My Fears as a Songwriter – Creating a Commodity

I need to confess that I am extremely insecure when it comes to my music.  I have a number of fears that I need to deal with.  I figured the best way to confront some of these fears is to write about them.  If you’re an artist, I hope these little confessions will help you push past your creative fears also.

Creating a Commodity

One of my primary fears, especially as I’ve started having more success, is that I will slowly sink into creating songs as commodities rather than creating songs because I love them.  This fear is far-reaching because if I ever start creating products, it will be apparent to the listener.  People can sense when something is insincere even if the artist doesn’t realize their own insincerity.

I think a lot of artists have the “sophomore slump”  (releasing a poor selling second album after a good selling first album) because they start trying to create a product.  Other times, they do a full 180, and try not to create a product, which can also be detrimental.  The artist gets out of their headspace.  They start second guessing what was originally a natural process.  They start interjecting imaginary criticisms as they create.  They stop following ideas.  I know this because I do it all the time. I’m trying to get out of it myself.

Now, I’m not so naive as to think that music is not a commodity.  If I’m releasing my music to the masses, I have to treat it as a product to some degree.  Unless I just decide to give it all away for the rest of my life (which may not be that bad of an idea), I have to recognize that I’m running my own business and one of the main products is my music.  I’m trying to fight my urges to treat the creative process as an assembly line producing songs in the same way Henry Ford produced cars.

So what’s the answer to fight it?

I don’t really have the answer.  Right now I’m doing my best to just avoid the idea that I’ll be selling the music.  I’m trying to get back to creating music because I love to create.  I’m finding that if the song makes me emotional as I’m writing it, it will probably do the same to the listener.  I’m focusing on that aspect a lot lately.