Purpose (mindset) of making music

[hussey]

Just wanted to see what other peoples mindset was on this. Do you make music just for yourself? Do you self-promote every bit of music?

I'm hoping in a while to start sending some demos to labels i like, but i'm not sure if I want everybody to know who I am. I find it a little bit uncomfortable. I take great inspiration from Burial, who makes music primarily for himself, and no one apart from his family know who he is. Obviously he passed a demo or two out along the way, but he seems to keep it close to his chest. Like it's very personal to him.

I just would like to know how personal people are with regards to music, what they look to achieve, is it simply for themselves, or something greater.

Happy new year.

[Mister36]

It is, essentially, just for myself, but I would love for it to be something greater also. And the key word there is 'also'. I (hope I) would continue to still make music for myself and that I enjoy listening to (no, I don't think it's vain) if I ever had any "success".
But it often is very personal to me, some tracks more than others, some projects more than others. And I don't always want people to know the ins and outs of the music. Though I'm not averse to having people know I made it.
Having said all that, I've not really made anything for quite a while. It has, most unfortunately, taken a bit of a back seat at the current time. Sad times.

[docprosper]

for me it is more personal, to fill a creative void. When I am not creative for a certain period of time I tend to get neurotic about it and making music helps feed the beast. I do share things, but am not driven by illusions of grandeur. I fell in love with music DJing, and always did that to entertain rather than make $$, at least as a primary driver. Now I have very little time to DJ but do have time to work on the odd track, which I find theraputic.

The good news about this view is that there is less room for failure; I don't need a record deal to feel good about myself, just the odd compliment on a track and I'm off and running! Best of luck to you, from one Burial fan to another...

[Mister36]

The good news about this view is that there is less room for failure; I don't need a record deal to feel good about myself, just the odd compliment on a track and I'm off and running!

This is very true. You're working for yourself and so if you're happy, that's it. And compliments from randoms is such a great feeling.

And now I'm going to listen to some Burial while I revise.

(The smiley face is for the Burial not the revision )

[heavensdaw]

Good Q!

For me it's Nature... I really don't think it would be possible for me not to make music of one kind or another... I think it's a case of 'nature' doing it's thing and us guys who feel this way, like it or not are in for the ride!!

As for making the music for the kids or anyone else for that matter... I think that's a 'social' thing ... We are the shamen we are needed in society.. If we weren't we wouldn't exist imo. (Nature doing it's thing)

Peace

Hd

[beats me]

I don't think anybody can claim they just do music for themselves but then shop it to and dispute it on labels. It's a total contradiction and on some level I think is an insecurity defense in that if it gets distributed but largely fails then you can just say "Well, I only do it for myself anyway".

Also I think anybody who hopes to make it on some level in music can't be a complete stranger to the public in the day and age of twitter and facebook. There's a lot of competition and unless your music is stellar nobody is going to remember some artist that doesn't communicate with them on any level. Of course one solution to not wanting people knowing who exactly you are is creating an alternative persona you communicate with.

[gjm]

I have three mindsets which I have to work equally hard at

1. As a music teacher I write to fill the gaps and match music to students. Between 35-40 pieces a year for guitar and keyboard. This mindset requires a deliberate and disciplined approach based around appropriate theory and skill for my students. It also requires that I deep six much of my personal taste and opinions regarding the music. It is what it is. Often there is little inspiration and I am forced to work mostly from a sense of panic

2. As a parent of musical kids, I just buy and set up stuff (instruments, software and equipment) as a way of providing access for them (the kids). This means I am often in the studio helping them either write or record or simply explore sound. This mind set requires a balance between managing my expectations and encouraging them to achieve something. Tricky this is. With my oldest boy this gives me a chance to try on the 'producers' hat. He has a couple of friends that he gets together with to write and record so I get the chance to use the studio with them all and call some shots. (incidentally, I find this mind set easy with other peoples music but extremely difficult with my own music.)

3. As a personal release... The stage I find myself at in life requires that I have some sort of mechanism to loose myself, kind of forget about the 'Freight Train' my life sometimes feels like. I do two things, the first being martial arts, the second being my version of music therapy. One of the things I do musically is leave Live running in my studio often for weeks at a time. I have my Axiom and vdrums hooked up ready to go. Usually in the evening I steal time here and there and just jam. It often starts with tweaking instrument racks. Sometimes I record a couple of minutes of jamming and then move to the drums. The only mindset I have is to relax. From time to time I am inspired to create something worth keeping, but most of the time its all throw away. The mindset is one of simple open mindedness. I just go with the flow and care little for results other than the feelings of being calm and refreshed.

Although in this mindset I would say that generally I do music just for myself, these last few days I have been thinking about how much value I place on peer recognition for the things I do musically. With music I will admit that from time to time I end up making something that I really like. I often conclude (mistakingly or not) that others might find some value in listening to it as well. Validation comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I am currently thinking that some sort of validation is fundamental regardless of so called mindset.

[hussey]

Some interesting replies. The reason I setup this topic is that i'm not sure how to promote myself. I'm not sure whether to keep it personal (just send demos to labels, keep it to myself), or just completely sell myself (put it out all over the net). No one can answer this for me. It has to be my choice, i know. It just seems very hard to promote yourself when there is millions of artists on myspace, soundcloud etc.. The reason I say this is that my music is very personal and i don't want to just throw it up everywhere. I look at Burial again. He didn't have much stuff on the net before Hyperdub came along. It seems to me that he kept it close to his chest, and sent it to one or two people. He didn't just throw it up all over the place.I'm very aware that you could be a brilliant artist, but if no one knows, well, what's the point. You do have to meet half-way. But I just don't feel uncomfortable with selling myself all over the place. Am I wrong thinking this? Do I need to snap out of it?

