As I watched Madonna’s attempt at a PSA from a bathtub filled with rose petals; I couldn’t help but long to hear a different perspective. There’s plenty of ramblings online from celebrities about how they’re dealing with all this; but what about the rest of us? People in creative fields living paycheck to paycheck have been hit especially hard and may never fully rebound. As a low person on the totem pole in the music industry, the effects of this crisis are poignant. 

I decided to take a shot at making a living through music shortly after graduating high school. I knew it would be a lot more difficult to get into than other fields; but the passion was yearning. So I invested in an array of production equipment and started on the grind. Once my DJ abilities were passable; I began playing college parties which became a weekly routine. “I’ll be touring in no time,” I naively assumed. All I had to do, I figured, was get a good set time at a local club and more shows would pour in from there. Needless to say I was in for a rude awakening regarding how things work.

After failing to receive correspondence from several venues; I realized that it took a lot more than merely waltzing in and giving your performance track record to get booked. No amount of charisma was going to get you in the door without having a product. You had to bring value to the table.

Once it became obvious that nobody was interested in my spiel; I put the majority of my time towards building my online presence. At the time I had a measly fifty followers on SoundCloud, which I intended to raise to at least a thousand. It was necessary to develop a signature sound that was unmistakable and would wow venue owners. So instead of spending each weekend playing predictable sets at whatever frat, it was time to go balls to the wall on production.

As the school year drew to an end; I asked myself if I was really getting anything out of it. I knew taking music seriously was my priority and felt that keeping up with my journalism curriculum was a hindrance, rather than the other way around. It was also getting increasingly expensive to live in Seattle. So after mulling over this for a while; I decided to return to Florida and reassess my options.

There wasn’t much of anything going on in the small town where I lived so there’d be minimal distractions. When I wasn’t working; I’d be able to solely focus on my craft. I began collaborating on tracks with other artists I admired and broke my follower count goal within a few months. But despite this momentum; it remained very challenging to get booked. Not having an agent meant I’d have to do all the legwork and I found venue owners weren’t interested in my SoundCloud spiel either. A couple thousand followers wasn’t enough; I needed to up my game.

It took me a while before managing to get a few subpar opening gigs in Tampa and Miami. None of them were paid, and I concluded that other ways of monetizing my music were needed. So I set up a bandcamp account and began marketing leases to rappers. The feeling of selling one for the first time was amazing but unfortunately was inconsistent. One week you might have a few biters, and then go months without making a sale. Therefore I needed to come up with other sources of income.

After getting my SoundCloud above five thousand followers; I started doing paid promo. This was an alright side hustle but not quite as profitable as selling leases. At this point I’d become pretty bone dry as far as gigs were concerned, and my online game was everything. I wanted to build myself up to the point where venues would reach out to me; rather than grinding for the shitty nine PM opener slot and paying more in gas just to get there. 

As I watched friends of mine from high school move on and get “real jobs,” I began to feel a bit at odds with myself. I saw work as a means to support my music, which was starting to seem like a pie in the sky idea. I would be turning twenty-three soon and was working as a dishwasher, still living with family while I “pursued my dream.” It was beginning to get embarrassing having to explain this to people when they asked what I was doing. 

It soon became clear that I couldn’t keep this facade up for long and I began looking at other options. I had no interest in finishing my journalism degree but knew it was high time to get out of the kitchen. So I scrounged indeed for a while looking for “music related jobs,” and stumbled across an opening for a booking agent. Although solely commission based to start out; I figured it showed more promise than my current hustle. I applied and was relieved to be given a shot, with options to advance based on performance.

A few weeks into my new job; I found myself resonating well with my boss and felt like things were finally starting to take shape. I’d been given the opportunity to take on bookings for Jaz-O, a pioneer of the early NYC hip hop scene and longtime mentor of Jay-Z. My boss equipped me with an updated copy of the Indie and Spotify Bible, as well as a wealth of other promotional material to kickstart the process. I put my nose to the grindstone and began putting in cold calls and sending emails until I was blue in the face. Success was looming and I felt butterflies as a result.

Then, as if fate was mocking me, I began seeing an increase in COVID-19 related news that same week. This was right after I’d developed several leads for Jaz as well as another artist I was managing. #Socialdistancing started trending on twitter and festivals I’d secured for my artists were getting canceled one after another. It felt like a barbell to the nuts as I’d thought that all the time I’d put into music was finally going to pay off in spades. But it looked like the universe had other plans.

Sadly, there are other industry professionals in a far worse position than me. Those with kids to support, working behind the scenes to make the gears of the industry tick are up shits creek right now, to say the least. I’m thankful to at least still have a roof over my head (for the moment) and that I don’t have any other major obligations aside from making a living. But after watching one cringeworthy stream after another from industry figureheads with ten million plus in the bank, it’s been difficult to maintain an optimistic disposition. 

This quarantine has opened my heart, eyes and mind to the tribulations the average person has to go through to stay afloat. For those of you in the industry that go unseen and often unthanked, just know that you’re appreciated, especially now. Even when it doesn’t look that way from the confines of a decadent bubble bath.

