the TrueFans AMP—Magazine Issue 130

Music isn’t broken. Independence is just hard

In This Issue... 20 pages (about 29ish minutes to read) You'll Get...  ____________________ 

• Recommends—Without Getting Killed or Caught the Life, Love, and Songs of Guy  Clark—Amazon Prime 

• Your BIZ—the 13% Problem... and Why It’s Not What You Think • in partnership with Rick Beato 

• Greatest Music Artist of All Time—Guy Clark: The Craft IS the Career • Feature—the Big R. Rejection: Reimagined and Reframed. by John Fogg 

• P.S. from PS—Your Biggest Challenge Isn't 

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Here's the playlist 

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Some artists chase the spotlight. Others chase the song. 
As we honor Guy Clark as one of the Greatest Music Artist of All Time, the film Without Getting Killed or Caught, shows what a real songwriting life actually costs—and why it’s worth the investment. 

• Recommends—Without Getting Killed or Caught the Life, Love, and Songs of Guy  Clark—Amazon Prime 

There are music documentaries that celebrate success. 
There are music documentaries that romanticize struggle. 
Without Getting Killed or Caught does neither. 

Instead, it tells the truth. 

This film is the unvarnished story of Guy Clark—the Songwriter’s Songwriter—trying  to write honest, song poetry while living inside a complicated marriage with Susanna  Clark, and navigating a deep, often painful friendship with Townes Van Zandt. 

What makes this documentary exceptional isn’t just the music (though the songs are  devastatingly good). 

It’s the context. 

“Everybody wants the song. Not everybody wants the life that makes the song  possible.” 
— from Without Getting Killed or Caught 

We see how his songs are born not from inspiration alone, but from tension.
From devotion. 
From jealousy. 
From loyalty. 
From love that doesn’t always know how to behave. 

“I don’t sit down to write a song. 
I sit down to mess with it until it’s right.” 
— Guy Clark 

This is not a highlight reel. 
It’s a lived-in portrait of what it actually costs to make meaningful work—and to keep  making it year after year. 

For Singer Songwriters, this film is a masterclass in craft and restraint. Guy didn’t chase  trends. He didn’t flood the market. He wrote when the song was ready—and not a  minute sooner. Watching him work is a reminder that your job isn’t to be prolific. It’s to be true. 

For Independent Music Artists, this documentary quietly reinforces one of the deepest  lessons of a sustainable career: the long game matters. Most. Community matters.  Relationships matter. Integrity matters. Guy Clark never became famous in the modern  sense—but he became indispensable to the people who cared most about songs. 

“You’re not trying to be famous. 
You’re trying to be good.” 
— Guy Clark 

And that’s the whole point. 

What makes Without Getting Killed or Caught unique is that it refuses to turn Guy Clark into a myth. It lets him remain human—flawed, stubborn, generous, guarded, loving,  and relentlessly committed to the work. 

If you’re building a career that values depth over noise, songs over algorithms, and fans  over followers—this film isn’t optional viewing. 

It’s a quiet companion. 
A sobering encouragement. 
And a reminder that sometimes the highest achievement isn’t getting famous...

It’s getting the song right. 

Highly recommended. 

“Only 13% of independent artists earn a living solely from music.” That number sounds like a warning—but it isn’t the whole story. 
Before you decide what it means for you, let’s put it in context. 

• Your BIZ—the 13% Problem and Why It’s Not What You Think A recent Exposure Music 2025 Industry Report (tap the title link to read the original)  dropped a stat that stops artists cold: 

Only 13% of independent artists earn a living solely from music. 

At first glance, that sounds alarming. Discouraging. Even fatal. 
But context matters. A lot. 

Let’s unpack what that number actually tells us—and... what it doesn’t. 

The 13% Is Real. It’s Also Normal. 
Here’s what the data actually shows: 

• 35.6% work freelance or gig jobs while pursuing music 
• 31.1% have part-time jobs and pursue music 
• 31.1% have full-time jobs and pursue music 
• 13.3% earn their living solely from music 

That distribution is not unique to music. 
It mirrors what we see in every creative, freelance, or independent contractor economy: Writers. Designers. Filmmakers. Photographers. Coaches. Consultants. SalesReps. Even  startup founders. 

