I want to go back to my previous post about démodé, specifically the part about the algorithm.
Let me take a step back to the 2010s when I was releasing my first EPs and publishing them on social media with zero strategy. On Facebook there was an incredible community (the Synthetix group, for those who remember…), we shared each other’s releases, reposting them on our own profiles, tagging people to spread other artists’ music to our own fanbase too. On SoundCloud comments were raining down. Reviews on webzines were written spontaneously by people who actually listened and wrote without press kits or ChatGPT.
It was so good.
Then little by little we got lost along the way. The algorithm changed, other people’s posts started becoming rarer and rarer, unless you paid for ads. And everything became a fast, obsessive scroll, especially since reels arrived (very much stolen from TikTok). Users who don’t stop to write anymore, to leave likes, and we artists don’t understand anything anymore. Even the insights don’t tell you much. Reading how many people saw your post but didn’t interact means very little. There are a lot of people who appreciate things but don’t say it.
Why?
That’s all we need. It’s what pushes us to create. We need to communicate, to send our feelings out, far away.
And now that I write this I’m reflecting on something, a little sad. The fact that I’ve been writing less and less music lately is also because of this, unfortunately. In my last releases I put my heart into it, especially in the “They Speak Italian” saga, but I never found out how many of you read the ebook included with the album, or if you even knew about it because maybe the algorithm hid my posts.
I never started publishing AI music simply because the process of creating and sharing is a pleasure I would call almost physical. But writing music without knowing where it goes and who it reaches… well, that kills the desire. Think about it.
So… how to become a successful synthwave producer?
Maybe… mmh, having support like it was 2016?
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Vincenzo Salvia 
I guess quite a few people buy your stuff on Bandcamp and that would give you a pretty good indication how much your creative output is appreciated. And I will even give it you in writing: Your music is great!
Thanks so much for your comment! You know, Bandcamp represents just a small part of the picture for me. Spotify, for instance, generates much larger numbers, yet I can’t quite make sense of them, even when looking at the insights. And then there’s Instagram… beyond just releasing music, I enjoy sparking conversations, sharing moments, and creating entertaining content, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so without conforming to the standard social media rules, something I absolutely refuse to do. That’s why I still use this site as a space of my own, our space, an anarchic one, like a private club where I can truly be myself. Thanks again for appreciating my music. It’s the fuel needed to keep the journey going.