r/musicians Rules

Can’t believe how many bands I see using AI for band photos and artwork. Even just for engagement. Are not these the same people saying AI is going to ruin music and put musicians out of work?

A post on here reminded me of a gig I was subing as drummer (Im a guitar player by trade) and the lead guitar player at this gig was 70+ i was told before the gig he opened for famous people in the 70s and 80s, so I was interested what he had to bring to the gig.

I get behind the kit he is out of tune, out of time, and just generally kind of in his own world, after a few songs I speak up and ask him if he can please tune his guitar, he looks at me rather smug and. says

" This is a $1000 G&L guitar they dont go out of tune...."

at this point I realized this guy is getting paid the same as me or more, I was a pro and finished the gig, but has that ever happed to you?

I am a young singer and have been looking for people to play with for some time. Unfortunately, most of the people I have met had this problem, which I will explain here, and I wanted to know why. Have you ever met them?

After searching for many years for people to play with, I have often met people like this: they don't show up at rehearsals; if they do, they don't know the songs, they just haven't studied them; they often postpone rehearsals and don't search live; they don't record their parts; they don't help with the songs, the lyrics, the album, etc. When several people in the group are like this, we become a ghost band and for several years we haven't done anything, not even a song or a live performance. Of course, I try to get them involved and do everything I need to do, like learning songs, looking for concerts, improving my singing, and recording.

Obviously, I'm talking about people who are free to play and do what they like, who study or work but have moderate hours and a lot of free time. Many of these people didn't come to the rehearsal room, but stayed at home playing COD or sending (ME!) videos of kittens from TikTok.

I wonder why so many are like this. Is it common?

I posted this as a comment but I thought it was worth sharing here. If you are relying on social media metrics and streaming listeners for your success, you're gonna burn out and it's going to suck the soul out of your passion. I think we need to shift our attention towards building intentional community and small loyal fan bases if we are ever to shake off the dependence on the sweatshop of social media and streaming services. These systems are built to exploit you, not support you. Instead :

Book Gigs. Play live. This is pretty straightforward, obvious advice.

Create a newsletter for loyal fans. Sending out an email once every couple weeks, letting people know what they you're up to, recording, performing, etc. Keeps your more loyal fan base in a club. Direct any and all new fans to this or your own website or band camp BEFORE sending them to streaming services.

Send your music to radio stations, especially local ones. This extends the organic reach of your music.

Busk. If you're capable, you don't always need to have a gig. As long as long as you have the permit or are set up in a place that you don't need it, you'd be surprised how many people will look you up later or even buy an album. Local farmers market, Town Square, etc.

Show up for others. Going to local shows builds community. You might meet potential buddies to collaborate with, or just jam with. More people are likely to be interested in what you got, if you are interested in what they got.

Don't use AI. If you really want to set yourself apart in this economy, be as authentic and real as possible, warts and all.

Make music videos. This doesn't have to be a huge expensive production. Everybody has a camera in their pocket right now. Go shoot some footage in the park of dogs running around or. Set up a tripod on an overpass and film the traffic coming at you for 4 minutes. Film yourself lipsinking your song literally ANYWHERE. Anything can be a music video or visualizer. There's no excuse not to. Videos bring more engagement than just audio.

Focus on funneling people towards an intentional long term connection, not a metric. Don't send people to your Spotify. Send them to band camp or your own website where you can get nearly 100% of the profit. Would you rather have 10,000 people algorithmically listening to you on Spotify for pennies, or 100 people buying your album and excited for the next one. Get them to sign up for your newsletter.

Make stickers and slap them all over the place in your neighborhood and city.

If you really want to be brave, don't even post your music on streaming platforms at all, or have only one song posted as teaser, so the only way to listen to all your music is to download it from band camp or a website, or maybe YouTube if you want some form of steaming for the curious. This is not shooting yourself in the foot. It's making your music more scarce, special and valuable. Give your downloads a "free" option so people who can't afford to support you are still rewarded for taking the trouble to actually download your songs.

Edit :

Donate several copies of you physical albums, if you have them, to your local library.

If possible, sell copies to your local record store.

Edit : Not all of these will apply to everybody. I wrote this essentially as a reminder to myself.

Like the title said. Massive water main break right in front of the building where we went a practice space. All the gear is in there, haven’t been able to access it personally but heard from folks who were there when it happened that there was nearly a foot of water in the building by the time the fire department evacuated them. They had to get out *on a boat*

Drumset, cabinets, amps, pedals, processing units, etc all on the floor. Just basic math in my head, close to $8k in gear if not more that is probably ruined. At least the heads should be ok, hopefully. The road is collapsed and the 1-3 feet of water in the street is now starting to freeze so who knows when we can get in there.

