Getting Really Depressed When People Who Just Started Making Music Get Famous

[Guest ezkerraldean]

i have no problem with mount kimbie. they're pretty good. but when i read interviews with them and they're like 'oh i just started making tracks in 2007 w/fruity loops' and now they're The Bright Young Future of Electronic Music,

are they? ive never fakin' 'erd of 'em

[vamos scorcho]

yeah i do, if warp is first rate

 

just being real. does planet mu have that drukqs, confield, untilted, red snapper, geogaddi, prefuse 73, flying lotus, clark SQUAREPUSHER!???? level of quality to it?

 

 

Absolutely:

Lunatic Harness, Slag Boom van Loom,Geometry, most of Vibert's output on Mu, Swarm & Dither, Dynamic Obsolescence, the Blurring of Trees, The cures of Vale do Lobo, Sound Murderer...i mean..that's just scratching the surface of Mu's great and varied output.

I would consider Mu to be just as good as Warp and Rephlex.

[vamos scorcho]

whoops. meant to say:

 

i don't want to argue at all, to each his own, but i will say:

 

1. drukqs, confield, go plastic, ultravisitor, music has the right to children, geogaddi, come to daddy, and a bunch of great stuff not mentioned

 

vs.

 

2. Lunatic Harness, Slag Boom van Loom,Geometry, most of Vibert's output on Mu, Swarm & Dither, Dynamic Obsolescence, the Blurring of Trees, The cures of Vale do Lobo, Sound Murderer

 

i would easily take 1

[chenGOD]

i have no problem with mount kimbie. they're pretty good. but when i read interviews with them and they're like 'oh i just started making tracks in 2007 w/fruity loops' and now they're The Bright Young Future of Electronic Music,

are they? ive never fakin' 'erd of 'em

 

 

lol I know.

 

 

as to the debate: while I cannot deny that warp has put out a lot of great music, i can also say that mu has put out a lot of great music. Thus in my opinion, they are of equal caliber.

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

[marf]

i think if your music is great you wont have to market or sell yourself. It will come out that you make amazing stuff. Others will do the talking for you

[Guest Backson]

i actually just finished a pop music album - then deleted it from my website because it honestly felt like the biggest most ingenuine (phony - not genuine) sociopathic manipulative fucked up thing i'd ever done.

what an interesting week that must have been for you

[awepittance]

i think if your music is great you wont have to market or sell yourself. It will come out that you make amazing stuff. Others will do the talking for you

 

i dont think this is true for most successful musicians, it's important to a large degree to put yourself out there. If you make amazing music and only show it to a few friends, it doesn't matter how awesome it is you still need to promote yourself in some fashion.

[o00o]

being successful in music works the same way as every entrepreneurship

 

there is no magic to it and it does not fall from heaven

[o00o]

If you are not successful with it maybe the "product" is not good enough

 

You have to be better then the established ones no matter how small your "business" is and that all the time

 

If you are not you are soon cake

[impakt]

You have to suck major dick and hype yourself to get anywhere in this world. It's not for me.

[o00o]

spam is cold calling

 

this is the hardest way to do it

[lumpenprol]

you know what sucks even worse? being famous. I hate it, it's such a drag.

[TechDiff]

Aww, dont be sad =(

 

I do find it unusual, how an artist can apparently come out of nowhere and suddenly be championed all over the place as the next big thing.. Sometimes I can see what the appeal of their stuff is, other times it completely escapes me. But as someone on here mentioned already, it's worth taking comfort in the fact that often these people are pushed forward only because they are seen to be marketable at that point in time.

 

Even though this field of music is relatively small compared to the big business stuff, it would be naive to think that labels dont pick up artists for the one hit cash maker deal from time to time. Sometimes not even an artist, just 1 track. They see they can make some money of it and so release it.

 

But I guess solice can be found in the knowledge that so many of these acts will be forgotten about just as quickly. When someone is promoted purely from the momentum of 1 or 2 tracks then the pressure (perceived or otherwise) is on them to make more of the same. Quickly their sound becomes old and predictable, and the world moves on.

 

And I guess, by the same merit, an artist who is constantly slogging away, battling their way through all the crap and always making music they believe in, then it is their consistancy and established sound that will become their appeal. Something which will be found across all their material, regardless of style. Why Aphex always sounds like Aphex, whether its at 90 or 220 bpm.

 

But I think now, promotion is the nessesary evil. With the huge amount of people making music all over the world, and having hundreds of places online to share their creations, standing out is the hardest thing to do. But i think perhaps the old fashioned way is still the best way. Spamming tracks all over the web might get you noticed. Or might just go directly to peoples junk mail boxes. Gigging and gigging hard seems to be a far better way to get your name around, a better way to meet friends and people who might be interested in your music, and I think through an epicly loud PA is the best way for music to be heard. Will make a much greater impression than a 256 mp3 though some ipod phones or whatever. And if it means playing for free, paying your own transport, travelling hundreds of miles, consider it a long term investment, because you never know who might be listening.

 

With a greater impact, the ripples will have greater amplitude and spread further through the duck pond.

 

I think there probably is a handful of artists that have had this sudden appearance as "the next best thing", but I'd like to think that the majority of real established, influencial artists, have got to where they have by a shit load of hard hard work. But if that hard work is something you love, then it's all the fun of the fair!!

