When discussing Florida’s Space Coast, “making it” can mean money, streams, packed rooms, creative freedom or simply finding a way to keep creating.
DEFINING SUCCESS
For an independent musician, “success” has never been easier to track. Open a phone and there are streams, followers, likes, views and monthly listeners waiting to turn a creative career into a scoreboard. Venues add another set of numbers: tickets sold, people through the door and money earned at the end of the night. The problem is deciding which numbers mean someone has made it. So, for independent artists in Brevard County, Florida, that answer can change depending on whom you ask. Some are trying to build an audience. Others want their music to become their primary income. Some have already spent years performing and traveling for paid shows. Around them is another group of photographers, promoters, designers and other creators whose careers are connected to the same local entertainment scene. Together, their experiences raise two larger questions: What does it actually mean for an independent artist to make it? Can Brevard County provide enough opportunity for them to build the careers they want? Brevard County isn’t a tiny community. An estimated 663,982 people lived in the county in 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, and the county’s population has increased 9.5% from its 2020 population base.
SUCCESS DOESN’T HAVE ONE SCOREBOARD
The internet has changed what an independent music career can look like. Artists no longer need a traditional record label simply to put music in front of listeners. Streaming services and social media allow musicians to distribute songs, promote releases and communicate directly with audiences around the world. But removing the gatekeeper did not remove the work.
A 2025 Indian Media News report retrieved through LexisNexis found that independent musicians increasingly have to operate as creators, promoters and entrepreneurs. The same digital tools that allow artists to reach listeners also require them to understand self-promotion, digital marketing and fan engagement. The report cited MIDiA Research data showing artists who released directly through distributors generated about $1.7 billion in recorded music revenue in 2022, a 25% year-over-year increase. Still, the report noted that many musicians struggle to turn streaming exposure into sustainable income.
That creates an unusual contradiction. It may be easier than ever to release music, while becoming financially successful remains difficult.
One artist and marketer interviewed for this project drew a line between visibility and a supporting audience. “I’d rather have 500 real fans that buy a hundred dollars worth of merch, shows, music, whatever, than to have 50,000 people that know me but they don’t do anything,” Nick Douty, Music Marketer and Recording Artists said.
A cinematographer offered a different measurement entirely: the willingness to release the work. “Once you’ve got to the point where you’re not afraid to put your art out there in front of people, I feel like that’s the point where you’ve found success as an artist,” said Steven Austin Sr., Creative Director for Dirty OJ. For some artists, independence itself is part of the goal. A 2023 report, identified creative control as one of the advantages of working independently. Without a label dictating an artist’s direction, musicians have greater freedom over what they create and how they present it. Independent artists can also maintain greater ownership of their work and potentially retain a larger portion of the royalties it generates.
That freedom creates another way to measure success. An artist with a smaller audience but complete ownership and creative control may consider themselves more successful than someone with greater exposure but less control.
There is no single scoreboard because the people playing the game are not necessarily trying to win the same thing.
(Photographed by AJ Fonseca)
WHEN SUCCESS HAS TO PAY THE BILLS
Eventually, however, creative freedom runs into something considerably less romantic: bills. Recording music costs money. Equipment costs money. Videos, photography, merchandise, marketing, travel and performances can cost money before an artist earns anything back. Independent artists often carry those expenses themselves.
The 2023 report on independent musicians identified financial burden as one of the major disadvantages of working without label support. Independent musicians may be responsible for recording, marketing and distribution expenses while simultaneously trying to attract enough attention to earn that money back.
For a traveling performer interviewed for this project, the expenses go well beyond the venue. Gas, costumes, hair, makeup and shoes are part of the cost of putting on a show. “People come there for an experience,” Xavier Austin, traveling performer said. “They don’t just come there to see me sing a few covers for nothing.”
For artists creating original music, the bill can expand again. One recording artist listed production, mixing, mastering, videography, photography and marketing materials as separate costs that arrive before an artist even begins paying for advertising.
Doing the work at home can save money, but it also means taking on more jobs. “When you have your own studio, you got to be the mixing engineer. You got to be the producer. You got to be the vocalist,” NAC David. That makes financial sustainability a different measurement from popularity.
An artist can have thousands of followers without earning enough from music to pay rent. Another musician may never go viral but can earn steady income playing live shows. NAC David provided a version of success in practical terms: “Just being able to provide for my family, not having to work a traditional nine to five … being able to do what I love every single day,”
However, artists like HaveUSeenBiggy believe the cost of investment in a music career is worth every penny. The difference raises another question: Is the artist with the larger audience more successful, or is it the artist who can reliably turn music into income?
(Photographer: AJ Fonseca)
A MUSIC SCENE IS MORE THAN ITS MUSICIANS
Even the phrase “independent artist” can be misleading. Independent does not mean alone. A musician preparing for a show may rely on a venue, promoter, photographer, videographer, graphic designer, sound engineer, producer or clothing designer before ever stepping onto a stage. Those people may also depend on artists for their own opportunities.
Joey Harrson, Cinematographer and Gaffer, put the importance of relationships plainly. “You could be the most talented person, but if you don’t have that proper connection, things will fall short.” Emphasizing networking and maintaining a strong reputation. He also made it a controversial proclamation that artists sometimes hire creative specialists but resist giving them enough room to contribute. “You’d be a fool to not bring people in,”
Brevard already has institutions participating in that ecosystem. A 2024 article from Florida Tech’s Crimson,retrieved through LexisNexis, described WFIT 89.5 FM as a community-driven radio station that creates opportunities for local artists while supporting the area’s arts and cultural sector through radio segments, public service announcements and event sponsorships.
