Self - indulgence When Making Music

[handoman]

idk I was lookng at this song of some 90 band and i read a comment that said their songs were to self indulgent and all about them.....then i thought about my music and i do that when i make music. do you guys think about anything else other than yourself when making music? for me im not tryna make money so i just put all the wierdness and long drawn out stuff in my music that i want to hear. lol it is purly self indulgent and and self centered for me. how about you guys

[Googly Smythe]

If you ain't self-indulgent you ain't a musician, you're a businessman.
Or, if you're not making music for yourself but for others, you're just an employee.
I think musicians, by definition, are self-indulgent. Probably same goes for all artistes/artists/singers/actors/sculptors/dancers/craftsmen, et al, whether pro, amateur, hobbyist.

[jancivil]

No, I don't directly think about what other people will think about this music. I make it because I want to hear it, there's no real other interest. except learning and practice, but it's pretty impulsive or spontaneous typically.

[handoman]

so im not being dick, good lol. maybe im not really a musician i just am creative and make stuff that feels good to me cuz i dont wanna really on other people to make stuff that I like. like I am the only artist who knows exactly what I want to hear and see right. I think for me ive just been lucky to do music and art without caring about making money because im pretty well provided for and have a supporting family

[ariston]

I see art as a form of communication, if only because humans are social animals through and through. Music that is completely self-indulgent is like someone speaking a language only they can understand. Music that tries to reach everyone without speaking from and of the self is the equivalent of a people-pleaser: the communication is so devoid of anything personal it becomes the very definition of generic.
So, as in all things: balance is important. Show yourself, and try to reach others. Don't head too far in either direction.

That's my take, of course. In any case, you're free to do what you want, and if no one wants to listen to your music, you can always console yourself by trying to love the unique little snowflake that you are (to quote Barney Stinson).

[melomood]

I like the occasional wildly self indulgent that makes you listen on terms not your own that's in a language you might have to decipher. Sometimes a unique little snowflake is a nice change of pace from all that aiming for the middle of the road

[ariston]

I like the occasional wildly self indulgent that makes you listen on terms not your own that's in a language you might have to decipher. Sometimes a unique little snowflake is a nice change of pace from all that aiming for the middle of the road

That's very true. It's all a process and not a state of being anyway. Sometimes, I make weird faces in the mirror when no one is watching and laugh myself silly. It's good for the psyche.

[melomood]

that's cute

[jancivil]

If the path to creating one's 'own' music was through the process of becoming a musician, there is no availability or possibility of creating one's self in a vacuum. There is no such extreme of self-indulgence; this is always informed by what one has received (and how well it was received, or how sensitive to input one is may figure into 'quality'). The more intense musical art will tend to be made by the more receptive individual, then.
The extreme brought in there is mostly an absurdity. All of one's predilections or inclinations, habits, decisions, direction and opinion are acquired and developed in a dynamic with what [already] is.

There are some things that are, apparently, made by people failing to become or having no genuine interest in becoming a musician and if there is a language analogy they're speaking gibberish; not just not very competent, enjoying a singular lack of competence. It isn't likely to get heard. There were Shaggs, not sure why, and there have been a couple of things at KVR Music Cafe made by the insane or at least by the not-very-self aware. Usually not too many people's problem.

So I think the goalpost indulgence or not is a sketchy one. You have at one pole people who only ever conform or copy as closely as can be in order to be relatable to more people, while at the other pole is say Edgard Varese who fewer people relate to. I don't really think of relatability as an artistic end at all.

[donkey tugger]

There were Shaggs,

I though this was about wanking?

[jancivil]

They don't appear to have been indulging themselves particularly but their father's perhaps unhinged aspirations.

Point of that is there are people who don't have that integral relationship with the extant, or with what's real that end up presenting music, but it's not common to be exposed to it. OTOH there are plenty of people who dismiss everything they cannot relate instantly to (while the [un-]relatability may be a uncomplicated product of one's knowledge or absence of).

Even in the far avant-garde there is relatively little danger one's extremities occurred in a vacuum.
I remember my friend at Cincinnati speaking of playing things which weren't influenced really by anybody; as though there is a pure originality out of it. A very naive conception IME.

[vurt]

There were Shaggs,

I though this was about wanking?

sadly, these days, couldnt even manage a pop song let alone a good long drone

[melomood]

Yea but in a world where instruments have been built to drone, there is a place for it
Whether some people like it or agree that it's this and that

[vurt]

Yea but in a world where instruments have been built to drone, there is a place for it
Whether some people like it or agree that it's this and that

indeed.
i thought we were discussing the length, sorry.

[jancivil]

looks more like an... endurance problem

lotta that going around. 30-second videos and such
whoop! there it is