👋 Welcome back to the newsletter!
Every week, I share a few things I think you'll like to keep you creatively inspired and successful in your artistic pursuits.
Let's jump in. 🚀
🦉 Pre-Order the New Album on Bandcamp
For the past 6 months, I've been hard at work writing and documenting my new album, "The Call of Raven's Hollow".
The album depicts a dark fable about a wooden, Pinnocchio-like boy traveling through an ancient woods to discover his origin and escape the corrupted Toymaker's wrath.
Now, I'm thrilled to announce that all tracks are fully written, and we're entering stage two:
Orchestration, notation, recording live musicians for select tracks, mixing/mastering the recordings, and commissioning an animated music video for the title track.
I've got freelancers prepared for all stages, but as you can imagine, all of this will be pretty costly.
I'll be funding this project myself, but if you'd like to support the completion of the album and get early listening access before it's released...
You can now pre-order "The Call of Raven's Hollow" on Bandcamp for $5.
I'm so pumped to share this with you all - more soon. 🎶
🤑 Making Millions Off An Indie Project
When I tell aspiring full-time composers to slow down on the career advancement and take time to write some music "for fun", I usually get some pushback.
"But Zach - what am I going to DO with my passion project? What if nothing happens from it? Shouldn't I be spending my time networking and marketing?"
Listen, I get it. Like I've taught in my Bootcamp, it's valuable to learn and act on the business skills as a composer if you're trying to find work.
But there's also value in the routine and ritual of showing up for your art regularly.
And that's why, when this video showed up on my feed, I had a massive smile on my face:
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These indie game devs left a "cushy AAA job" to go all-in on their dream project - an immersive fantasy game - for five years.
And they spent their entire life savings to do it.
The result?
Millions in revenue, a massive fanbase, and - best of all - a finished game.
Calculated risks born of inextinguishable, intrinsic passion are often the very actions that lead to unbelievable extrinsic reward.
But here's the key:
You can't do these things for the money, fame, or audience.
You do these things for the love of the craft.
🔋 Dan Koe’s Fill-Empty-Use Framework
I’m a big fan of content creator and author Dan Koe.
One of his older newsletter/blogs shared his take on what it means to produce impactful creative work without burning out or diminishing the quality of our output.
In it, he suggests what he calls the “Fill-Empty-Use Framework” - a set of three core habits we should be exercising regularly.
Those habits are:
- 📚 Fill your mind (Read books, watch podcasts, consume content, take courses)
- ✍️ Empty your mind - Ideally in the evening (journaling, planning, meditation)
- 🧠 Use your mind - Ideally the next morning (creation, output, focus)
So how - and when - do we implement these three pillars of creativity?
Dan suggests a few ways to tackle this.
One method is to compartmentalize your days to each part of the framework.
For example...
You could use the afternoon to fill your mind, the evening to empty your mind, and the morning to use your mind.
Or...
You could simply frontload all three in the morning to get the framework done before other obligations begin.
Either way, the purpose is to recognize that all three components are essential to stay balanced and have the highest-quality creative output.
👋 Ready for more?
Here's four more ways I can help.
- 🎥 My YouTube. Watch 300+ videos covering my composing process, career growth, and personal mindset that's helped me stick around.
- 🎻 My Mockup Course. Master the basics of MIDI performance & programming to make your virtual compositions sound like a real orchestra.
- 🎬 Composing Career Bootcamp. Join 100+ students inside and build your confidence in networking, marketing your work, and landing your first scoring projects.
- 🚀 Work Directly with Me. If you're an experienced composer seeking deeper alignment with your art and career, book a call and let's chat.
That's all for now!
Hit reply to share thoughts or say hi.
Otherwise, happy music-making and see you next time. 🙂
- Zach
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