Case in point, I have a little tune called “Mountain Song.” Not that I don’t like it, but let’s just say I never thought it to be much of a stand-out.

Well, in the last year or so, it’s been one of the most listened tunes of mine on Last.fm. And just now, it won the #1 spot in its category at Ourstage.

This really caught me by surprise and I started listening to the song with new ears. Like I said, it’s not that I didn’t like it, I just thought it wasn’t my best work. Now I realize it actually has a really good melody and is in fact quite catchy. It’s also straight-to-the-point with no filler; something I appreciate a lot more now than I did back when I wrote it.

So in the end, all we can do as composers is try our best and get the music out there. After that, it’s up to the audience to decide what they like and what they don’t like.