Leaving Soundcloud

[Pewter Robot]

I'm just posting a formal announcement of me leaving Soundcloud, perhaps permanently (I can't be sure about that part). I now only upload my albums to the Pirate Bay under different pseudonyms. I am doing this for the true music fans who look deep for new stuff. I don't want people hearing some of my stuff and following me to hear music from me just because of the name attached, instead of looking for new types of stuff. The reason I am announcing this is to possibly inspire you to do something similar.

Perhaps if everybody did this, there wouldn't be any more annoying social obsessions over certain "musicians" and the recognition would be anonymous and fair. And only the passionate musicians would release anything, and music would be much more creative if all musicians were equally popular. Unfortunately, this is improbable and fantasizing about it is a waste of time.

Anyway, consider this post and see if it inspires you to liberate your art from its attachment to you.

[the4thImpulse]

I wish you luck with this. I see you have good intent by doing this and good intent is definitely worth pursuing but, my opinion as a fan of music in general, I like to know who the artist is so I can more easily track down his/her other releases.

I would absolutely love to see all artists getting their fair share of attention to their music, there will always be plethora or truly great/talented artists who go unheard to many people. I do think the problem lies with the people though, if they don't want to 'search' out that music for themselves (whether its asking friends what they've been listening to recently or clicking random music on youtube in hopes of a good song) then that's their choice for not doing so.

I don't want to start a huge discussion here but what you've brought up is definitely a topic worth discussing. You have made me think about something I have never thought about before, and I can tell it will be on my mind for sometime. Thank you.

[derpytunes]

So are you saying that only "true music fans" should be able to listen to your stuff and us regular joes shouldn't? You want everyone to sift through hundreds of random songs on the internet in hopes of finding songs we enjoy? Or what? I really don't get it. I'll admit the obsession over certain musicians is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean we should throw the whole label idea out. BTW, you been talking to SGaP recently? He seems to have a similar idea.

[Makkon]

I thought you were trolling. Then I saw that you were serious.

No thanks, I like following artists who I know are going to continue to produce quality music that I enjoy. The only thing that would invoke me into not following their music anymore is if they stopped trying to make good music. There's plenty of half-arsed music out there on the internet, it's always a joy to find a fresh spring that is reliable.

I think you're stepping into the fringes of abstract philosophy that has no true grasp on human nature; you're expecting people to behave in a certain way with this hypothetical situation. You're going to be disappointed.

Most new musical discovery happens by word of mouth. Your proposed system nearly makes that impossible. This doesn't make everyone equally popular, it just makes everyone equally obscure. It's artistic communism. Quit trying to prove people if they are "true musicians." Let people make music, let them get feedback, let them have an identity. Let them do what they love and connect with others who love it too. Internet anonymity is not the solution to labels.

Good luck on your adventure, your devoted fans will miss you as they will likely never find you again.

[K3WRO]

Good luck on your adventure, your devoted fans will miss you as they will likely never find you again.

Wao, that's kind of sad, I actually liked your music :/

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

...yeah, I agree with Makkon. That's a really bad idea.

[Lavender_Harmony]

An interesting concept, but perhaps the wrong formula. I have heard tales of albums released for free, with great barriers in the way, and a simple pay for option, where someone can either assemble the album by completing riddles to obtain encryption passwords and URLs and follow clues to piece everything together, or just buy it, simply to see how far people will go to get something for free.

Good luck to you, we never got anywhere without trying new things, and if you succeed, it might catch on, but as of right now, I'm pretty unbiased. Have fun.

[itroitnyah]

I don't get why you would want to do this. It's a quick way to vanish from the internet, that's for sure. Unless you have a youtube account and are going to post links to the torrents in the description of the videos. But otherwise you're going to suddenly vanish and nobody will be able to find you again unless they decide to look for any of your music somebody might have uploaded to piratebay. Music was meant to be enjoyed, not hidden away for few to find.

[ghelded_kultz]

Look. I like to think of myself as doing it for the art. As such I see your stance against following for the name admirable. It would be nice if we could look at music without nostalgia and previous conceptions. But letting your music languish in obscurity for the art? If you want.

And I disagree. Music would not be more creative if everyone was equally popular. If anything, it would be less creative.

[LoreRD]

Hm, well....
Makkon basically said my enitire opinion on this matter.
Also. I feel people should be allowed to feel proud for the music they create. If people like their music, then they have a right to be proud of that. I can't think of any reason why getting rid of "brand/name popularity" is going to make anything better (or like ghelded said, it may even just get worse). Contrary to "popular" opinion, popularity does not mean lack of quality. There are loads of bands that didn't suddenly start sucking when they got popular. Or even suddenly reinvent themselves when they hit mainstream popularity. And far fewer that you think are obsessed with popularity to the point where their music effectively "sells out".
In the end, I really don't care for this "Fight the System!" stance. It's not going to work, it's entirely pointless, and it'll just alienate your audience.

