Best places to post up music, for people to actually listen/comment

[hotmitts]

So....I've recorded a few songs, put huge amount of hours and care into them, learning how to play/sing/arrange/mix better. And I'm pretty proud of them, they're a pleasant listen I'd say.
Posting them in the music cafe got me 300 views ..and 3 replies. Now that seems average, unless there's something really hot. So maybe that isn't the best place to post? I'd really like some comments/ feedback to what I consider decent music, some sign that people are enjoying it in some way....I'm not really planning on making money...but there has to be some sort of goal
So there must be millions of us who feel the same ?! Where do we go?
The one though I was to post on a specific forum..for instance, I'm into that kind of classic rock from the 60's-70's, maybe the best bet is to find a forum which caters for that niche....I've just no a big experience of this side of it..

What are people's thoughts ? Where do you post/ what do you expect (if anything) ?

[tehlord]

You need to think about what you're asking for. It actually takes quite a long time to listen to and critique somebody else's track, and that feedback usually comes from spending a lot of your own time critiquing other peoples tracks.

There isn't a single place on the internet that I've come across that you can go to and magically receive listens, comments and attention to your music, unless you put the time in yourself.

If you do put the time in yourself, then this is one of the best places I know of.

[hotmitts]

You need to think about what you're asking for. It actually takes quite a long time to listen to and critique somebody else's track, and that feedback usually comes from spending a lot of your own time critiquing other peoples tracks.
There isn't a single place on the internet that I've come across that you can go to and magically receive listens, comments and attention to your music, unless you put the time in yourself.

If you do put the time in yourself, then this is one of the best places I know of.

Thanks for replying, Tehlord.
Of course you're right, and I hadn't given it enough thought. I did listen to a few tracks and comment, but only very recently.
My only defence is that for once I was getting down to the music and it's been taking up a lot more time to get things finished than I thought. I mean, I've been doing it for years and years but there's still everything to learn about mixing. Barely time to listen to much else, it seemed, but I found a few things here that are amazing, I mean, blimey there's some talented people here!

[AstralExistence]

cold hard truth. soundcloud: good music gets comments with less effort. bad music get comments and reviews from doing other reviews with a lot of effort and review time put in. the best bedroom/unsigned tracks only are popular for a couple weeks. dont kid yourself, popularity is entirely based on others opinion. youtube/social media: don't bother with the whole music protection thing. post a track and put a download link to you song. dont expect your song to go viral or even get over 200 views. accept that you write music for yourself and not others, write more music without giving a shit what people think.

[AstralExistence]

I'm not really planning on making money...but there has to be some sort of goal
So there must be millions of us who feel the same ?! Where do we go?

the goal is to release creativity. its that simple. if your going to expect to rise to the top you need to be 3/4ths of the way up the mountain already. if not, your just a mountain climber who enjoy climbing mountains who like every other mountain climber, wishes to one day conquer mount everest. i know thats sounds a bit harsh, but many its so true. there no worse feeling in the world of putting your heart and soul into a piece and then getting very little reviews makes you feel like shit but realize producing is your own time set aside for yourself don't make it about others make it about yourself, and 'this is what i enjoy' or else, you will just make yourself feel miserable and an inadequate musician.

[wachimol]

getting attention on the internet from music you post is a very frustrating ordeal with little to no return. It's different from visual art where people can take a quick glance at something and say whether they like it or not. Listening to music takes time, and if your music is 5-8 minutes, that's asking for a lot of attention out of someone. Don't expect much, write music for yourself, any attention given is just an added bonus of doing well (or doing really really bad, as it seems the polar opposites get the most feedback.)

[jsd]

So....I've recorded a few songs, put huge amount of hours and care into them, learning how to play/sing/arrange/mix better. And I'm pretty proud of them, they're a pleasant listen I'd say.
Posting them in the music cafe got me 300 views ..and 3 replies. Now that seems average, unless there's something really hot. So maybe that isn't the best place to post? I'd really like some comments/ feedback to what I consider decent music, some sign that people are enjoying it in some way....I'm not really planning on making money...but there has to be some sort of goal
So there must be millions of us who feel the same ?! Where do we go?
The one though I was to post on a specific forum..for instance, I'm into that kind of classic rock from the 60's-70's, maybe the best bet is to find a forum which caters for that niche....I've just no a big experience of this side of it..

