The dark problem with music production

Recently discovered your channel when trying to move away from doom scrolling, and wanted to tune into something more productive. I really resonate with what you say here. I’m within spitting distance of being 45, and started music lessons at 7. I’ve had a long life of creating songs and music, trying to make it, gigging relentlessly whilst not getting paid and playing to, literally on one occasion, one man and his dog. I checked out for a while when I got married and had a family to care for, but recently went back to school to get a degree (I’m over half way through the course now), in creative music production, and I’m learning to make music just for me, just to make cool sounds, just to listen back and go, “I did that!” We really need to stop making music and content to gain approval from people we don’t know. Any kind of fame is momentary for the majority of people, and we need to remember that music is an emotional language to express things we can’t otherwise express, not something to trade for the idea of happiness.

Sage guidance for creatives around ways to protect their mental health

Dude. Never truer words spoken.

Awesome content dude. As someone who have been playing live and recording for twenty long years I can agree with you 90 pcnt. The remaining ten percent is my narcissistic persistence which makes me stride thru everything in my way. Keep up the great work!!!

Thanx. 'Nuff said.

Apparently it's not your music even though you wrote it all some serious marxism I was studying all these theories in history of philosophy and psychology of aesthetics within classical music why nietzsche despised music then pairing it with German nationalism who was supposed to be the next bach

Thank you for your thoughts

Wow.... so well said, especially about seeking within and NOT without. I am afraid it's a rare thing in our world today but it's ultimately needed by practically everyone.

You also outlined exactly why capitalism is an illness.

Groover sucks

You make a lot of sense.

So far I have spent over $130 groover and received x1 playlist submission. Now It is a good playlist and I am grateful, but the biggest issue that I have is: While I take time to study each curater, to make sure that my track matches their wants, I still get the generic responses like: "The track is great, great vocals and such however, your track is not what we are looking for." Or it doesn't fit our playlist. To me this seem as if the curater is writing just enough to get paid per the rules, but then resorts the the tired old: It doesn't match our wants and such. This is lame as I carefuly pick each curater to adhere to what they are accepting (genre and wants). Something fishy going on there. Will I continue to use Groover? No I will not. Cheers from Australia.



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This is such a good video 😍Thank you for this strong messages

This video was eye opening for me. I'm speechless...

Making music for other people's ears should the outcome, not the purpose. Every track I always made, I firstly made because I wanted to enjoy it myself. Now if other people like it, that's a bonus but not the reason I am putting all this effort for.

You should do an uncensored version for British viewers - the bleeps are distracting 😂

I would really like to have a conversation with you! Just bounce some learned feelings and maybe something’s I never thought about when it comes to music. And the real life behind it all. Thank you again for you’re content. It’s inspiring!

Actually this video was exactly what I needed. I watched this video yesterday and today I had a session where I just felt: f**k it, I’m going to finish this thing. I didn’t care what the outcome was going to be and I just nailed it. I asked a friend to come sing on the track as a voice double and it turned out absolutely amazing. Obviously there are some things to improve on the track and I definitely will (some timing issues, an intro that’s too long, etc) but at least I have a “finished” song I can work on to make it to the best of my abilities. Because I pushed through, all of the components are there and it’s just up to me to make it all shine.

Thanks. I really, really appreciate your videos on the psychological side of producing your own music. It’s the hardest thing in the world to do and speaking up about it just helped me.

Edit: actually the best advice was to work horizontally and not vertically. I have to keep that in mind. Work towards the end goal and not towards a single section that sounds great. That comes later.

I relate to all of what you're saying and often have the same thoughts. I concluded that making any kind of career in music producing and DJing seemed pointless when faced with the reality of situation. It has been my dream for the last 26 years. I actually struggle to see the worth and point of many things in life. I gave it up for a good number of years and now I find myself wanting to do it again. I don't really know what draws me back to wanting to produce. Boredom? Lack of alternative ideas? Habit? Feeling inspired by others? Fulfilling some kind of personal need to create or make something that I can be proud of? This time i'm trying to forget about any idea of the 'music business' or 'success' and just try and create to enjoy the process and expect nothing and try not to compare what I make to others. It'd tough though. I'd love to see that video you mentioned about the of the romanticisation of the death of musicians.