Despite all that, I most definitely wish you luck in your future endeavors!

[CaptainFluffatun]

Good luck in your endeavors, but no thank you, I won't be joining.

[Mundius]

While I praise you for leaving Soundcloud, enjoy living in total obscurity. Makkon, like always, hit the nail on the head.

[Freewave]

You're not really saying what you have against soundcloud. Is it the new format (crappy) and the spammy favoriting (non bronies and junk accounts favoriting for quid pro quo)? Is it because it's what eveyone use? How else are people to find you? Do you use youtube (i don't see that you ever HAVE,lol)?

Again most people use bandcamp for albums because their a pretty decent site to deal with (even on free music). If you really want to try something NEW and bold why not keep the soundcloud, keep the youtube (these are your only ways of being SEEN and communicating WITH other people) but link your downloads to your own site? You could do a blogspot or a wordpress for people to get your music in a way that's unique and created by yourself. Something more personal if THAT's what you are after and you can link any albums or embed any videos or sclouds you want! Also torrents aren't a great idea, use mediafire unless they are in flacs....it just seems you are dooming yourself to being invisible with your path if you choose it.

[Pewter Robot]

It seems many of the people commenting on this do not understand. I am completely aware that I will be virtually invisible. But I don't care. I'm not trying to achieve anything. There is no possible "failure" or "success", and I don't know why everybody thinks I'm seeking to gain anything out of it. This is still better than the option I was contemplating of keeping the music to myself. But I decided to at least put it somewhere for the sake of art.

And yes, I am also uploading to a regular file site. The exception is my last album because it's lossless, and too big to upload.

[itroitnyah]

I sort of view that as giving up and stopping making music, tbh. It's sorta like painting a picture, but never displaying it or speaking of it unless people ask you about it. Sure, you're still going to be making music, but you're putting so much effort into something that nobody will hear or see. Why?

[Pewter Robot]

I sort of view that as giving up and stopping making music, tbh. It's sorta like painting a picture, but never displaying it or speaking of it unless people ask you about it. Sure, you're still going to be making music, but you're putting so much effort into something that nobody will hear or see. Why?

You only make music to show other people? How do you even enjoy doing it if that's your motivation? Art is about expression and experimentation, not external approval.

[the4thImpulse]

It seems many of the people commenting on this do not understand. I am completely aware that I will be virtually invisible. But I don't care. I'm not trying to achieve anything. There is no possible "failure" or "success", and I don't know why everybody thinks I'm seeking to gain anything out of it. This is still better than the option I was contemplating of keeping the music to myself. But I decided to at least put it somewhere for the sake of art.

And yes, I am also uploading to a regular file site. The exception is my last album because it's lossless, and too big to upload.

I understood what you meant from the start. You people to enjoy the music you make but you don't want them to get caught up it the 'politics' of it all. You want music to be about the music, rather the artist making the music.

My opinion is you're going about it the wrong way, but hey, your trying something new and different. I personal like it when people comment on my music I like to know when they enjoy it and when they don't and I don't see how that would be possible without them knowing who I was the producer of the track.

If you can live happily making music and never knowing what people think or even if they are hearing it than good for you, enjoy life, I know I couldn't.

[Conduit]

You only make music to show other people? How do you even enjoy doing it if that's your motivation? Art is about expression and experimentation, not external approval.

The point of music, like all other forms of art, is to express emotion. I would explain more, but a quote from Dead Poets Society sums this up perfectly:

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

- "John Keating"

Just replace poetry with music and your good.

[Pewter Robot]

Good luck on your adventure, your devoted fans will miss you as they will likely never find you again.

Wao, that's kind of sad, I actually liked your music :/

Don't worry. I'll post anything for this web sit on Soundcloud for obvious reasons. I'll still upload the Osamu Sato tribute to SC of Bancamp or where-ever we decide on. And if I ever get back into making EDM, I'll put that on my Pewter Robot account for organizational purposes. But that might be a while, because I haven't even listened to EDM in quite a long time.

[Pewter Robot]

You only make music to show other people? How do you even enjoy doing it if that's your motivation? Art is about expression and experimentation, not external approval.

The point of music, like all other forms of art, is to express emotion. I would explain more, but a quote from Dead Poets Society sums this up perfectly:

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

- "John Keating"

Just replace poetry with music and your good.

That's weird. I just read that poem for the first time a few hours ago. I'm pretty sure the quote is taken out of context, though. If you read the whole poem, it's more about not dwelling on things than writing poetry.

