Why it pays for an artist to return to earlier work
Foreword
Today I want to share an idea with you that works and increases an artist’s earnings. Watching the industry evolve and talking with accomplished talents, I came to the conclusion that sometimes treasures are found in our past creations.
How many songs do you have that were released a year or several years ago and never gained popularity because you did not have the knowledge you have now, the team working with you now, the same size of audience you have today, and you didn’t even have a TikTok account?
A new track requires effort, creative energy, resources, and time. A song created several years ago that has the potential to become a hit is sitting there waiting for its moment. It can be reissued with a new sound, or old songs can be given new life. Let me show you the options:
1. Updated sound:
With improved control of your voice and timbre, and upgraded studio equipment from your sound engineer, you can bring freshness to an old recording. You may need to simplify an overproduced arrangement, or change the song’s genre, rerecord the vocals, and change the song’s structure (remove the long intro, the unnecessary gaps where the listener gets bored, the extra verse that only adds unnecessary runtime). In this way, you will realize the full potential of the hit.
2. Revival as an art:
Think of the successful examples in the industry when an artist stepped outside their comfort zone and revived earlier songs. This can take the form of an acoustic version, a remix, or a joint performance with another artist. And sometimes these versions surpass the original releases. We had this happen with the song Klavdia Petrivna - Find Me (KAVA Remix), which for a certain period became more popular than the original and really added an even bigger boost to the song’s original version.
3. Marketing strategist:
You have already gathered an audience that came to your social media from one creative work or another, loved your style and your art. Use that as an advantage. Tell your followers that you have some interesting works that few people have heard of. Or, if you have figured out how social media, content, and people’s psychology work, or found the right people, you can create video content for social media to try to make your past “pre-TikTok” work go viral.
4. The time has come:
As with any trend, the popularity of certain music genres changes. People’s changing moods, the shift of events, even the seasons — it all goes in cycles, and the moment comes when there is room or demand for work that did not achieve popularity before, but has every chance here and now to be heard. With the rise in popularity of Ukrainian-language tracks, we heard songs by CHEEV, LAUD, Maks Ptashnyk, and other artists more loudly.
Conclusion
The most important thing is to believe in yourself and your talent. Sometimes you just need to feel the moment and take a risk, and you will see how strongly your listeners value your authenticity and growth.
Do not be afraid to experiment and look to the past; look back at your creative journey and think about what you can do to impress your audience again. On an artist’s path, sometimes it is important not only to create something new, but also to unlock new possibilities in what already exists.
Author: Pavlo Striletskyi
