Welcome to Music Business Newsletter w/ Matthew Rix!
Feb. 10, 2026

This is the laziest Artist in Music

This is the laziest Artist in Music
This is the laziest Artist in Music
Music Business Newsletter w/ Matthew Rix
This is the laziest Artist in Music

Today on the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I received an email from the laziest artist in music.
If you have a question in the Music Industry that you would like me to answer, go to https://MatthewRix.com and give me as many details as possible.
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Hey, this is Matthew Rickson today on the Music business newsletter.

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We got one from he tells you he's lazy. He's

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an artist who's lazy. He says, Hey, Matthew, I'm going

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to be honest right out of the gate, because I

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don't see the point in pretending I want a music career.

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I want recognition, respect, money, fans, all of it. But

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I really don't want to do that much to get there.

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You know, I had such a great day. Daughter hit

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the home run, breath in my lungs. My team's like, yo,

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wait till you see this email. So you want everything,

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you just don't want to do anything for it. I mean,

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you gotta appreciate the honesty, he says. And before you

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jump to conclusions, hear me out. You know, we don't

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really have to jump to conclusions when an artist says

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I want to be rich and famous, I don't want

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to do anything for it, which I like to tell people.

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If you want to be famous and you don't want

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to work for it, just commit a crime and go

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to jail. You'll be in the newspaper, everybody will know

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your name. I'm being facetious. Don't commit a crime. Don't

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blame me for it. He says. I make music because

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I like making music. I don't like posting every day.

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I don't like networking, and I don't like building community.

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We're still we still have more of the he doesn't like.

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But I just wanted to sit there for a second

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and let you know that they are artists in twenty

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twenty six who don't want to post every day, who

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don't like networking, and they just want to make music

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and just have the checks come rolling in. But anyways,

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he says, I don't like building community. I don't like

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DM and people. Oh I bet you like sign into

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people's dms. I'm over that. You know that's different. He says.

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I don't like content, I don't like playing shows that

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don't pay well. And I definitely don't like being told

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I have to treat this like a business. So I know,

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I paused a few times with all the I don't likes.

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So let's let's go back over that. He says, I

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like making music. I don't like posting every day. I

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don't like networking. I don't like building community. I don't

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like DM and people. I don't like content. I don't

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like playing shows that don't pay well, and I definitely

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don't like being told I have to treat this like

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a business. Okay, So if you don't treat it like

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a business, then what is it. It's a hobby. It's

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a hobby, right, Well, let's be honest here. Most hobbies

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don't bring you fame. Most hobbies don't bring you money. Okay,

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my son's got a three D printer. It's a hobby.

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He's not gonna get famous from that hobby. That's is

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why it is. He goes. But somehow it feels like

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everyone else expects me to do all of that stuff

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just to get a shot. Yeah. Yeah, everybody else wants

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me to network, and everybody else wants me to post content.

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Everybody wants me to play shows that aren't paying thousands

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of dollars. But what he says, I've released a few songs.

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They're good, at least I think they are, and my

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friends think they are too. Your friend's opinion of your

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music doesn't matter, And I don't care who the artist is.

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It doesn't matter. He's said, which should count for something,

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It doesn't, It doesn't. I don't see why I should

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have to constantly prove myself online, it's not okay. So

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the artists who prove themselves online or feel like they

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need to prove themselves online, usually that all they're doing

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is responding to haters. Somebody says your song sucks, and

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then you post thirty five replies about it in your

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stories or whatever. You post online to bring awareness of

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your music. Bring you post online, to promote. You post

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online so people get to know who you are, so

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you're not just some jerk who's putting music out there

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that they don't have any connection with. You. Promote so

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the people who do invest their time and money into

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your music know that you have new music coming out.

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The people who post to prove something usually flame out

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very quickly, he says. So, he says, why should I

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have to constantly prove myself online just because an algorithm says, so,

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what is up? Okay, we are going to create a

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counter the next video. We're gonna have a digital counter.

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For how many times an artist in twenty twenty six

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blames the algorithm for whatever. He says. If the music

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is good, shouldn't just travel on its own? No, because

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how people are gonna if you're not posting? And let's

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just say you created a few singles, you threw them

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out on Spotify. You did no heavy lifting at all.