[Freewave]

Art is about expression and experimentation, not external approval.

You can't "express" something if there's no one there to see it. Again while you may feel it's brave to live "off the grid" you still need to be seen if you want others to enjoy it. If you are really content to make music that can be seen by no one and don't care about getting ANY feedback in any fashion then you're welcome to do so but that's not what "ART" is about nor is anyone really going to follow your lead as it's a foolish one. Art is meant to be seen and heard by others. Should you make ypour "own" music and stand by your work?.... sure (if it's good of course).

[LoreRD]

You only make music to show other people? How do you even enjoy doing it if that's your motivation? Art is about expression and experimentation, not external approval.

This... is where I take issue. My motivation in making music is to make something that others enjoy, and show it to them. To me, that's basically a slap in the face to people actually performing the music they've made (The Rolling Stones? Pschhh.... they don't enjoy music anymore. And neither do any of the bands that just go on tour and stopped writing music. They ONLY want to show people their music. What kind of shit motivation is THAT?).

Perhaps if everybody did this, there wouldn't be any more annoying social obsessions over certain "musicians" and the recognition would be anonymous and fair. And only the passionate musicians would release anything, and music would be much more creative if all musicians were equally popular. Unfortunately, this is improbable and fantasizing about it is a waste of time.

So in this hypothetical world.... live acts would entirely disappear, because nobody wants to put their face on their music. Sounds like an absolutely shitty world to me.

I can tell you, actually SHOWING others what I've made is really damn satisfying. Even if I get told it's absolute shit, I get satisfaction that I've made something creative and shared it with someone. Obviously it's not the only reason I make music, but it's sure as hell a major reason.

This is still better than the option I was contemplating of keeping the music to myself. But I decided to at least put it somewhere for the sake of art.

Unless someone doesn't feel like it's good enough to show, why would anyone keep music entirely to themselves? I've never understood this. Sharing the music is, to me, one of the biggest motivations in making music.

To me, it seems like you mixing up the "display your face all over the music" person with "I want to show people what I've done" person. One of those types is likely a narcissist, the other one is a average guy. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.

You can't "express" something if there's no one there to see it. Again while you may feel it's brave to live "off the grid" you still need to be seen if you want others to enjoy it. If you are really content to make music that can be seen by no one and don't care about getting ANY feedback in any fashion then you're welcome to do so but that's not what "ART" is about nor is anyone really going to follow your lead as it's a foolish one. Art is meant to be seen and heard by others. Should you make ypour "own" music and stand by your work?.... sure (if it's good of course).

This ^^

[itroitnyah]

You only make music to show other people?

That's not entirely true, but it is part of the reason I like to make music. I'm an entertainer, it's what I like to do. I also make music because it's a way for me to express my creativity, even if people have already made similar things. Look at paintings. You can go to a big art museum and find dozens of paintings of just plain people sitting in chairs. And do fans of art get tired of looking at paintings of people? No, because each one is a little different. So even if I decide to make dubstep, I will even though concepts of dubstep songs get used and reused, each concept is a little different and unique in its own way.

How do you even enjoy doing it if that's your motivation? Art is about expression and experimentation

Alright, well, your dedication to the motto "Art is about expression and experimentation" is good, because you're right. However, you're too concerned about the "art" part and not enough about the "expression" part. The definition of "expression" is:

ex·pres·sion
/ikˈspreSHən/
Noun
1. The process of making known one's thoughts or feelings.
2. The conveying of opinions publicly without interference by the government: "freedom of expression".

So you're actually being quite ironic here, if you can see why. You can put as much feeling into a song as you want, as much effort, ability, and skill into a song. And no matter how good the song is, you'll never truly be expressing yourself unless other people can hear it.

not external approval.

As somebody who largely seeks to entertain others through my music, external approval is a part of my music. That does not mean that my music will have less motivation, inspiration, expression, feeling, dedication, or anything else. It simply means that my music will be a very different element of expression. Let's return to the examples of paintings. Artists all paint different things. Artists also paint different things for different reasons. They may paint pictures because they want others to see how the artist views the world. Others because they want to create visionary masterpieces that people will look at and enjoy. And still others, because they want their feelings to be seen in a different way.

So saying that making music for external approval is wrong, is wrong in itself, to a major degree. If you're making music purely to try and impress somebody and to get their attention, that's not entirely right. That also goes hand in hand with making music just to get famous.

Once again, you have the right mindset, Pewter, but you're too concerned with the "art" part and not enough with the "expression" part.

[Pewter Robot]

How do I delete a thread I started?

[itroitnyah]

I think the closest you can get is asking the mods to lock it, but I'm not sure. An admin like Makkon may be able to delete threads?