We didn't make the music for money's sake either, it was a happy surprise to wake up the next morning to find that many members of our community liked it enough

We didn't make the music for money's sake either, it was a happy surprise to wake up the next morning to find that many members of our community liked it enough to buy it (it's pretty clear that it can be streamed and downloaded for free, so my assumption is that the purchase was willful, with most people paying $15-$20). Reading this bit about Gary definitely made me wonder about the tradeoffs you describe. The experience also has me strategizing on our next move. I'm applying the Lean mindset and focusing on the feedback we got from paying customers: "longer and more songs", "loved the clear crisp audio", "you played X, it's my favourite". We're doing a St. Patrick's day album next which is focusing on those pillars. I also may have splurged and commissioned an album cover off Fiverr.