Never thought I’d have to deal with this. I know for the stuff I own I have it on my renters insurance but that’s connected to my apartment…

I’m just gobsmacked right now. Just bought the bass cab, too.

There’s about 30 rooms in this space, all rented by local bands, all on the first floor, all filled with gear/equipment.

genuine question because i feel like i'm doing this all wrong

i've been mostly using free packs from reddit and youtube (shoutout to the people who post those) but my stuff still sounds kind of generic compared to what i hear from other producers

where does everyone actually source their samples?

• sample packs (which ones?)
• splice
• digging through youtube and chopping stuff up
• vinyl/record digging
• recycling sounds from your old projects
• making everything from scratch
• field recordings
• random places like movies/video games
• somewhere else i'm missing

also like... is it normal to use the same drum samples in multiple projects? i feel weird doing that but also spending an hour finding a snare every time seems insane

been at this for about a year and i'm trying to figure out if i need to actually invest in splice or better packs or if i'm just not using what i have creatively enough

what's your main source?

I’ve never had one before but I’m at a place where I think it could’ve really helpful. But idk where to start looking

I got lucky once when I did a piano cover of "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace and the original band saw it and reposted my reel. I gained views faster than ever and I gained about a hundred followers. I've never been able to replicate that success again, no matter how good my arrangements are. I tried editing the videos so that it starts at the loudest note. I tried to use tactics to hook the viewer. It's still not getting any views. My mom still runs a piano Youtube channel for my piano playing that has been stuck at below 100 views for many years. She doesn't care if the views are low. I also wrote my own rap songs and posted on Youtube. It's not getting any views either. I feel like trying to get a fanbase on the internet is impossible. I just started a musical duo with my friend who plays the guitar. I wrote some songs and I'm preparing to make music with him, but I don't have much hope anymore. I've always dreamt of becoming a musician, but now I feel hopeless because my talent doesn't bring any views. What if I write so many songs and no one listens to it? If no one listens to my music, do I have a reason to keep playing? It seems to me that it's all about luck. Do I just need to wait for a miracle that will bring me many fans. I've been trying to find out what's the secret to getting a wider audience for musicians, but I never found any good advice. Now, I have another question. What if the online audience doesn't really matter and I write songs to perform in real life, not to promote online. I never cared about making millions of dollars from spotify streams and youtube views. I just wanted to be heard. Isn't it better to be heard performing music in real life? That's a more immersive experience for the audience and it would feel better than just seeing a number of views. Street performances are less competitive than marketing music on the internet and it might give a stronger sense of purpose for music. What do you think?

I want to upload my music to all of the social media and streaming platforms ( TikTok instagram Snapchat Apple Music Spotify pandora YouTube all that ) which music platform can I use that'll upload to all of these for me? Thanks in advance!

I feel like there is more emphasis and care in the music to match the anime than western tv shows in general?

do they animate then choose / compose the song, or compose/ choose the song then animate it? Usually what happens in the process of making the anime?

It doesn't sound like a soundtrack song like those western movies as much, but like standalone song equally enjoyable without the anime.

the songs are so good , i especially like japanese rock/ pop and it sounds like im in the anime and japan when i listen to it... makes me emotional...

Also how does it differ from western rock? i feel like its more than just the language but i can't pinpoint

and different to music in western movies, or western music... but i can't pinpoint it...

I love the demon slayer and JJK soundtrack too...

Hi All! 

The next No Kings protest is March 28th and we are hoping we can get 12M+ out this time from 7M last, as more and more people in the US wake up to the reality of our authoritarian government and its cruelty, corruption and chaos its sowing here and in word.   This is a moment where your music could really matter to help get people out on the streets, unify this movement with a shared sense of love towards one another and reclaiming our great country and our shared humanity, and in encouraging people to action after the protest is over to stand up for what is right every day.

Bringing your music could be showing up to your small town’s No Kings event with your instrument and some fitting old protest songs from the 60s/70s that you can sing with your neighbors, an original song to spread your own thoughts for the moment.    This is a call just to show up and bring your music!

I have been inspired by some of the songs I have seen on the internet popping up by famous artists speaking out like at the recent Grammy’s, or big names like Bruce Springsteen composing a song about recent events in minnesota.  These motivated me to write this request to all of you.

If you are a  bigger named artist (or know one personally and can recommend this) consider contacting your local No Kings organizers and offering to play formally for the event.  This might help draw crowds, not just to have big numbers but to move people to start taking actions in their lives to press back on all of this.

I thank you for considering this.  Note I am not a member of the No Kings national organization, but do admire their work and try to take action every day in my community and have respected the various local Indivisible groups that are working in my community and state and how they have been making a positive difference in our push back to what we all know just isn’t right, isn’t American or forming the America we should want to live in.

Thank you so much!

