We recently connected with Ben Schuller and have shared our conversation below.
Ben, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
As many independent artists in this day and age can attest to, the Internet is a vital tool in getting a music career off the ground. I was able to find a fanbase from sites like Youtube and Instagram, and grow that into a career. In January 2020, on paper I was at the peak of my life. I was making plenty off of the streams and sales of my songs, just bought a house, a car, and had just gotten back from playing a show in Egypt where fans knew the words to my songs. And yet, I was the most miserable I had ever been, at rock bottom…Once I really dug into that, I started seeing how the things that I had built my entire career off of, my entire life off of—the internet, social media, being able to get my music to people all over the world—were the same things that was tearing me apart.
The constant need for the approval of strangers on the internet. How many followers I had, how many likes my new post was getting, what the comments were saying etc… We’re all constantly comparing ourselves to the highlight reels of our friends and our peers. everyone’s lives look perfect on social media and it’s impossible for that to not subconsciously weigh on you when yours isn’t.
The idea came to me for this song, the first time I had been inspired in months. I wrote it in about an hour, and after that this whole album just poured out of me. An album about our generation’s toxic relationship with social media. How we’ve essentially been raised by the internet for better or worse, mostly worse, and my experience navigating it.
As someone who’s made a living writing songs, it was the first time I felt like I had something important to say. The way that we interact with the Internet is becoming more and more part of our own identities. And while I certainly don’t have the answers, becoming more aware of the effects this virtual world has on our mental health is first step towards learning to manage it in a healthy way.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m pretty sure I always knew I wanted to be a musician. There’s a picture of 2-year-old me up on stage at my uncle’s wedding, by myself with a microphone in hand. And the smile on my face tells it all. Growing up in my small Michigan town I would write songs and “record” them on my fisher-price tape recorder toy. I was always fascinated with writing and producing music, as well as making music videos. So by the time Youtube came around as a place where people could share art to an audience from anywhere, I jumped at it. I probably made 100 acoustic covers, me playing guitar or piano and singing along to a popular new song, before I started to find fans. I moved to Nashville in 2014, to find a music scene that could help me get to where I wanted to go. And after a few years of waiting tables, Youtube ads and Spotify streams started to get high enough that I could make music my full-time thing. I love telling stories with a message, and am proud I’ve been able to do that with my last few projects. The most recent, being a 10-part music video album about our relationship with the Internet and social media and its negative effect on our mental health, specifically from the perspective of an artist who needs those platforms to survive.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social media can be a wonderful tool to find people who are interested in your art. I used YouTube initially because it was the best place for people to stumble on new music from people they didn’t know yet. My journey was about consistency more than anything. I played the Youtube cover game for a long time, releasing one every week for months on end. Eventually you start to find your people who keep coming back for more.
The easiest advice to anyone just starting to get out there is to make your art, and make a lot of it. Post it in all the places, see the feedback and then make more. Speaking specifically as a musician, I know so many talented people who sit on songs for months, years. The truly believe in the project they’ve made so they feel they have to wait until the “right time” to release it. But when that time finally comes, they don’t get the response they want. They learn from it of course and then usually make music they like more. But have wasted so much time in the process. Making music, like any skill requires practice, writing/recording original music especially. The quicker you can get from your “good” stuff to your “best” stuff the better. But if you wait forever to release the good stuff, you’ll never even know what your best is.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
By far, the most rewarding part of being an artist is seeing the people that your art affects. Getting a message from a fan with a video of them and their friends singing my song, or performing live in a new place and seeing someone’s eyes light up because they’re finally meeting someone who’s impacted their life. Art is such a unique thing in that aspect, the product that we create is less a tangible thing, and more the emotion it invokes in other people. Some people will see/hear your art and have it mean nothing. But when someone is truly moved by a piece of art that you’ve created, it makes everything worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.benschuller.com
- Instagram: @heybenschuller
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/benschullermusic
Image Credits
Kelsey Maggart