Is it better to release less music?

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Is it better to release less music?

Postby JSynth » 08 Dec 2013 19:39

So, I have been thinking about something lately and I want to know what everyone's thoughts are about my theory.

Between the dates of August 20th and November 30th of this year, I have released 16 tracks (arguably 15 if you exclude the remastered track). I'm not sure exactly how I managed to do it, but I still pulled it off. Some of the work I did, I thought was pretty decent. I did release a few tracks that I didn't like though. Some of the tracks of my from my album, for example, really suffered. Partly, what I was hoping, was that lots of music would bring lots of exposure. But now I am wondering if the opposite is true.

The other day, I was listening to a few songs by Glaze, when the old rule of supply and demand came to mind. I think we are all aware that Glaze doesn't release a whole lot of music. Since May 6, 2011 he has released only 18 songs. When I thought about it, I realized how excited I get when he releases something new. I mean, I don't act like Rainbow Dash waiting for the next Daring Do book, but I do have this "ah finally!" moment.

As I continued to ponder on this, I began to compare this with Aviators. Aviators, in my mind, also makes some really good music. But, unlike Glaze, Aviators produces a LOT of music. His YouTube channel alone has 83 videos and that dose not count some of the music in his albums. What I noticed was that I don't get nearly as excited about Aviators music as I do Glaze's. When Aviator's releases a new track my thoughts are usually more like, "oh ok, another thing from Aviators."

Then I applied this to my own music. I said before that I released 16 tracks in the past three months. But out of all of those tracks, I have a hard time pointing to one that I think is excellent. A lot of them are just "ok" in my mind. Out of all of my music, the song that I think is my best is a track that I have been working on for a year now and still haven't released. I have taken the time to perfect the track and pay attention to small details that I would normally ignore.

I pretty much came to the conclusion that the rule of supply and demand applies to the release of music. If I am constantly pushing out new tracks, I'm not really spending the time to make them excellent track. Plus, its hard for people to get excited about someone's work when they constantly release new material. I have nothing against Aviators, its simply the sheer amount of his content that can disinterest me sometimes.

Anyway, those have been my thoughts for the last few days. I'm sure it's not true in every situation, but it seems to be the case for me. What do you guys think?
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby azerty » 08 Dec 2013 20:20

While you certainly do have a valid point, I personally don't think it's supply and demand as much as it is putting more hours into polishing your songs. There are producers on the professional tier who will sometimes spend months on one song (to the chagrin of record labels), and it more often than not comes out as a masterpiece. Had they spent only a week on it, it would likely have been of a lower quality. I'm not accusing you at all of not trying hard enough on your songs, since it's evident that you do put forth good effort; if you weren't really going at it, you couldn't possibly have released so many songs in such a short time. What I think the case is here is that you're focusing on quantity over quality. It's far better to release a single masterpiece than it is to flood the market with merely decent material. You're right, sheer numbers don't generate popularity, but neither does making the audience wait in agony; people want to hear really solidly made music, no matter how long it takes to come out. Strive for excellence, not deadlines or delays. If you took all the effort you've been putting into your 15-songs-per-season output (which is quite impressive) and focused it on a single track, I can guarantee it'd be incredibly high quality, and people would notice as a result, much like this year-long project you mentioned.

Of course, having tracks out there is the first step to getting recognised and liked, but focusing on quality the whole time is essential. It's up to you to strike a balance between the amount of songs you make and the standards to which you hold each one.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby CitricAcid » 08 Dec 2013 20:22

There are pros and cons to releasing stuff quickly. One of the pros is that an internet audience appreciates regular updates. If you can release something new every Monday, then your fans will look forward to Monday morning. Always a good feeling. Another pro is the practice that you're getting. If you make a slew of 1-minute tracks in short order, you'll probably learn something new about making music with each one.

The cons are obvious though. If you spend less time, your music will probably be of lesser quality. More than likely you'll find yourself cutting corners to get things done quickly. Your more attentive listeners will notice this. One artist that comes to mind is Radiarc. While he will always get props in my book for cranking out one piece a week, I can tell that he relies heavily on his samples and loops to do a lot of the work for him.

