This saying was never my motto! Never! For me, honesty and
transparency have always been the ONLY way in life. What’s the point in
pretending and living a lie? Who am I fuelling?
At the end of the day, NO ONE really cares how you are
doing. Often, if not always, when you are successful you have to fight jealousy,
and when you are starving and struggling people distance themselves and don’t
bother to help. The lack of sincere support,
caring, and friendship by the people who know you and your life story, your
struggles, and your pain in the past is very rare. They simply don’t care.
So, I wonder why people live in denial and ignore reality when they know that the only person who matters is them and no one else! Maybe this is the only way how they survive!
When you see a problem, face it and fight it,
don’t deny it!
Self-respect and self-care are the only healthy way to succeed in life and avoid long-term mental damage! When you see a problem, face it and fight it, don’t deny it, because evil people will take advantage of your lack of self-respect and self-caring!
Having said that, the previous months have been challenging and eye-opening. And yet, I strongly believe that everything
happens for a reason. Believe it or not, I’m now grateful for the awful and
unlawful treatment by my previous corrupt distributor, amuse.io. If it wasn’t for
their disgusting and disrespectful treatment, my music would still be on ALL streaming
platforms and I would still play along and support this modern way of slavery with
indie-artists dominated by billion-dollar corrupt and godless companies.
Making a profit was never my main goal and motivation!
For me, writing books and song lyrics has been therapeutic for
a decade. Producing and releasing music has been my childhood/teenager hood dream and desire ever since I remember. So making a profit was never my main
goal. It was always using the power of lyrics combined with the miracle of
music to raise awareness about topics close to my heart. And that’s what I did
in the previous 2,5 years. I am blessed to be able to collaborate with a
multi-talented artist who understands my language and does his magic with my
lyrics combined with his God-given gift as a producer, composer, and vocalist.
I'm proud of every single track and LOVE listening to our tracks. To this date, no one besides my beautiful mum Sima has been supportive and encouraging. No one! I have never received any compliments or empowering words for any of my song releases to this date. And the few fellow artists that connected with me through Social media, didn’t bother to stay in contact. To this date, I don’t know why they pretended to be interested in me and my music. And to be honest, I don’t care! Not only have I unfollowed them, but I also have kicked them out of my private circle on Social media.
And I continue my path as
an indie writer and lyricist. WHY? Because I don’t need anyone's approval and
support. I'm writing and releasing songs because of my love and passion for
music and lyrics. And I will continue to do so regardless of the disappointing and
awful experience and knowledge about today's corrupt streaming industry!
After my horrible experience with amuse, I started the online petition #RespectIndieArtistsWork
to warn other indie artists. Because I wish I knew what I know today 2,5 years
ago. It would have saved me a lot of time, money, false hopes, and energy.
The problem is, when we join these indie communities, we are
clueless and hopeful. Before we know it, we are part of a circle and mostly copy each
other because we believe the others know how it works. The truth is,
we stay and continue to be part of this madness because we keep believing
and hoping that our day will come. But when you keep driving on the wrong
road, you never achieve your destination! Sorry, but NOT all roads lead to Rome!
For example, in all these years I’ve seen indie writers swap
reviews and artists add each other's songs to playlists. That’s not the reason
why I write books and invest money in editing and translation. I also don’t
invest money in music production and promotion just to get other artists to add
my songs to their playlists and expect me to add theirs to mine. That’s nonsense! By all means and with all respect, but I want to reach readers and music lovers. Real fans and not mainly fellow
writers and artists.
Another harsh reality is, social media followers don’t follow
your music stores, and the music store followers don’t follow your
socials. We are wasting our precious time thinking that follower numbers matter. Well, they don't. What really matters is that we have to protect and respect ourselves!
What many writers and artists don’t understand is that we are doing nothing but bringing traffic to these billion-dollar companies such as Amazon, Spotify, and Co. for ZERO payment. We advertise for these companies on our socials for free, thinking we are promoting our work when in reality we are only bringing new customers, subscribers, buyers, clients, and followers to these platforms, and we do it all for FREE! And instead of appreciating us and respecting our work, these corrupt companies treat us like shit and we tolerate it! Why?
When you check in into a horrible hotel where you don’t feel safe and protected and are surrounded by bed bugs, cockroaches, and rats, you don't hesitate and check out right away, don't you? Or do you seriously ask yourself should I stay or should I go?
Why should you stay? Why would you stay in music stores managed and controlled by evils who
treat us badly and don’t give a damn about our work? I have made my decision. I'm going to take
myself out of places where I don’t feel safe, appreciated, respected, and
supported! Self-care and self-respect are what life is about!
What about you????
FYI: Not only have I started the online petition #RespectIndieArtistsWork, I have also written and released a song "FALLEN ANGELS" to empower fellow indie artists who make the same or similar awful experiences not to ever give up on their goals and always demand the respect they deserve!
I had to fight many evil "people in power" in my life, but amuses treatment really got under my skin. It was everything but amusing. Why? Because music has always been the only positive and healing thing in my life. Never in a million years did I think that evil and corrupt people would destroy my passion and take away my love and joy for music with their evil actions! I distance myself from these devils and don't allow anyone to take away my LOVE for music!
"Fallen Angels, Lily Amis feat. Thir13een" will be released on Monday, 24. June 2024 only on
LilyAmis.Bandcamp.com
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