Sharing your music.... When it's not very good

[MOK19]

This is the sentence where I save you from reading the whole post:
Should one share all their music, even if they don't think it's worth listening to?

I've argued over and over with some of my family, who are also musicians, about when and what to share and promote. Some of them claim that even if you're not so hot on the results of a particular project, you should share it. Who knows who might like it? Maybe it'll turn out to be your best, someday.

I on the other hand, disagree. I believe that some things I make sound good, and some don't. If I try to promote something that's undercooked, derivative, bland, I'm doing myself no favors. Thus, you'll never see the things that I deem icky. In my specific case, I've always held myself to a kinda high standard, which I try to be objective about. When I make something, and think, "I can do better than that," often times I don't manage to follow through.... But often times I do. Overall, I feel that it pushes me to strive harder, and it shows in the material I share, to my benefit.

As an example of my antithesis, my sister regularly finishes stuff that just doesn't sound too hot, as she's very new to musicianship and production. But, perhaps out of habit from her time DJing, she RUSHES to start promoting it all over Facebook, put it into sets, etc, as soon as she 'finishes' a piece. Heck, before it's even done, you'll see quotes thrown around like "Traxx coming out soon...." months before anything even happens.
Heh, once we tried to work together on a track - She wanted to push it out the door, even though it was pure shit. Eventually I just let go, and told her not to put my name near it.

When I see people argue in support of sharing all your material, the above seems to me like the logical evolution of the idea proposed (albeit pretty extreme). And, as you can tell, I do not approve! It appears synonymous with throwing your standards out the window!
Now, according to my opponents, that means that I'm ruling out potentially a lot of music that's actually good.... To someone... someday....
To that, I'd respond: Not enough to be worth it.

So!
Are they 'more' right? Why?
Am I being as realistic as I think I am?
What do you think? Where does this idea fit with you?

[cosmicdawn]

My experience is that I seldom finishes tracks that I don't feel will be any good. Some times I have continued working on something I didn't feel very much about just to discover that it's actually quite good later on in the process, and some times it's the other way.
But my tracks doesn't reach the process of bouncing down and mastering untill I'm sure it will turn out ok.

I think it's important how your surroundings see you. Some artists will be judged by their worst tracks or albums, and you don't want the public to think of you as an artist with a lot of bad tracks.
You should also think about where you are in your career.
When you start out you should let others listen to your work even if it's no good. (but you may actually think that it is good!)
They may be able to point out what is good about your track and what's not.

So I would say that if you have had some recognition on your previous work you should start being selective about what you let out.

[sazb30]

Interesting post MOK19. I think I'm more on your side of the fence in this regard. I would never share anything that I thought was crap; then again even stuff that I know is ok (and that I do share) I usually feel unsatisfied with for one reason or another. Nothing is ever good enough... which brings me to a philosophical point. I firmly believe that this existential state (ie, being in a position of constant, and often futile, striving) is the engine of creativity. For all the pain and frustration that it causes, it is what drives us on. It is the essense of our work. And also the reason why we're all just a little bit crazy

So, to return to your point, I would argue that your quality control mechanisms make you a better artist in the long run. Whether they make you a more successful artist is open to debate, but certainly your attitude to this demonstrates that you are true to yourself, and to your raison d'être as a creative being.

[deaf dunderkwac]

I share whatever the fukk I feel like sharing, keeping my two to four or so listeners 'on teh edge of their respective seats' oh noes did I lose another listener-


I'm guessing we all do what we like to do without needing any justification. reasons or someone to tell us what is right or wrong or left because 3 rights make a left- three lefts make a right but who knows/cares what's wrong/ymmv

[whyterabbyt]

If you're not happy with it, dont release it. And get used to the fact that you'll never find out if its just you being hypercritical of your own work. Its an easy way to protect one's ego by never taking any risks.

[CypherOne]

I share crap music all the time, it's the only kind I make...

[debra1rlo]

I share crap music all the time, it's the only kind I make...

you... me... the sham of an industry called "pop music"...

[Hink]

I think probably for the sake of growing as an artist you are better off sharing what you don't think is all that good. Too me it says a lot about the character of the musician. If your goal is to impress, perhaps "get discovered" then keep the bad music to yourself.

If you want to grow and can handle the criticism then by all means share it, the former you get your ego stroked (or you hope to), the latter you learn and grow.

[vurt]

i see a big difference between sharing ones work and promoting ones work.
for example personally, i share most stuff, you get criticism and ideas and things move on, they then may well become those pieces i am proud of enough to put together as a release and promote that.
promoting every piece as your next big thing no, perhaps not. but sharing everything to grow as an artist and learn from my mistakes damn straight.

also, while you might not think something is so hot, you put it out there and someone suggests even the most minor thing that you never thought of...
you never know what youre missing if you dont even try

[yellowfever]

The only way to improve is to share your music so others can offer feedback so you can improve.

[MikeInOttawa]

Put it all out there for everyone to listen to.

But don't start saying that it's the greatest stuff in the world and then cutting down people who honestly criticize your stuff and say everyone else's stuff is crap. Kind of like musicman7p (wherever he is now).

[eduardo_b]

The question I would ask is, why do you want to share your music. I mean this in the most philosophical way. Is music, writing, art meant to be shared or is enjoying the process and perhaps even the results yourself reward enough. It's not a contest and you're not in competition with anyone. Yes, feedback can perhaps help "improve" your efforts, but is that what you want and/or need. If you're not comfortable with sharing, or, conversely, you're quite satisfied with your own personal projects, then don't do it. It's true that growth requires risk, but the risk can be as basic as actually participating in the process or it can be as advanced as posting for the world to hear. One is not better than the other.

[JediMind]

I only share polished crap.

I usually take my time to perfect it and be completely okay with it before publishing it. If it will sound good for me, I won't take criticism so hard. If I'm hesitant about publishing something, if I get bad reviews after doing so I drop any sort of creative activities and sit in a corner somewhere and feel useless (of course, I've improved over the years. I'm not as hesitant when it comes to sharing even lousy sketches. In many cases, I happen to come across people who like them a lot more than any of my completed projects.)

Your parents are probably suggesting that you shouldn't judge yourself so harsh. Then again, their views could be a little subjective. But they ARE musicians, so they probably recognize good music easily

Good luck!

Edit: I'd like to point out eduardo_b's post. +1

[Arglebargle]

I used to rush like hell to put out my music. Now I never release it.

[generalstargazer]

it's too bad most people are afraid to voice their critical opinion on the crap that's released in the Music Cafe forum daily. I think the artists that release crap at some point had their ego stroked and believe they could do no wrong. That's what I hear when I come across the thousands of mp3s of amateur artists.

When I hear some random signed artist to a major or indie label that I don't like I can still tell why they are signed and know that they have a fan base /audience. Most of the really terrible stuff that I come across daily I know for sure no one listens to because most of the time they do not have fans. Sorry the 184 fans on myspace do not count.

And one does not have to be a musician to be critical of music.