I’d much rather see people making shitty music than playing video games all day.
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i don’t mind making shitty music, but then comes the real problem — they release it.
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I want to make people feel better. I know my music accomplishes that, for some. My audience is very small. But if I can just make one person on this planet do better because of something I did, that’s time worth spent.
If I ever learned that no one was moved by my music, I would stop doing it.
This is subjective, mind you. I don’t claim this to be anyone else’s truth. But it’s my truth, for sure.
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I’d like to move specific parts of people with my music.
I’d like my music to move people’s bowels.
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I’ve thought about this and I always come to the conclusion that it is about having fun.
Sometimes its stupid fun where I make joke tracks with auto tuned voices which I find hilarious and silly, and sometimes its the joy and fun of jamming with people, where you get this unspoken connection through music, which is unbeatable! And sometimes its about sitting down and trying hard to create a serious song. Or just make some noise and see what happens. If you dont have fun, I think something is wrong.
Ways to get to the fun part can be to let go of what you are doing right now, maybe make a silly track without even trying, it might end up being really good.
Or let go of the feeling that you have to use your equipment to its fullest, I know I can get in a rut by thinking like that. I make alot of metal / rock and one thing that still gets me out of the creativity is that i get mad at my shitty guitar tones haha! But If i get past that and just write something its usually alright in the end.
I have always had the “I make music for me” approach though I love sharing and that people listen offcource 
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yes. No way out - fortunately
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I’m sure there’s a parallel thread of contemplative videogame designers on a forum that would be very sad to see this
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I feel you… I started a not unrelated thread here that touches on some similar thoughts and has great advice…
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That’s just a personal opinion! Vidja games are a fun past time for sure, but the modern industry is pretty manipulative and greedy. I see it as a pretty big loss that video games have become the most popular form of entertainment, as video games are inferior to books, movies and music except for interactivity. After what, 40 years of professional game design we haven’t seen a single game that could be considered equal to books or movies in terms of writing or stotytelling in general. It’s either dumbed down and cartoony or just ripping off more refined works of fiction, mainly books and movies.
So I’d rather see people being creative than just playing some mindless multiplayer game, mindlessly shooting at each other and buying loot boxes for funny hats.
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I make music as a form of catharsis as I take great pride in improving a skill and having something tangible at the end of it. I’m sure I would have made a good woodworker or painter given the time and dedication, however I found music production to be easiest to fit into my life.
I got into making music as a release and a way to improve my mood, never wanted anyone to listen to it and I seriously doubt anyone will ever hear a thing I have made. I am happy this way and critique would spoil that for me, I understand if you want to be part of the industry this standpoint is impossible but if you don’t then why concern yourself with what anyone else thinks, if you don’t even enjoy it either change your approach or find something that you do enjoy instead.
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sometimes you choose something, and sometimes something chooses you
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I’ve had creative outlets since I was a toddler. It was legos first, then drawing and proper art, and eventually music in my teens and college years.
I just need to have my mind occupied with making something, I always have. No one is going to listen to what I’m doing, not in any significant way, but I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for me.
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There’s no point at all. Who cares!
I do my shit with gear for no one. No problem, it makes my life better anyway. Music and art in general are necessary and nobody can say why.
May be you are just a little tired: take a break, drink a beer, look to the sky, eat what you like, listen to a record.
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- make the beast with two backs
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It’s enjoyable. I am a folk musician also and just have always loved creating.
Could have been in bands, played gigs made money, etc. Never wanted that. If I HAVE to do something, it’s no longer enjoyable.
Buying all the recording gear, mixing, mastering, learning Instruments, distributing it, sharing it, selling & buying gear. It’s all just very enjoyable.
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Designing merch, getting a box of shirts in the mail and seeing them for the first time, seeing a random person on the street or a bar wearing a shirt you made… I really enjoy all of it. The full experience of being involved in music, the whole culture. I love hanging out at cool venues, love touring a new country, meeting new people with similar interests and feeling like I’m a part of an underground culture. I miss it dearly, and I hope active music life can continue at some point.
And like, sure you HAVE to do some things even if you don’t feel like it if you want to have at least some semblance of success in music (take this very loosely, to me success is that you can tour and release music and get financially even), but you can always choose not to. It just means that less people will hear your music, and thus you get less opportunities to do cool stuff.
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For me it started by wanting to see if I could make songs?
I’ve always had a passion and a love of music. But I’m not a practical musician. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 15 and I’m still at an intermediate level. I don’t have the physical or mental talent.
But I can write songs and since 2002 have been doing so on a PC. It has given me great pleasure and frustration too.
Getting some hardware has revitalised my passion to a certain extent. But maybe my best songs have already been written when I had less experience or tools to make them sound good?
I have very little control in my life and coralling some chords and notes into a song relieves that a little.
So I continue and try to enjoy the process.
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Based on numbers I can see, barely anyone is listening to my music. But I love to make it, that’s more than enough for me!
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