Peter Barnes Martin evolves his work as an artist while adapting to the modern music landscape.

The music industry has changed. Though vinyl pressings may be making a comeback, there’s no toppling the behemoths of Spotify and Apple Music.

Monterey-based Peter Barnes Martin is an artist adapting to this. He’s also evolving from jazz to indie artist – and it’s paying off for him.

Martin is releasing his new album called The Lake, one single at a time, one song per month, into the libraries of Spotify and Apple Music. By 2025, a full album comprising all his new singles will be the result. His latest single, “Joy,” dropped Friday, Dec. 13.

The project, which is taking over a year to complete, is funded by a grant from the nonprofit Arts Council for Monterey County. But for the 27-year-old jazz-gig player, this album is a first.

Performing songs live is sacred to Martin, but that goes hand in hand with the opportunity to record. Jesse DeCarlo is his recording engineer on the album, a partnership made possible because of a $5,000 individual artist grant from Arts4MC. The duo are in the studio polishing sounds every week – working on getting the next track ready for release the following month.

This one-track-at-a-time process is not typical of recording an entire album for release, but it works for success in today’s music business landscape.

“It’s partially a marketing strategy, because streaming services heavily promote artists that are doing that kind of behavior. It helps with the engagement of prior material,” Martin explains. “They will push a new release on their Spotify [or other streaming service’s] radio.”

The older mode of discovering new music on college radio stations or through brick-and-mortar stores is declining. Getting one’s voice out on social media is how new artists are getting discovered, and Martin is taking advantage of that by understanding the process.

In a little over a year, the young artist has over 3,300 monthly listeners on Spotify. Last month’s single, “Falling Forward,” was released on Nov. 8 and is already at the top of his most-played song list on the platform.

Yet there is still an album to be made. Part of Martin’s excitement is not fully knowing how it will sound in its completed version, as he has experienced the project piece by piece. And the music is different from what he has performed regularly on Wednesday evenings at Pearl Hour.

While he has been sorting out the marketing of songs under the demands of streaming services, his work is evolving toward singer-songwriter Americana sounds akin to José González or Nick Drake. He feels it was the natural next step.

“We all experience needing to know what the next steps are in our path or going through a difficulty – having to pick ourselves up again,” Martin says. “This second project is more about pausing and looking at some of the relationships I’ve had, both positive and negative.

Martin moved to Monterey County in 2021 with his now-wife, Stephanie Chamberlain, and quickly found a home in the jazz community. Jazz comes naturally to Martin and he also teaches; he’s planning to hold free workshops for Monterey County high school students.

Before moving to the area, Martin had never added his own vocals to his work – only guitar. His debut album, Anywhere is Home, released in 2023, features his vocals. It marked a first step in his transformation, and he now regularly performs original songs at live shows. The next album is more about settling into his new space rather than looking for it.

“A large component of [The Lake] is reflection and kind of this inner search, whereas my debut album was more about going out into the world and finding a place,” Martin says.

Opening for John Hiatt at the Golden State Theatre on Nov. 2, Martin debuted many of the new Americana works he’s been writing in front of a live audience.

“I knew how momentous this was in my career, but once I got on stage, it really felt quite welcoming and familiar,” he says of the experience. “It was easy to feel myself on stage and share my story with my music.”

Martin plans to release a series of essays based on his own journal entries that will accompany the album, even while pursuing a methodical process based on what succeeds business-wise. He found himself reconsidering his attachment to jazz.

“The Lake is a reference to part of my origin but also the location where I was inspired to have this long period of self-reflection, and writing music follows that path,” Martin says. “It really made me want to question how I write music. Now I’m interested in grappling with more negative emotions.”

Some of the greatest art pieces are borne of tragedy, anger or negativity. For Martin, digging deeper into those emotions is what he says is unlocking his fuller potential and allowing him to evolve as a songwriter.

Meanwhile, his new album builds piece by piece on Spotify and Apple Music, in accordance with the rules of the online powers that be.

Peter Barnes Martin plays regularly at various venues in Monterey County. He plays with a jazz trio on Wednesday nights at Pearl Hour in Monterey. peterbarnesmartin.com