Have You Failed At Music?
...or are you just burnt the heck out?
Last week on my live call, one of our group members shared that she was experiencing shame around burning out and being unproductive. A few weeks back a fellow DJ had made some offhand comment about how she didn’t have any shows currently on the books and it really got in her head.
What was happening with her? Was she losing her edge? Fading into obscurity? Had she failed at music?
Literally no.
I will tell you what’s happening with her, but first—
A Lesson About Agriculture
When I was 19 years old, I had an excellent piano teacher who taught me as much about music as he did about living for music. Early on, he taught me about the three field system.
Without getting too technical, the three field system is an agricultural practice in which you divide land into three plots.
One plot gets a grain
The second gets a legume
The third sits fallow, which means the land isn’t cultivated and it just hangs out for a while so that the soil can replenish.
And then you cyclically rotate which crop gets which season by season. This is done because the soil needs to replenish. Because if you don’t, then you’re extracting too much from the soil and you’re not gonna get it to produce anything.
Similarly, if you’re a musician or artist of any kind, you’ll cycle through following:
Your new songs you’re working on, ideas, inklings
Projects coming to fruition, like preparing to release, tour etc.
Downtime to replenish
Now Back To Our Friend
So what happens when you don’t replenish is you burn out and you’re unable to do anything. It’s normal and it’s actually a super healthy response from your body/mind. In this article, I’ll talk about preempting burnout so that you can dedicate your life to music (including the down time, which is important!) and not get lost in the self-perpetuating shame-burnout vortex.
How Often Do You Cycle Through The Three Fields?
Maybe some artists can circulate between these three in their day to day - working on new stuff in the morning, handling emails and release plans at night and camping on the weekends (apparently this person doesn’t have a job).
I think most artists cycle through this seasonally.
The old days, an artist would write/record an album for a couple of months, releasing it and touring for a year or two, and then taking a spell off to recuperate while visions for the next album begin to materialize.
Of course, that’s not a perfect system, and some people surely burnt out mid-cycle, but a big built-in part of this structure is that you go away to create before you come back out with something new.
The Hamster Wheel
This moment in time doesn’t want artists to replenish. The algorithm wants you posting daily. I have written extensively about how your career shouldn’t rely so heavily on the algorithm, so I’m not going to get deep into it here, but if you’re burning out and feeling that you need to always be on, it’s time to turn your phone off and spend some time thinking about replenishment.
How Not To Fallow
Before we discuss fallow time best practices, I’m going to tell you what fallow time isn’t. Fallow time can’t be spent breathing down your own neck hoping you’ll suddenly be recharged and feel creative again. Have you ever become magically replenished while someone yelling at you? Probably not.
Fallow Time Tips
1. Schedule It
If you don’t want to burn out and have to push back your release plans, carve out free time in your year, month, week specifically for replenishing your juice.
Are you like me where you see a day off on your calendar and you’re like — oh perfect, I’ll use this time to catch up on tracking.
Knock that off. Schedule tracking during your normal daily grind. Let rest time be rest time.
2. Fill It!
Commit to doing something lovely, pleasurable, and relaxing. Eat a sandwich on a blanket in the park. Have sex with your neighbor. Take a nap at the library. Take a class. Plan it well in advance. Write it on your calendar and let yourself be a normal person who enjoys down time.
3. Don’t You Dare Musicify It
I can see you already, taking pics for the socials. Forcing yourself to try to get inspired to write a song about the art piece you’re looking at in a museum. Bad kitty. Stop it. Fallow time is for intake only.
Slow Is Fast
My therapist always says this to me. Slow is fast.
She’s the worst, trust me I know.
But slowing down and taking time to put nourishment into your soil — or just let it breathe is actually the fastest way to get to all the imaginary finish lines you’ve put out ahead of yourself.
You for sure won’t cross any finish lines if your system shuts down with burnout, no matter how hard you push.
Months will pass, regardless of whether or not you get down on yourself about not being productive. You won’t be able to move forward until your soil has been replenished, so you may as well get to replenishing.
If you’re new here, this Substack is all about how to do life as a musician. I write about everything from release planning and marketing to strategic booking and protecting your creative integrity.
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Finally, I wanted to share this amazing testimonial from Nathan, who has been coming to our live calls for about a month now:
In a world full of insincere music marketing influenced bros telling you to “just make more content,” Cass is a welcome (and much needed) breath of fresh air. Their advice is tangible and concise, and comes from decades pursuing music as well as working in the industry. Aside from that, they have built a sweet and welcoming community where artists can discuss what they’re working on, their struggles, and their wins. I’m thankful for Cass’s work building such a safe space and having me in it.
May all the shots you take be absolutely nothing but net.
Love,
Cass