Personally I wish I could release music faster, but I know that the quality of my work would go down if I did. Quality vs. quantity is a decision that we all need to make.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby Mr. Bigglesworth » 08 Dec 2013 20:23

I can see your point and a really good example of this is Sim Gretina. He releases so much music that I just became completely disinterested (it didn't help that he has a very bland style).

I only release very occasionally. I either take a long time to finish something or scrap a lot of wip's I start. My workflow just doesn't allow me to release things in quick succession. Although given what you've said, it might be a good thing.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby Ocular » 08 Dec 2013 20:28

Nowadays I've been spending more time on all of my songs and I can see how much it's affected my status. Even on soundcloud I went from getting maybe 15 likes on one song to getting 90. I do think anticipation and the "finally" feeling has a lot to do with it.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby ClaviSound » 08 Dec 2013 20:43

As a friend of mine said:

The fastest way to get 1,000 subscribers on YouTube

1. Make two songs, both good enough for spotlight on Equestria Daily
2. Release one, get featured
3. Release the second one two months later, get featured again
4. Wait for 900 subscribers
5. Announce third song
6. Get 1,000 subscribers

OPTIONAL

7. Don't make third song
8. Get 10,000 subscribers

Now, if you want to learn music, volume is the best way to do it. I sucked at singing a year ago, and only by doing it lots and lots did I manage to make it decent. However, if you're satisfied that your talent is accurately represented by your output, you should absolutely take time on your music. And as Bigglesworth already pointed out, if you release a lot of content regularly, it can get fatiguing to keep listening to it.

In such a singles-oriented environment as this fandom, a month per song or two seems to be about the norm for consistent great content. That number could wobble depending on how heavy the musician's obligations are, or produces music that's time-consuming (generally stuff where they make the instrumental as well as sing or rap the vocals), or if they're just not feeling inspired lately.

This is hardly a rule, or even a guideline. But above all, you should release music at a rate that feels comfortable to you. You're the artist, don't let the music control you.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby JSynth » 08 Dec 2013 21:24

ClaviSound wrote:But above all, you should release music at a rate that feels comfortable to you. You're the artist, don't let the music control you.


Yeah, this is probably what happened to me. I set a goal for an album release, then turned around and did a bunch of challenges and events. The result is that some of my tracks suffered and I was kind of unhappy with the way the album came out.

ClaviSound wrote:Now, if you want to learn music, volume is the best way to do it. I sucked at singing a year ago, and only by doing it lots and lots did I manage to make it decent. However, if you're satisfied that your talent is accurately represented by your output, you should absolutely take time on your music.


That's another thing that has occurred to me. Creating a lot of work is key to mastering an art. I sure want to work on my composition skills. As for the music that I typically make, I feel pretty comfortable with my skill set, except for my voice.

Maybe I should create an alt soundcloud just for dumping random comps to share with close friends and what not.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby Freewave » 08 Dec 2013 23:07

I will say one thing that can help is putting out an album especially if your discography is scattered. If someone downloads, listens, and likes your album. you've definitely accrued much more of a real "fan" then someone who just saw your single video thanks to EQD (although they will likely only download your album after they see it on eqd). An album is where you get to make a cohesive statement and those who can do that well NACP and Jackleapp's Ep's for example can really gain a following from that. The most successful brony musicians make albums and those often get noticed.

I do agree if you really can improve by putting additional time in a piece it can make a difference. But if it takes an extra 3 months and only slight improvement then that's not as good use of time. But music as an event is a cool thing.

I will say i can't be one of those artists who releases one track every 3 months. Some people like being prolific (General Mumble and Merzbow for example) and you ultimately are the judge on how much you want to release, just try to have the quality standards in place that you're happy with what you put out when its done.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby itroitnyah » 08 Dec 2013 23:21

Alright, I don't have time to read everybodies long responses since I gotta hit bed, school tomorrow, but here's my thoughts in a nutshell:

If you don't like a song, don't release it. You're not on a time schedule for how often you need to complete songs and making music isn't a race to see who can release the most songs the fastest.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby Captain Ironhelm » 10 Dec 2013 22:59

edited for now to remove confusion and to cop out of further explaination.
Last edited by Captain Ironhelm on 11 Dec 2013 05:52, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby the4thImpulse » 10 Dec 2013 23:25

I personally have gone back to producing music for myself, I rarely up load anything anymore unless I want a friend to hear it when they can't come to my studio. I might suggest wanting to release a new song: wait a month or two after you consider it 'finished' then go back and judge it one last time, make any quick changes to the mix/sound design/whatever it is you think may help it and then release it. It's a hard habit to get into, I never enjoyed it, but I know some people who have benefited from patience like this.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby HMage » 11 Dec 2013 18:05

Not everything you make needs to be released.