In almost every field where people choose autonomy, the majority fund the climb before they stand on the summit. 

The takeaway: 

Music isn’t broken. Independence is just hard. 

The Bigger Problem Isn’t Income. It’s Fragility. 
Here’s the stat that actually matters: 

78% of independent artists made less than $15,000 from music last year. 

That’s not a “talent” problem. 
It’s a structure problem. 

Most artists are still relying on: 
• Streaming as the primary income source 
• Platforms they don’t control 
• Algorithms they can’t influence 
• Audiences they don’t directly own 

Which explains another major shift in the data… 

Streaming Is Dominant—and Dangerous 

63% of artists now say streaming royalties are their biggest income source. 

That’s up dramatically from 2023. 
Streaming isn’t evil—but streaming alone is brittle. 

It rewards scale, not depth. 
It pays fractions, not relationships. 
And it collapses when attention shifts. 

This is why financial stress has replaced “lack of exposure” as the #1 challenge for  artists. 

Money—not visibility—is now the bottleneck. 

This Is Where TrueFans Changes the Math 
The 13% statistic quietly confirms something important: 

A small group of artists have figured out how to build sustainability. 

And they didn’t do it by chasing virality. 
They did it by building direct, diversified, fan-supported income: 

• Fan memberships 
• Direct sales 
• Patronage 
• Live experiences 
• Limited editions 
• Community 

In other words:  

TrueFans Economics. 

When income is built on people, not platforms, stability follows. 

Is 13% Alarming? 
Only if your plan is “hope the system changes.” 

If your plan is to build leverage, relationships, partnerships and ownership, the number  becomes something else entirely: 

A filter. 
A signal. 
A reminder that independence rewards intention. 

Now... 

So how do artists actually end up in the 13%? Not by luck. Not by going viral. By  making a small set of deliberate, repeatable choices—starting early. 

How to Make Sure You’re in the 13%—or Better 
Here’s the uncomfortable truth the data doesn’t say out loud: 

Most artists never decide to be full-time. 
They drift toward it. 

The artists who make it into the 13% usually do three things differently: 

1. They Stop Treating Music as the Product 
Because...  

Your Product Is the Relationship. 

Songs are the invitation. 
Community is the asset. 
Trust is the currency. 

2. They Diversify Before They “Need To” 
Streaming is one spoke, not the wheel. 

TrueFans income stacks horizontally: 
• Music 
• Access 
• Experience 
• Belonging 
• Appreciation 

One fan, many ways to participate. 

3. They Build for Fewer, Not More 
The report shows...  

67% of artists have fewer than 1,000 monthly listeners. 

That’s not a failure. 
That’s an opportunity. 

You don’t need millions. 
You need enough people who care deeply enough to support you directly. That’s the TrueFans model—by design, not by accident. 

The Real Question Isn’t “Can I Be Full-Time?” 
It’s this: 

Am I building something people can actually support? 

If the answer is yes, the 13% isn’t a ceiling. 
It’s a doorway. 

About the Author Gregory Walfish—Founder & Co-CEO, Xposure Music Gregory Walfish works at the intersection of music, technology, and culture. As  Founder and Co-CEO of Xposure Music, he focuses on helping independent artists navigate the modern music economy through data, tools, and strategic insight. 

About Xposure Music 
Xposure Music provides analytics, insights, and resources designed to help independent artists better understand their audiences, revenue streams, and career opportunities in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

• in partnership with Rick Beato

Not every great career is loud. Some are built patiently, song by song, with no shortcuts —and end up lasting longer than the noise ever does. 

Guy Clark built one of those careers. 

• Greatest Music Artist of All Time—Guy Clark: The Craft IS the Career 

“I never wanted to be famous. I just wanted to be good.” 
— Guy Clark 

Some careers are built on momentum. 
Some are built on marketing. 

Guy Clark built his on craft. 

And in doing so, he became one of the most important Songwriters American music has  ever produced—without ever chasing the spotlight that usually defines success. 

For Music Artists navigating a loud, crowded, fast-moving business, Guy Clark’s career  offers something rarer than advice: 

Proof. 

