Validating yourself as a musician in the land of likes and streams

[Michael L]

Perhaps you yourself take into consideration the n streams/likes/sales when sizing up your fellow musicians (even on a platform like KVR)?

After two pages, I see your original post has zero likes.
How do you take that into consideration when 'sizing up' your self?
Perhaps choose a different musical career path than posting in KVR?

[jancivil]

Before there were likes and streams, what was one to do in order to make the evaluation?
Record sales? A whole lot of crap has sold massively.

[an-electric-heart]

For me personally playing live is way more important to me these days. I've got several new music projects, all of them we're going to play, play, play before we even think about putting records out... it's possible we won't even put records out, there's no point putting it out until there's demand for it.

Again, personally, I kind of feel the music isn't real if you can't take it out live.

[donkey tugger]

Before there were likes and streams, what was one to do in order to make the evaluation?
Record sales? A whole lot of crap has sold massively.

Entering into the realms of 'commodity fetishism', 'the spectacle', and 'alienation' now...and all the better for it..

[RunBeerRun]

I worship the lord our savior and he is with me when I view Youtube likes and dislikes.

[deltadio]

Perhaps you yourself take into consideration the n streams/likes/sales when sizing up your fellow musicians (even on a platform like KVR)?

After two pages, I see your original post has zero likes.
How do you take that into consideration when 'sizing up' your self?
Perhaps choose a different musical career path than posting in KVR?

Is that you obsequiously agreeing that likes are instrumental for validation?

Perhaps choose a different musical career path than posting in KVR?

says the man (?) with more than 9 posts a week (!) since 25 Jan,2014 ... The irony of this is apparently lost on you which isn't a great testimony of your intelligence.

[melomood]

[...] Is it controversial that I kind of like the number of streams as a criterion to separate the chaff from the wheat? In my defense, I certainly belong to the "chaff" but would consider an x number of streams delightfuly "wheatifying". In other words I would need this extrinsic benchmark before validating myself as a musician and I would use these modern benchmarks to assess your claim to this lofty title...
[...]

Being a musician is a lofty title?

Way way back in the day they were lumped in with prostitutes and actors

Touché, especially considering I don’t think too much of them in general, but the self-identification with or without being harnessed in external validation still instills a feeling of superiority, extraordinariness, standing out from the uninspired, ungifted crowd.

I guess if you want to kid yourself that there are not countless talents to be had by millions in so many different areas, probably things neither of us have even stopped to consider

[jancivil]

Entering into the realms of 'commodity fetishism', 'the spectacle', and 'alienation' now...
Confer Theory of Obscurity, The Residents.

BTFW, I know how to maximize my views on youtube (albeit a large view count is in 4 figures for me*), I just am not driven to.

I'd need real money behind me for the more accessible things to generate lucre, marketing budget, people pushing using the known techniques and other things (and I would need to feature myself as a personality, talk a lot, do some acting... and I prefer_not.).
- and, 'the more accessible' of mine is not meant for the masses, although there would be maybe the kind of views comparable to eg., * "1,320 views Sep 4, 2012 Trey Gunn" more consistently.

That said, I was the main writer on a record that made one journo's top ten of the year (a few people bought it even, and they found it memorable. Obscure but not unknown.) 1997.

Compare Henry Kaiser : Weekly Solo #48 : Unusual Guitars
(As presented by the record company (Cuneiform).)
* 674 views

But no, let's just say Adele has to be the best musician ever with teh billions of views.
Nevermind how many of those were hate views or click throughs out of curiosity. Like many of mine as well.

[jancivil]

"especially considering I don’t think too much of them in general, but the self-identification with or without being harnessed in external validation still instills a feeling of superiority, extraordinariness, standing out from the uninspired, ungifted crowd."

This is why I provided anecdote. A feeling of superiority (check yourself btfw) per se isn't available to a serious artist.
Whom is one supposed to think of one's self against, as though it's a race?
I came up hearing music made by, well virtuosi, geniuses. So at what point did I measure up?
Never? In at least two aspects, that's right, never; but I found my own voice and the broken pathways and failure might be a rich part of that.

The evidence in reality is that what I do is exceptional, in the literal sense at least. I don't do false modesty, I approached MUSIC with utter humility and those remarks indicate the very polar opposite of humility.

While I'm going on, let's look at that quoted sentence for content: "the self-identification with" - what?
Musician as as identity?
That's how the sentence reads. So since we're naught but whores and riffraff, how dare we have our own agency in the matter as to self-identication; society has deemed us worthless. Right?
Where do you think you are, who are you ranting at? You know none of us, never will.
Nothing better happening there than projection.

[Michael L]

Perhaps you yourself take into consideration the n streams/likes/sales when sizing up your fellow musicians (even on a platform like KVR)?

After two pages, I see your original post has zero likes.
How do you take that into consideration when 'sizing up' your self?
Perhaps choose a different musical career path than posting in KVR?

Is that you obsequiously agreeing that likes are instrumental for validation?

Perhaps choose a different musical career path than posting in KVR?

says the man (?) with more than 9 posts a week (!) since 25 Jan,2014 ... The irony of this is apparently lost on you which isn't a great testimony of your intelligence.

I see the irony of my post was lost on you!
I also see that you are still posting even after being "invalidated" with zero likes on your OP
Obviously zero likes have not affected your own "sizing up"
Thus, your own actions continue to answer your own question!

[melomood]

Oh give him points for using obsequiously in a sentence

[deltadio]

I guess if you want to kid yourself that there are not countless talents to be had by millions in so many different areas, probably things neither of us have even stopped to consider

Thx. This POV does not really answer the question if (in the domain of art) there is talent/worth without appreciation/validation. Can one be a 'great poet' without ever having written down one verse or ever reciting even one syllable to a fellow human being etc.? I bet some of us think they could be!
Obviously outside the realm of art it is perfectly possible to have talent (for instance, shutting down a nuclear plant amidst a natural disaster) without public appreciation, but even here, like the example of the reticent poet, without actually performing such act the "talent" is rather moot. Once the poet chooses to express her-/himself it is up to the public to assess the greatness of the works; the (praiseful) self-evaluation/self-endorsement of the poet is ultimately irrelevant. Likes and streams...

[melomood]

Thank you
I will have the pastrami sandwich with spicy mustard
and a coke

[Michael L]

Once the poster chooses to express her-/himself it is up to the public to assess the greatness of the posts; the (praiseful) self-evaluation/self-endorsement of the poster is ultimately irrelevant. Likes and streams...

FTFY
You have posted eight times in this thread without a single "like."
The KVR Public has assessed the greatness of your posts as "not great"
So why do you still post?
Perhaps the "the (praiseful) self-evaluation/self-endorsement of the poster is ultimately" relevant.
Or to 'spell out' my irony -- you post because you like the art of posting, despite what the KVR Public says.
Some people feel the same way about other art forms.

[melomood]

I got a like on my sandwich order. I feel validated. First I'd like to thank my fan,my managers Sly & Robbie,my agent Mr Rizzo, my band Dave,Joey,Dexter, my dancers,everyone who worked on the making of my sandwich order....