The deepest, most dangerous pothole in New Zealand's music scene

Nobody told me when I was starting out about the highest cost of being an indie artist in New Zealand. It's the hushed secret told behind closed doors. The opinion you dilute with an extra hot espresso and an inner mantra of "she'll be 'right" when it threatens to show its teeth. Isolation is the deepest, most dangerous pothole in the road to success that artists in this age are encountering, and the time to get out of the asphalt is now.

There's no doubt that you can be great on your own, but it's when you start to take risks for your art despite the possibility of failure, and invite others to do the same, that you become unstoppable. I've found out the hard way that tying my self-worth to how far I've gotten without asking for help, has earned me nothing but bitterness. You watch as other artists receive support for their endeavours, and despite knowing that they absolutely deserve it, something inside you crumbles. It's not that their wins are your losses, but it's the gnawing sense that they've cracked a cheat code to success that you haven't even heard of, and therefore must not be worthy of leveraging. I can only imagine the extent to which this mindset has put a tap on my creativity. Where there could've been abundance, I've been approaching my art believing its relevance is limited by the material resources I have, the people I know, and the money I make, instead of how much I believe in its potential for impact. 

Despite how commonplace it is amongst creatives, isolation is not an insurmountable beast - there are very real ways that we can all work to break the pattern. Isolation cannot survive up against connection, and each of us can do our part in slaying the beast by building a more hospitable environment for us to create in. If isolation is what's making the house crumble, then ask yourself what bricks you can place to slowly repair the damage. Is it catching up with an artist for coffee? Reaching out to a mentor? Posting a vulnerable song online? 

To our industry pillars, I urge you to ask more questions about how you can support your community. You've earned the unique privilege to be the face of our diverse industry, and it is alive with young creatives who you were once just like. Show them that their dreams are possible, that their mahi does not go unnoticed, and remind them that none of us are alone in this journey of putting our souls on display the way that we do. 

If nothing else, I hope this can be your evidence that you are not as isolated as you think. There are opportunities for community all around you, you just have to be audacious enough to lay the bricks. For years I have shouldered my isolation like a bag of sand, but today I am moulding that sand into bricks.

What brick will you place first?