Last year I released four singles and an album and learnt a whole lot about the way music is marketed and consumed.

Back a long time ago when I was considerably younger recording and releasing music was way different. There was no way to realistically record music outside a recording studio and the only way music was consumed was through physical products like vinyl, cassettes and CDs. These days anyone with a computer can create music and release it worldwide. The result is that a whole lot more music is being produced but the chances of getting that music heard is, quite frankly, a snowball in hell.

Also, back in the day, musicians could become very, very rich by selling their music. Nowadays unless your name is Ed Sheeran or Adele there’s almost no chance you’ll make any money at all from recording and releasing your music. In fact you’re probably going to lose a whole lot of money.

So why am I planning to record and release yet more music in 2022 when it’s going to cost me a lot of money and very few people are going to hear it? And why are there millions of people just like me doing the same thing? We know we have more chance of being hit by lightening than of ‘being heard’ and yet we pour our time, effort, blood, sweat and tears into our music. Are we mad?

Well, yes and no. From any logical viewpoint we are probably more than a little mad but making music isn’t a logical thing to do, it’s actually something you have to do. We all love it when someone listens to our music or better still actually likes it, but in the end it’s something we have to do. Maybe it’s cathartic, maybe making music stops us going mad, who knows? All I know is that I love making music and if that brings even a moment’s joy to someone else, well, that’s just the icing on the cake.