WFIT’s connection to the community also stretches back decades. The station began broadcasting from Florida Tech in 1975 and became an NPR affiliate in 1995. By 2024, its stated mission included providing independent music, news and information that contributes to the cultural and educational environment of East Central Florida.
A radio station alone cannot create a sustainable music economy, but it represents one part of the network artists need. Shifting the conversation away from individual artists and toward the community surrounding them. When a musician grows, a photographer may gain another client. A promoter may sell more tickets. A designer may sell merchandise. A venue may bring more people through its doors. Success can spread outward.
But so can failure.
(Photographer: AJ Fonseca)
WHY LIVE MUSIC STILL MATTERS
Digital platforms may give independent artists global reach, but music still has a physical life. People gather in rooms to experience it. Tangibility for most independent artist is the only way to verify reach.
Research retrieved through LexisNexis offers some indication of how powerful that experience can be. A 2021 report in the Independent Florida Alligator examined research into the emotional experience concertgoers sometimes describe after live performances. In one study discussed in the article, 90% of surveyed participants ages 19 to 25 reported strong euphoria immediately after a concert. Nearly 60% reported feelings of separation anxiety from the event two weeks later.
The researcher, Lyen Krenz Yap, ultimately argued that the phenomenon was better understood in a cultural and sociological context involving fandom, social connection and relationships with artists rather than simply as an individual psychological response.
For independent artists, that connection matters. A stream represents a listener. A live performance puts that listener in the room.
The professional traveling performer interviewed for this project said that is why the visual and physical details of a show matter. “There’s a whole experience,” Xavier Austin said, explaining that costumes and presentation are part of what the audience came to see. A person at a show can become more than a number. They can buy a ticket, purchase merchandise, bring someone to the next performance or become part of the community forming around an artist.
That makes the availability of live opportunities particularly important to musicians trying to turn attention into a career; bringing the story back to Brevard.
DO YOU HAVE TO LEAVE BREVARD TO MAKE IT?
Brevard County does not exist in isolation from Florida’s larger entertainment markets.
Orlando is close enough for artists to perform, collaborate and pursue opportunities there while continuing to live on the Space Coast. Other artists may look farther toward Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Los Angeles or anywhere else that appears to offer a larger audience or stronger entertainment infrastructure.
The question is whether leaving is an option or eventually a requirement.
Steven Alston Sr., better known as iFStevie, argues that Brevard’s problem is not a lack of talent. “We’re literally like one group text away from setting up one of the best events that we could ever set up out here in Brevard.” The point was less about technology than coordination: people in the local scene already know one another, but they do not always organize around the same opportunity.
Fellow Dirty OJ collaborator immediately complicated that optimism by pointing to commitment. “If there’s 80 people at this event and everybody shares it, that’s way more eyes,” Bedfid, Joey Harrison, said. Pointing out that local acts attend events without consistently promoting one another’s work, even when sharing a post would take only seconds.
That disagreement matters. If Brevard already has talented artists and creators but struggles to coordinate promotion, audiences and events, then leaving may be only one answer to a problem that also exists inside the local scene. For musicians already earning money through live performance, the answer may fall somewhere between those positions.
Brevard clearly has pieces of a music ecosystem. Local artists perform. Venues host shows. Creators collaborate. WFIT provides independent music programming and local cultural support.
Whether those pieces create enough opportunity to sustain a career is harder to answer. For some creators, Brevard may be a starting point. For others, it may be home. It may function as an affordable base while artists pursue opportunities elsewhere.
THE FINISH LINE KEEPS MOVING
There is another problem with defining success.
Artists change.
The goal someone sets at 18 may look very different after releasing music, performing shows, earning money or building an audience.
“I want my art to inspire people, see if I can cause another artist to go beyond what I was able to do,” Bedfid said. “That’s success.” But the definition moved almost as soon as it was stated. “Once I get there, it’s all going to change,” the creator said. “I’ll feel successful, but I won’t feel like I have done enough.”
Another artist measured success against an earlier version of himself rather than against global stars. “I would consider myself successful in the sense of comparing myself to myself when I started,” NAC David said.
Some eventually reach goals they once believed would prove they had made it. Then something strange happens. There is another goal. This phenomenon doesn’t necessarily mean the original accomplishment stopped mattering. It may mean experience changes what an artist believes is possible.
- A first show becomes a packed show.
- A hundred listeners become a thousand.
- A thousand become 10,000.
The first paid performance becomes the desire to make enough money to stop working another job. That difference is particularly visible when artists at different stages of their careers are asked the same question.
“I KNOW I’VE MADE IT WHEN…”
There may never be a universal definition of success in entertainment.
For one Space Coast based artist, making it could mean financial independence. For another, it could mean leaving Florida. Another may want enough listeners to continue creating without compromising the work. Someone else may already have accomplished what the artist standing beside them is still chasing. So, each participant in this project was asked to complete the same sentence:
I’ll know I’ve made it when…
Taken together, their answers may not produce one definition, but they do reveal why the question is significant.
Technology has given independent artists more control over how they create and distribute their work, but it has also shifted more of the financial risk, promotion and business responsibility onto the artists themselves. Local communities can provide audiences, collaborators and opportunities, but artists still have to decide whether those resources are enough for the career they want. In Brevard County, “making it” may not mean reaching one universal destination.
It may mean deciding which destination matters, what an artist is willing to sacrifice to reach it and whether success requires leaving home at all.
