Isaac Gutierrez was checking the comments on a stranger’s YouTube video when he realized what was happening.
The video belonged to Hayeon, a resident doctor based in the UK. It was a day-in-the-life vlog – hospital shifts, long corridors, then London in the quieter hours between work: a walk, a haircut, the small ordinary moments that exist on the other side of an exhausting job. Underneath one of those moments, his song “satisfy” was playing.
Isaac lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He had never been to London. He had never tried to reach that audience, never pitched that playlist, never sent that email. But somehow, his music had found its way into a doctor’s afternoon on the other side of the world, and people in the comments were asking what the song was.
He had been making music for nine years by then. This was one of the first moments it started to feel real.
Who Is .irg?
Isaac releases music as .irg – lo-fi pop and hip-hop that he describes as “laid-back and reflective. Something you’d throw on late at night or while driving, just to think or unwind.” Mellow beats. Simple melodies. Lyrics that feel personal without overcomplicating things.
He’s not trying to overproduce everything. The rawness is kind of the point.
He started in his early twenties, not with any particular ambition, but with a need. There were things he was carrying – questions about faith, identity, relationships, the pressure of figuring out who you are – that he could not get out any other way.
“Music became the place where I could be honest without filtering it or trying to have everything figured out. At first it was just for me – a way to get things out and not carry it all around. But over time, I realized other people were connecting with it too.”
That realization took a few years to really sink in. And the path from making music in his bedroom in Lancaster to having it heard in London, Korea, and across Europe was not the one he had planned.
What Nine Years of Independent Releasing Actually Looks Like
Ask any independent artist what the hardest part is, and most will say something about the competition or the algorithm. Isaac’s answer is more specific.
“The hardest part is that you’re responsible for everything, and most of it has nothing to do with actually making music. People see the songs and the streams, but they don’t see the late nights, the money spent on mixing, artwork, distribution, or the mental side of putting something out and wondering if anyone will even care. There’s no team unless you build one.”
He tried everything the standard advice recommends. Playlist pitching through Spotify for Artists and third-party services. Social media pushes. Reels and snippets. Blog submissions. None of it built lasting momentum. A placement here or there, but nothing that compounded into something real.
One release from the past year still stings. He put serious money into it – mixing, artwork, getting everything right – and when it came out, it landed quietly. Not badly. Just quietly. In the absence of a team, that silence falls entirely on the artist.
“It’s not even just about the numbers. It’s the feeling of putting a piece of yourself out there and it kind of disappearing. That hits a little different when it’s just you.”
He kept going, because by then he knew that was just part of the process. But he also started asking a different question: not how to promote a song harder, but where music actually lives in people’s lives – and how to get it there.
How He Realized His Music Belonged in Videos, Not Playlists
The shift started when Isaac noticed something about how he was discovering music himself.
Songs he loved were showing up in videos before he ever found them on Spotify. A creator would post a vlog or a study session or a travel film, and the track underneath would catch his attention – not as background noise, but as something that was actually doing something to the mood. He would go find the artist. He would follow them. The song had reached him through someone else’s story.
He started looking at his music differently. His music – slow, reflective, made for late nights and long drives – was not built for the aggressive attention economy of social media. But it was built for exactly the in-between moments that creators were filming: the quiet stretches, the transitions, the parts of life that needed a little help to feel like they meant something.
“I started thinking maybe my music fits better in people’s everyday content than just sitting on streaming platforms waiting to be found.”
He found Thematic at the point where he was ready to try something different. He was skeptical – most platforms that promise exposure collect the fee and deliver very little. But the model made sense to him. Real creators, real videos, real listeners finding music organically because it fit what they were watching.
“It wasn’t about numbers or placements. It felt more like your music could actually live inside people’s content and reach listeners in a more organic way.”
How Two Creator Videos Changed What He Thought Was Possible
A Doctor’s Day in London
When Isaac watched Hayeon’s vlog all the way through, the thing that struck him was how natural the placement was. She had not forced the music. She had not edited around it. She had simply let it sit underneath a sequence of moments that matched its tone, and it added something that would not have been there otherwise.
“It wasn’t front and center. But it added something to the mood. It made those small, in-between moments feel more intentional. What hit me was how different her world is from mine – she’s doing something intense and meaningful like being a doctor – and somehow my music found its way into that.”
