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300 points pseudolus | 13 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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parpfish ◴[] No.44408859[source]
How many financially self-sustaining musicians should there be? Streaming has caused the number to fall, but recorded music before that likely made it fall as well.

Should we stop thinking about music as a job and start thinking about it as a hobbyist art form? Nobody is out there lamenting that you can’t make a living off of landscape painting. It’s a fun form of self expression that people will do regardless of the economics, so maybe the problem was ever thinking you could make a profession out of it?

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lapcat ◴[] No.44409157[source]
The question we should be asking, as consumers of music, is how many musical options do we want?

If musicians can't make a living, then both the quantity and quality of our musical options go down. Yes, hobbyists will always make music for themselves, but hobbyists won't necessarily record music for us or tour around the country for us to see in live venues. The issue is not that musicians inherently deserve to make a living; the issue is, what kind of musical market is available for consumers?

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1. DennisP ◴[] No.44409468[source]
Plenty of hobbyists record their music. A lot of the music I listen to is from youtubers with a handful of views.
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2. lapcat ◴[] No.44409573[source]
> Plenty of hobbyists record their music.

That's not contrary to what I said, which was "hobbyists won't necessarily [emphasis added] record music for us". And of course you didn't respond to my point about touring.

In any case, the music and recordings of hobbyists are likely to be inferior to the music and recordings of professionals, because in general, professionals are better than hobbyists at almost everything, music being only one example.

> A lot of the music I listen to is from youtubers with a handful of views.

If that's the future you want, then I guess you're in luck.

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3. megaloblasto ◴[] No.44410168[source]
Can you recommend a YouTuber with a hand full of views that you think is a good musician?
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4. Larrikin ◴[] No.44410204[source]
There are tons of rappers and EDM DJs on Soundcloud (not YouTube) that have legitimately good music. They might not be good 5 years from now or even 1 year from now, but they are good now if you put the work into finding them. Seems like atleast in the DJ scene someone might be on top of the world fairly quickly even if they disappear soon after.
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5. derektank ◴[] No.44410241[source]
I'm not sure if they're more popular on other media platforms, but I've really enjoyed quite a few songs by the Japanese band Ribettowns and their YouTube account has less than 1K subscribers
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6. nradov ◴[] No.44410448{3}[source]
For SoundCloud rappers I really like Smoke Chedda Tha A$$ Getta.
7. rurban ◴[] No.44411328{3}[source]
I find the best EDM and rappers in skate videos. They are booked and paid by the venue
8. BabylonSysErr ◴[] No.44411768[source]
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHotClams/videos https://www.youtube.com/@Rikmacmusic https://www.youtube.com/@MikeHarrisonMusic
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9. megaloblasto ◴[] No.44414026{3}[source]
I find this very interesting. None of those artists were bad by any means. But the sound quality is really bad, and none of then are even close to something like Goat Rodeo [1] which has over a million views precisely because of the exceptional performances and the high quality video and audio. Why not just listen to that? I'm genuinely curious. I'm sure there could be a good reason. Maybe you know then personally or saw them at a memorable moment.I'd love to know what it is that draws you to those artists.

[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O7EcT5YzKhQ&pp=ygUeUXVhcnRlciB...

10. megaloblasto ◴[] No.44414124{3}[source]
That was sick. I watched one will less than 1000 views and it was amazing. How'd you find them?
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11. DennisP ◴[] No.44415511[source]
Sure, here's a sampling with a favorite from each. I'm a synth fan, some of these guys are good keyboard players and others are just really good with synths, as far as I know. Some of the handfuls are bigger than others.

Gabe Churray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGufuxRFqAM

Pete Calandra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUxNw2MEg0Q

LtN Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qke-hC7RnXQ

Johannes Winkler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tySFkXUUA

Caught In Joy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhxM9MNau3U

Jay Hosking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCLqevwWE1g

Gattobus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGeAMOwW01k

Dexba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PB05qVI38

Tefty & Meems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILVIzsoc6_0

Vox Mnemonic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnQi3dnWrKE

Oxix52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDNZPzSaYKo

JP Blasco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKiB04JlQqY

Kris Lennox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3GNZYcXUU

Singing Circuitry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwdxTuFosdo

Winterdagen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhNfUDs6TGY

Noah Lifschey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVFg-ZxNns0

12. DennisP ◴[] No.44416198[source]
Generally if a comment makes multiple points, I don't feel I have to refrain from replying if I only have a response to one of them. I'm not here to prove you wrong, just to make whatever point I have.

There's plenty of music available even if only some hobbyists record. In terms of musical options, I'd say we're in a golden age. Used to be, we could only listen to whatever some record label was willing to fund. Before that, just local musicians. Now we can pull up all sorts of obscure musicians all over the world. Recently I went down a rabbit hole of famous rock songs played in medieval style on period instruments; that's not something I'd be likely to find at a record store.

Recording isn't the barrier it used to be, and it'll keep getting easier to make good mixes as the software improves.

Meanwhile, it's likely that the power law will continue to apply, and plenty of especially talented musicians will hit the big time and do live touring. In fact, as more music is generated by AI, I expect people seeking authenticity will develop more interest in live music.

13. derektank ◴[] No.44441336{4}[source]
Genuinely no idea. Possibly on a Spotify playlist years ago. Serendipity and the wills of the algorithm I guess