Let's look at the year ahead

Last week, I shared with you all a list of seven things that made me a better music producer in 2024. If you missed last week's edition, you can read it here.

Today, I want to share with you five things I'm focusing on in 2025 to continue growing as a music producer.

I'm sharing this list with you for a few reasons.

• First, I'm confident this list will resonate with many of you as we all face similar struggles in this line of work.

• Second, my greater hope is that this list will encourage you to think about how you can grow as a music producer in 2025.

• Finally, sharing this list with all of you is a way for me to begin making these goals real for myself.

So, without further ado, here are five things I'm doing in 2025 to continue growing as a music producer.

1. Boldly Asking

I've decided that 2025, above all else, is my year of boldly asking.

What does that mean and what does that look like?

Boldly asking looks like:

• connecting with more potential clients

• actively seeking out and asking for more gigs

• sharing my offerings more frequently

• promoting my music louder than before

Much of my career the last five years has been in games and interactive media and 2023 and 2024 weren't great years for the industry. The mass layoffs at studios caused a chilling effect that hit freelancers like me.

I'm focusing on boldly asking this year because, in many ways, I need to rebuild and reestablish this year. This is par for the course with freelancing. There are seasons of feast and seasons of famine and many seasons in between. If you're a freelancer, then you know that all you can do is keep moving.

2. Building my income + money mindset

I mentioned in last week's newsletter that I spent the first quarter of 2024 migrating my web presence, and the second and third quarters of 2024 building Step-By-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers.

It was a very behind-the-scenes year and, as a result, my income dropped quite a bit.

In fact, now that the year is all accounted for, I can tell you that 2024 was my second-worst earning year of my career (my first year taking the top spot).

Where this proved most challenging was my mental health.

I grew up in a working class family and, as you might expect, my relationship with money was an adversarial one as a result.

Even though my income this year never dropped in a way that challenged my family's financial stability, it was difficult to not feel under threat the whole time. The experience was mentally and physiologically taxing.

I'm a very solutions-oriented person so my goal this year is to take action.

I'm focusing this year on financial needle movers.

First, I'm doubling down on seeking new clients and more soundtrack work as well as increasing the number and variety of my educational offerings.

Second, I'm actively working towards re-defining my relationship with money. It's not an adversary or a referendum on my (or your!) value. It's simply a resource to be managed and leveraged.

I want to be transparent about this because many of focus on our craft and neglect the business side of things due to fear or discomfort. I've been there, you might be there now. But we can't escape it, instead it really is best to embrace it fully.

3. Getting better organized in Ableton Live

I am a firm believer that one of the easiest ways to become a more prolific producer is to reduce friction in the DAW.

Last year, I spent a lot of time updating my default Live template and other templates.

This year, I want to spend a lot of time cleaning up and organizing in Live.

One of the biggest updates that came with Live 12 was the extensive reworking of the browser (see image below). I've yet to take full advantage of that.

Additionally, I want to make sure that all my presets, samples, and clips, are tagged and organized according.

This is going to take time but it will reduce friction and will ultimately make me a more prolific producer.

What more could I ask for?

4. Focusing on artistry + aesthetics

As working music producers, we're often walking a tightrope between being an artist and being a service provider.

We need both parts of ourselves. Our artistry is the thing that draws people in and our ability to provide as service is the thing that pays the bills.

I spent a lot of time in 2024 growing my skills and further deepening my understanding in many facets of music production from synthesis to mixing and everything in between. (Never stop being a student.)

Now, in 2025 I need to shift focus to artistry and aesthetics as that is how I can best demonstrate the various skills I've been leveling up.

Look at it this way: you can learn many wonderful and interesting words but raw vocabulary won't mean a thing to other people if you can't string those words into poetry.

I was an artist long before I was a service provider and my internal self does a great job at letting me know when I've neglected the artist half of me.

The best way to address that is number 5.

5. Releasing more music

I've been cooking, y'all.

I don't know how much music I'll be releasing this year and in what format, but music from me is coming in 2025.

My deepest desire is to release an album as I crave sharing something substantial. With that being said, I'm also trying to be conscious of the fact that, as somebody with ADHD, the longer and more drawn out the process is, the more potential challenges I will face in getting any project across the finish line.

Additionally, I'm trying to wrestle with how to release it. I'd ultimately like to work with a label but that's going to take time. A label may also want to release a single or singles first before investing all the effort required for an album.

No matter what, putting more music out there will take work but I'm ready for that (see number 1).

Even as I type all of this, I also recognize that I have an unlimited capacity for putting up my own roadblocks. If I finish an album, that's great. If I don't, that's also great. If I find a label to work with, that's great. If I don't, that's also great.

There's only one truth: I have to release more music this year.

What kind of music producer will you be in 2025?

That's really the question I'm seeking to answer with this list and it's a question that I encourage you to ask yourself as well.

So I'd love to leave you with a few questions:

• What are your music production goals for 2025?

• How will you achieve your music production goals this year?

• What roadblocks will you encounter as you work towards achieving those goals?

If you're comfortable with sharing, consider sending me a reply with your answers to these questions.

I'd love to hear what your goals are and, if enough people respond, I can (anonymously) share and discuss them in a future edition of this newsletter.

Til next time,

ZW