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Like you're like, I created the song. I'm done. I'm

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gonna take a nap. How people gonna find out about it?

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There's over a hundred million songs on Apple Music. How

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are they going to find yours? Your plan? Because you

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don't want to do any of this because I don't

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like it is you hope people bump into it? He says,

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I get annoyed when people say you have to want

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it bad enough. You do have to want it bad enough.

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You have to sacrifice for what you want in life.

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If you don't sacrifice for what you want, what you

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want becomes a sacrifice. I don't care what that's with.

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I don't care if that's your health, your relationship, your music,

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you're nine to five, It doesn't matter. If you don't

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sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes a sacrifice.

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This way it is, he says, I do want it.

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I don't think you do. He says, I just don't

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want to rearrange my entire life, personality, or schedule around it.

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Dear God Almighty, then why why? Then? Just Okay, here's

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the deal. There is nothing wrong if you just want

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to make music, throw it out there, and if five

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of your friends listen to it, you're happy and you

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move on with your life and you release another song.

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Nothing wrong with that at all. But you're telling me

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you want fame, you want money, you want all of this,

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but you're not gonna work for it. You're not gonna

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You're not going to change your life in the slightest

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bit for all that stuff you want. Who does this

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make sense to? And the problem is there's probably somebody

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in your life, or multiple people in your life, who go, yeah, yeah,

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good for you. This is this is this is ridiculous.

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He says. I don't want to wake up early to

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make content. I don't wake up early to make content.

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There's a whole like online thing of like you gotta

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get up early, you gotta make your bed, you gotta

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do all this stuff like before six am. Like that's crap.

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That's absolute crap. I got friends all the time. You

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want to go have breakfast, I'm like, yeah, I love

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to have breakfast with you. They're like, oh, yeah, you

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want to go at six thirty And I'm like, nope,

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I will see you at nine thirty, He says, I

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don't want to wake up early to make content. I

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don't most content most creative people are night OLPs. But

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there's that, he says. I don't want to spend nights

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replying to comments. So what are else are you doing

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at night? Oh? I gotta watch that new show on

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Netflix and binge it? He says. I don't want to

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grind for years just to maybe get noticed. Well, then

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you're not like then, just quit? Just quit now, he says. Honestly,

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I feel like someone should just hear my music, recognize

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the potential, and help me take it from there. How

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are they going to hear your music? How are if

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if you're not promoting to get your music in the

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ears of people so they can share it with their

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friends so it can kind of spread. And you're not

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creating content that drives people to your music so they

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can put it in their ears and hear it and

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then it can spread. How do you expect people to

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hear your music to help you? You got I mean, seriously, seriously,

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we have to label this and email from the laziest

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artist ever or the most entitled I'm not sure which one.

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Let's continue, he says, that's how it used to work, right. No, No,

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it didn't work like that. It never ever works like that.

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And here's why, because back in the day, you still

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had to play shows, and it didn't have to be

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good pain shows. It could have just been a show.

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And I mean we're talking like back in the day

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when he wanted the forties and fifties, when they're playing

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bowling alleys and sock ops to get discovered. I'm sure

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those shows didn't pay well. They probably didn't pay at all,

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he says. Someone gets he goes. That's how it used

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to work, right, Someone gets discovered, Things start moving and

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the boring stuff gets handled by other people. Right, But

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at some point in the beginning stages, you are personally

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responsible for that boring stuff. That's just how it goes.

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I actually asked my team are we being trolled here?

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And we this artist did include links. This artist has

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eighty monthly listeners, and we found the Instagram and there

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is there is. It is as low effort as low

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effort can get. And if you keep doing what you're doing,

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you're gonna keep getting what you're getting, which is nothing.

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You're getting no results at all. You have to you

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have to. You have to work the hardest in the

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beginning to get a team to take up that pressure

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for you to go and do the stuff that you

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don't want to do. I think every artist should strive

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for one day to be like, Okay, that one thing

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I did every single day. I hated that and I

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cannot wait to be successful. So I don't have to

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do that. Will you do that? No, you just don't

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want to do it now. I'm just not going to

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do it now. Piss off. I'm not doing it, he says.

