Related Recs

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music under capitalism

been thinking about this a lot within the context of the industry I work in recently. specifically about how the current music industry, especially in the case of streaming, has commoditized music into being essentially worthless in and of itself. a song in a vacuum has no value if it isn’t attached to the “brand” of the artist, which becomes a platform to sell merch, concerts, generate content, and all the other activities that actually generate money for the artist (and label). there is licensing revenue, but even then that’s assigning value to the right to exploit revenue from the song, not the art itself. reading this book that takes place in the early 1800s and it mentions how music used to be just something that people did for themselves in their own homes, writing their own songs or purchasing sheet music to perform others’ songs. musicianship used to be a socially binding activity, as you would play for the gratification of those in your community. in most cases tho people performed for their and their immediate circle’s own satisfaction, and there was no pressure to turn it into a product. today it’s like people who want to be good at music have to attempt to be a professional to justify spending the time that isn’t generating money for them, squeezing it between their day jobs. if you want your music to be heard by others you have to heavily market yourself to vie for attention among the endless others on streaming platforms. there’s few places if any where people can come together and perform music themselves for any reason other than their own edification, and we’ve lost any social practices that encouraged everyone to have some form of musicianship to be able to participate in these kinds of events. it’s like something that was as common as riding a bike back in the day has been discredited as a socially valuable skill as it became unprofitable, same for dancing I suppose. anyway, not really going anywhere with this, just hoping for a future world where all this AI coming up becomes something that alleviates the need for work and frees people up for art and community instead of becoming a competing force churning out music as a commodified product and drowning out the humans who produce at a human pace. the pessimist in me feels like the pressures of capitalism will mean that the opposite will happen, and AI will create the art so that the people have more time to dedicate to producing “value”

@royallmonarch

Mar 17, 2024

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Noise music

I’ve been making it for a few years and I can say with confidence it is one of the most important things in my life. cannot recommend it enough. Extremely fun to play, and, if you’re the type of person to fall in love with sounds, EXTREMELY fun to listen to. try and make it sometime, just to see what happens. i really do think there’s a noise musician inside everyone

@mtavictim

Jan 16, 2024

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Not listening to music as a producer

Out of all the proverbial dicks to suck in your music career, none is more virulent and diseased than that of your ostensible “peers.” Wisdom says to be a good writer you must read, but to be a good artist or musician I think this advice is actually toxic and creativity destroying. Words written are like an instrument to be mastered, a writer more an instrumentalist than a composer. To be a composer is to arrange and order those instruments into harmonious totality. To be a producer is to create. Spotify is a poisonous psyop for producers that teaches sonic compliance and algorithmic servitude designed to place an artist’s work “in conversation with” every other artist and flatten creative expression into that which can be easily understood and categorized.  We are contemporaneously trapped in a nostalgic death spiral for producers that is driven by a desperate quest for influence and the merciless unyielding boot of software companies upon your neck hawking VST licensing so that you can sound like every other band. For what? So that nerds can argue where your sound sits in the tautology of electronic music production? When’s the last time an abletonpilled serum enjoyer wrote a catchy song that was not simply an incremental deviation from the last one? Your unique voice will die a painful and uncelebrated death in the trenches of influence, which is why I recommend steering as clear of it entirely. If you are a good producer you only listen to your own music, because that’s the music you want to hear.

@wallh4x

Nov 15, 2023

Top Recs from @sugaroverhoney

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SHARING THE SPOTLIGHT DOESN’T DIM YOUR OWN LIGHTS

Amplifying other people’s projects doesn’t diminish your own.

@sugaroverhoney

6d ago

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2000S POP IS SO BACK

and i’m here for it

@sugaroverhoney

3d ago

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DOWNLOAD A DAW

just download a free DAW (digital audio workstation) like apple garage band and explore. you can also download logic pro for ipad for pretty cheap. that’s how i started. you definitely don’t need to spend a lot of money for software at the start. even the apple voice note microphone great for vocals.

@sugaroverhoney

3d ago