“Guy Clark is the reason I wanted to be a Songwriter.” 
— Steve Earle 

Songs That Do Their Job 
Guy Clark didn’t write songs to impress. 
He wrote songs to function. 

“A song ought to be useful.” 

Useful meant honest. 
Useful meant specific. 
Useful meant emotionally true without being melodramatic. 

Guy believed that if a song was built correctly—word by word, image by image—it  would carry its own weight. No tricks required. 

That belief shaped everything he did. 

“Nobody wrote better songs than Guy Clark.” 
— Emmylou Harris 

The Long Road to Old No. 1 
Born in Monahans, Texas, Clark grew up absorbing the rhythms of small-town life,  storytelling, and work done with the hands. Long before Nashville noticed him, he was  already becoming the writer he would remain. 

When his debut album Old No. 1 finally arrived in 1975, it didn’t sound like a debut. It  sounded like the work of someone who had been paying attention for a long time. 

“Desperados Waiting for a Train.” 
“L.A. Freeway.” 
“Texas Cookin’.” 

These weren’t “songs for the moment.” 
They were songs built to last. 

“Desperados Waiting for a Train” quickly became one of the most revered story songs in American music—not because it reached for drama, but because it trusted quiet truth. 

Clark never rushed the process. He wrote when there was something worth saying— and not before. 

The House on Pecan Street 
In the early 1970s, Guy Clark and his wife Susanna Clark lived in a modest house on  Pecan Street in Nashville. That house became a crucible for American songwriting. 

Townes Van Zandt slept on the couch. 
Steve Earle absorbed everything. 
Rodney Crowell listened closely. 
Emmylou Harris passed through. 
Songs were written at the kitchen table. 
Ideas were tested out loud. 

Nobody faked it—because you couldn’t. 

“That house was a school,” Steve Earle would later say. “And Guy was the teacher.”

Susanna—an artist, Songwriter, and creative force in her own right—shaped the  emotional architecture of that space. Their partnership was central to Guy’s life and  work, especially as time, illness, and loss entered the picture. 

No Rush. No Gimmicks. 
Guy Clark never chased radio. 
Never chased trends. 
Never chased youth. 

He released albums slowly—sometimes painfully so—but each one reflected where he  actually was, not where the business wanted him to be. 

“If you don’t tell the truth, you might as well not tell it at all.” 

That attitude kept him from shortcuts—and kept his work intact. 

While many peers burned bright and faded fast, Clark’s songs aged well. They  deepened. They stayed relevant because they were never topical to begin with. 

Late Recognition, Right Timing 
Ironically, broader recognition came late. 

In 2014, Clark won a Grammy for My Favorite Picture of You—an album shaped by  love, illness, memory, and gratitude. It wasn’t a comeback record. It was simply the next honest thing. 

“I write about what I know—and what I’ve lived.” 

Awards didn’t change him. 
They didn’t speed him up. 
They didn’t redefine success. 
They just confirmed what many already knew. 

What Guy Clark Leaves Behind 
Guy Clark’s legacy isn’t measured in chart positions. It’s measured in: 

• Songs still being covered decades later 
• Writers still studying his work line by line 
• Careers shaped by his example 
• Standards passed down quietly, person to person 

He showed that influence outlasts attention. 

The Lesson for Music Artists 
Guy Clark didn’t build a fanbase by shouting. 
He built it by being good. 

“He taught us that details are everything.” 
— Lyle Lovett  

He trusted that the right listeners would find him—and they did. Slowly. Reliably.  Permanently. 

For independent Music Artists today, his career delivers a powerful reminder: You don’t need to be everywhere. 

You don’t need to please everyone. 
You don’t need to rush. 
You need to do the work—and do it well. 

That’s not romantic advice. 
That’s practical advice. 
Because careers built on craft don’t expire. 

“He didn’t waste words—and neither should you.” 
— Jason Isbell 

That is the mark of a Greatest Music Artist of All Time. 

Rejection is not the enemy. Misunderstanding rejection is. And that misunderstanding has buried more careers than lack of talent ever has. 

• Feature—the Big R. Rejection: Reimagined and Reframed. by John Fogg

Why This One Word Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means 

Every Music Artist meets rejection. Not once. Not early. Not occasionally. Continually.  Consistently. Relentlessly. New artists, hobbyists, rising talents, working pros, even the  legends—everyone gets hit with the Big R. 

