The 77 years old pianist/musician/composer who in just over 3 years has defied the odds by releasing 13 albums, 7 singles and having 2.5 million streams on Spotify while building a social media following of almost three quarters of a million
What are the odds of an independent creator and musician – who without playing a gig – has gone from zero to 2.5 million streams in less than 3 years? Or has created and released 13 albums and 7 singles of his own music over the same time period? And who has collected 500K+ followers on TikTok, 180K+ followers on Instagram and nearly 17K on Spotify achieving this by playing his own music “live” on Tik,Tok, Instagram concurrently 3 times a day A man whose idea of merchandising is giving away his sheet music free and who has inspired hundreds of young people and adults to take up, or go back to playing piano?
He has been playing piano for 67 years, wrote his first song at the age of 14, when playing rhythm guitar in a band called the Bluestars. Incidentally the song he wrote then – Just a Dream – has had 16K streams.
He has written musicals which have been performed at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon and the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. He has written library music for Sony/EMI which has been used in radio and television. His earnings from TikTok, Spotify, Apple etc have benefitted Charities by over £25K in 3 years.
Who is he? Ian Rae is a 77 year old musician, born in Glasgow, but residing in London for almost 50 years. In 2021, at his daughter Fiona’s suggestion he started to create videos on TikTok and gradually built up a following.
Having seen a friend/follower doing a piano live, he decided he could do it blindfolded (not a very good idea as he was unable to read the comments) Although he mainly played covers, he did introduce some of his own compositions and viewers requested that he put them on Spotify so they could stream them. His first album “Beyond the Clouds” has had 637K Spotify streams of which the title track “Beyond the Clouds” has had 358K streams.
He has been playing piano for 67 years, wrote his first song at the age of 14, when playing rhythm guitar in a band called the Bluestars. Incidentally the song he wrote then – Just a Dream – has had 16K streams. He has written musicals which have been performed at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon and the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. He has written library music for Sony/EMI which has been used in radio and television all around the world.
Fascinating facts about Ian
Though he is not a singer, he has been viewed 60 Million times singing his silly songs on TikTok and Instagram
Simple sheet music versions of a number of his compositions are free to be downloaded from the Music page of his website www.IanRae.co.uk
When he started his lives on TikTok he got so fed up being asked by Yiruma’s “The River Flows” that he wrote “The Puddle Outside” which has had 31K streams on Spotify
Times of Ian’s Lives on TikTok, Insta and Twitch
8.30 17.00 and 22.00 UK time.
3.30 12.00 and 17.00 Eastern Time
American Rapper and singer Doja Cat awarded him 11 out of 10 for a video he created on TikTok!
His thirteenth album “Goodbye Little Friend”, in memory of his little dog Tallulah who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in April was released on 21st September on all the streaming channels
His fourteenth album “In the Breeze” was released on 9th November
