An Artist’s Early Work

Thanks to the internet we have a digital catalogue of many artist’s early era. This is the time during which an artist is experimenting and discovering their voice for the first time. Early successes might be documented in an Instagram video. Snippets of song shared via TikTok reveal missteps and styles that may be abandoned. 

These are special moments that often draw an artist’s initial audience. They also act as an archive for future superfine to come back to and acquaint themselves with an artist who has already evolved. 

Artists may be tempted to delete old videos and songs as their songs become more refined and their branding shifts. But, this is an impulse that I would urge you to reject. Early fans will feel a sense of loss when their favorite songs are suddenly absent from streaming services. New fans will be deprived of returning to older material that they may fall in love. From a purely capitalist standpoint, you’ll be denying yourself monthly streams that you may have previously been receiving. 

An artists job is to evolve and continue putting out music. That does not mean that you need to deny the existence of previous iterations of yourself. I highly encourage you to leave your early work on the internet.