A Year in Review: 7 Essential Music Lessons Worth Sharing
As I sit here reflecting on 2024, I'm grateful for the incredible journey this year has been.
Between moving to a new region of the US, growing my YouTube channel, and deepening my understanding of music production and business, each month brought new lessons and opportunities for growth.
With this final newsletter for 2024, I want to share seven insights that profoundly impacted my creative and personal life this year. I hope these reflections will resonate with your experiences or spark ideas for your journey ahead. After all, growth is deeply personal, and what works for one person might look entirely different for another.
1. The Power of Paid Mentorship
Looking back, some of my biggest growth moments came from having great mentors.
During my college years at Pitt, mentorship was everywhere - professors, advisors, and even fellow students who'd been there before. But when I switched to music? That support system vanished.
This year I decided to change that.
After months of hesitation, I joined a music producer incubator and got myself both business and creative coaching. I wish I did this earlier because the breakthroughs that followed were worth every penny. My production got better, I learned how to build a remote business, I found a community of working producers, and found myself approaching challenges with newfound confidence.
The biggest lesson?
It's okay to pay for guidance. The right mentor sees your blind spots and pushes you past those invisible barriers we put up for ourselves. It's why I recently jumped into a 12-month bass intensive program - I'm all in on investing in coaching, courses, and cohorts.
Can't wait to share what I learn with you throughout 2025.
2. Reclaiming Time With AI
Running a business takes a lot of human power.
I'm essentially running two businesses that intersect heavily - music production and media. Leveraging powerful tools like ChatGPT for research and administrative tasks has been an absolute requirement to get things done. I've even learned to use ChatGPT to generate b-roll ideas for video production and help with creating organized grocery lists to help me shop faster.
As a full-time entrepreneur and father of two, I need all the time savers that I can get.
3. Finding Balance Through Family
I constantly need to be reminded to pop my head up from my laptop and enjoy the world outside of work.
We had a major move this year that put us closer to family, and since becoming parents, my wife and I have been gradually leaning more into our community with each year that passes. This year was all about new traditions and building a new community. It has led to so many wonderful moments, insightful conversations, and human connections that are essential for happiness and living a fulfilling life.
To my surprise, I return to my work with more energy and ideas due to the more balanced lifestyle.
4. The "Overnight" Success That Took a Year
This year marked my first serious commitment to content creation across multiple platforms.
I experimented extensively on Instagram, YouTube, Threads, X, and LinkedIn, testing different approaches to connect with audiences. While each platform brought valuable insights, YouTube emerged as the true game-changer. After publishing 51 videos (36 short forms and 15 long forms) while consistently experimenting with different formats, video 53 (my 16th long form) achieved monetization within seven days of posting - a milestone that represented the culmination of months of learning and iteration.
The true investment was a full year spent mastering essential skills: testing different content formats, developing my writing abilities, refining my presentation style, improving my editing techniques, and maintaining a consistent weekly posting schedule.
This disciplined approach to learning and creating across platforms laid the foundation for growth and meaningful audience connections.
5. Writing Is Underrated
I joined Ship30for30, a writing community led by digital writing experts Nicolas Cole and Dickie Bush.
This intensive program challenged me to write consistently for 30 days while providing daily lessons on the craft of writing. The experience transformed my approach to communication. While achieving a viral moment on Threads was exciting, the true value emerged in unexpected ways. Through daily practice, I developed a deeper appreciation for writing as both an art form and a thinking tool.
The discipline unlocked a seemingly endless stream of ideas and perspectives I didn't know I had within me.
This newfound writing practice became the foundation for multiple ventures. It led to the start of this newsletter, sharpened my YouTube scripts, and ultimately played a major role in developing the idea that led to my channel's monetization. Perhaps most surprisingly, the practice of writing has become a form of therapy – a way to process thoughts and experiences that adds value beyond just content creation.
The structured approach to writing didn't just improve my words; it transformed how I think about and share ideas.
What started as a 30-day challenge has evolved into an essential part of my creative process and professional growth.
6. Taking Back My Attention
I had a wake-up call this year about my relationship with social media.
Through Cal Newport's work, I realized I was using these platforms more mindlessly than I was willing to admit. As someone creating content, I couldn't just quit - but I could get smarter about it.
So I started small: removed distracting apps from my phone and began time-blocking my days using an analog planner instead of a digital one. Simple changes, big impact.
I've got more plans for 2025 to take this further (shoot me a reply if you want to hear about them).
7. Embracing Purposeful Change
There were a few people in my life who would constantly criticize me for “changing”.
At first, this criticism felt both puzzling and annoying. After all, isn't change the natural outcome of growth? As we collect knowledge and experiences, how do you resist change?
But that’s the problem, some people don’t reflect and turn information and experiences into knowledge so change is easier to avoid or it happens at a much slower pace.
These days, those comments about changing no longer bother me. My focus has shifted to a simple principle: am I changing in ways that align with my values? Am I becoming someone I'm proud to be? As long as my growth isn't causing harm to others and is leading me toward becoming a better person, I welcome the transformation.
2024 has been a year of significant growth, filled with meaningful experiences, bold experiments, and hard-earned wisdom. Each day has brought new growth opportunities, and I'm deeply grateful for this journey. As we move into 2025, I'm committed to continuing this path of purposeful change.
If you'd like to explore the resources that I mentioned and discover additional tools that have been instrumental in my journey this year, I invite you to browse through my curated resource list: the Music Maker's Toolkit.
It's a free collection designed to help fellow creators accelerate their growth.
🧠 Final Challenge for 2024
As we step into a new year, I want to share with you two strategies to turn reflection into action. Choose the one that speaks to you most - or if you're feeling ambitious, try both.
1. Looking Back, Looking Forward
Set aside 30 minutes of quiet time this weekend. Grab your favorite drink, put on some music that inspires you, and answer these questions in your journal or notes app:
What were your three biggest wins in music or creativity this year? (Big or small - they all count)
Which three skills improved the most? Think about where you started versus where you are now.
Name three people who helped you grow this year. How did they impact your journey?
What's the one lesson from 2024 that you'll carry forward?
2. Building Your Growth Blueprint
If you're ready to hit the ground running in 2025, this challenge is for you. Pick one area of your music journey where you want to see real progress. It could be technical skills, content creation, networking - whatever matters most to you right now.
Then:
Write down exactly where you are today - be honest with yourself.
Describe what "better" looks like three months from now.
List three specific actions you'll take in January to move forward.
Open your calendar and block out time for these actions.
Remember, growth happens in small steps taken consistently. Whether you choose to reflect on 2024 or plan for 2025, the key is to take that first step.
I'd love to hear which challenge you choose and what insights come up for you. Drop me a reply - I read every response.
Here's to making 2025 our best year yet!
Melvin Darrell
