If We Have More Appriciation Of Other Peoples Music, Then Why Create Music Ourselves ?

[THE INTRANCER]

For me this is a weird conundrum...

Forever in a blue monday cycle

[arkmabat]

Is it not a natural desire to imitate what we like?

[ghettosynth]

It's not an unreasonable POV really. It seems like it might be, but, I feel that comes primarily from desires that are external to music, e.g., wanting recognition. expecting to earn money, ego. With respect to ego, you have to be careful that you're not just unfairly comparing yourself to successful artists whom you wish to imitate. If you like their music better than yours then perhaps you haven't found your own voice, or frankly, you haven't developed the necessary skill. This is a tough comparison to make though, because your ego will get in the way and tell you lies. It's challenging to be objective about your own work, and that can cut both ways.

In any case, there are thousands, no, probably millions of hours of music that nobody other than the creator will ever hear again. Perhaps there was some small amount of attention paid to it once, but, literally, nobody cares anymore. If what you want is a party, then go to a party, don't try to throw a party thinking that it will be the same thing. The KVR cafe is a bit like looking at the used record bin at your local thrift store, a few gems and a lot of something else less a bit less memorable. That doesn't mean that it doesn't serve some meaning for the creator, but it's the harsh reality that creators should keep in mind while dodging delusion.

My own work would be right at home in the dusty dollar discount bins, but, I like my own music. I like the processes that I develop for making it as well. I combine my technical interest with my artistic interests. I listen to it regularly and in context with similar music from other artists. If you don't appreciate your own music or the process of making it at some level, or you aren't using it for other kinds of self growth, then yeah, stop making it, you're wasting your time. I think that we sometimes get caught up in past-times and buy into a sunk cost fallacy about letting them go once they've outlived their usefulness.

[jancivil]

I have never had this question. If it's "I can take it or leave it", one is not pulling one's weight/a drag.

Logically, we need to start with everybody in the beginning of their journey is looking up to someone who's accomplished something; so were this a real disposition it'd be hopelessly negative if not nihilistic.

[Jafo]

If you don't like your own music, write better music. As for liking other people's music better, it shows you're not a narcissist. (Besides, who relaxes to something they just spent 16 hours slaving over?) In fact, the second issue shows you how to solve the first.

[jancivil]

liking which other people's music, and which music of theirs? Is the goalpost one likes everything else that exists in music better than one's own issue? (I doubt I like every single thing of any music artist.)

I find things beyond my grasp inspiring, to do better.

[BONES]

Is it not a natural desire to imitate what we like?

I hope not. I would hope the natural desire is to take what has gone before and build upon it to make something even betterer.

Logically, we need to start with everybody in the beginning of their journey is looking up to someone who's accomplished something

My brain doesn't work that way and those kinds of thoughts have never entered my mind. I do what I do because it's something I enjoy doing. I've never looked up to any other artist (or down on any), what I do is all about what's inside me, not what anyone else is/was doing.

I tell you what, though, if I couldn't make a better song than Blue Monday, I'd shoot myself.

[ghettosynth]

For me this is a weird conundrum...

Forever in a blue monday cycle

Yeah, so I responded based on your title and didn't catch the Blue Monday reference. I am a New Order fan, but Blue Monday isn't my favorite track, in part because it has been over re-mixed. However, you should be careful about comparing yourself to something so iconic. If you are a fan of a song like that to begin with, then of course your feelings about it are going to be amplified by its cultural relevance. I think that it's particularly challenging to be objective about such comparisons.

I think that this is very different from comparing yourself to average contemporary releases in a genre, particularly releases that don't yet have any traction.

Blue Monday was a significant record, but don't view it in a vacuum, that's unlikely to be healthy for you.

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/how ... ver-771764

[whyterabbyt]

I realised other people cook better than me, so I starved to death.

[harryupbabble]

me myself i try to create music that will affect people that are just like me.

i'm in awe of led zeppelin's effect on me, for example.
i know that feeling of being affected. it's the best feeling.

now, if i could create music that can affect, that would be great.
but at the moment, nuh uh.

[ghettosynth]

me myself i try to create music that will affect people that are just like me.

i'm in awe of led zeppelin's effect on me, for example.
i know that feeling of being affected. it's the best feeling.

now, if i could create music that can affect, that would be great.
but at the moment, nuh uh.

Yes, but sometimes hard to measure. For whatever reason I assumed that the OP created some variant of EDM. EDM, well UDM (underground dance music), has some advantage here in terms of testing this out, quasi anonymously, because, assuming that you DJ, you can test your own works in the context of other people's works.

You can just watch the audience and tell if they are "affected" by your music in a similar way to other music. Of course, it's still just as difficult to separate out affects when you play famous tracks that people know instantly. In most (underground) DJ sets though, much of the music is essentially anonymous to much of the audience.

At any rate, if they're dancing their butts off to your banging collection of tech-house and you slip in one of your homespun gems, they are very unlikely to know that it's your record so you can see how they respond. If they're not feeling it, mix out and go home and adjust for taste.

[BONES]

If they're not feelin' it, f**k ém!

[ghettosynth]

If they're not feelin' it, f**k ém!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that valid self-expression requires that you care that other people are moved by your self-expression. I am saying that if you care about whether other people are moved by it in some way, then you might be interested in measuring that. Whenever we introduce knowledge of the artist into that equation, then the results are going to be somewhat tainted. See the Ted Nugent thread as an example.

Anyway, I'm gong to avoid rambling on about this. I think that it's best to limit each post to the equivalent of a "super-tweet." (5x tweet?)

[BONES]

I'm just as happy if people get up and leave. I honestly don't see how you can worry about what anyone else thinks. Yes, it might be a good indication that you are doing a good or a bad job but it could just as easily be that they aren't on the same wavelength as you are or that the last song was shit and anything would be an improvement.

Having done the Retro 80s DJ thing a lot, you just can't predict what's going to work week to week. One week you can play Blue Monday in the middle of the night and people will jump up and get on the dancefloor and then the next week people will sit down. To be fair, you get a feel for it so you can pick your times to play certain things but I wouldn't be taking the reception my music gets from an audience as any indication of it's worth.

After all, most of my favourite music is stuff I've never heard played live or by a DJ. My favourite album of all time, Urban Verbs' eponymous debut, probably only sold a few thousands copies worldwide but that doesn't stop it from being the greatest album ever made (and, to be perfectly clear, it is the greatest album ever made).

[Hink]

I realised other people cook better than me, so I starved to death.

well there's your problem right there, other people cook better than you because they are plump and juicy...if you starve yourself, what's left to cook...like eating pan fish, all bones