if no one was ever going to hear your music would you still make music?

[Hink]

I asked this many years ago, instead of digging for the thread I thought I would ask again to see how people feel today. The question doesn't need much explaining and there is no right answer, just curious

[cryophonik]

Yeah, definitely. I make my music available for listening, but I don't do much to promote it because it's not really a high priority for me to make sure that it is heard. Don't get me wrong, though, I do appreciate that people take the time to listen to it, but I would continue to create it and make it available even if my Soundcloud showed zero plays.

[Sendy]

Oh, absolutely. To me the analagy is "Would you explore the unknown lands beyond your home territory if there were no others to report your findings to?". That sense of excitement when I've set something up, it feels like I'm the first person to discover a place, it's an amazing feeling. When I stop to savour the moment, just looking at what I have on the screen and listening through, savouring it, it's like I'm camped out in this beautiful new landscape. Just me and the music.

[Gone soft]

Very few hear my "music", and those who do generally don't care much for most of it beyond how much it means to me - so certainly yes. Some of it I don't even care for listening to myself even, but for some reason I seem compelled to keep experimenting with sound manipulation software as a fascinating journey in itself more or less no matter the result. At times I'd almost swear it was a sickness of some sort..

I certainly hope it'll grow into something that can be appreciated by others given more experience and knowledge, but I'm pretty sure I'll stick with it even if it shouldn't.

[rpm]

Good question, made me realize that I do love music simply for its own sake. I really enjoy hearing the sounds I create. It's wonderful to be appreciated as a songwriter but I would certainly be making music if I knew for sure no one would be hearing it.

[ras.s]

Probably not. Music's about channeling and communication and yea sure, I like talking to myself, but it gets too psychotic after too long.

[RunBeerRun]

I don't see how that's possible. You're going to regularly talk to people, show them the music.

I think the polar opposite is the only way you'd lose-bragging about it loudly instead of actually getting anywhere. Like, Elvis was good, but he's remembered as a glutton & a wreck. If he really meant it, he would have steered WAY off the course he was going.

[Ranjarresh]

My music is my exploration. It leads me to my own discoveries, and resulting "product" is just derivate.

[UltimateOutsider]

First few years I was writing and recording literally no one did hear what I was doing. But music was pretty close to my only way of personal expression at the time, so creative expression felt like more of a need than a desire.

Even when I was in bands, I always enjoyed the musical creation process more than the performance/sharing.

I have lots more forms of self-expression now (and a lot fewer things to complain about, and a lot less time to complain about them in), so the songwriting has slowed down considerably. (Which is just as well, considering I've spent the last couple years focusing purely on developing technical skills.) Most of the song ideas I get now are entirely musical, whereas before it was always the words that came first.

TL;DR answer: yes

[Tricky-Loops]

If I were the only one laughing about my songs, I'd rather watch comedy shows...

[AstralExistence]

if were being honest and not bullshitting then no. somebody has to listen.

[Numanoid]

Q: if no one was ever going to hear your music would you still make music?

A: Of course I would, my own enjoyment is the main reason

[ghettosynth]

Since nobody hears my music, that I know of, and I continue to make music, I suppose yes. But honestly, I haven't really liked much of anything that I've done for a few years now. There was a time when I felt somewhat differently so I suspect that not liking my own stuff has something to do with not caring whether other people hear it or not. Or, to be more honest, not wanting people to listen to it and connect it to me. That's why there's no music on the web labeled "ghettosynth's music." It's also why I've not actually contributed to the one synth challenge, even though I've started to do so a few times.

In fact, I think the opposite. Not allowing people to hear what I'm currently doing gives me the freedom to not care about what people may think. If I were forced to let others hear what I'm doing now, I think that I would probably stop or do something completely different.

[Sendy]

When you dance, do you need an audience?

I think, for me, while there is a joy in sharing with others, getting praise for what you do, etc.. It's sort of compartmentalized. I don't let that feedback loop circuit close, letting the audience expectation feed into it's creation. That has happened a few times and it honestly throws me for a loop (sometimes quite literally).

Sure, positive comments fan my ego (let's be honest here) and part of me wants to make a mark on music history, no matter how small and insignificant. But that whole system is seperated in my mind from the creative loop of music exploration, such that I can quantify how much joy I get both from the creation and the satisfaction of sharing and recognition, etc.

And honestly I feel the joy of creation cannot be beat.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Yeah, i would