Few things feel worse than releasing a flop, but is it really that bad in the grand scheme of things?

We all have our own relationship with failure.

Some of us embrace it as a means of achieving our desired outcome while others avoid it like the plague.

But I think it’s safe to say every one of us has at least a modicum of fear when it comes to experiencing failure.

And it’s completely normal—I’ve hit publish on more songs, videos, threads, tweets, and emails than I can count and I still experience a touch of it every time click that button.

The fear of failure is only a problem if you let it stand in your way.

So let’s look at a few truths about failure to help you overcome your fears and start living your dreams.

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It’s how you figure things out

If you want to succeed at anything—anything in the world—there is no replacement for actually doing the thing.

For artists, this means making music, releasing music, and yes, even receiving negative feedback about your music.

Whenever risk is involved, negative consequences are a potential outcome.

Now, believe me, I know how much it hurts to have someone trash something you’ve worked so hard to create.

And I’m also no stranger to that feeling when someone attacks you personally because of your work.

The YouTube comments are a wild place, y’all.

But you can’t let the potential negative outshine the potential positive.

Consistently creating new work and sharing it with the world is how we get better at what we do.

Taking risks with new marketing options, testing new products, and taking a chance on long-shot collabs are how we move the ball forward in ways we might never have imagined.

Because we can theorize, think, and plan until we’re blue in the face, but it is only when we put something out into the world that we can truly know the truth about what we have and how others perceive it.

And no amount of planning will change that.

Besides, in my experience, the naysayers, though generally louder than the supporters, are a small minority of any given audience.

Most of your fans will be “sleepers”, giving their attention to your work without ever saying a word.

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The internet isn’t permanent

It’s easy to mistakenly assume that everything we post online will live forever, and I’m convinced this is why so many creative people are hesitant to share their work.

I certainly used to feel that way.

When I first started releasing music on Spotify and creating content about it on YouTube, I had it in my head that I was building a timeline of events that anyone could go back and revisit to understand the journey as a whole.

Almost like a time capsule of sorts.

I’ve come to realize, though, that almost no one will go back and rediscover old content unless it is high-quality and evergreen.

People are so inundated with new content every single day, that they don’t have time to go back further than a week or two to discover something that isn’t high-quality.

And let’s be honest, most of what we create, whether it be music, videos, writing—whatever—isn’t evergreen anyway.

If anything, 99% of all content created by any given person is taking shots at the net to discover that 1% that moves the needle in an outsized way.

This means you can try all manner of things and only hang onto the stuff that truly sticks if you want to.

If you don’t like the way something turned out, pull it down.

If you’re receiving too much negative feedback because you missed something you wish you’d caught before hitting publish, pull it down.

Is that song no longer representative of the sound you’re going for?

Yes, pull it down.

It’s your art, your work, your creativity, and you have the liberty to do whatever you want to do with it.

Want to share it with people?

Share it.

Want to stop sharing it with people?

Stop sharing it.

The more work you release, the more “winners” you’ll find, and the easier it will become to remove the old stuff that no longer aligns with your creative vision and values.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

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No one sees your failures anyway

Releasing music or posting content online often feels like we’re placing our work on a gigantic billboard in Times Square for the world to see.

But the truth is, the billboard our work is most likely to end up on is the one on a back road in the middle of nowhere, figuratively speaking.

Now, if it is well received, that work might get promoted to the Times Square placement, but assuming that doesn’t happen, the exposure you’re going to receive on that little bitty billboard off the beaten path is marginal.

Which means almost no one is going to see it compared to the Times Square placement.

So, effectively, no one sees you fail.

When music doesn’t register or content doesn’t grab attention, it doesn’t get streams, views, or engagement.

Heck, even when it’s good those things often don’t happen without a solid marketing plan in place.

No one sees your failures online.

And when they do, they’re not likely to remember them anyway.

People remember the work they love, not the stuff they don’t.

Again, we are inundated with new music and content every day, 99.999% of which we ultimately forget about if it doesn’t connect with us.

So don’t worry about someone seeing that your song has that dreaded “<1000” streams indicator, and don’t worry if your videos only have a few views.

Keep releasing, keep posting, and keep testing new marketing strategies to drive traffic to your work.

If you can push through the failures, you’ll find the successes, and all the hard work will be worth it in the end.

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