Texas is much more business friendly. Seattle is depressing and there's a reason Jimi Hendrix hated it, and so many others from there destroyed themselves.

You really aren't going to make it just going for it like it's 1992. You will make much more with a youtube following, and connect easier with those in the industry. I know that sounds shitty telling someone they can't, but you are better off playing the lotto.

The biggest benefit to social media hustle is you reach an audience beyond the US. Even someone as big as Taylor Swift no longer bothers with the US for new music. It's barely worth her time. There are places in the world where rock music is still popular.

If you are intent on grinding the scene like days of old, you are going to need to move out of the USA to a country where that scene exists. If you fail, you will have a much better perspective and maybe be on the road to success.

Source: I'm old enough to know many people with homes filled with platinum and diamond records. OG pros. It's not the same business model, have to make your own lane. Everything has changed. Anonymity is the new fame.

Edit: Poo poo on the people who downvoted you. I wouldn't want to be 19 right now. That's for sure. On second though too, leave the US. Go to Argentina or something. Go to Germany. People still rock, just not in the US. You're going to fuck up massively anyway in some regard, just don't have it be with substance abuse. All of us have failed at music at some point.

This is an interesting philosophical question for software development and composition. When does something start existing?

There were many songs tested first according to the lead dev in the early days. When mp3 starts existing though is unclear. Tom's Diner was used as the baseline and sanity check throughout testing. That part is true.