Then tell me x
post one of your tracks as a reply to this comment please 
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Most people overestimate the genious of their music. Most stuff just isn‘t all that good. It doesn‘t mean one should not release it, just don‘t expect it to blow up.
For me it rather a gateway for connecting with likeminded people. You really can‘t control if you struck something profund in others. Do it wirh effort and heart and maybe you are lucky.
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Another element that got me thinking at times is how you approach the music making. I have no doubt that many successful acts are solely thinking about the audience when they compose, record and arrange. Things like “This will be boring, I’ll make it shorter” or “It will be cool to have a retro lead line here” are speaking to what you think the audience expectations are, not your own. Other people make the music that they would like to listen to - if your taste is that of the 0.5% of the audience (and you don’t have to be too strange to be in that situation), it will be difficult to get to those few scattered people that may like it, and you have the danger of self-complacency. It’s a thin line to walk.
Conversely, if you try to get to large audiences, you can be easily lost in the overabundance of copycats, some of them with huge budgets to support their work, and you’re more of a worker than an artist, in my opinion - innovation and creativity will be severely limited. Less of a Van Gogh and more of a painter of hunting scenes for dining rooms, but making a living and getting more recognition.
Your references, popular or not, will inevitably influence what you do either way.
It is a continuum, and maybe the only recipe is staying true to one’s gut feeling, irrespective of the outcome. Do you feel proud and enjoy making it. Brain or heart. Etc.
I don’t know. Just musings anyway.
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Most has been said already but:
- The majority of your favourite artists probably don’t earn much money compared to other jobs and probably have to have other jobs. A great many musicians teach or do something else as well. Or live in poverty (which is sadly very common among artists).
- A great number of amazing artists were only discovered late or even after their deaths.
- The most important thing is making great art which means communicating ideas and emotions.
- Bringing joy or change to one or two people through art is enough. You can even count yourself as one of these people.
- Great art will often be shared if it’s good enough. I would say 99.99% of the music people share on here isn’t remotely good or interesting enough.
- Playing with or in front of people live is by far the greatest way to improve. This includes in-person music lessons.
- Playing in front of people live is also the greatest route to success and much more likely to bring it (if you’re good enough) than posting online.
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There’s a photography channel I enjoy (EYExplore) that touched on something I believe artists sometimes lose sight of: the importance of giving in order to connect.
If one’s trying to stand out as an artist, I believe it’s important for them to give back. Share work to inspire others, create work that betters a community, risk something, etc.
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There are two kind of music, the genuine artistic expression, and… the ego & politics driven horse shit.
(There used to be something in between, but not anymore)
If you want massive recognition, following and money choose the latter.
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I completely disagree with this. Mastering an instrument is a pathway to success.
People take notice of excellence.
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Got links?
know who your audience is (the kind of people who like your music), and reach out to them.
and never underestimate the power of defining yourself accurately
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So you disagree to something I haven’t said. Cool!
Only soulless aristocrats care about virtuoso excellence to the point of paying to watch them or hear them.
Regular people just scroll them on TikTok.
Being a virtuoso doesn’t automatically make you able to spit out meaningful art.
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While this is certainly true, it’s not necessarily a strategy for success. Voices, vocals and lyrics are polarizing and highly subjective. If you don’t like them, you’re out immediately, even if you like the instrumental sound.
Also: most of my music has vocals and still nobody cares 
. I still think it helps distinguish it a bit and makes it more personal. But also takes a bit more guts to share imo, as you feel more exposed somehow.
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…attention economy IS WHAT IT IS…
no one can tell, which content (and that IS what IT IS, ALL sorts of music is nothing but content, ALL sorts of videosnippets is nothing but content and content can be anything as long it’s digestable, controversil, engaging, catches some inbetween attention) will hit the magic button we call VIRAL these days…
the liberation of tools is in essence a good thing we call progress…
but since humans have entered the next chapter in history, that age of information, enabling EVERYBODY to give their creative flows, whatever they might be, a TRY, that void ur feeling is actually exactly that…a VOID…
cat content still beats any no matter how well crafted piece of music…sad but truu…and since everybody uses pretty much the same tools, all results tend to end up same same but different in the endleass see of uberdiversifivation…
around 50thousand new releases of highest hopes every single day…
so, at least, u can say…i’m not alone…
meanwhile, i’m happy, i’m too old for all that next and pretty much last level of attention economy on steroids…
only way out and around IS direct realtime interaction, that old fashion way some still remember while the vast. majority never experienced it yet)…the real power of music can only be felt in realtime within a crowd…live entertainment is the last stand…
and yesh, just twiddeling knobs is not really what u might wanna call “entertainment”…
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Just made one so far
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Not enough dancing/movement/reaction to the music on that video. Other than that, dope.
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Thank you for the feedback! I hope to improve over time.
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Just move your arm a bit, especially at the end at the song climax 
Edit: in other words, what I’m trying to say is the music sparked a reaction in my body to dance. But then got a bit of a disappointment when you placed your arms on your knees. Maybe your head was moving to the music, but it cannot be seen from the video, so the arms would have conveyed the message the brain expects to see… makes sense?
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An extra note to all this: maybe the most important thing is not just getting known but working on how long you’re going to be remembered for? Fame when alive and putting stuff out is often shortlived with the greatest impact coming afterwards (if anyone remembers you).
My wife recently played clarinet at a local garden’s open day and there was a seven year old there who I asked if she had any requests. She said “Beautiful things” which I know is by Benson Boone because I listen to a lot of pop music and I said to my wife “he’s the guy who did the backflips when we saw him supporting Taylor Swift”. The seven year old said “who’s Taylor Swift?”.
I’m not sure how many records I love will actually be timeless. Heaven or Las Vegas? Ys? It’s often the ones that sound unlike anything else. There’s others like Donuts and 808s and Heartbreak* that are timeless in that weird way where they’ve completely changed the musical landscape though they themselves will be forgotten eventually. Ocassionally you get someone like Joni Mitchell who writes great songs that get picked up into the folk tradition and get covered so much they become timeless. Or same with Thelonious Monk and standards.
Maybe write music thinking “if I did suddenly get heard, what would people think ten, twenty or fifty years later?”
*Footnote: also don’t screw it up by doing bad human things if you do happen to release possibly the greatest six album run of all time.
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Totally makes sense, and I really appreciate your input!
A friend of mine also performs music acts, and when you watch him, he looks like he’s cooking (he’s actually a professional cook in life), going from one machine to another, changing things here and there. And that’s very entertaining to see, you can easily relate what you see to what you hear.
I know there is room for improvement for me in this area. The thing is, I needed so much concentration to perform that bit, that it was hard to actually think of anything else. But I hope that, with practice, it will not be so demanding for my brain to perform. And maybe I will be able to just enjoy, which I expect will be reflected in my body language.
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