What are people's thoughts ? Where do you post/ what do you expect (if anything) ?

There's no substitute for elbow grease. If you want people to listen and talk back you have to market yourself relentlessly. If there's one lesson I could send back in time to myself 20 years ago it's "put as much effort into the marketing as the music, if not more."

My wife just started fiction writing and she spends most of her days on twitter, facebook, forums, yahoo groups, building up a social network. She's got close to 1000 followers on twitter now. I've been writing electronic music for 20 years, I have dozens of releases, and I'm still virtually unknown. She's lapped me in just one year because she put the effort into it.

The only time I got any attention is when I worked with a very well known musician with a built in fanbase.

If you don't want to spend your time marketing, and I totally don't blame you, then expect to keep getting what you're getting. I made my peace with it a long time ago.

Now, interest/feedback and money are two different things. If you want to make money, that's a whole other discussion. The answer there is easy: licensing and playing live. You will not make any money just putting music on bandcamp/iTunes. I wrote 20 seconds of music for a TV show back in 2000 and I still get royalty checks for that every quarter like clockwork. I'm signed up with Music Dealers and Rumblefish and SoundExchange. That's where all the money is coming from. (Not that much of it, but it's non-zero, and that's comforting. Actually depending on the quarter, Rumblefish has been quite good lately.)

When I played live a lot I got a lot of interest. I'm not into that scene any more. I'm too old and lazy, My direct sales have dried up commensurately.

Good luck with it, but don't fool yourself - there's a reason they call it the music BUSINESS.. if you're not prepared to do the business part, you won't reap the rewards.

[Dremix]

I know the feeling. Like you I also spend a lot of time in making music but still struggle to get my mixes right. Mostly I put my music on soundcloud and no it doesn't give you tons of feedback but like others say if you give feedback to others they will listen to your sounds also.

I make music in a lot of different styles and most are own creations but I made 2 mixes of existing songs and those get far the most attention. And some of those listeners do listen to some of my own tracks and if you're lucky you will get some feedback.

I don't know if you are on soundcloud(ah I now see you do ) but I would listen to your tracks if you want. My musical taste is very wide.

Regards,

Andreas

[Sendy]

The usual trend in music comminuties is a "one hand washes the other" style where you as a newcomer listen to other's work and comment on it then after you've done that enough, you can post your own work and hopefully others will return the favour.

Of course, if you're like me, you find it difficult to talk about music, because talking about music (actual music, not music production and technicals) is like cycling about maths to me - my opinion of a piece can vary and often I've told someone I don't like something because of reason "x" only to regret it the next day and retract my statement making me look flakey and shallow.

It's one thing to be a musician and another to be a music critic. So instead I'm active in other forums and try and help out whenever I can. I've recieved a lot of emails thanking me for my input but that really hasn't translated into listens, because it seems the music posting forum and other forums are two different worlds with two different sets of personalities with a small crossover

I can also tell you from experience that positive encouragement can drive you mad, because it will at some point possibly dry up. All throughout the late 90's and early noughties I was winning competitions, I had fans writing to me, I was nearly signed to a couple of mid-sized lables, lots of rave reviews and the true mark of success - the odd person trying to talk you down from what you're doing by equating you to a ripoff of artist X (trust me, you're really onto something when people go out of their way to try and stop you doing it!).

I also had a large number of people I spoke to on Yahoo - musicians, listeners, we'd do tape exchanges and talk about music and yadda yadda.

Now, when all this stops, it's only human to wonder if you've just lost it. The truth is people are just busier these days. There's less time for music as it's all work, work, work to save the economy! I still have a decent and growing number of listeners on Soundcloud (including some of my musical "heroes") but the verbiosity, the constant affirmation of "I love what you're doing, please do more!" isn't quite there.

It's been hard coping without that support, or rather, that measure of support, because I'm somewhat socially isolated and live in a cultural black hole (it's pretty much goth rock or chav beats round here) and I meet very few people who think the kind of music I make is "cool"

Fu<k me this is long isn't it!... lol... anyway the moral is, you're ultimately making music for yourself, up until that moment you're under a contract or have a paying audience to please. When you start writing a track remember the only think you can guarantee is that you'll satisfy yourself - if that isn't enough, prepare for some harrowing times

[Daniel Pompougnac]

Apology about my poor english language, sorry. English langage is a strange language

OK, it's not easy to obtain comments, reviews, etc.
Sometimes, you can read some comments (kind or not) from... musicians. (Music Cafe, Soundclick, Kara-moon, Jamendo and a lot of others).