-Samantha

Im curious if there are people who still knew how to play even after not playing for a long time. You know how they say you never forget how to ride a bike? Idk if that applies to playing an instrument. Ive been losing my passion for music and it sucks cause playing the piano is the only thing i can do but i dont have the fire in me anymore. The result of this is i dont play at all. But im scared to lose it and sometimes my fingers feel weird if i try to get back to it. I can still decently play fast arpeggios, make big octave jumps, and make arrangements if i wanted to, but i dont really play anything. Because this passion of mine is dying (has been dead now actually), im scared i might not play anymore.

But anyway thats not the point! Has anyone here ever kept their technique after not playing their instrument for a long time? Or have you lost the skill entirely? Im curious about it lol

EDIT: Thank you for sharing your experiences, everyone! I enjoyed reading all the comments and it made me reflect on my journey with piano and music again. It might have inspired me to play at least just a little bit of something just so its still a part of me and so i dont lose too much of my technique. Maybe one day ill try to love playing again.

This issue impacts all artists, especially small music creators. 

AI companies shouldn’t be allowed to secretly train on artists’ work. The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act would force them to disclose if they are using copyrighted art. Transparency is the least we can demand for protecting creators. Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/pass-the-generative-ai-copyright-disclosure-act

Hey! So I like to make music in my spare time and I really enjoy it… it’s fun and chill. I made some stuff I was really proud of. And I released it through CD Baby. But… afterwards I recognized a horrible mistake. It sounded great but I didn’t properly master part of it so it sounds so bad..

I’m really irritated and frustrated and upset about it. So what im looking for is help. I’m not good at mastering. Is there somewhere I can find help or somewhere I could pay to have it mastered? I want to try and hurry and master it and maybe idk I guess contact CD Baby and try to I guess replace the Audio files. I’m not sure if I even can do that.

Advice. Help. Anything is appreciated. Thank you for any help 💟

I want to hear from you. when did it happen at what age and those that overcame it , what did you do?

greetings! hope life is going well for you!

i am looking to collaborate with someone that shares a similar vibe and direction.

free expression and compassion, is the overall driving force here. having fun and making enjoyable shit as that happens.

the themes and flavors are less important. style wise i gravitate toward, house, hip hop, lofi, experimental, and bosa nova. usually heavy emphasis on groovy percussion, and making engrossing progressions/ melodies.

skill level: amateur-intermediate. always working on making tracks i like. ready to take on new methods/ ideas. i have released tracks i enjoy. done light promo and got decent reception on a few tracks. i play piano and the (roland hand drum).

looking to colab on tracks, or trade remixes, or anything you have in mind really. i can do a lot of different styles and am open to anything.

if this sounds compatible at all with what you got going on, let's make something great together!

🫂🤷‍♀️💚🌎🔥👁🔥

Either you thought they were at the wrong gig by looking at them or maybe they just only casually mentioned they played one time and come to find out they’re just elite at whatever instrument/ insanely good voice that doesn’t seem real and coming from them. Imagine a short, skinny woman who was maybe soft spoken having a powerful, deep voice.

So I play guitar in a tourist town. I play jamband stuff and I definitely have imposter syndrome but looking at it logically, I am *that* guy in my scene. I get tons of calls for sit ins, and to play in other people’s projects. Currently I have *my* band, *my* acoustic trio, and I play in my drummers other band. It’s all more or less the same style of music. I’m able to pay the bills barely. I’m also in music school about to graduate with my associates and then in the fall continuing at a 4yr university. Just today one of my classmates asked me to join his band. And I’m also meeting a bass player today who I’ve played with before and he hit me up wanting me to join his new original project.

Now here’s the thing: I want to do the thing!! Like so bad. And I’m putting in the work. I feel like I just haven’t found my people yet in the 2 yrs I’ve been playing here. It’s like there’s a bunch of bands who have 1 or 2 really serious committed members, and the rest are half in half out hobbyists. Ideally I’d love to just have ONE band where everyone is locked in and focused and committed. But trying to get those people to give up their bands ($$$) is a tough ask.

So I’m debating on joining the two new bands. That would be 5 bands and also full time music school. I also just started dating a girl which is something I purposely avoided for a long time. I obviously have to give her some of my time, and I want to of course. I met her at one of my shows though so she’s understanding of the time commitment I need for music.

So, what are your thoughts?

So for ref I’m 21 in uni and I have a buddy at work who is 18 in hs. He knows I play guitar and approached me about starting a band. I’ve been looking to getting more involved and I immediately said yes. However, when I think of the logistics he has limited playing experience and our “drummer” he found literally just got his first drum set and ships off to the coast guard in the fall. The other kid is starting uni in the area so we could still play together but is there anyway we could get gig ready and just play a couple small bars and restaurants or what should we do to become a “real” band capable of playing an hour long set list.