We recently connected with Dan Lepien and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

When I first started playing music, it was a hobby on the side. I wanted to believe I could do it full time someday, but I didn’t really think it was feasible. I played guitar in several different types of rock bands from the age of 12-24. At 24, I had a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and had started working in that field. It wasn’t as fulfilling as I’d hoped and I began to find a new love for classic country music. After an inspiring trip to Nashville with my parents, I decided to start playing solo acoustic open mics and I booked my first couple solo shows in bars. I fell in love with it right away and hit the ground running. I ended up booking enough shows each week to quit my day job in the Psychology field a little over 2 years after my first show. I began to find that playing cover songs in bars wasn’t the end goal so I put together a full backing band and began writing/recording my own music early in this journey. Since then I’ve self-released 2 CD’s and have gotten a lot of neat opportunities in my first 6 years. I think the biggest secret to success in life is repetition over an extended period of time. In order to do this, you can’t give up, and in order to not give up on something, you have to find something you are passionate about and something you can see yourself doing in the long run. Otherwise, it is likely that you will throw in the towel when things get hard; And trust me, no matter how great your job is, it will get hard at some point. It will get old. There will be days when you question it all. If you are doing something that you love, you will know it is worth it. What I learned as I got in my mid 20’s, is that it takes several years of consistent work to become decent at something, and it probably takes 10+ years of focusing and working on one particular thing to become great at it. I hope to be great at singing/writing/performing my brand of country music at some point down the road. Until then, I’ll just try to have fun with it, enjoy the ride, and keep at it.

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

For as long as I can remember, I loved music and I started playing guitar when I was about 10. It wasn’t until I was about 25 that I started playing music with more of a career mindset. This is when I began to really grow as a musician. If I had to describe the service I provide, I would say, I do my best to make real country music. When folks come to a show, they are going to see songs that I wrote about my life and experiences and/or covers of my favorite country songs that have influenced and shaped my sound. For full band shows, they will see a hardworking band that prioritizes their craft and instrumentation. Growing up, I heard some of the best country music that exists. It was filled with heart, character, and twang. I’m proud that we don’t sacrifice art for trends. We play the music that we love. We aim to be the best representation of that in Wisconsin, the Midwest, and eventually beyond.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe that almost 99% of people only hear about 1% of artists. Radio stations work with the top labels and play this small batch of artists over and over again, and radio still accounts for most of what people are listening to. The average person is missing out on whatever type of art really speaks to them and I really do believe that exploring this could enrich their existence. I encourage people to ditch the limitations of just having FM Radio and pay $10 a month for Spotify or a similar streaming service. That to me, is the first step in improving niche cultures in music and taking the power away from the top 1% of artists/labels.

Furthermore, I believe that businesses can survive by sticking to their guns and providing a service that is unique. I have seen venues start out with a certain target audience only to alter their mission early on in a way to try to appeal to everyone. If you try to be liked by everyone, you won’t be loved by anyone. I do believe that it would be very hard to get through the beginning stages, but I am living proof that someone can make a living by providing a service that is unique for their area/market.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Focus on building your life and career and the social media following will come naturally. It will take time and patience though, just like everything else in this process. Often times, people think there is a hack to going viral on social media and that they need to figure that out and then their career will blossom. The reality is, most people on social media that have big numbers, have that following because they already have been in a certain line of work for 10+ years and they have gained a lot of knowledge about that line of work that they can share with others. Of course, there are the exceptions, and social media does do a great job of making it look easier and quicker than it is. Aside from this, I would say pay attention to 1-2 platforms at a time instead of trying to learn all of them at once. Notice what seems to do well and what seems to flop. Sometimes it’s not the quality of content, it is the type of post. For example, on Facebook, sharing links from other websites (like a link to a YouTube video) doesn’t seem to have as much reach. This makes sense because Facebook wants people to stay on their platform, so when someone shares a link to YouTube and people click it and it takes them to YouTube, Facebook doesn’t want to show that as much as a picture post that people can engage in and then continue scrolling.

Contact Info:

• Website: DanLepien.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/DanLepienMusic
• Facebook: Facebook.com/DanLepienMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrs8MDhMkP9noOtbAg6_QaA

Image Credits
Northern Roots Photography Tony Cass Dialed in Digital