Hi All!
How do you know when uploading to Distrokid / iTunes etc that your work is production-wise up to scratch or musically for that matter?
There doesn't seem to be anyone vetting this stuff so you never know. Your friends and family are obviously in the large proportion of cases gonna say your stuff is amazing. Back before uploading your material existed, you'd have to send a demo off to a record company and they'd tell you whether it cut the mustard, if it did musically then they'd probably offer you a deal and then a top producer would produce it if the record company thought production-wise it wasn't up to the standard they expected.
I personally think this automatic assumption your music is fantastic and being able to upload it regardless is ruining the music industry. It's getting to the point now where you never know the quality or standard of anything released.
Thoughts?
Digital Music Uploading Quandary
-
Eclectrophonic Eclectrophonic https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=336599
- KVRist
- 330 posts since 24 Aug, 2014
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
gatekeepers?
no thanks.
if previous to the ability to upload, all the music you ever heard released was awesome, you may have a point.
but as its mostly about sales than music, then music loses out, as theres no growth.
imo.
but...
even before the interwebs, we had indie/diy, thank god! meaning we didnt have to suffer the gate keepers chouce alone.
no thanks.
if previous to the ability to upload, all the music you ever heard released was awesome, you may have a point.
but as its mostly about sales than music, then music loses out, as theres no growth.
imo.
but...
even before the interwebs, we had indie/diy, thank god! meaning we didnt have to suffer the gate keepers chouce alone.
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
and now, im going to shagg you 
-
- KVRAF
- 6402 posts since 8 Jun, 2009
I think blanket assumptions make threads like this even more tedious.Eclectrophonic wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 2:51 pm I personally think this automatic assumption your music is fantastic and being able to upload it regardless is ruining the music industry.
Albums like Metallica's Death Magnetic went through numerous people and still sounds horrible.
However, if it worries you, pay someone to check the material.
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
careful, lars will hunt you downGamma-UT wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 3:24 pm
Albums like Metallica's Death Magnetic went through numerous people and still sounds horrible.
-
- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
up to scratch musically, it's not for me to gauge that for someone else...
There's a whole lot of garbage being produced, distributed and sold and doing quite well.
There was something brought up here a couple years back regarding a youtube post of a popular song with over 2 billion views;
and I would not say it was up to snuff as a production worth a shit (shocking: horrible clipping, muddy mix, dodgy decisions, a drums treatment that someone should have said hell no to, as though they were shrunk to doll-size and stuffed in a dirty clothes hamper and recorded with a rutabaga) and musically kind of average, nothing special very evident there IMO.
And some people will argue that's all groundbreaking production.
I recommend getting a more secure sense of your 'worth' by your own lights before thinking about how you match the marketplace
There's a whole lot of garbage being produced, distributed and sold and doing quite well.
There was something brought up here a couple years back regarding a youtube post of a popular song with over 2 billion views;
and I would not say it was up to snuff as a production worth a shit (shocking: horrible clipping, muddy mix, dodgy decisions, a drums treatment that someone should have said hell no to, as though they were shrunk to doll-size and stuffed in a dirty clothes hamper and recorded with a rutabaga) and musically kind of average, nothing special very evident there IMO.
And some people will argue that's all groundbreaking production.
I recommend getting a more secure sense of your 'worth' by your own lights before thinking about how you match the marketplace
Last edited by jancivil on Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
experimental.crow experimental.crow https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6258
- KVRAF
- 6895 posts since 9 Mar, 2003 from the bridge of sighs
ask us ...
we're honest , to a fault ...
we're honest , to a fault ...
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
i think people get the impression im not sometimes, because i rarely find anything bad.
mainly, because i avoid commenting on things i have nothing nice to say.
but also, i like weird, quirky shit! so if it doesnt sound like boring radio music, chances are im going to enjoy it in some fashion.
the point here being, this is why gatekeepers is a bad idea!!!!
-
experimental.crow experimental.crow https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6258
- KVRAF
- 6895 posts since 9 Mar, 2003 from the bridge of sighs
yes , but you're a muppet ...vurt wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:13 pmi think people get the impression im not sometimes, because i rarely find anything bad.
mainly, because i avoid commenting on things i have nothing nice to say.
but also, i like weird, quirky shit! so if it doesnt sound like boring radio music, chances are im going to enjoy it in some fashion.
the point here being, this is why gatekeepers is a bad idea!!!!
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
i agreeexperimental.crow wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:17 pmyes , but you're a muppet ...vurt wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:13 pmi think people get the impression im not sometimes, because i rarely find anything bad.
mainly, because i avoid commenting on things i have nothing nice to say.
but also, i like weird, quirky shit! so if it doesnt sound like boring radio music, chances are im going to enjoy it in some fashion.
the point here being, this is why gatekeepers is a bad idea!!!!
-
- KVRAF
- 4330 posts since 20 Feb, 2004
Indeed, we all have opinions here and we're not afraid to use them
A well-behaved signature.
-
- KVRAF
- 8075 posts since 9 Jan, 2003 from Saint Louis MO
Lots of things have ruined the music industry, starting with being an "industry."Eclectrophonic wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 2:51 pm I personally think this automatic assumption your music is fantastic and being able to upload it regardless is ruining the music industry. It's getting to the point now where you never know the quality or standard of anything released.
Go back and listen to several hundred big-label music releases from the 80s and earlier, and tell me with a straight face that 100% of it was high quality and had artistic merit or whatever
Lack of confidence is far more common, and more destructive to creativity, than overconfidence. People who let doubt stop them don't take creative risks, they play it safe -- or they just give up.
-
Eclectrophonic Eclectrophonic https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=336599
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 330 posts since 24 Aug, 2014
Well I think 80's music largely is better than some of the drivel you get now. The music industry (don't shoot me here) mostly is a shambles lol!foosnark wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:46 pmLots of things have ruined the music industry, starting with being an "industry."Eclectrophonic wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 2:51 pm I personally think this automatic assumption your music is fantastic and being able to upload it regardless is ruining the music industry. It's getting to the point now where you never know the quality or standard of anything released.
Go back and listen to several hundred big-label music releases from the 80s and earlier, and tell me with a straight face that 100% of it was high quality and had artistic merit or whatever
Lack of confidence is far more common, and more destructive to creativity, than overconfidence. People who let doubt stop them don't take creative risks, they play it safe -- or they just give up.
I can't think of any great bands that have formed over the past 5 yrs, can you? well Liam Gallagher is decent but he was already established in his own right so can't count him and his band.
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
the 80s was awesome! we got joe dolces shuddupayaface!
-
- addled muppet weed
- 111299 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
i suppose if you're looking to fit in to somewhere it might matter, but dont listeners then decide?
good stuff gets recommended, bad stuff doesn't.
i personally have no desire to fit anywhere, i like trying different things. it often has a signature sound, where my guitar stuff for example isn't a million miles away from my modular jams, bit they are obviously different.
sometime i might want to do more digital glitchy business. or 4/4 ... whatever.
so i dont really worry about a market, i do it because i enjoy it. i share it because someone might enjoy it
although, in these days of "going viral" doing something absolutely terrible, gets you noticed too.
good stuff gets recommended, bad stuff doesn't.
i personally have no desire to fit anywhere, i like trying different things. it often has a signature sound, where my guitar stuff for example isn't a million miles away from my modular jams, bit they are obviously different.
sometime i might want to do more digital glitchy business. or 4/4 ... whatever.
so i dont really worry about a market, i do it because i enjoy it. i share it because someone might enjoy it
although, in these days of "going viral" doing something absolutely terrible, gets you noticed too.