Forget The Mainstream

Maybe the mainstream shouldn’t exist anymore. Maybe one menu of 40 songs shouldn’t be the only options.

For my whole life and up until very recently, I was driven to infiltrate the mainstream music scene with my brand of positive messaging. Lately I’ve been discovering and accepting that the domination of the mainstream no longer exists. It may again in the future, but right now, it’s being propped up by big (and dark) money – not by fans. This applies to almost all forms of media entertainment, but I’m going to talk about music specifically.

We’re all listening to very different things. And because of this realization, I no longer feel like “breaking into” the mainstream is the goal. It was 10 years ago, but not anymore. The goal is to build up my own stream. Loads of artists and creators already know and are doing this, but I am just coming ‘round to it, since I’ve always had a global vision for myself and I operate from a global and often galactic perspective.

Forget the mainstream. Breaking into the mainstream used to be the way that myself and countless others measured their artistic accomplishment. If you aren’t on the charts, you aren’t valid. Of course this isn’t true, but for myself and others who may have involuntarily warped perspectives on what achievement is, changing this perspective may be key to getting what I actually want – which is to deliver my message to as many people that want to hear it.

Forget the mainstream. Maybe the reason it’s filled with empty, shallow, toxic, superficial, double speak, ego-driven, kinda-sorta-not-really-empowering, recycled and mass-produced slop is because it itself is no longer serving the collective and this is all that can fill it. Maybe those making strides in conscious art like myself don’t even want to be a part of that mechanism because that would keep feeding it.  Maybe it needs to starve so something else can be born. Maybe that menu of 40 songs and 200 albums of generally all the same vibe (as of the last 20 years) is no longer healthy and the idea of the mainstream itself has become decrepit. Maybe I was never meant to be in the mainstream, but am meant to build a fully separate channel using the tools available now.

(Come to think of it, my 2014/15 song “Machine” states that “I’m not gonna be part of the machine,” but at the same time, even though I am/was offering a different message and want/ed to change the machine, maybe I’ve had a blindspot contradiction with my energy for years. That may explain why nothing ever got going until now. Yes, major breakthrough happening here!)

The obstacle I’m running into, as many are as well, is while distribution is easy, competition is exponentially higher than ever. I thought that I’d be picked out of a crowd and boosted to the mainstream. That isn’t going to happen. I knew that several years ago, but I still was aiming for the mainstream; becoming a household name. Maybe that will happen over time, but it’s not the main goal and may not even come through my actual music because my goal isn’t to make it in the music business, it’s to assist in humanity’s ascension. Part of achieving that goal is connecting with those that want to see the world change for the better. Turns out, the mainstream, fundamentally, is no longer operating for those reasons. Quite the opposite actually. Forget the mainstream because it’s the last stand of the old regime of power and control, and it is falling fast.

So I ask myself, why would I want to be a part of something that truly doesn’t want me anyway? It has been a character-building lesson to learn over this last year since I started Chad Rising, but the life-long picture is starting to materialize. I no longer want to be a part of the music business, but rather build my own business of music. This isn’t a new concept. Marketing and indie music gurus have been saying this for ten years. Artists like Tom MacDonald are doing it! I’ve long believed that I am the “light” counterpart to Tom and yes, I am jealous that I’m not there yet, but timing is everything. There was a lot I needed to do to heal myself before any real momentum started. And guess what? It has started.

I do believe my work is one of a kind. It’s different from any other artist because I am not making music, I am making change. Using music for a higher purpose is rarer than ever, but it’s a challenge I’ve come to accept, along with the agony it causes. So, forget the mainstream. This isn’t what I imagined and frankly subjecting myself to this lifestyle for the greater good is a straight up pain in the ass, but I refuse to be a martyr and I refuse to give up. The path is unfolding and those that are meant to hear my words are finally starting to find me. Even if I have to wade through being laughed at, violent threats and incessant hate, this is what I came to do and I will never stop doing it.

Together we rise.

Chad