After adjusting the volume, compression and reverb, Sarah Parmet ’25 listens to the fourth draft of the song she wrote and recorded. Still unsatisfied, she clicks back to the editing space and makes more changes. Only after several rounds of revisions is she finally ready to upload the finished song to music streaming platforms. Parmet has already released two singles, and said creating music is a big part of her identity.
“Making music isn’t really a choice but a part of me,” Parmet said. “There’s this amazing feeling when I open a track and the possibilities are endless. I have this urge to create and try so many things. I get swept into it, and all of a sudden, I’ve spent three hours composing at the piano or mixing vocals.”
Many aspiring artists like Parmet release music digitally. Platforms like DistroKid, which Parmet uses, allow artists to quickly and easily distribute their music to different streaming platforms, according to the platform’s website. Because of the ease of uploading music, over 100,000 tracks are uploaded to Spotify and other digital streaming platforms daily, a number that has rapidly increased over the past few years, according to the magazine Variety.
Upper School Choir Director Zanaida Robles has seen many of her students release music over the years. Robles said students who are passionate about music should release their work.
“There are a lot of talented students, and now there is no limit to getting music out,” Robles said. “There’s no reason not to [release music] if you have something musically to say.”
Nate Arnold ’25 also releases music independently. He launched his first experimental project (EP), “Gush,” in August and said he is largely self-sufficient when it comes to recording, producing and distributing his music.
“I basically can do every part of the music process myself,” Arnold said. “Writing the songs on guitar, drums, bass, piano and voice parts [is] all me. I record almost everything at home using the few mics I have, mix and master my music, bounce it into one audio file and use a website to distribute it onto streaming platforms.”
Over the summer, both Arnold and Parmet attended GRAMMY Camp, a highly selective music industry program where high school students learn how to build careers in music. Many program alumni lead successful careers in the music industry, such as Chappel Roan, who was recently awarded VMA Best New Artist.
Parmet attended the electronic music production track. She released two singles: “Roulette,” a collaboration with fellow GRAMMY camp attendee Sophia Bella, in 2024 and “Player” featuring Sophia Choi ’25 in 2023. Parmet said being a part of the program connected her with a supportive community of young musicians.
“GRAMMY Camp was completely life-changing,” Parmet said. “It was the first time I’d been around a group of people who loved music as much as I did. Everyone there is so incredibly talented and wonderful, and we all support each other.”
Arnold attended GRAMMY Camp’s audio engineering program and said the experience provided him with valuable mentorship and support.
“The mentors I had were an infinite knowledge bank of everything music-related, which allowed me to ask all the questions I had,” Arnold said. “The supportive feedback I got after showing my music to fellow campers and my extremely talented and experienced mentor, Yáng Tan, made me increasingly confident about my music.”
Whitney Enenstein ’24, a first-year music industry major at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California (USC), plans to minor in songwriting. She released her first EP, “trust issues,” in Sept. 2023 under the name Whitney Stone, and her most recent EP, “blind spot,” released Oct. 18. Enenstein said writing and producing her first EP took years of dedication.
“It took me multiple years to write and revise the seven songs that appear on [trust issues],” Enenstein said. “I recorded them last summer in a studio with a producer with whom I love working and collaborating.”
Arnold said he loves making music because of its ability to affect listeners emotionally.
“Music has the power to move me in a way that nothing else can,” Arnold said. “There’s a certain indescribable feeling that good art gives you. Sometimes this feeling is communicated through the tensions within the chords, the melody or the sound production. I love it more than anything.”
Robles is an independent artist who is frequently commissioned to write music for choirs across the country and has released a single. She said the criticism associated with sharing music can contribute to an artist’s growth.
“It’s really rewarding to put yourself under the pressure of knowing that once [your music] goes out, it’s going to be available to be criticized and critiqued,” Robles said. “But that [pressure] makes you be your best and makes your overall musical output better over time, so you become a better artist as a result of putting your work out there.”
The music industry is notoriously difficult to break into, according to Billboard. In 2023, 710,000 new artists were added to the music data company Chartmetric, with 87.6 percent of them falling into the “undiscovered” category. Only 12.3 percent reached the “developing” category, and just 0.05 percent were put in the mid-level category or higher, according to Billboard.
Although the probability of becoming a well-known musical artist is low, Enenstein said she is looking to build herself a career in the music industry.
“I plan on being an independent singer-songwriter for as long as I can and then hope to manage an artist,” Enenstein said. “However, since it is still so early in my career, I never know where I’ll end up. I am so excited to continue pursuing music at USC and beyond.”
Parmet said she has future plans to expand her musical horizons.
“Sofia Bella and I are going to start working on our first EP which is projected to release around February” Parmet said. “Right now, I’m focusing on collaborating with and experimenting with new sounds and genres as much as possible. Some of the GRAMMY Camp kids and I are working on a Christmas EP.”
Arnold said that he, like Enenstein, is planning to pursue a music career for as long as possible.
“I want to continue to put out songs, grow an audience and become my own artist while also helping others achieve their musical goals by producing and mixing music for them,” Arnold said. “This pursuit will probably take me my whole life, [but] that doesn’t bother me because that just means I’m gonna be creating awesome music as long as I live.”
