Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some honest perspective from those of you working as self-employed producers.
My background: I graduated as an electronic music producer from Microfusa (Barcelona) back in 2015. Since then, life happened—I live in a tiny village with zero local music scene, so I’ve spent the last decade working "regular" jobs to pay the bills and slowly build my home studio.
The current situation: I’m currently on a gap year and I’ve decided it’s "now or never". I don't want to get old and regret not giving my passion a real shot. I have about 70 demos and I'm finishing an Indie/Pop/Rock album with a singer right now.
My setup: I’m working with Ableton 12 (full paid), Yamaha Motif 6, 2 Rode NT1A, Akai APC Key25, Behringer U-phoria umc204hd, Presonus Eris E5, AKG MKII K240, Boss ME-80 and I track my own electric and acoustic guitars.
The crossroads: I’ve set up the usual profiles (Fiverr, Upwork, SoundBetter, Airgig) and a personal website. But being in a remote location, I’m worried about the "AI wave" (Suno, etc.) and how to actually break into the market when you’re starting from scratch at my age.
My questions for you:
- For those who started late or from remote locations, how did you get your first "real" (non-friend) client?
- Do you think specializing in "Human-made" Indie/Rock (real guitars, hardware synths) is a solid niche against AI, or should I be pivoting my skills?
- Is there any platform or strategy I’m missing for someone in my specific position?
I’m not looking for a "magic pill," just some reality-based advice from people in the trenches.
Thanks for reading!