I think it’s important to understand that art was never made for the capitalist system it’s been thrown into, neither vice versa. Art was never supposed to become something that was measured in metrics or rates of success, since it’s always been about individual or group expression rather than, y’know, pleasing others, or a system or whatnot. It’s kinda absurd to measure the success of art by any means because, at least in my own experience, it’s really about connecting and exploring and sharing. Art is supposed to find the people it connects to and impact them (i.e. “find an audience”), not make it big. It started that way, and shouldn’t end this way. People never told stories in the beginning to sell them.

wow

i want to make charting music and i hope one day i will tour

the way im struggling with finish ping my work i really suck on it

What great advice! If you were a girl I'd do you!

this cool and all but I want success

These videos are so very helpful. They confirm what I have been feeling for years. Nobody cares if you create and that’s fine, I personally will continue to . I do have a question though I have a friend and he is a good friend a very talented guitar player. However when I send him one of my songs or one of my mixes he always has critiques. Now that in itself is ok. But most of the time I just want to share a song. Not be told I don’t like that 20 ms slap back on the vocal, when actually it was a reverb. Sometimes I just want to send him the multi-tracks and say “you mix it”. Has this happened to anyone and how did you handle it.

Dear sweet Cameron,
I have been watching your videos (off and on) for about a year and I adore them. What you are doing is important. I appreciate you and specifically this rant, for being vulnerable and real and honesty, inspiring. Thank you for what you do.

Distribution services are selling the dream too.
“For just $20 upload your music to all streaming platforms”

Most aspiring artists get hooked on it as if the fact something is on every platform means anything at all

I don't really know but about 2 months ago i started to not give a fuck about my statistics all together and decided i want to do the things i want to do, truly. I am in a better state of mind already, both as an artist and as a person.

Nice photography and video quality

So very well put. Thank you.🙂

Thanks! This was truly helpful. No gimmicks. I love content like this. Keep the candle burning.

This guy's advice is so freaking practicle. Some of his concepts are almost biblical. I really appreciate this channel. Thanks for speaking the blunt honest truth.

That’s a load of bollox

"what's the point of even trying" - well i'm just doing it cause it's the thing i love doing the most in life, making music. And my intuition feels that deeply, so i dont care if everyone starts listening to AI music and it becomes impossible to ever make any money from music, I'll still do it:).

If you have a different perspective it might be more worth your time to do something else, the amount of time you spend on music could make you a developer or UI designer in a year or so lol.

Are you wearing makeup?

Why does the hobby of making music need to be so angst-ridden? Why is there so much expectation infused in the music world. This goes for frustrated writers too. Golfers don’t have this anxiety. Those who crochet or scrapbook don’t sweat like this. Anyone thinking that making music is going to be more than just a fun hobby are deluded and sad. Why do they believe they will be rich and famous from their hobby?? Other hobbyists don’t carry this delusion. I make music for the pure love of it. I make it for me and only me. I have 100 followers on Instagram. And I don’t even care. No one listens to my four albums. And I don’t care. I love making music and I love my music. It brings me joy and that’s all that matters. It’s a… hobby. It’s not my retirement plan.

Every single video from this channel makes me doubt my life choices more and more

втф на первой минуте музыка из смешариков???

Do you play live? You can’t blame audiences for not knowing about your music if all they have to go on is a Spotify thumbnail. You also can’t blame computer programmers for designing a streaming system that rewards singles over albums since that’s easier to produce. Probably the only way to ensure interest in your work is to promote it in person by playing it live & making it fun

My card bounced on my distro and they say they'll cut off my releases but never did. It's yung croc if anyones interested but I'm cooked. I can still produce, but I mostly do it for fun.

Lemmy was 70 when he died.

I saw the industry BS for what it was ages ago, and decided to find a way for myself to just create for itself. If somebody else decides they like what I do, that's great, but all I want to do is have fun batting at that ball of creative yarn in my head and seeing how it unravels this time

Now I know why I ended up subscribing to this channel in the first place. It started out about different types of gear I was interested in, but now it is becoming so much more meaningful with the wisdom and knowledge that is being shared here. You are truly a beacon of light to many.

One of the best things i have done in a long time was make an album just for myself to listen to, i wanted to make another 90s Eurodance/Trance album so that's what i did over the last 2 years, i have released 3 songs from the album as singles and each one received great attention on iTunes. It is a complete contrast to when i was working on my first 2 albums, i was never happy with them i was always releasing and deleting them, re-working everything and then repeating the same cycle, i eventually decided to produce the music for the first album myself for it's 12th anniversary and it was a great re-birth of the album which made me feel a new appreciation for something i worked on when i was 14/15.

excellent mate!!

💛💛

You are a gift in this world❤