Not everything you made you hate is bad.

Not everything you want can be done.

Not everything you think you need you will need.

Not everything you upload will be heard.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby CarbonMaestro » 11 Dec 2013 20:12

I definitely need a video to talk about this. A lot of people do take the quality over quantity approach, and to be honest some people still can churn out lots of music and still be very good.

Personally I only release about 1/3 of the songs that I actually make, most of the time because it sounds too much like my other songs. I would spend a lot of my down time just trying to improve what I've already made, and to be honest, it really helps on upping your sound quality for your later songs.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby Magnitude Zero » 11 Dec 2013 21:12

Quality over quantity, definitely. My policy with my YouTube channel is I only upload the best of my best. I'd much rather have to wait several months for a single fantastic song than have consistent, weekly "good" songs.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby Alycs » 12 Dec 2013 14:25

I upload a lot of stuff to my soundcloud, thats where all my toastbeard songs are, but even that only has about 1/2 my songs. My youtube has even less (it only has 4 songs atm), both because I try to keep it for stuff I really like and because my internet upload is pretty slow.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby LFP » 12 Dec 2013 16:26

Now, if you want to learn music, volume is the best way to do it.

This really depends on your situation though.
If you suck at sound design; sure making lots of music will help, but the part where you make the composition etc won't help your sound design, thus actually focusing on the sound design for a really long time will give you more knowledge per time spent, so in that case making less is better ^^

You can of course make 100 songs which in all you focused on sound design mainly, but you're going to get to the point when you don't want to release anything because it's bad if you keep focusing on a single thing.

I would do it this way; practice lots of sound design util I feel confident I have improved enough/can't stand working on more sound design>make song in which I can use my new sound design knowledge.

I also gotta endure what people above mentioned; if you want to do songs really fast you might easily get stuck with the same sound over and over or having to seek help with loops etc due to your lack of time (in which case you'll learn very little)!
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby ganondox » 19 Dec 2013 03:03

Unless you under some sort of contract to release, basically what itroitnyah. Release songs when you finish them, not when you feel obligated to dump music. You can hold off a release so it's released on a particular occasion, but if there is no deadlines then there is no need to rush anything.

Oh, no one has mentioned Buckethead yet? :P
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby CaptainFluffatun » 19 Dec 2013 13:44

HMage wrote:Not everything you upload will be heard.

Because of this, I think it's important to always release music you are proud of. I hardly ever release anything anymore because my standards have gone way up, but that also means that when I do release something, I know I can be proud of it. If I released songs willy nilly, I would just wind up hating my discography and thus think less of myself as a musician. Come on, we all have that song that we no longer like. Picture that, but instead of one song, it's every song.

But I suppose it comes down to values, and why you make music.

There is nothing wrong with wanting people to hear your music, as long as you also want to make music (as opposed to just making it for views). If getting people to listen to your music is a concern of yours, then I suppose releasing more often would be a good marketing strategy. That said, it's a fine balancing act, because if you rush terrible songs out, people aren't going to want to listen to them.

Personally, I think it's better to release music of higher quality less frequently. Again, it kind depends on what you want out of making music.
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Re: Is it better to release less music?

Postby ExoBassTix » 22 Dec 2013 03:34

Yea, so I've been reading through this thread.
The statement that I approve the most of is that you should work at whatever feels good to you.

I got around 100 tracks in the works. I work on a lot of them every day. I don't feel like I make music at a particularly high rate, and with good reason. I either just get stuck, or I take craploads of time to make my track every bit perfect that I can manage.

For example, I could've just squashed a (particular sort of) sample in FL, play with the time stretching, clone it and change the clone's pitch, give both a blood overdrive and start recording automations and call it Ambient Noise (which I did for my first two Ambient Noise pieces), but it's minimal effort. Yes, I do feel proud about the thing I've uploaded, but I know that I could've put more effort into it.
To make this post 20% deeper, I think that this lack of something that could've improved the over-all track is all human. Imperfection. We're humans after all.
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