I always set this topic up to see how people feel regarding failure. Does anybody feel they failed if they never get recognition or signed? Or are simply people doing it for the simple pleasure of making music? I don't want it to feel that it was a waste of time if I don't get anything signed or if no one recognizes it.

I don't want to develop this minset that my music is a product, and i'm the factory mass producing it. I want it to kind of mean something.

Sorry if this sounds cheesy, or if im confusing anyone.

[beats me]

I'll say this. I was way more excited and inspired to do music before places like this forum existed. Yes, it can be a place of knowledge and help, but it's also a place comparisons, copy cats, and how you're not the next great thing because 10 other new artists already are for the day. I was a lot more productive when I was about 90% ignorant of what else was being done out there.

[Mister36]

I don't think anybody can claim they just do music for themselves but then shop it to and dispute it on labels. It's a total contradiction and on some level I think is an insecurity defense in that if it gets distributed but largely fails then you can just say "Well, I only do it for myself anyway".

Surely even if this happens, they're still doing it for themselves. Maybe more so, but in a slightly different sense. They're doing it for themselves i.e. to make money for themselves. I don't think anyone can claim that they distribute their music through labels or otherwise purely because they want their music to reach more people. Yes, they want it to reach more people, but they want it to do that to make them more money. For themselves.

I'll say this. I was way more excited and inspired to do music before places like this forum existed. Yes, it can be a place of knowledge and help, but it's also a place comparisons, copy cats, and how you're not the next great thing because 10 other new artists already are for the day. I was a lot more productive when I was about 90% ignorant of what else was being done out there.

I definitely feel your pain. Although when I read the first sentence, I had a different reason in mind: that I spend time looking on here and reading about new ideas and techniques instead of just trying stuff out for myself and (maybe) coming to those techniques naturally. But the point made here is equally (if not more) valid.

[muthafunka]

Maybe slightly OT but fan or not Trent's a smart chap and worth listening to what he says in this YTube interview.
Also, don't be afraid of failure and being seen to fail, whatever guise you choose to put yourself out there in.

[smaucher]

I'm a typical leftover-hobbyist.

we (the band) were dreaming the 'rock'n'roll dream' and were close to a record deal 20 years ago. then 4 of 5 members didn't have the guts to jump on the train of going 'pro'.
two years ago we reformed and it's wonderful to have all those possibilities of digital recording in a quality we couldn't achieve back then. also we have the money now to buy the equipment/instruments we would have killed for in earlier days.

so my mindset is: we're recording a CD w/o compromises and don't have to give a f**k if anyone likes it or not, 'cause we don't (have to) do this for a living. we/I can now try to realize all the ideas I had in earlier days - and still have. the freedom of creativity. this makes me happy, actually.

[Pasha]

I quit playing in a band ten years ago.
Since then I never stopped composing but it was only in 2005 after
a long sabbatical from music that I came across Ableton and started
a new life. I like making music because I am that way.
When I'm finished making it I publish it on alonetone for free.
For me music it's fun and makes me happy.

[ikeaboy]

Some interesting replies. The reason I setup this topic is that i'm not sure how to promote myself. I'm not sure whether to keep it personal (just send demos to labels, keep it to myself), or just completely sell myself (put it out all over the net). No one can answer this for me. It has to be my choice, i know. It just seems very hard to promote yourself when there is millions of artists on myspace, soundcloud etc.. The reason I say this is that my music is very personal and i don't want to just throw it up everywhere. I look at Burial again. He didn't have much stuff on the net before Hyperdub came along. It seems to me that he kept it close to his chest, and sent it to one or two people. He didn't just throw it up all over the place.I'm very aware that you could be a brilliant artist, but if no one knows, well, what's the point. You do have to meet half-way. But I just don't feel uncomfortable with selling myself all over the place. Am I wrong thinking this? Do I need to snap out of it?

I always set this topic up to see how people feel regarding failure. Does anybody feel they failed if they never get recognition or signed? Or are simply people doing it for the simple pleasure of making music? I don't want it to feel that it was a waste of time if I don't get anything signed or if no one recognizes it.

I don't want to develop this minset that my music is a product, and i'm the factory mass producing it. I want it to kind of mean something.

Sorry if this sounds cheesy, or if im confusing anyone.

Hi. Burial's situation is an ideal one for most artists, I think. He was 'discovered' in the old school sense and all the messy stuff was taken care of by the label while he could be creative in anonymity. No doubt drawing encouragement from all the positive press and royalty cheques. At the same time (according to his interviews) he struggled for years, made a lot of dubstep speed stuff that sounded like Ed Rush which nobody wanted, but he kept plugging away with demos and so apparently could handle rejection. Dealing with rejection and being realistic I think is part of the key to the 'send demo to get on a label' approach. Burial was lucky to have created something the zeitgeist wanted at that moment so a label were willing to do the awkward stuff like promotion for him and I think it's foolish to aim to repeat that as it's largely decided by factors outside an artists control. Even the dubious tactic others employ of copying a successful style purely to achieve success is no longer a valid option because most peoples choices rely on hype by labels, bloggers and Dj's who's own reputation rests on weeding out the also rans.
In my opinion every artist suffers the fear of rejection and today's and tomorrows successful artists will be people who can overcome this fear to reach out to their prospective fans with music that stands on its own two feet. The modern music industry is about developing the artist fan relationship to a level where you receive the encouragement, financial or otherwise, to put your stuff out there.

[hussey]

Great reply Ikeaboy, thanks for taking the time to write that. Are you on Noiseguide? How are you getting on with Reason?