos, and other audio files. I don’t get many listens, and that is okay by me.

Oftentimes as musicians we are encouraged to spread the word about our music–to get more listens, a bigger fanbase, to make more money off our music (including making any money). But how many listens is a “good” number? How many fans make making music “worth it”? How much money is “enough”, or how much is “too little”?

I argue that these are all arbitrary definitions. No matter how many listens you get, there are always more to have. No matter how many fans you have, it is most likely that there are even more out there who will never know your work. If you even are able to make a living off of your art, at what point are you making “enough” money to consider yourself a success? Is there a dollar amount that makes you successful?

Even putting things in terms of large numbers doesn’t help. So, you have 1 million listens? Guess what–someone else has 2 million. Does that 1 million make you successful, less successful than the 2 million, more famous or underground, or more or less of a musician?

Let’s try fixing more numbers to this.

Donald Trump has 66.5 million Twitter followers at the time of this writing. Barack Obama has 110 million. Which one is more successful? Which one has a more loyal fanbase? Who is the better politician? It depends on who you ask.

Composer John Williams has 24 Grammys as of the writing of this post. The Beatles only won 4 before they disbanded. John Williams is iconic, and it can be argued that The Beatles sparked the growth and shaped the sound of rock music forever. But which one has better music? And which one is more successful?

J.S. Bach was not a star of his time. He would have been forgotten in the annals of history were it not for the composer Felix Mendelssohn. Many people claim that Mendelssohn is a lesser composer to Bach. I argue that every composer is lesser to Bach. But to the people of his time, Bach was a lesser composer. And, by re-discovering and popularizing Bach, was Mendelssohn a better professional composer? Was his music better–or was his influence on music better than any other composer because of his contribution to the musical world as we know it (through Bach)?

In conclusion

My point is this: if you are an aspiring musician, it is not a suggestion, but it is rather absolutely imperative, that you make music because it brings you joy. The number of followers you have is an empty, arbitrary number, especially if you feel empty and insignificant inside. Don’t do music to get famous, or be popular. Don’t do music to make money. Please don’t do music because people say you should. And don’t market your music because others tell you to.

Make your music because it brings you joy, and you will naturally feel inclined to share it in the way that fits you best. In this way, you define what is successful for yourself. When you feel joy in what you do, your success becomes less about accomplishments, fame, or money, and more about using those as targets–but not reasons to do what you do, or reasons to feel worthy.

Define your own success. But, always approach making music from a perspective of joy.

On a related note, here are some articles on Composer’s Toolbox regarding what makes “good” music.

https://composerstoolbox.com/2012/03/15/what-makes-good-music-two-basic-criteria-for-judging/

https://composerstoolbox.com/2012/11/20/what-makes-good-music-another-criteria-for-judging/

https://composerstoolbox.com/2012/11/27/what-makes-good-music-yet-another-criteria-for-judging/

https://composerstoolbox.com/2016/01/18/what-makes-good-music-heres-another-thought/