Part of the reason why I've been posting my music here at all lately is because I was hoping to build an audience for when my new albums drops. I made this account years ago, and decided on the strategy kind of impulsively as I've gotten more into the site lately. This plan was obviously very naive, thinking I could build something meaningful from what few uploads I could complete in the past few months; I am now planning on releasing the new album around this time next month, and other than chatting with chill dude PinkShirtDude I don't really have anything to show for the last two uploads. I think I've gained three followers from the two songs I managed, which I'm very grateful for of course, but it doesn't exactly put me in any better of a position than before...

There's a lot of uncertainty with the plan, and I'm just hoping for someone, anyone to hear the music and get something out of it (unlike my first album, which is still sitting at ~100 listens all time after two years lol), so I just want to get anyone's thoughts on what I should do. These questions aren't fully formed, more just uncertain feelings I'm trying to verbalize...

1. Do people even listen to/care about album type experiences on NG? The vibe I get is the music community on here is a very technically oriented crowd and are attracted to projects which appeal to those sensibilities (i.e. releasing songs as a vehicle for practicing/showing off mixing techniques, rather than trying to make personal artistic statements. I've always been drawn to the "singer songwriter" ideal personally)
2. I don't know how to get the attention of users potentially interested in a 35+ minute project, I don't even know where they are lol. Is there a forum that I can check out on NG dedicated to these things?
3. Part of why I wanna release on NG primarily is because of my love for the site and what it represents (respecting users and artists through its design and community first approach, not to mention the immense history and culture it's spawned), and I would consider it an honor contributing my talents to those ideals rather than the exploitation of Spotify or YouTube or whatever, but at the same time music seems such a small part of the site's identity. I definitely don't hope or even want to become rich and famous from my music, but if the creative choices I'm making translate well and would potentially mean something to people had they heard it, I'd much prefer those potentially inspired people get exposed to the music than not. It's a thing where I wouldn't even know how well it works BECAUSE no one is listening to it
4. The more I write, the more fundamental my anxiety seems, so any broader artistic insight would be appreciated. After my first release, none of my friends bothered listening to it, which made me have a mental breakdown (I worked on it for a year), which then forced them all to listen to it lol. I've been working on this follow up for approximately a year and a half now, and I'm not even going to tell them about it because I got so embarrassed the first time. I decided long ago that I'd rather delay a project than release it still unhappy with the final product, but the anxiety is building with the time elapsed.
5. I understand (in theory) that my music is only theoretically worth audience attention until the sifter of the algorithm verifies it, which, as a concept, seems to invalidate every fear I'm writing about. I know (in theory) that there's a difference between the value I put in my own work and the value that the algorithm puts in it, and that it's up to me who my music is being made for, either myself or an audience. BUT, I don't want to feel like nothing has changed after all the time and energy I've invested, and that even my friends don't care whatsoever, a second time. I am with each passing day increasingly proud of the work I'm doing (which is why I'm even planning on releasing it at all), and I feel like I'm actually close to meeting my own standards, but if, by the end of this, I can't even feel like I'm a wanted part of a community of people I deeply identify with... I don't want to be melodramatic or anything, but that is absolutely not a reality I'm interested in. Even worse case scenario it certainly wouldn't make me quit music, a fact that makes the question of who I'm making things for more complicated. Maybe the thing that excites us about ideas for ways of expressing ourselves is the possibility of being known? But I love music beyond expression, as a monolith I worship and hope to carve my name into. Maybe I should seek meaning in God not art idk

As always, any comments or reactions are a dream. Thank you for you time. Long live NG and her many children, you make the internet make sense as a thing humans do