I have no aspirations to make money from music, I just enjoy the process of creating and occasionally low-key release things via bandcamp. There are a few aspects to the music making cycle and writing and release that keeps me interested and give me motivation at the start of making an EP/album but also mean that as I approach the finish line I then start to get excited about the next one I’ll be doing. The three things are:
I limited myself to just a few sound sources for each release (usually a couple hardware, a couple software) as I enjoy really exploring what they can do. So, I’ve got a nice cycle and getting really deep, but then moving onto something else which freshens things up.
I always have a theme or a topic that I want to explore with each EP/album - not necessarily some grandiose prog-rock thing. It might be doing an EP inspired by a particular visual artist, it might be inspired by a particular film, it might be revisiting old songs, it might be about particular events. But always just something that helps guide or inspire me.
I tend to move to a rough stylistic approach. Not to piegeon hole anything into a ultra-tight genre limitation. Rather, I might do something ambient, or I might do something more upbeat, or something more melodic… it helps with cohesion.
It also means that when I’m commuting, stuck in boring meetings or what have you, I can let my mind wander towards either what I’m working on, or thinking about the next thing. It feels slightly more healthy than GAS - although I do that too…
Gear should be a tool to inspire, not motivate. If your motivation to make music depends on new gear, I’d say there’s a lack of creativity going on.
I personally don’t need motivation to make music, it is part of of my daily routine. How fast a track is finished depends on the idea, but I generally tend to make a track or two every week. Some turn out to be release worthy, others are more like getting an idea out regardless of it being a successful experiment or not. It’s all about feeling.
Honestly I wish I had motivation to not make music sometimes as I kinda have to be made aware by my gf that we should do something fun together.
This is my first post since I’ve rejoined the forum so I thought I’d share 3 things that keep me motivated…
Connecting with myself: I sometimes feel like I lose myself in stressful situations of modern life and society. When I make music it can be like finding myself again. I feel so peaceful after doing it. If I go more than a week without making music, I begin to feel like I’m not myself and can start to feel quite grumpy.
Connecting with other people: I used to be a bit cynical about connecting with other musicians online as I felt a lot of it was a bit fake where people were just pretending to be nice to get more followers, likes etc. However, I’ve really enjoyed connecting with other musicians online recently and this is the main reason I’ve rejoined this forum. With the way the industry has been going and AI becoming ubiquitous, I feel like community is the way forward for musicians. I’m more interested these days in supporting non-established musicians and small labels than I am in finding music from large labels. I’ve had some very nice interactions with musicians on YouTube where I really felt a sense of mutual appreciation and support, I really enjoyed their music, and I felt like they are people I would really enjoy meeting in person.
Positive energy: Music simply fills me with positive energy and it just occurred to me recently that even if I never shared it with people, in a way I still would be because when I am peaceful and friendly around people, this is a lot because of the fact that I am filled with the positive energy I received from making music. I like to think of it as my life force.
Last time I was on this forum, I was going through a difficult time where I felt a lot of anger towards certain things happening on a global scale. Because of this, I think I may have been a bit grumpy with 1 or 2 of my interactions with others here. I have since found peace, particularly through avoiding the kind of negative news and social media that was triggering me. I feel a lot more peaceful and filled with positive energy. I’ve been reading this forum and sensing something similar from people here, so I’m really happy to rejoin this community of people who really care about music and creativity. I wouldn’t say I’m alone in not having people in my daily life who do what I do, so it’s nice to be connected with others who also spend a lot of time thinking about music, sound and electronic instruments.
Welcome back ! I share your thoughts and also appreciate this place and having music in my life for the same reasons.
It sounds like you could be interested in participating in this little adventure, that channels a lot of positive energy around music and helps us to get to know each other a bit better:
I also just read this:
And want to say that this is also a main driver for me to make music or finish things! I think it helps keep the mind busy with something that makes sense and is positive instead of a lot of the negative forces trying to distract us out there.
Thanks @Azzarole. I love the idea of this thread and will definitely participate. I also really like what you pointed out about thinking about what we’re working on because it reminds me that I don’t do that enough. I make music as it happens in the moment and often my thoughts away from it can be GAS, so I think it would be helpful for me to think more about what I am working on during my daily life.
Thanks mate. I have times like that too. There have been times when even finding a few minutes in 1 day/week to do something has been enough to recharge my battery. I’ve been reading this forum often even when I wasn’t a member and it has helped to keep it lit for me too, just reading thoughts from people that are similar to mine, finding inspiration or learning something new.
I get this and feel the same that making music is the reward. I’ve never had a time in my life where I felt like I lost the motivation to make music, I always need to make it and struggle with finding enough time to do it. However, there are times when I simply feel low in energy due to a bad day at work or something and in that moment I might not be feeling so motivated, so I think about how I usually feel after making music and push myself to simply turn on a machine or whatever. I can find myself going from sinking in my chair with no energy to being suddenly in the flow, so it’s nice to find motivation in those moments. Also, I have found that even though the music itself is the reward and I would do it even if no one heard it, connecting with other people through music can give me positive energy and inspiration whenever I don’t have time to make music.
Not wanting to depend on others’ music for, say, videos of me playing games (or filming/clipping something I find interesting) or for other projects like with game dev. Simply because it’d save me headaches with licensing and potential quarrels with artists that may not prefer to be associated with my work.
Unfortunately I am succumbing to the GAS but I’m finding that I’m just in between a lot of things right now.
! I share your thoughts and also appreciate this place and having music in my life for the same reasons.