There will always be a market for shallow songs with catchy hooks, but career musicians like Drew Holcomb know that the path to long-term success requires an embrace of one’s authentic self.
A quick Google search will tell you that being an authentic means being someone people view as being genuine. In the world of music, artists who embrace their journey are genuine. It doesn’t matter if you come from money or the middle of nowhere, as long as you share your highs, your lows, and everything in between you can establish yourself as someone who is telling real stories in a market filled with lies.
But let’s be honest: Lies can sell. Virtually everyone enjoys a good pop song about making money, having money, falling in love, or heartache. There are universal desires and pains that people relate to regardless of their authenticity, but songs lacking that element of realness rarely help an artist achieve long-term success in music.
Drew Holcomb is proof that being your authentic self can lead to a long and prosperous career in music. For more than a decade, Drew has been writing, recording, and touring outside the traditional label system. He has never topped the Billboard charts or headlined Coachella, but he has developed a deeply engaged relationship with his audience that supports multiple projects, as well as a monthly record club and a (currently sold out) music festival. Drew plays to sold-out crowds on a regular basis and rarely, if ever, has to compromise his artistic vision for what someone else deems to be “the right thing” to do instead. He is, in short, living the dream.
Recently, while promoting his new single “Dragons” and the album of the same name it hails from, Drew spoke with Haulix about his career and how he’s managed to flourish outside the normal music industry structure. We took that insight and used it to create the latest video in our ongoing Music Biz 101 educational series, which you can now view below:
Drew will also be appearing on an upcoming episode of our podcast, Inside Music. You can subscribe to that series on iTunes or you can stream it on any podcast app.
