We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Langston Bristol. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Langston below.

Langston , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

The first payment I ever received from music was 30 dollars from my music streams back when I dropped my first album “M-Side Odyssey” and I’m pretty sure I spent it on McDonald’s and gas for my hooptie that I was driving at the time haha. But I was so excited about it. I remember I was like “Wow my music paid for this food!” Really gave me a warm feeling. I never had been paid in any capacity for performing or creating music up until that point.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I first started growing a listener base for myself using Tik Tok during 2020 lockdown. One of my closest homies named Jay Pitts is also music artist and he started posting on the app early in that year. He was like “Bro one of my videos got 20,000 views!” and my jaw smacked the floor haha because at that time I didn’t personally know ANYONE that had gotten THAT many views on ANYTHING. So long story short I began creating miniature short form music videos to showcase my songs on Tik Tok using a Sony camera that I bought with high school graduation money and eventually I started getting tens of thousands of views on my videos as well! It was sooo exciting. I finally started to grow my very own community/fanbase for myself. Up until that point I had no idea how I was going to be able to do that because I had been releasing music for almost 4 years prior to me using that app and I didn’t have any type of traction on my music at all. It’s crazy how life works. You never know when your opportunity may come. You just gotta stay ready and prepared and keep pressing forward regardless of how things look. It’s way easier said than done of course but it’s true. That’s something I constantly have to remind myself about.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Not only am I able to express myself through art and experience my own type of therapy that way but also I’ll get messages from supporters of mine telling me how my songs have been helping them get through a really tough time they’re going through in their life. Or even one time someone sent me a video of them and their significant other going out for a nice lil evening drive listening to my music in the background and it was so wholesome and nice to see. I’ve also gotten many messages from supporters telling me that my music inspired them to try making their own music for the first time and that BLOWS my mind every time. I absolutely love performing too. Last year I played a show opening for my homie Marlon Craft when he stopped through Michigan on his tour and for the very first time I experienced seeing people in the crowd shouting out my lyrics as I’m performing. It was such a beautiful experience that I had only dreamed of up until that point! It was so special and pure being able to connect with them in that way and exchange that type of energy. I cannot WAIT to do my first headline tour! That’s gonna be sooo awesome. Knowing that my art can have a real impact on people is literally everything to me. I do this for them and myself. I do this for us.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I’m currently working to unlearn right now is being so attatched to numbers/results. It’s so easy to get caught up in how your music streams are doing or how your social media algorithms are performing and blah blah blah like it’s literally an endless cycle if you let your mind get caught up in it. I feel like that’s something that most creatives these days have to wrestle and fight with honestly. Of course you want to succeed and do well but you have to give yourself grace too. At the end of the day you gotta remember all you can do is your best. In those moments I remind myself to just focus on the art itself and the pure love that I have for my craft. If you’re putting true passion and your best effort into what you do be proud of yourself for it regardless of the results and keep moving.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/langstonbristol/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Langston-Bristol/100089610232652/
• Twitter: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Flangstonbristol
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5LPiee9RQ1dukBEJgfFhxQ
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-832119645

Image Credits

Langston Bristol