For over a decade, composer Greg Dombrowski, better known as Secession Studios, has built a thriving music career on YouTube with over 720,000 subscribers. But his path challenges everything modern creator culture tells you about building an audience. There's no daily posting schedule, no constant content marketing, no strategic influencer collaborations. Instead, there's one simple practice: upload one track a week and believe it will work.
Starting in 2011 from his mum's basement in Wisconsin, Greg's journey to full-time composer status offers critical lessons for anyone trying to build sustainable creative income in an algorithm-driven world.
The Early Days: When One Track a Week Was Revolutionary
When Greg first started Secession Studios, YouTube's landscape was radically different. He began with simple visualizers made in Adobe After Effects, waveforms bouncing to his music. "Maybe they just ignored it and listened to the music," he recalls. "I have no idea."
The early strategy was straightforward: post consistently, experiment with titles and keywords, optimise for discoverability, and wait. Crucially, Greg was trying to grow from the beginning, though he remained realistic about the odds. Some of his earliest tracks sat dormant for years before gaining traction suddenly.
The consistency paid off, but not immediately. Fear crept in regularly. Every flat-performing video raised the same question: "Is this the algorithm, or is the track just lame?" But Greg learned something critical during these early struggles: uploading into the void for months or years is survivable if you surrender control over the results.
The Monetisation Reality: Content ID Was the Game-Changer
Many assume YouTube ad revenue is a composer's primary income on the platform. For Greg, it's secondary. The real money came from two sources: YouTube Content ID and licensing placements.
Content ID, where creators earn revenue from user-generated content using their music, became the foundation of his income model. "That was a big chunk of the income and a big reason why I decided to put almost all my marbles into YouTube," Greg explains.
This required working with distributors like Tunecore or Distrokid, or with third-party claimers like AdRev and Hawk. These services register your music with Content ID to ensure you get paid when your tracks appear in YouTube videos, TikToks, streams, and other platforms.
The income breakdown for Greg's channel: approximately two-thirds from YouTube (AdSense and Content ID combined) and one-third from other sources, primarily Spotify, BMI royalties, and licensing deals.
The Turning Point: Leaving Immediate Music to Go Full YouTube
After early YouTube success, Greg was recruited to work in-house at Immediate Music, one of the largest trailer music companies. He spent three years there creating custom work and developing tracks. By the time he left, his YouTube channel had become lucrative enough to justify independence.
The decision wasn't purely financial. "It was a tough choice because I loved working with them so much," Greg admits. "They had such cool projects, really legendary trailers that needed important music. That was so inspiring." But self-employment and the ability to focus entirely on YouTube ultimately won out.
This decision reflects an important principle: sometimes the most lucrative path requires choosing growth potential over immediate stability.
The Non-Strategy Strategy: Why Quality Trumps Optimisation
Here's what Greg doesn't do: chase trends, post multiple times daily, create behind-the-scenes content, engage heavily on other platforms, run email marketing campaigns, or build merchandise lines.
"I kind of suck on the business side of marketing," Greg admits with refreshing honesty. "I always come back to the belief that if I just put as much of my time as possible into making good music, it'll try to sell itself."
This isn't contrarian posturing. It's a direct challenge to modern creator advice. Greg's theory, and his track record suggest he's right, is that genuinely exceptional work creates its own gravity. When thousands of composers are optimising for algorithms, the one person relentlessly pursuing their vision stands out.
He's particularly cautious about platforms like TikTok, which push creators toward short-form content and personal branding. "I mean, I wanted to be a composer and not a content creator," he explains. "Social media might shift that. It's really important to hold onto that first dream you had and your ultimate goal."
The Belief Factor: The Secret Ingredient Nobody Talks About
Perhaps the most radical element of Greg's approach is one he emphasises repeatedly: internal belief. Not faith in the algorithm, not confidence in social media strategy, but genuine belief that what he's creating matters and will reach the right people.
This isn't manifesting or wishful thinking. It's practical psychology. When you believe your work will eventually find its audience, you can absorb months or years of flat performance without spiralling into self-doubt. You can maintain quality when metrics aren't rewarding you. You can stay true to your artistic vision instead of constantly pivoting to chase trends.
"I think I have like a really optimistic sort of internal motor that kind of gets me through the grind," Greg says. "It can bring me down like anyone else, but I try to transform that into a positive and be like, okay, I'm just going to write an absolutely kick-ass track and this one's going to be better."
The monthly practice of watching new trailers, ads, and media to stay current with trends supports this belief; it's research in service of craft, not anxiety-driven algorithm chasing.
The Production Foundation: Orchestral Libraries and Layering
Behind every Secession Studios track is meticulous production. Greg's sound relies heavily on Spitfire Audio libraries, particularly Abbey Road 2 for its intimate, close-mic character. He's a self-described "Spitfire fanboy" who owns nearly their entire catalogue.
