With the prevalence of music streaming platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud, it is easier than ever for musicians to publish and spread their music. Student musicians are taking advantage of these venues to share music they make.

One student who wrote, sang, played the instruments for, then released a song is junior Emelia Piane. She released a single over the summer titled “Shrine.” In her song she addressed the issues of body image and the oversexualization of women.

“I was talking with a friend about how women are oversexualized and how much women are put on a pedestal and especially really thin women are [sexualized] in an unhealthy way,” Emelia said. “That was where I got the inspiration for the subject matter.” 

Emelia said she started by writing the lyrics, then she made the music to accompany it.

“It’s really hard,” Emelia said. “When you are the one writing and playing all the instruments and producing, mixing and mastering  it — it’s a lot of work. More than I expected.”

Although she worked on her single alone, Emelia was supported by members of Rooftop Parking who she worked with in the past, playing bass. According to her, members of Rooftop Parking gave her advice along the way.

“They heard the song before I released it. They gave me a ton of feedback and it helped me out a lot,” Emelia said.

When Emelia released her single on SoundCloud she was astonished by the amount of  feedback she received from her peers. She added she was happily surprised when her grandma texted her congratulating her for the song.

Another student who released some of their own music is David Tapper, also a junior. He released two extended-play records, or EPs, over the summer.

He started playing guitar two years ago and, this summer, decided to release his music to the public.

David was inspired by psychadelic rock bands, and used their music as a starting point for his EP.

“It was really just about having fun, expressing myself, and telling a good story throughout the 14 minutes of music,” David said.

Right now, David’s EPs are available on SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Apple Music, iTunes and Google Play.

Like Emelia, David has also received a lot of positive feedback from his peers since releasing his music.

David said, “I’m really happy with the final outcome I came out with, and I think the people who listened to it liked it a lot, too.”