If i had a million dollars I still couldn’t afford a decent house in Sydney.
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I don’t know how it is for him, but success can definitely make you high (on brain chemicals I mean).
If you hit “the big time”, it can be like the best drug you’ve ever had. And if you then take the actual best drug at the same time, it can make you feel like a god.
Some say that the worst thing that can happen at a casino is winning big the first time you go there. After something like that, you’ll potentially be chasing the same feeling for the rest of your life - and risk ruining yourself in the process.
Pop and rock history is full of examples of great early successes turning into disasters.
That’s pretty much how it is where i’m at. I mean, it’s way worse in other parts of the country, sure, but that shit snuck up quick around my area in the last 5 years or so. 350K got us a fixer upper on a crazy busy main road, and that was before it got real bad.
Although In parts of Cali for instance you couldn’t get something like this for less that 1mil no joke. I imagine it’s probably a lot like Sydney.
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As a “person of certain means”, I can say that money doesn’t buy happiness, but it sure goes a long way towards facilitating chasing some happiness if one’s so inclined.
I personally think making music to make money is a terrible plan. The chances of making a solid living as an original artist, much less ‘getting rich’ are incredibly low. I mean, if you do it and that’s your goal, great, but the odds aren’t in your favor.
I think guys like Joel Mouse got lucky and probably appreciate that. But I doubt getting wildly successful was ever his plan, he was going to make music regardless, just like the large percentage of the world that dabbles in art in one way or another. It’s not about monetary gain, it’s about doing a thing you find worthwhile and personally rewarding.
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Damn. I’ll stay in lil’ ole Akron, OH.
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i find I enjoy creating music more when i don’t have to care about if it will make money, gain fans, etc. because i can focus on it being what’s in my head. maybe my music would be better if i cared more about getting lots of people to like it, but i’ve learned that what i like to create doesn’t have a large audience and i’m ok with that.
I’m also a “person of certain means” through my day job. i think money facilitates chasing happiness, but it comes in different forms. for instance i love to travel (i worked IT for an airline for 16 years) and have gained lots of inspiration from the enjoyment while traveling that then feeds into being happier when creating music. but like you said, you can’t directly buy happiness. but having a stable income that covers your needs and some of your wants goes a long way towards finding happiness.
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I’m not so sure about this one. If that many people liked what you’ve done and you worked that hard on it, wouldn’t it be tempting to keep going?
(You know, after a few grand vacations or whatever)
Even as it stands for me (I don’t have any fans), I keep telling myself, “OK, we’re finally done making music” and then something weird happens where I forget about the internal pact and just end up making more for some reason. Sometimes I think making music is just a lifestyle, and when there’s that many people telling you to keep doing it, it’s probably really hard to want to stop.
He’s not an electronic artist, but Gotye (yes, that annoying one) pretty much did the opposite, so it happens. Although those tend to be with the sleeper hits / one hit wonders because they didn’t really see it coming… or might not have worked all that hard on music in the first place in order to have incentive / the addiction to it to keep going.
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Dude, your permutations track has had more listens on our soundcloud account than any other track ive posted in the last 10 months. And I’ve posted a lot!
You gotta remove yourself from this mindset that having fans values your work. The grand daddy’s that came before us Aphex, Squarepusher, Autechre etc didn’t give a shit about fans as far as i can tell, they just love making weird music and the reward is in that.
Whatever comes after that is a bonus.
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How do ya like them apples @AndrewWinds
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I thought that was a weird callout, and having not seen the Disco Android in a while I ran with a hunch and went looking. Yeah, I totally missed that drama, but man, what an entertaining read for a lazy Sunday. Thanks for that. 
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Let’s not get side-tracked. Still interested in seeing old and new people post their mindsets when writing a project, new and old days.
Not shingle into other non-rep’d artists or ramble into things that don’t matter. The people being brought up aren’t here. Their viewpoints don’t matter.
If you want to hear or look at an artist with some following, I’m sure there is a video or post already. If you want to include them in your history of how or why, go for it.
I’m personally curious about our little band of peeps. 
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Aah.
Starting a new project is a curious feeling.
I don’t usually have a specific plan for my projects, I kind of throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. I make Uptempo hardcore, after all, the only thing that’s refined in that is the kick drum. I’ll work on a few projects at the same time, switching to a another when I get bored of one. Sometimes, the project gets really close to finishing, and then gets thrown in the trash. Why? It doesn’t fit with all of the others. Sometimes my ADHD brain will stop me from working, which is easily satiated by creating the grimiest kick tails you’ll ever hear. Gone are the days of finishing projects in a single day, but I think it’s for the better, honestly. My music quality’s picked up SO much recently.
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I rarely, if ever, drag something i’ve worked on to the trash. i feel like those were great practice for me and that i could repurpose it into a sound library for others, or just toss it out into the ethers to see if anyone wants it.
i’ve never been able to finish a track in just a day. i’m too much of a perfectionist to be able to say something is done in a day. there’s just always something missing from it. plus coming back to something later gives my ears a rest and i can return fresh to see if everything really does work together like i thought when working on it.
Keep em coming. I’m enjoying this. I’m seeing where sometimes things just happen, and that’s what I’ve felt.
Like at the end of a period, I end up with enough stuff to just feel like it belongs together type stuffs. I don’t write in that goal, but it has happened. There are certain things that kill that “mood” but it isn’t by design either.
It has definitely helped growing over 15+ years now but I never elven thought music was an outlet. As a kid I liked to doodle or play around visually, I only happened upon music when I got my first keyboard and well, a daw. Somewhere to collect shittery.
Much fun reading the replies.
i’ve been at this for thirty years now. when i listen to some of the things i did in the beginning i’m always like “wow i thought that was great then but it’s not.” but one thing i have to remember is that 30 years ago what i was doing with music wasn’t what most people were doing. and i still don’t feel like there’s a lot of people doing what I am (well until i found this place anyways).
like you though i didn’t see music as something as an outlet other than listening to stuff and attending concerts until i picked up a mac (i think se but i’m not positive anymore), a roland s-50 for sampling, and maybe it was opcode or something like that as the midi sequencer. i’ve never looked back.
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If I had a million dollars, I’d buy your love.
I fuckin love that song!! classic.
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Dijon ketchup, all the fancy ketchups.
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Why does it have to be fancy though? 
Oh for sure. If it wasn’t for a place to put midi rolls anf recorded jam outs, I would have never thought about again. Fortunately for and unfortunately for others, I have been able to mash things together to a point. I was never good at doodles and I still feel like while I have experience, I’m not good at this either. But I have fun. Almost like playing a game. When it comes together enough to make multiples, I level up. When it crashes and burns, I get a new life.
Whether other folks enjoy it, wasn’t the case to begin with but you still want to show people at some point.
I couldn’t imagine 30 years at this point. But do see the changes in software and hardware communications, it would be pretty crazy to see A and then B. Accessibility is prettty cool though. At some point I wonder what AI will do as well.
We all talk of formulas to write….at some point AI will just formula the shit out of stuffs, especially more simple thoughts that people need to flow over.
Oddities, at least in writing, may be the last fold in all forms of music to get AI’d. crazy to think about. People already use software to do manual bits. Is interesting to say the least.
Cuz that’s what you do when you have a million dollars.