We recently connected with Philip Daniel and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Philip, thanks for joining us today. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I am so blessed to be able to make a living as an artist full-time. It has been a long process of getting to this point. I started out accompanying piano, teaching piano lessons, playing random gigs to earn a living and composing at night on the side. But a couple years ago I landed 2 piano pieces on the biggest piano playlist (culminating in over 30 million streams) in the world and that enabled me to quit my “day job” accompanying piano and pursue writing music full-time. Since then, I have worked hard to figure out how to maintain this career by writing music for films, commercials, documentaries, dance companies, producing other artists, going on a solo tour, writing music for licensing and much much more! This didn’t happen overnight but rather was a slow push over several years.

Of course hindsight is 20/20 but I don’t think I could have sped it up knowing what I knew then. I will say though that the higher education/classical music system is a bit flawed in that they don’t teach you how to actually make a career in music (other than teaching). I basically figured it all out on my own once I got out of my masters in piano performance. My mission now is to “give back” by visiting colleges and talking to music majors on other (more relevant to our times) careers in music. Of course I wish I knew all this sooner but am so thankful for everything that’s happened to me in my journey, I am beyond blessed to wake up everyday and write music for a living, I could never have dreamt of this when I was younger.

Philip, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I studied classical piano performance growing up and in undergrad/grad school and over the years I discovered a love/passion for composing my own music in a minimalism/neo-classical style that blends piano w/ electronics. I now write instrumental music full=time, specifically for films, commercials, docs, dance companies but also my own solo work. i’ve been so fortunate to have my music listened to over 30 million times and featured in countless films worldwide.

I offer custom music to any clients projects and can write a wide variety of genres/sounds to meet clients (mostly filmmakers) needs. I also work with artist/singer-songwriters to produce their tracks and bring their vision to reality. Along with that, I also tour as a solo act. My shows center around live-looping and showcase modern classical music in a very engaging and broadly appealing way. I am most proud of the way my music can make people feel. I’ve had people reach out from all over the world sharing how my music met them in their darkest moments (deaths, depression, anxiety, etc..) and comforted them and gave them hope. Above all, this means the most to me and is the exact reason I write music. Music has a unique ability to emotionally connect with people and my highest calling is to make music that does so.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Like I said before, music has a unique ability to make people emotionally “feel”. We all can remember those specific melodies that made us just weep and moved us to our core. As an artist, my goal is always to create music that gives me that feeling. This supercedes everything for me. I want to first, make myself emotionally connect to what I create and in return then make my audience also connect emotionally. Nothing else matters as much for me.

I feel the most rewarded in those moments alone creating something that gives me that feeling. There’s a giddy-like excitement when that happens that’s so hard to explain but Im sure every creative can relate to. It’s those moments that I’m constantly chasing as an artist.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am still trying to figure this out. One one hand, I don’t want social media to ever consume me or be my biggest motivator BUT it is an incredible tool to connect and share my art. Over the years I have used it mostly as a connection with other artists who do what I do and people who like what I create. I have met some of my closest friends via instagram by searching for people in my niche genre. Someone once told me that the “riches are in the niches” and I found this so true. Go find people who do exactly what you do (they are out there) and reach out to them just like you would in person.

I also have used instagram mostly as a resume and application for jobs. I post high quality content on a regular basis that shows what I do so when I reach out to filmmakers and dancers and other artists who might hire me, they only have to go to my page to see what I do instead of clicking out to other links. I have found this so useful in getting jobs and hired. Consistent and high-quality produced content is the way to go. Also, interact (comment and message) on people’s content as much as you can, it creates a community!

Contact Info:

• Website: philipdanielpiano.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/philipdanielpiano
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqWj9s3_oSLlw3DFHLmtzYg

Image Credits
photograph David Pugh