But here’s the part nobody says out loud: 

Most artists give rejection more power than it deserves—treating it as a limitation. But flip it, and rejection becomes guidance and direction. 

As said... Rejection is not the enemy. Misunderstanding rejection is. And that misunderstanding has buried more careers than lack of talent ever has. 

What Rejection Actually Means 
Let’s go back to the roots—literally. 

Reject 
• re (“back, again”) 
• jacere (“to throw”) 

To reject = to throw back. That’s it. That's all. 

Not to destroy. 
Not to humiliate. 
Not to condemn. 
Not to pass permanent judgment. 

Simply: to return something to where it came from. 

“Rejection isn’t annihilation. It’s redirection.” 

When a venue passes, a playlist curator scrolls past, a label says no, or a potential fan  doesn’t click “follow”—nothing has been taken from you. 

Something was simply thrown back because it didn’t land in the right place. That’s a boundary, not a burial. 

If You Feel Rejected… Here’s the Truth 
First, rejection is NOT a feeling. It's a thought. 

What hurts isn’t the throw-back. 
What hurts is the meaning we attach to it: 

• I’m not good enough. 
• They don’t want me. 
• This means something is wrong with me. 
(And those all feel bad.) 

But Linguistically—and emotionally, spiritually, artistically—the truth is simple: You tried to land where you didn’t belong. 

That’s all. 

“A rejection doesn’t close your path—it corrects your aim.” 

Rejection Is Sorting, Not Judging 
Music is personal. We forget... the industry isn’t. 

Most of the time, rejection isn’t saying: 

You’re bad. 
You’re unworthy. 
You should stop. 

It’s saying: 
This doesn’t fit here. 
This isn’t our lane. 
This isn’t our timing. 
This belongs somewhere else—with someone else. 

That’s not a verdict about your worth. 
That’s a sorting mechanism. 
And sorting is how you find your people—your listeners, your fans, your TrueFans. 

Rejection Built Every Career You Admire 
Name an artist you like an' love: 

Beyoncé. 
Billie Eilish. 
Springsteen. 
Ed Sheeran. 
Dolly. 
Prince. 
Brandi Carlile... 

Every single one of them climbed a mountain range of rejection... and left it behind  them: 

• ignored demos 
• passed-on deals 
• “not our sound right now” 
• contests lost 
• meetings that never happened 
• playlists they weren’t added to 
• labels that didn’t hear it 
• shows they weren’t booked for 
• emails no one opened 

But they didn’t give rejection the power to define them. 
They treated rejection as part of a system—not a lasting scar. 

“Some artists think rejection is a verdict.  
Others understand it’s information.” 

If Rejection Is Throwing Back… Then It’s a Gift 
Here’s the pivot the TrueFans AMP™ can deliver for Music Artists: If rejection throws something back, then rejection is also: 

• a signal 
• a boundary 
• a filter 
• a redirect 
• a refinement 
• a guide 
• a protection 
• a course correction 
• a head's up 

It’s not stopping you. 
It’s shaping your path. 

“Rejection isn’t a wall. It’s a signpost.” 

The TrueFans Lens on Rejection 
From the TrueFans Manifesto (and everything NML is built on): 

Your success depends not on mass approval, but on reaching the right people—the ones  for whom your music is oxygen. 

And that means this: 

Rejection is the mechanism that moves you past the  
wrong audience so you can find the right one. 

Every no is one step closer to your 100, 1,000, or 1,000,000 TrueFans. Every throw-back removes someone who was never going to support you anyway. 

“Rejection accelerates the sorting process. It  
gets the wrong people out of your way.” 

Practical Reframes for Music Artists—Use These Today 

1. Wrong room ≠ wrong music 
If your sound doesn’t fit somewhere, it means you’re meant for somewhere else. 

2. Rejection protects your energy 
Every minute not spent chasing the wrong opportunity is a minute freed for the right  one. 

3. A pass today doesn’t mean a pass forever 
Taste changes. Staff changes. Strategies change. You evolve. 
Rejection speaks about now, not you. 

