Why is this myth still rampant among musicians

Olie

Olie

Member
I've heard countless times that if you make good music it will sell, to some small extent that is true but its not the main factor, not even close. Recognise, understand and internalise the fact: MUSIC IS SUBJECTIVE, what you think is "skilled music" the next person might not. Often as a music producer or lyric writer you objectively analyse music but how many listeners can or would bother?

The number of ears on your music is obviously the biggest factor to sales, so it would come down to who has the most shareable content online or by word of mouth.

The success of music is based on whether or not it is remarkable and by remarkable I mean worth making a remark about. Using this thought music that is skilfully made (on its own without any other traits) is not remarkable because the average person can not even see that unless you point it out to them and break it down which in most cases would bore the crap out of them and you would lose your audience.
 
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That doesn't make sense. The music with the best quality always outsells music with lower quality. Focus on quality music and the people will buy it. Focus on other things and people will not buy it.
 
So Nicki minaj is better quality in the totality of her songs than say nas?

Is quality subjective?
 
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say, nas.

putting say in that context would be to give the image of pulling a random name out of a hat because there are so many. Good way to prove your point though, ignoring one question and completely misdirecting on another. I would just like to point out if you don't understand it, it doesn't mean it doesn't make sense or isn't true. I'm here to explain my ideas if you want to listen, if not moving on...
 
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Desire Inspires said:
Who is say nas?
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??? i think someone should brush up on there music history before commenting on music quality -- i agree with you olie - people who make really bad songs are quite popular because its more marketable. I mean some of these rappers now a days really really sound terrible off the album, even on it sometimes. Like really WHAT ARE THEY SAYING SOMETIMES -- I feel though if you love what your doing and you make the effort to go out and play it and be in front of people at some point with enough determination the right person will hear it pushing your career in the right direction. Not that many people can stick with it thats the issue. Everyone wants to be insta famous and thinks that will sell out venues.
 
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Olie said:
say, nas.

putting say in that context would be to give the image of pulling a random name out of a hat because there are so many. Good way to prove your point though, ignoring one question and completely misdirecting on another. I would just like to point out if you don't understand it, it doesn't mean it doesn't make sense or isn't true. I'm here to explain my ideas if you want to listen, if not moving on...
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​All I know is that the best music is the music that is popular. It is popular because it is good and it is good because it is popular. No other way to see it, say nas.
 
Its all machine now. It's who u know . an if u indie its if u don't have a family an can go.to every event possible. You have to either be solo an every where.or some oone of importance is introduced to your music.
 
Mohitsville said:
Its all machine now. It's who u know
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If that's the only factor to success with music then there should be zero people who come out of nowhere with no backing, although I'm not a huge fan (see how music is subjective like that) Hopsin is an example of this. A lot of people would disregard his music as unskilled or bad and yet he managed to gain serious traction with no help.

His first song to get his foot in the door was Am i a Psycho with Tech N9ne which brought some attention his way then the song he released called ill mind of hopsin 4 then spiralled him up and is still one of his most viewed songs, why is this the most viewed? Is it because it gave people something to talk about? If you told someone about this song what did you say about it? I'm sure at least 50% were commenting on his diss towards Tyler The Creator. Regardless of your opinion on the quality of his music the initial interest from a collaboration then a song which created controversy is ultimately the reason for his success now.

Initial viewers -> people talking about your music -> success

Initial viewers -> good music ->
 
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U answered u said the song with tech9 gave him light. That's a backing a cosign. An I knew of him before than.someguys have great songs that cost awareness but definitely not the type of global status they have now.there isn't many who break threw on there own. These indie lables they come from are also big time. I'm speaking on a kid uploading to YouTube with out a indie label or if it is a label its his. Most cats like wiz and Mac miller aren't indie based blow ups rostrum records had money. That's a backing
I'm speaking on the era of demo tapes an rapping an puting in work. No one is doing that an blowing. They want u to have presence of millions online.name me Some guys built from demos . drake was a major example but he was still associated with degarssi .but he came in with a liable that was his an. Unknown ovo
 
Desire Inspires said:
That doesn't make sense. The music with the best quality always outsells music with lower quality. Focus on quality music and the people will buy it. Focus on other things and people will not buy it.
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Desire Inspires said:
​All I know is that the best music is the music that is popular. It is popular because it is good and it is good because it is popular. No other way to see it, say nas.
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Define "quality". Define "best". OP is right in that these things are subjective.

Unless... Are we talking about skill? Because I could make an overwhelming argument that Charlie Parker's or Frank Zappa's music is of greater quality than Ariana Grande's or Justin Bieber's, by virtue of skill - the former clearly show a greater understanding and usage of musical knowledge and ability. And their music was recorded before digital enhancements were made available. But you could say Ariana's and Justin's music is more popular because of "other things" you told us not to worry about.. (marketing, look, brand, exposure, label, radio, and more).

There are non-musical forces at work that make John Mayer more popular than Joe Bonamassa, regardless of who's the better guitarist. That's just how it is now, and I know you know that, Desire.
 
Great sounding, catchy music that a lot of people can relate to is most popular. Shitty sounding, non-catchy music that few people can relate to is least popular.
 
if you make good music... It will sell. It might not sell as much as you want as there is more (like you say) to be a big seller but, it will sell.
 
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Desire Inspires said:

Exactly!
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OK let's do an experiment, post a piece of music to YouTube that youve created and make sure there's absolutely no reason for people to talk about and share it aside from it being high quality in your subjective opinion. See if you make a living off of your music.

How often do you find music that in your opinion is high quality that has under 1000 views on YouTube or any other platform? I find a lot of this. They don't make a living off their music.

Explain the success of any artist, even if its a underground one without the factor of people talking about them.
 
Olie said:
OK let's do an experiment, post a piece of music to YouTube that youve created and make sure there's absolutely no reason for people to talk about and share it aside from it being high quality in your subjective opinion. See if you make a living off of your music.

How often do you find music that in your opinion is high quality that has under 1000 views on YouTube or any other platform? I find a lot of this. They don't make a living off their music.

Explain the success of any artist, even if its a underground one without the factor of people talking about them.
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I have zero songs on Youtube and generate royalties every quarter. Youtube does not pay for music. I go to where the money is, not to where the popularity is. I am not popular or internet famous. Youtube is useless to me. I focus on music licensing. The people that want my music use it and I get royalties as a result. Nothing complicated about that formula at all.

Focus on the customers and not the viewers. Window-shoppers on Youtube ain't doing nothing for most musicians. People make more money from Youtube videos about a lot of stuff other than music. So the music itself isn't important. Do something other than complain about myths.

 
Olie said:
post a piece of music to YouTube that youve created
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My music is of serious low quality when compared to the commercial successful music so it breaks the experiment... That been said I pay all my bills via working with music.

The point many fail to realise... Although one might hate the latests commercial hit, there is more production going on in that than many of those who aren't experiencing success.

I never find songs with under 1000 views, unless you're catching it very early or it's shared by someone not the creator, with many uploads of the same track. Any track that has been up for some time and has less than 1000 views, just aint that good or is part of a scene no one currently cares about.
 
Olie said:
even if its a underground one without the factor of people talking about them.
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Huh!!! if your music is good, that's why people start talking about you. Obviously people have to talk about you in order for other people to discover you, lol!!!
 
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