[kanarie]

I've been fiddling for roughly 16 years already, still no big hits. My purpose is mainly to enjoy myself with the nicest thing i can imagine to do, which happens to be fiddling with knobs trying to create some nice-sounding vibes (apart from the good old "other" knob-twiddling if i get the chance).

 

I have a general problem with people selling themselves.

 

How much i appreciate music depends on how little is done to sell it. That's one reason i like Ceephax so much. Apart from his music making skills obviously.

 

Ceephax started making music when he was 18, i don't know how old he is now but it's taken him at least 10 years to be where he's now. Haste is not a good thing when making music.

[kcinsu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_Oc0Y6ldg

 

sick!

[vamos scorcho]

i actually just finished a pop music album - then deleted it from my website because it honestly felt like the biggest most ingenuine (phony - not genuine) sociopathic manipulative fucked up thing i'd ever done.

what an interesting week that must have been for you

 

last night i reuploaded it minus the bullshit. it's an ongoing battle for me to figure out whether my creations are good, great, shit, boring, or what have you, so i take stuff down and reupload it constantly. i've got hours of music, hundreds of tracks from the past 8 months that i've finally sorted through to create a few albums, all different.

 

unrelated to topic i guess, but it's exciting for me to be done with this shit.

http://forum.watmm.com/topic/53891-corn-cat-dodeiale-official-album-release-thread/

 

(self promotion is unfortunate but necessary, very necessary, that is if you want to be heard. some people don't care).

 

i guess how this relates is that i posted this on a few websites and i can see the stats of how many times people listen to the songs. as of now, at about 7 hours after the albums were finished being uploaded, two songs have been listened to in full, and a several (not more than five or six) were skipped or partially played. skipped meaning less than 10% listened to. that's what makes me remember that people don't know what i'm about yet. i've heard all these songs many, many times and i know where they can take you. but people don't give them a chance because they're not being released on vinyl by a major label. all us serious, unsigned musicians probably know how this feels, to be disregarded and to feel under-appreciated. it gets difficult to stay confident while being realistic.

 

in this day and age, unsigned means you have to play shows, and you have to promote yourself in some way. i'm planning on getting signed, undoubtably. i don't want to play shows, ever, except for maybe djing at clubs. i'm 20 years old, i've been doing this for a year, and i'm only learning more and more about how to do it correctly. i believe that if anybody really truly wants something and is willing to work at it, they will achieve it. otherwise i would feel weak and sad.

 

edit

 

I've been doing "music" since I was 10, but I've been doing "trying to get noticed and taking music seriously as a career choice" for a year.

[Guest Super lurker ultra V12]

anyway there won't be many people that will be remembered in electronic music. or even other musics. anyway we're all gonna die so who fucking cares

7\

[Guest we_kill_soapscum]

my problem, ironically, has always been i dont CARE if people listen or not. i never give my work out, i never talk about it, i never self promote. i have friends who are exactly the opposite and have identified this as the main source of my misery. and i get depressed now not cuz im not famous, but because i want respect from other musicians. that is the number one thing i crave, and the only reason i'd want to be signed to warp or any label.

 

1. i love the new Ceephax. i love planet-mu, i love warp, i'd love to be on kompakt even if im not a huge fan of a lot of that micro stuff.

 

2. the funny part is, Awepittance, that often i wonder if artists like you who are using a machinedrum processed to infinity for their sounds ever resent someone like me who is pleased with himself if he makes a nice patch in some Plogue softsynth...much in the same way i might resent Johnny My-First-Samplepack who becomes the savior of DJs. and i agree that it really can be stomach turning when a homie, who you know is capable of so much more, plays you something pandering and is like "people will LOVE this!"

 

3. im NOT comforted by the idea of someone fading into obscurity the next year...that's depressing for entirely different reasons.

 

4. i consider myself very very lucky as someone who can make audio engineering their current job. DJing (or, even crazier, selling records?!) for a living seems like a pipe dream. again, all i want is for an artist who i like to be like 'i liiike you'

[Chris Moss Acid]

most of my 'success' has been brought down by one thing, having a laugh. if you cant have a laugh and start taking everything seriously, its a killer imo. and seeing ppl who take everything dead seriosuly is a lol in it's own.

[Guest we_kill_soapscum]

are you having a laugh?

[Guest mafted]

You have to suck major dick and hype yourself to get anywhere in this world. It's not for me.

 

yep, that seems very true.. and also why it's not for me.

[awepittance]

 

2. the funny part is, Awepittance, that often i wonder if artists like you who are using a machinedrum processed to infinity for their sounds ever resent someone like me who is pleased with himself if he makes a nice patch in some Plogue softsynth...much in the same way i might resent Johnny My-First-Samplepack who becomes the savior of DJs. and i agree that it really can be stomach turning when a homie, who you know is capable of so much more, plays you something pandering and is like "people will LOVE this!"

 

absolutely not, i hear presets in Autechre's music and i still love it. People using presets in and of itself doesn't bother me.

[Chris Moss Acid]

are you having a laugh?

 

 

no im serious.

[Guest Enter a new display name]

Isn't self promotion a sure way to not gain popularity? Whenever I see some guy promote his free album (or should I say spam) on last.fm or in my inbox, it is the worst possible way to convince me to give it a listen. In my case, I never seem to consider unsigned music. As for MySpace pages, I am totally sick of it and the sound quality makes my ears bleed.

 

I always thought that a more efficient way to spread your sound is being heard of from a reputable source, like Boomkat/Bleep/Pitchfork, or get signed to a respected label.