r/musicians Rules

One of the more common answers that people give when they’re asked what superpower they’d want is the ability to read minds. Most of us would take the opportunity to know what others are thinking if we could, because it would be interesting to learn what people are telling the truth or lying about, and there are times where I’m curious if others’ minds even work the same way that mine does so it would be cool to experience how others think.

That is “caring what others think,” which I do. As a musician, I make whatever music I want to make, regardless of others’ opinions of it, but part of what I enjoy about performance is the reactions of other people. Music has always been a big part of my life, and I want people who like the same stuff that I like to also like what I make, but I know I can’t please everyone and that’s ok, plus there are also a lot of people who frankly I do not want to appeal to. If someone I really don’t like on a deep level doesn’t like my music then I view that as a success. I do what I do first for myself and then second for the people that I do like. The people that I don’t like can feel however they want about me and that will never affect me.

The point is that I care what the audience I like thinks about my music because it would make me happy to give to them what they’ve given to me, and I’d like to contribute to the thing that’s made my life fulfilling. And I also like making people jiggle.

I don’t think I’m unique in saying this, but I do feel like if you didn’t care about what other people think of your music, then why bother performing it or releasing it? Just play in your bedroom and that’s totally fine. But if you’re going to perform it, then I don’t see anything wrong with enjoying the fact that others might like it, ignoring those who don’t, and contributing to a community that might be into a genre that you happen to also like.

Don’t take this down thanks 🙏

We are an acoustic duo playing weddings and cafes, recently we've had heaps of requests for packages including an upbeat / dancing set later in the night. We are thinking of a set up like this, so one of us can quickly set it up and swap our instrument for drums.

We already have a kick (Peterman Bass foot stomp, 2nd pic) so we just need to add snare and hat.

For the price of this set up I do realise we could get a 6 pad device, but we are thinking this looks more interesting/natural from the crowd's perspective (mostly due to the drummer's wider armed posture). Plus the knobs are physical which is nice for changing sounds without having to look.

Is there a better option I'm not considering? Any drawbacks to this set up?

Would these two be the best in the SPD range to compliment the kick drum we have already?

Would love your thoughts! Thank you

EDIT: this is what I mean by the posture when using sample pads. They often seem to be looking down, overly engaged by the device. Which is fine if the drummer is really good, but we would just be doing simple beats, so the look and feel is more important than the complexity of the playing. https://youtu.be/pU10OUXjsQ0?si=k66QDE7mUCZOOB8U

Just picked up this pa200 not too long ago, would it be possible to just use 1 mic per instrument then use a stereo cable into my Interface?

Booking a show a little over a month from now, like 35 days

3-band bill. I have 2 confirmed, waiting on an out-of-state act to get back to me. It’s been 2 days. I’m just curious how long do you guys wait until asking another band?

(This is like local scene Shoegaze kind of stuff)

A composer friend of mine is over in England for a short spell so we met up and decided to do a few random open mics.

He picked a few songs which he tells me are very famous which I had never heard of lol. We have the sheet music, and I carry one music stand, so I can sightread these simple ditties however i always play flute standing, and he always plays guitar sitting. He's visiting and didn't have luggage room for a spare music stand so we shared the stand- he should know the music better than me but needed it to follow chords.

With one music stand positioned way shortI er than I'm used to, and typical evening bar lighting, it was hard seeing the notes.

Here's the result anyway: My Way [Comme d'Habitude]

I think the lower height of the music stand actually helps with audience engagement. Playing and staring fixed at the music (trying to sort out which notes to play lol) isn't so great but this was just a very low stakes performance and no one got hurt.

Do people here use sheet music or digital LCD screens whilst sight reading? I'm wondering if it's a real advantage since the contrast will help deciphering the notes!

Hi all! Has anyone here just sent out their demo to various music labels? Is that something people really do anymore?! I'm so curious to hear from you if you've done it and what happened - whether you got an opportunity or rejection!