Following my return from a two week trip to Colombia, my wanderlust began creeping in right away for more Latin American adventures. I’d planned to save until January to cover most of the continent I hadn’t yet, but ended up caving in early and booking a smaller trip to Ecuador. I’d always been intrigued by its diverse topography and thought some leisurely time there would take my mind off things. But unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as planned.

Above: View from Dancing Dragons San Pedro Retreat in Lentag, Ecuador

Things initially went along pretty smoothly following my arrival in Guayaquil. I took a three hour mini van ride to Cuenca the morning after I flew in and then conveniently found a good deal on a taxi to Lentag, where I planned to attend a San Pedro retreat. The first few days were relatively stress free, despite my slight disagreements with the owner, but unfortunately things began to go in a tailspin quickly after that. One morning as I was getting ready to bus into Cuenca, the owner and his girlfriend remarked that they hadn’t seen any cars on the freeway for quite some time. I then found out that there had been strikes going on all over the country to protest the increasing costs of fuel, with demonstrators blocking major roads. It appeared that I would be temporarily stranded and unable to bus to Banos, where I intended to ride one of the famous zip lines. I’d be lucky to make it into Cuenca, let alone up there.

Luckily, the following day I managed to take a cab to Cuenca where I could further assess the situation. I was dismayed to find that I wouldn’t be able to bus to Guayaquil, which resulted in having to dip further into my trip fund for an airline ticket. I figured from Guayaquil perhaps I’d be able to make it to the coast, which I’d intended to visit after Banos. But I was in for an unpleasant surprise.

Once my plane arrived in Guayaquil, I was told by transit police that roads all over the country were completely blocked. It wasn’t limited to one specific area and people were stranded everywhere unless they flew. But naively I heeded the advice of a taxi driver at the airport who insisted he could get me to the coast, due to my lack of desire to be stuck in Guayaquil. So off I went, having no idea what was in store.

After almost two hours into the trip, I thought I’d get lucky and make it there without issues. But sure enough, before long I ended up seeing an influx of traffic dead stopped in the middle of the freeway, with smoke billowing in the distance. The cabbie then stopped and got out to inquire about the situation with other drivers. Curious to see where the smoke was coming from, I walked to the blockade and found several burning trees in the middle of the road.

Above: Me checking out the blockade

The cabbie sighed and told me that heading back to Guayaquil was the only option. I wasn’t having that so I paid him what we agreed upon, grabbed my stuff and began walking around it. Around a hundred people were amassed by the burning trees which I made an effort to gingerly bypass. I was relieved when I got to the other side and proceeded to skateboard down the freeway. After a mile or so I decided to hitchhike and was thankfully picked up after about ten minutes. It was a family on their way to Salinas, a town about forty minutes from Montanita.

Above: Me skateboarding down the freeway and hitching a ride with the family

I had a pleasant ride into Salinas despite the situation and was thankful to catch a cab to Montanita from there. Naively I thought everything would be smooth sailing from there since I was fairly close. But once again, before long I was greeted with the reality of the situation.

Above: The driver and I witnessing the second blockade

Dismayed, we quickly came across another mass of people and burning shrubbery. The driver rolled down the window and got the attention of a transit police on motorbikes to find out what was going on. One of them was nice enough to guide us through a backcountry road to the other side, seemingly mitigating any issue. But it wasn’t even five minutes before we encountered a problem again.

At this point, tired of paying an arm and a leg for different cabs, I solicited a ride from someone with a motorbike for a reasonable price. We zigged and zagged our way around any obstacle that presented itself on the way to Montanita, which made for an enthralling experience. It was my first time on a motorbike in at least ten years.

Once we arrived, I thanked the driver for getting me out of the pinch and made my way to the nearest hostel. I was pretty exhausted at this point, and didn’t care about quality. A simple mattress would do.

I stayed at a place called Tiki Trip for two nights before deciding to call it quits and make it back to Guayaquil for an early return flight. The country wide strikes were causing some stress about getting back so I decided I’d better bite the bullet. Aside from that, I was beginning to feel unproductive and work was calling me.

Overall I’m glad I made it to Montanita although the journey was more enthralling than the actual destination. October is considered off season and there were hardly any people on the streets. I also found a lot more garbage than I’d hoped to coming from squeaky clean Cuenca. It looked like a fun spring break party destination, but not much else.

Above: Famous Montanita sign, a typical street corner, and the beach

Solo trips are often unpredictable, for better or worse. In this case things were unfortunately cut short due to the circumstances and I didn’t accomplish everything I’d wanted to, but it was still an interesting experience. Sometimes it’s necessary to get out of your comfort zone.

For several years; I toyed with the idea of starting a blog but never had the drive to bring my ideas to fruition. The main inhibitory factor was the thought that everyone and their mother was a blogger, and there was no point in trying to launch my own. But after I began traveling extensively; I concluded it would be a shame not to document my experiences.

The objective of this blog will be to provide people with a fresh perspective on the pros and cons of solo travel. I intend to do the best I can to keep content fresh and relevant, and to avoid boring cliches. So for those of you looking for fresh insight on new destinations, look no further. Subscribe to ReedTravels for the cream of the crop.

– Reed