4. You are not being rejected—your offer is being sorted 
Crucial distinction. Career-saving distinction. 

5. Ask this after every rejection: “What does this teach me about my direction?” Because that’s all rejection is—direction. 

And Here’s the Part Artists Forget… 
You don’t need everyone. 
You don’t want everyone. 
You can’t handle everyone. 

The TrueFans model—explained, explored, expanded—shows this clearly: A thriving career is built on the few who deeply connect, not the many who dabble. 

Which means… 

Rejection is your ally. 
Rejection clears the path. 
Rejection focuses the field. 
Rejection brings you closer to your people. 

Closing: The Big R, Rewritten 
Music Artists don’t quit because the work is hard. 
They quit because rejection feels personal. 

But when you understand the word—the real word—rejection stops being a wound and becomes a compass. 

So the next time someone “throws back” your pitch, your song, your request, your idea, remember: 

They’re not stopping you. 
They’re sending you forward. 
Not here. 
Not now. 
Not this way. 
Keep going. 
Your people are ahead. 

“Rejection doesn’t close doors. It points you to  
the ones that were always yours.” 

__________  

Music Artist Quotes on Rejection 

A select collection of been-there done-with-that wisdom from your peers... 

“If you’re lucky enough to be different, don’t ever change. Rejection just means they  didn’t see what you were yet.” 
— Taylor Swift 

“Once you strip away the rejection, the only thing left is whether you still believe in  what you’re doing. I did.” 
— Lady Gaga 

“I wasn’t scared of rejection. I was scared of not trying.” 
— Elvis Presley (after being told he’d never make it) 

“We weren’t right for them. They weren’t right for us. That’s all rejection ever  means.” 
— The Beatles (of their Decca Records rejection) 

“People said no to me for years. The no’s don’t matter. The yeses do.” — Billie Eilish  

“You have to go through hundreds of no’s to get that one yes that changes  everything.” 
— Ed Sheeran 

“I’ve been told no more times than I can count. But every no was a step toward the  yes that mattered.” 
— Dolly Parton 

“Rejection is not failure. It’s someone else’s lack of vision.” 
— Brandi Carlile 

“If you fall in love with the wrong ears, you’ll always feel rejected. Find the ears that  hear you.” 
— Joni Mitchell 

“Rejection is a filter. It removes people who were never going to be part of your  story.” 
— John Mayer 

“You get told no a thousand times. So what? You only need one yes.”
— Jennifer Lopez 

“The industry passed on me for years. Rejection was my education—not my enemy.”
— Kacey Musgraves 

“A no is not the end. It’s a reroute.” 
— Rihanna 

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About John Fogg 

John Fogg is the editor of the TrueFans AMP™, co-creator of New Music Lives™, and  a lifelong writer, listener, and fan of great songs and the people who make them. A  million-selling author (The Greatest Networker in the World), Fogg has written and  coached artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries for more than four decades. Through  the TrueFans AMP™, he champions a new generation of Music Artists building  sustainable careers— Making Right Now Money and having Fans Forever— and Helping Music Artists build real careers—without selling their soul.

• P.S. from PS—Your Biggest Challenge Isn't 
Being a Music Artist means living with a lot of challenges: money, momentum,  visibility, self-doubt, timing. More? 

However, there’s one Big One I’ve seen at every level of the business—from the garage  to the Grammy stage: Rejection. 

I’ll be honest—I’ve never been good at dealing with it. 

Editor Fogg’s piece on The Big R stopped me. Cold. He’s right. Rejection isn’t  condemnation. It’s information. It’s feedback. It’s a tool—if we learn how to use it. 

I suspect that’s true for you, too. 

And he said rejection is a thought. Not a feeling. Think about that. 

Read that feature. Please. Twice. (I’m on my third pass.) Like rehearsing a new song, let it sink in. Imagine what you’ll do with your art—and your career—when you stop  feeding the devil of rejection your creative energy and start using your creativity  positively instead. 

Please, let me know how that goes for you. 

Until we speak again... 

Thanks for reading. Give us your feedback.

And PLEASE, if you've got any Music Artist friends, pass the TrueFans AMP™ on, because... It’s Time... for a Change. Big Time. Past Time...