In the comments, people were asking about the song. Not just passing through – stopping, paying attention. A song that had started in a bedroom in Lancaster was now part of the conversation around someone’s day in London. (Creators: “satisfy” is available to license on Thematic.)
A Video About Learning to Love Yourself
The most meaningful video came from a creator named Jingherly, and it had almost nothing to do with numbers.
She made a video about overcoming insecurity and building self-esteem. It reached far more people than anything Isaac had released on his own. But what stuck with him was the context – his song “falling for u” woven through a conversation about growth, confidence, and trying to become a better version of yourself.
“I remember watching it and realizing my music was sitting inside a conversation that actually matters to people. It wasn’t just background noise. It was part of something that was helping people process their own struggles.”
The comments reflected it. People talking about their own insecurities, their own progress. His music was not just being heard in that video – it was doing something.
“Sometimes the biggest impact isn’t just streams or stats. It’s when your music ends up in a space where people are actually growing, healing, or trying to figure life out. That one felt like it mattered beyond just music.”
How His Music Found Listeners in Countries He’d Never Targeted
When Isaac first put his music on Thematic, he had a few thousand monthly listeners. Most of them were in the U.S.
The numbers grew steadily – not in a single spike, but in the consistent, compounding way that happens when music keeps turning up in new contexts. More significant than the overall count was the geography. Listeners coming in from the UK, parts of Europe, Asia. Not because he had targeted those markets or run a campaign there. Because a creator in that region had used one of his songs, and someone watching had gone looking for more.
One message captures what that actually means. A listener found his music through a vlog and wrote to tell him they had paused the video just to figure out what the song was. It had hit at the right moment. They listened on repeat for the rest of the day.
“They didn’t find the song because they were looking for new music. They found it in the middle of their own life, and it connected. Moments like that feel different than streams or numbers. It feels more personal – like the music actually reached someone at the right time.”
Why He Stopped Treating Release Week as the Finish Line
If there is one shift in how Isaac thinks about releasing music that changed everything else, it is simple: release week is not the finish line.
“I used to think everything depended on release week. Like if it didn’t do well right away, then it was kind of a missed opportunity. But most of my songs actually grow slowly. A lot of the streams and real listeners come months later – especially when the song gets picked up in videos or shows up in the right context.”
In practice, that means he no longer treats a song as expired after its initial drop. He keeps reintroducing tracks. He pays attention to where they can fit – which creators, which moods, which types of content. He thinks about the long arc rather than the first week.
“It’s less about trying to force a big moment and more about giving the song time to find its place.”
What He’d Tell an Artist Who Feels Like Nobody’s Listening
We asked Isaac what he would say to an artist who has been releasing music and wondering if anyone is actually listening.
“Don’t assume nobody’s listening just because it feels quiet. There’s a difference between no one listening and no one responding yet. A lot of times your music is reaching people – they’re just not commenting, sharing, or showing it in obvious ways.”
The more important thing, he says, is not to let the silence become the reason you stop.
“You can’t treat every release like it has to prove something. That mindset will burn you out fast. Most songs don’t connect right away, and that doesn’t mean they missed. Some of mine didn’t really start moving until months later. Keep putting music out consistently – and find ways to get it into real-life contexts, not just streaming platforms. Your music becoming part of someone’s story is worth more than another playlist add.”
For artists who are skeptical about putting their music on a platform like Thematic – worried about rights, control, or whether it is worth the effort – his answer is direct:
“Keeping your music locked down doesn’t protect it from being unheard. It just limits where it can go. I was skeptical too. But what changed my mind was seeing how naturally the songs fit into content, and how that turned into real listeners over time. If you’re on the fence, try it with a couple of songs. See how it feels.”
Get Your Music Heard by 1M+ Creators
.irg’s story is not about overnight success. It is about what happens when music finds the right context – a doctor’s afternoon in London, a video about learning to love yourself, a quiet moment in someone’s day that needed exactly the right song.
Thematic connects independent artists with a community of 1M+ creators across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more. Your music, in real videos, reaching real listeners – the ones who find you in the middle of their own life and go looking for more.
Listen to .irg
Spotify: .irg on Spotify
All platforms: lnk.bio/irgmusic
Thematic profile: .irg on Thematic
✨ Creators: .irg’s full catalog is available to license free at the link above.
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