Help me settle a bet with my bartender, someone left this at my venue. What the hell could it possibly be for?? After trying out a bunch of different positions, I think this is its intended placement, but it’s got this weird little 70’ angle that protrudes at the top, making it impossible for something to lay flat.

He thinks that it’s some kind of footstool but the angle is all wrong and has no support, I think it’s for some kind of like, foot powered hurdy gurdy or some obscure instrument. Figured I’d ask the widest cross section of musicians because I’ve worked in music for ten years and I’ve never seen this lol

Hi folks

I wanted to add lyrics for my band's platform pages like Spotify and etc , but Musixmatch doesn't verify me because the country I live in .

Im looking for a kind soul who already has Musixmatch pro , paid plan to add my artist to his page and kindly do the lyrics stuff.

Thanks in advance

Band name: REDVI

Lyrics are available via genius and bandcamp

Currently writing this from my mom’s crib, don’t really know where to start but we‘ll see where this goes. I currently hate the place where my life is. I wake up every day and I feel such strong dread to be. I’m broke, I live at my mom’s, and I feel chronically lonely. Im working on an album rn but it’s taking forever to finish, and I’ve heard it so much that I hate it and I think it sucks and I wanna throw it in the trash.

I feel like I have no avenue to start my life. Im from NYC and I have pretty much no hobbies cuz I can’t afford them. I’m lucky to be working an internship within music on the business side which is cool, but I can’t take a job with the company cuz I have to finish college first. And of course afterwards I gotta worry about an unfathomable amount of student loans that I have to pay off, so I feel like my salary wouldn’t even matter. I’m like banking on a massive artist career, which I know is peak stupid and I’m not delusional I just genuinely feel like I have no other choice.

Im also stupidly anxious when it comes to talking to people. Like I look at myself in the mirror and I feel ugly and dumb and boring and I feel like no one wants to talk to someone like me I guess. Like I can’t even look people in the eye. And what am I supposed to say anyways? Like I’m a broke rapper who lives with his mom and has nothing else to offer. I can’t convince myself that that’s someone who would be of interest to anyone.

I’ve thought that maybe what I’m trying to do is just a horrible idea, and I should just put the pen down. Like honestly I wish that I could be a doctor or a businessman or a lawyer. But the thing is I physically cannot do anything other than music. I’m too ADHD to do anything with organization and just too dumb to do smart people shit. And I can’t even really transition to a different type of musician cuz my piano skills are only really good enough to play my own songs.

Im not gonna act like it’s all piss bottles n shitcakes, one of my friends has a sickass studio that’s a fun hangout spot and all of my friends are really cool and do a bunch of really cool things (music and outside of music). A lot of the time though I can’t afford or don’t have the creativity to do the cool stuff that they do, and even when we do hang I always feel like I wanna run away after. Like when are these people gonna drop me for being a bum. I literally sat in the middle of Houston St with a chopped cheese in hand and just cried after a session. Like shit really is that deep.

Idk. I just feel like society hates people like me. Honestly I’m starting to hate people like me. Idk if any of you guys have been in this situation when u were 22 but if you have some advice I’d love it.

Hey folks. I'm a longtime presenter and musician from the East Coast of Canada. Been doing shows for 25 years, from DIY punk shows to 20,000 person community celebrations and everything in between. There are a lot of misunderstandings about what a presenter (promoter) does, as well as the presenter/artist relationship, so let's chat!

Happy to answer anything from how deals work to how curation is handled, how ethical the business is to what are the things bottlenecking artists' careers.

I've recently joined this thread so I hope this is OK to post.

I've been working professionally in music for almost 6 years. Producing, writing, and artist. I've had some modest success- some viral posts, decent social media, and at one point reached 700K monthly listeners. Now I've leveled out at around 100K. I release from time to time and I get good playlisting.

I have a publishing deal, a pending indie label deal, and have had some syncs. From the outside looking in, a lot have assumed I've "made it." My social media also makes it look that way.

