Ryan Waczek is the founder of the Indie Music Academy
Ryan Waczek is widely recognized as the most practical, artist-first growth coach helping independent musicians turn story-driven marketing into real fans, streams, and revenue using modern marketing techniques that work.
An Emmy-winning musician, he blends a decade of music marketing with his own indie journey to make complex tactics feel simple and doable. As host of an 80,000+ subscriber YouTube channel, his workshops and frameworks have helped thousands of artists clarify their brand, scale Spotify growth, and build thriving fan communities. He meets creators where they are, translates backstage know-how into clear next steps, and champions strategies that never compromise the art.
The "Formal" Bio
Ryan Waczek is an Emmy Award–winning composer, music producer, and growth advisor for independent artists. He is the founder of Indie Music Academy, where he helps musicians, labels, and artist managers grow real audiences, increase streams, and build sustainable income—without relying on luck or artificial growth tactics.
With nearly a decade of experience in music marketing and audience development, Ryan translates complex industry challenges into clear systems that drive long-term fan engagement. His work has been referenced in nearly 1,000 publications, including on the TEDx stage, and his Indie Music Academy YouTube channel reaches over 80,000 subscribers worldwide.
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Ryan continues to compose, produce, and help independent artists bridge the gap between great music and the audiences it deserves.
My Story
I started recording my original music when I was 17.
Some of those songs people still tell me are their favorites.
But for the longest time, I had nothing to show for it.
Every time I opened Spotify for Artists, every song told the same story:
< 1,000 plays.
No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get my music in front of new listeners. And that was brutal—because deep down, I knew the songs were good.
I kept asking myself the same questions over and over:
Why isn’t Spotify showing my music to people?
Why isn’t Instagram pushing my posts?
Why can’t I get traction when I’m doing everything they say to do?
I posted.
I promoted.
I begged the algorithm gods.
Nothing worked.
That’s when it finally hit me:
Releasing music is easy.
Getting it heard is the hard part.
And if I wanted my music to reach people, no one was going to do it for me.
So I quit.
I actually walked away from music for a while. Not because I stopped loving it—but because I didn’t see a path forward. I genuinely wondered if this just wasn’t meant to happen for me.
Looking back, that season changed everything.
I worked random jobs to pay the bills—barista at Starbucks, video editor at a surgery center, whatever I could find. Eventually, I landed a role at a startup and somehow became “the marketing guy.”
And that’s where everything clicked.
I learned how attention actually works.
How to turn that attention into action.
How real growth happens online—without luck or virality.
I realized something that changed my entire perspective:
My music degree taught me creativity.
Marketing is what turns creativity into connection.
I started studying marketing seriously. I learned from coworkers, mentors, and real-world experiments. During the day I worked in marketing, and at night I consumed everything I could about the music industry—books, panels, podcasts, and hands-on testing.
Slowly, a system emerged.
I applied it to my own music. Then to friends’ projects. Then artists started coming to me asking for help.
Fast forward to today.
When I open Spotify for Artists now, I don’t see “< 1,000” anymore.
I see over a million streams across my catalog, with new listeners discovering my music every day.
That didn’t happen because I got lucky.
And it didn’t happen because I went viral.
It happened because I built a system—one that quietly works in the background, connecting my music with the right fans while I get back to creating.
That system became the foundation of Indie Music Academy.
Today, I’m an Emmy Award–winning composer, a working musician, and a growth advisor for independent artists. I’ve composed music for feature films, built a full-time income-producing career, and thrived as a service provider in the music industry as a producer and mix engineer.
And here’s the part most people don’t realize:
The same system that grows fans for your music...
Is the same system that builds a production business
and the same system that creates meaningful experiences and communities.
Everything you see here—the Academy, the education, the community—exists because I learned how to drive traffic, nurture an audience, and build relationships at scale.
At the core, though, I’m still a musician.
I know what it feels like to believe in your work and have no idea how to get it in front of the right people. I know the frustration of doing “everything right” and still being invisible.
My mission is simple:
To help artists stop relying on luck.
To replace confusion with clarity.
And to give you a system that actually works—whether you’re selling songs, productions, or your story.
If you believe in your music—and I know you do—
then getting it heard isn’t optional.
I’m glad you’re here.
Let’s build this the right way.