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This whole email is like I don't want to. I

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don't want to. It's like talking to a child. He says.

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I also don't want to spend money or tour or

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move cities, or change my sound or collaborate unless it's convenient.

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I mean, I think here's what I think. I think

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you just had your heart broken and you're just letting

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it all out here on Uncle Matt. It's fine. I'm

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here for you, all right. I got big shoulders. I

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can hold you, I can hug you, you can cry,

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you can snop, bubble it up. Because if if this

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is truly who you are as an artist. For three

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hundred and sixty five days, year after year after year.

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My guy, you're never getting a team that you want.

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You're never gonna make money. You're never gonna make a dime,

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all right, Your eighty monthly listeners is where you will

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peek in life, he says. But I still want the outcome.

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So I guess my question is there a realistic way

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to succeed in music without doing all the extra stuff

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everyone keeps pushing. Absolutely not, unless you're like a hot

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woman and you have an of page and you got

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you know, three million simps who pay you monthly and

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then you can get them to listen to your music.

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There is no way, and that's not a good strategy anyways, people,

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But there is no way that you just sit on

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your butt, do nothing, refuse to do anything, let everybody

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know the stuff you don't want to do, and then

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sit around and wait for the checks to come in.

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There's there's absolutely no And you don't want to spend money,

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and you don't want a tour, and you don't want

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to collaborate, and you don't want a network. You want

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to just sit in your home, make music and cash checks.

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That's it. And you will make music when it's convenient

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because you're not gonna reply to comments at night. You're

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not gonna wake up early and do content. This is

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he says, Or is the industry just biased towards people

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who enjoy being busy and loud. No, the industry rewards

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people who make an effort, and if you make zero effort, none,

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you're gonna get no results. Just so you know, yikes,

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he says. I'm not trying to be negative. I don't

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think you're being negative. I think you're being an idiot.

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But he says, I just don't want to lie to

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myself about what I'm willing to do. Let me know

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what you think. I think I did a good enough job.

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Let you know what I think I think. If you

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were sitting across from me at a coffee table, I

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would tell you straight up. I think you're one of

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the most entitled and lazy artists I've ever seen in

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my life. I think you're going to get absolutely nowhere.

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I think you should be happy and grateful for the

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eighty monthly listeners you have and realize that that's probably

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numbers gonna that number is probably gonna dwindle in no time.

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You don't want to do anything you've made that abundantly clear.

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Now I will say this because I beat you up

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this entire email. I appreciate how honest you are because

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if I was still in an R and you came

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to my office with this attitude, at least I won't

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find out three months down the road. Yeah, because a

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lot of times, like sometimes you work with artists or

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you have a business dealer or whatever, and you're like, hey,

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I wish I would have known three months ago that

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you're crazy and I'm crazy, and our two types are

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crazy just don't collaborate well in this world. So we

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need to end this partnership, relationship whatever. You make sure

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that doesn't happen. And I do appreciate that because you

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would walk in, you would tell me all these things

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you're not going to do, and basically you're not doing

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anything besides making music. That's it. You probably even have

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a problem that you got to pay to release your music,

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God forbid. So I do appreciate that because I think

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that you're gonna save a lot of people a lot

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of time when you would do absolutely nothing. But other

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than that, if this is legit and you're eighty monthly

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listeners and your low effort Instagram is what you plan

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on doing for the rest of your life with music,

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My guy, this is your life in music, and enjoy

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those eighty monthly listeners because you ain't getting anything better

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than that. You cannot throw music out there and hope

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the people bump into it. Not when there's over one

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hundred million songs on Apple on Spotify that are co

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beating for your attention. It's not gonna happen. But thanks

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for the email on a joyous day. You have made

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me laugh. And if you have a question on the

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music industry that you'd like for me to answer, just

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go to Matthewix dot com click submit your question, give

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me as many details as possible, and hopefully you're not

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as delusional as this guy. I am Matthew Rix and

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until next time, I will talk to you later.