How do you get over the critical comment about your musical ability?

Hibiki Itano

New member
I know it happens a lot to all of us here, who chase our own dreams about music.
Actually, I used to be a mainstream songwriter based in Japan. But I quit my agency for a couple months since I can't stand the iniquity of them in the credits.
So I start all over by myself. Now I have the problem that everyone hates my music. They always complain about, if it's not the melody, then it's the arrangement, or the mixing, or just the vocals in the demo...
Sometimes I'd like to quit. But I can't since I've gone on this way for a long path.
So, if you guys have been through this kind of thing, please leave a comment and share your experience. I know a lot of people here want to share it.
Thanh you!
P/S: Here's my latest demo and it was rejected by the whole country (lol):
 
Is there somebody you can ask who is doing successfully what you aspire to do? Have you ever had any success with this yourself? I don't know anything about your audience, your market, your genre, and what works or doesn't. How well do you know those things?

As far as dealing with criticism, don't know what to say. Learn what you can from it and toughen up. Personally I found your melody pleasing, not understanding a word of Japanese.
 
If your song was rejected by "the whole country," then you're in pretty good shape. This means you are on the map. BUT... you're pimping a lot of dead links, and your Youtube has about 16 views. This paints a picture of someone who's not sure whether they want to put themselves out there or not, and these days when everyone and their mommas are making home-brewed midi albums on their desktops, you really have to do something unique to stand out from the pack (if that's your measure of success).
 
Yeah, you're gonna get criticism. The trick is to figure out what is legitimate constructive criticism, what is just stylistic differences, and what is just random anger/pettiness/spite.

So this is a demo that you're shopping around for someone else to record?
From what I've heard of that industry, standards for demos are really high these days. It basically has to be a radio-ready recording that they can take your vocal out of and put someone famous and/or pretty's in.
 
You gotta learn how to filter valid comments and criticism from those that aren't worthy.
 
With criticism you should, to a degree, consider the source. If you respect the source then listen to their criticism and see if you agree with it. If you do, make changes and learn from it. If you don't, ignore it because it will send you chasing your tail. You have to have a vision and use the criticism that's helping attain that vision. But the key is being honest with yourself when criticism is valid. Valid criticism is just an opportunity to improve. Become your worst critic as well -- it's key to being good but also then outside critics won't have much affect. Know your strengths and weaknesses and be honest about them and work within them always trying to improve the weakness. Make sure you're dedicating enough time (every free moment) to your craft, and not just making music, but understanding what makes music work, because it's not always the best musician or singer who succeeds. There are many intangibles. Figure out why nobody in Japan likes your song. That's the first step. If you're getting into music for adulation you're going to be very disappointed. Music is a social event meant to be shared live, so to make records alone that are good enough to get people listening over and over is very difficult and almost all will fail. Most of us do it out of passion for sound, to exorcise demos, or just a strong belief in what we do.

I hope your post wasn't click bate for your video.
 
a) your song got rejected because it has no feeling, and the bass solo part is a train wreck. Sing about something you care about, and make it come through.

b) if you had a paying songwriting gig, quitting was probably not the best way to keep songwriting. That's nuts. Quitting to do something ELSE, though...

c) Fuck em. Everyone. Including myself. Make whatever you think is DOPE.. cuz you can never can know what OTHER people think is dope. And if it IS dope, then people who like Dope shit will like it. But if it sucks, well.. maybe you have bad taste. But if YOU like it, then fuck em.
 
Sounds to me like the song is fine, the mix just needs some love. The vocal in particular is kind of telephone-like, maybe review that part first.
 
I know it happens a lot to all of us here, who chase our own dreams about music.
Actually, I used to be a mainstream songwriter based in Japan. But I quit my agency for a couple months since I can't stand the iniquity of them in the credits.
So I start all over by myself. Now I have the problem that everyone hates my music . . . .

I've been writing songs ever since someone showed me how to play guitar almost fifty years ago. (Before that, I wrote poetry.)

Since I'm not a pro, it's never mattered to me what anyone thought of my music. I can't recall ever getting a compliment until maybe ten years ago. Now there's a handful of people who like a handful of my songs. I like it when folks like my music, of course, but if people's opinions were really important to me, then I would've stopped writing a long, long time ago.

Also, to be clear: I'm not chasing a dream. I just write songs because I like writing songs. It's a hobby that makes me happy - not a dream, a calling, a mission. When I'm doing it, I'm happy. When I'm not, I'm not. So I do it. The fun is in creating them, not distributing them (though that would be nice, too). I have lots of dreams, but writing a popular song is low on the list.

But I get it. If my livelihood depended on people liking my music, or writing popular songs was my dream, I'd be very unhappy if no one liked my music!
 
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a) your song got rejected because it has no feeling, and the bass solo part is a train wreck. Sing about something you care about, and make it come through.

b) if you had a paying songwriting gig, quitting was probably not the best way to keep songwriting. That's nuts. Quitting to do something ELSE, though...

c) Fuck em. Everyone. Including myself. Make whatever you think is DOPE.. cuz you can never can know what OTHER people think is dope. And if it IS dope, then people who like Dope shit will like it. But if it sucks, well.. maybe you have bad taste. But if YOU like it, then fuck em.

There's no way to know whether (a) is true. The bass sounded fine to me. The song seemed emotional. As far as style, that's a matter of taste. When I look for advice, I ask people who like what in the US is called Americana - music built on the shoulders of old American styles like country, folk, pre-Beatles rock, and blues. Likewise, you should look for feedback from people who like emo and techno and ignore everyone else.

I agree with (b) and (c). The music industry is unfair, but so is every other industry. So don't look for a field that's fair. There isn't one. Look for a field that fits your interests and talents. When you find it, you can still make music when you get home at night - and there won't be any pressure to find people who like it.
 
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