We were lucky to catch up with Christian Young recently and have shared our conversation below.

Christian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

When I first started making music, I knew I could make money playing shows and entertaining a crowd for a couple hours with my music. At the time though, I barely had any originals and honestly I was afraid to share the ones that I did have. I already played music on stage before as a bass player, but playing solo felt completely new and really scary. So instead I focused on recording and writing my originals. When I finally finished my first album and shared it around with my online friends, one of them messaged me and asked me to help them write a song. This friend was named Faerie (real name Christine Lam) and she offered to pay me to help writing a song for her first EP (2am). After many calls and revisions we finally came up with a song called “White Noise” and it was beautiful. The thrill of writing a song with someone else just as passionate about it made me feel great and on top of that, I got paid money to fund my personal music projects. It was the first amount of money I had made off something I loved to create and its something ill never forget. Even today Faerie and I work together on writing music and actually have another single out called “k-town”!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started getting into music when I was in middle school. My dad was already pretty well versed in the local live country music scene and he needed a bass player to fill out his new band. So I learned to play it! Playing just country music didn’t satisfy my musical itch though. Eventually some friends would get together and create a band named RIVAL. This metal band would really push me to learn new things on bass and switching between country and metal practices during the week was definitely an experience. But when covid hit and the world stopped I was locked inside and began making music on my own. Pop, Hip hop, RnB, and Rap became the only things I would listen to. Using a school chromebook, I would start learning to record and produce music for free on a website called SoundTrap. I started by making covers and eventually graduated to making original songs. From there I would talk to friends I had made online about how to publish and distribute my originals on different platforms. Faerie (Christine Lam) and a mutual friend named Jenn would give me life changing advice on how to market myself and what distributor was best for me. Using everything I had learned from them, I began building a following on instagram and slowly working to gain fans online by posting covers of songs I liked to play. Eventually when I was ready I posted my album and promoted it across social media and school. It spread like wild fire and grew into what I have today. Now I work with multiple musicians as a ghostwriter, co-writer, or feature artist and consistently try to improve myself every single day to try and provide the best product for clients and listeners alike. Im so proud of my fan base. It has grown into just a few friends at school to almost 1.2k people consistently asking for more music from me. I appreciate and love each one of the people that listen to my music as I would not be where I am without them. ImTrying is a lifestyle and it is a motto I hold near to me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I first started my Instagram account I used it just to communicate with friends, but after talking with musician friends I had online they told me about how I could use social media to create a fan base for my music. One of the biggest tips I got was BE CONSISTENT. Consistency is rewarded by apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok. For a whole month I would upload 1-2 video covers of songs a week. The videos were recorded on my phone and uploaded to Instagram. Immediately I saw the difference in growth. I would gain 50 followers or more a week by just posting about what I was doing for my music. You dont have to post everyday but if you can DO IT! Consistency is always rewarded but you cannot expect immediate results. Sometimes it takes a week and other times it takes months. And if you only grow a little bit after a month of consistent effort, just remember gradual growth is better than none at all.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

There is a stigma that many creatives and non creatives will judge me on and that is trying to make music my job. Ive had fellow musicians and people interested in music business get in arguments with me because I charge money for features or for writing songs with points like “It should be free because its fun for you” or “anyone could do that”. I think its important these people to understand that just because music and art alike is fun for creatives, that does not mean it is not work for the creative. The amount of time, effort, and resources that go into making a song or art peice can be extreme and can often cost more than we’d like to admit. The other thing is if you don’t want to pay for a service, then DON’T! Many people try and argue that a song is something anyone with a guitar or keyboard can make but there are so many things that go into a musical peice that most times people can’t do it alone. So the next time you see a creative (musician, artist, actor) remember that even though it is fun for them to perform for you, it is still a job that they deserve to be paid for and that deserves the same respect as any other profession.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/imtryingmusic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_imtryingmusic_/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ImTryingMusic?_rdr
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCLTohGG5VCNXxcCUZlA7wMA

Image Credits
Instagram tag: @xcidvroccoli @okieducky