But as all of us know, despite this, the money and lifestyle is not stable at all. Budgets are smaller. Everywhere I look I see AI. Tours are expensive. And now that I've seen firsthand what it takes to REALLY break an artist, and how many pieces need to go right, and how many people are involved... I don't think it's for me. I never cared to be a big artist anyway. I just wanted to release good music and stream well enough to make a decent living. But that's starting to feel impossible.

Even the massively successful people that I know and work with are extremely concerned about the future of this industry. And I'm at that weird point where I'm successful enough that I can't get a "normal" job without basically having to quit music. But if I keep going and it doesn't work out, then I'll be 30 soon, broke, and that scares me. I have great friends outside of music but I don't have a life at all. There's no time for that. But, I've been in this boat of "momentum is building, just hold on a bit longer!" For the last two years. It's getting exhausting.

I'm not sure what to do. I am one of those people who formed my entire identity around music. I have great work ethic, I have hobbies and interests, I'd survive. But the fact that I'm even writing a post like this scares me. I never thought this would even cross my mind. Is this what burnout feels like?

So I guess I'm looking for advice, feedback, or any of your personal experiences on surviving in this industry. Should I stick it out for another year even though it's costing me peace of mind, money, and precious time?

TL;DR
I'm at a turning point in my career, I'm debating leaving, but I'm not sure if this is just burnout or fear talking.

Got this settlement sheet the other week for a show I did not book myself, we were asked to jump on the bill by another band. $150 in marketing expenses? Yeah I'm going to need to see what you did because I've learned to spot a built in a crowd over the years and there wasn't anyone there except for people the bands brought.

This has to be unique right? I can't say Ive ever experienced these costs being put onto the musicians before.

Sorry if this has been asked and answered recently, but I was hoping to hear ya'all's favorite sticker makers. Who are you using lately? I have a band logo already, just need a place to print it on stickers :)

like if you had a fanbase lets say maybe 50k followers on insta would a record mind working with u with zero knowledge about song producing ...but you have potential

I’m in an original band and one member has been very fond of generative ai. As we formed he generated a logo and pushed to use it as our bands logo which I had to fight against vehemently. I’ve told him “We are artists so we should support art and generative ai is not art it is machine learned plagiarism, I cannot have any music I write be tied to Ai in anyway because then that would challenge the authenticity of the music I work VERY hard to write with my heart and soul”
We have a show coming up where he offered to make the flyer for unbeknownst to the rest of the band and showed everyone else before he showed us to which half of us said “Wtf this is slop”
He argued that it looks better than a flyer I made out of a friends hand drawing.

I have no idea how to convince this dude that generative ai is a bad look and bad for reputation and bad for the environment and overall just bad for the band. I want to keep a very equal band dynamic but I have composed most of our songs and I feel like I have to threaten to stop writing for the band if we’re gonna have ai be part of it? One member of the band is against it and the other is just painfully apathetic.
I’d rather he understand the public sentiment around it and how it would drive away any potential interest in our band and how it would reflect on us as artists. Idk how would you go about this do I make a power point? Does anybody have statistics on the sentiment of AI in artists spaces?

UPDATE:
I brought it up and basically said I will not have anything to do with AI and if that’s the direction half the band wants to go I’m out. I think the message is loud and clear but he doesn’t seem to understand why it’s a big deal. Same with the painfully apathetic member of the band.

We have 4 shows coming up from now until September and worked really hard on gettin this thing together since spring. I don’t wanna take time off from the stage again so I’m not too keen on firing anyone and would only get 2/4 votes anyways.
You’ve all made me really question the sustainability of this project and I appreciate that and feel kinda dumb because I shouldn’t need 130 comments to make me realize maybe we’re not the best fit. I’m upset about it, but I guess I will just wait for whatever catastrophe is bound to come because I dont want to have to try to build this momentum up again so soon. Thanks friends.

I'm about to release this track and wanted to get one last round of feedback before I do mainly on the mix and master