But, more, TimFraman, how to be listened by people who aren't musicians ? Youtube, DailyMotion. Yes. but there's a lot of good music on Youtube, millions and millions pieces (and good clips).

Thirty years ago, no Internet. To be listened, the only way was self production, or tapes to Labels, concerts. Now, it's... the same way, I'm afraid.

A book lives only if it's read, had said I don't know who.
I think a piece lives only if it's listened. But there's too much music.
It's a very good new, but how to be listened ?

I don't like create pieces only for me. When I create a piece, I imagine people listening my music.

[hotmitts]

Thanks for the replies. Very interesting! I can see what you're saying, AstralExistence and Wachimol, it's got to be about pleasing yourself, but I do agree with Daniel Pompougnac that you need a listener for the music to 'come to life'. You kind of hope that the listener will get that 'original spark' that made you do it (it seems hard to feel that original spark yourself after listening over and over to your own stuff)
Thanks for the story, jsd, yes, networking isn't the most natural of things if like me you're a grumpy old b*st*rd, or perhaps, a musician who just like to play to let off steam...it does seem to be the way of all things now though, andin a way it's always been like that ...it can be the confident, even arrogant ones that find more success over those who'd just rather do it and not talk about it.

[jsd]

Thanks for the story, jsd, yes, networking isn't the most natural of things if like me you're a grumpy old b*st*rd, or perhaps, a musician who just like to play to let off steam...it does seem to be the way of all things now though, andin a way it's always been like that ...it can be the confident, even arrogant ones that find more success over those who'd just rather do it and not talk about it.

It always is

I've watched firsthand as glib talkers took the product of me and my mates in the studio and turned it into their cash cow, cutting us pretty much completely out of the picture.

Anyway, there is NOTHING wrong with being "a musician who just likes to play to let off steam". Just accept that you won't have a lot of people talking about you, and if you're trying to make money, it won't happen.

I write music now because I can't not write music. If it makes me happy, that's all that matters. I have a day job to pay the bills, and I got to live out some of my rock star fantasies (many years ago now, but at least I did have a go at it), so it's all good.

[hotmitts]

Fu<k me this is long isn't it!... lol...

That was a moving story Sendy! Thanks for telling.

[hotmitts]

I have a day job to pay the bills, and I got to live out some of my rock star fantasies (many years ago now, but at least I did have a go at it), so it's all good.

Nice! Good on you jsd. There are probably more people appreciating it than you realise, I'm guessing.

Listening to the few things I have, I realise there really is some good stuff out there by others,( then listening back to my own I noticed the bad bits/muddy mix/songs that could be 100 times better....I was so determined to actually finish something, like a mad professor in the shed....no perspective, I didn't really care if it was good or bad, just finished!)
Anyway, I feel that I have a little more perspective now, so this all helps, thank you folks.

[jsd]

I have a day job to pay the bills, and I got to live out some of my rock star fantasies (many years ago now, but at least I did have a go at it), so it's all good.

Nice! Good on you jsd. There are probably more people appreciating it than you realise, I'm guessing.

You mean the dirty pirates?

Listening to the few things I have, I realise there really is some good stuff out there by others,( then listening back to my own I noticed the bad bits/muddy mix/songs that could be 100 times better....I was so determined to actually finish something, like a mad professor in the shed....no perspective, I didn't really care if it was good or bad, just finished!)
Anyway, I feel that I have a little more perspective now, so this all helps, thank you folks.

One more piece of advice: enter contests. I've entered several remix contests, and won 2. I got a signed poster, some CDs, a t-shirt. Even better is knowing that musicians you respect listened to your stuff and thought it was good.

I just entered the KVR One Synth Challenge for the first time and my track got 28 comments on soundcloud! That's about 26 more than the usual.

BTW, my soundcloud page is https://soundcloud.com/basskitten/

Send me yours and I'll listen to your stuff. I'll even try to comment! See, this is how you build your social network