Hidden gems in his toolkit include the Embertone Joshua Bell violin, which handles fast passages more musically than typical solo instruments. But the real magic happens in the blending, layering multiple libraries, heavy EQ work (sometimes automated for breathing effects), and detuning drums 2-3 semitones for warmth and depth.
The percussion approach is particularly distinctive. Instead of bright, punchy drums, Greg layers samples like Damage 1 & 2 and Heaviosity, then applies significant EQ and compression. Multiple reverb sends (short, mid, long) create a smooth bloom rather than a hit followed by a tail.
Most importantly, he sketches everything on the piano first. "My favourite tracks had a gem in there that could carry through the track," he explains. This ensures the core melody is genuinely compelling before the orchestral treatment begins.
The Three-Act Structure: Why Your Track Needs a Payoff
Years of trailer work ingrained a specific structure in Greg's composing: intro, middle build, climactic finale. It's not experimental or particularly trendy, but it works because it mirrors emotional storytelling.
"It's kind of what we prefer now and got so used to," he acknowledges. But he also recognises that this structure, borrowed from narrative, remains compelling precisely because humans crave emotional resolution. A track that "petered out to an outro" without delivering a payoff feels unsatisfying, even if listeners can't articulate why.
The challenge is knowing when to extend versus when to stop. Greg sometimes questions whether an eight-minute track is digestible, but he trusts his instincts on emotional arc over rigid formulas.
The AI Question: Why Greg Stopped Using AI Artwork
Two years ago, Greg experimented with Midjourney-generated imagery for thumbnails and artwork. The images were striking and took minimal time to create. But he noticed something: audiences were growing tired of the homogenised AI aesthetic, and artists were protesting AI's impact on creative work.
"I kind of noticed that people were really pissed off about the fact that AI is taking over and taking jobs from artists," Greg reflects. He pivoted to licensing artwork from actual artists and commissioning custom pieces when his budget allowed.
This decision came with an unexpected benefit: using AI imagery actually hurt his credibility. Audiences began assuming that if he used AI art, perhaps his music was also AI-generated. By switching to real art, he eliminated that friction.
More broadly, Greg advocates for resistance to AI in creative fields, pointing to examples like Disney's Tron backlash as proof that public pressure works. The pressure to use AI often comes from manufactured scarcity, tech companies positioning their tools as necessary for competitive advantage, rather than genuine creative advantage.
Practical Advice for Emerging Composers
For composers starting YouTube channels today with no existing audience, Greg offers three actionable starting points:
1. Prioritise Quality Over Quantity
Don't force a weekly schedule if it compromises quality. "Really try to hyper-focus on exactly what you're creating and your dream goal with how you want your music to sound," Greg advises. People detect half-hearted work immediately.
2. Package Your Work Thoughtfully
Strong titles, compelling artwork, and clear visual context matter enormously. They help listeners understand what they're about to experience. This isn't manipulation, it's communication.
3. Build a Wall Around Your Belief
"Try not to let the algorithm chip away at that... hold on to that internal motor that's inspiring you to write music," Greg emphasises. The algorithm will fluctuate. Trends will shift. Your belief needs to be more durable than either.
The Long-Term Reality: Patience Built Into the Model
What makes Greg's story remarkable is his willingness to accept slow growth. He spent roughly one year in his mom's spare room before his income stabilised enough to move out independently. He moved to LA, working for Immediate Music before fully transitioning back to YouTube.
Some composers starting today will need multiple income streams during the critical early years. Some might never reach 700K subscribers. But Greg's template proves that if you prioritise genuine craft, show up consistently, and don't sabotage yourself with desperate optimisation, audiences do eventually find you.
"It's so cool and so unexpected," he reflects on videos gaining traction years after posting. "When you do social media, everyone says if you don't get engagement within the first couple of days, the video is probably dead. But with music, I feel like there's this special thing where when people finally discover it, the algorithm reevaluates it or something and starts popping it off."
The Broader Lesson
In an era when every platform is screaming about engagement rates, follower counts, and viral moments, Greg Dombrowski's success is quietly subversive. It suggests that the old-fashioned virtues, consistent output, genuine craft, internal motivation, and patience, still build sustainable careers.
Not everyone will reach 720K subscribers. But everyone capable of sustained creative work can benefit from his core insight: if you build something genuinely good and show it to people regularly without obsessing over results, some portion of those people will care. Enough to support you. Enough to spread your work. Enough to make it worth doing.
The algorithm is real, trends matter, and optimisation has value. But none of it matters more than the simple decision to make something worth showing up for, week after week, regardless of what the metrics say.
