going somewhere with your music

[solaris0031]

alright so i make electronica (not dance) and i know several people that do also. we all are sortof doing darkstep, idm, dnb, a little bit of jump up, breaks, jungle, etc.

i have been doing it for a long time, and i spend consistently at least 2 hours a day in production. now im wondering how do i go somewhere with this? im tired of just having it on free sites, and showing friends (who show their friends, etc etc).

what do i do? i cant exaclty make a name by doing shows, since theres almost zero electronic scene here (orange county CA), so i cant do gigs at any of the clubs, and the only places that play electronic are where they have DJs.

where do i take this stuff? how do i make a name for myself? i dont want to be a nobody, and i really think that i could go somewhere good with what i've got. its just that the way people go with rock music is pretty much not applicable to electronic music.



anybody?

 

[glynb]

You can wish for something to happen, or you can do what ius in your power to make it happen.

You say there's no scene for your type of music where you live?
Then you must consider moving home and living somewhere where there is a scene going on.

OK Easier said than done, but it's no more than trul;y committed and dcetermined musicians who beleive in themselves have ALWAYS done over the years.

I don't know your age, maybe you're too young to leave?

You can try saving money and doing your own professional album to showacase your stuff, send it off to all places that do reviews and maybe you'll get lucky.

Above all what you need to do is make contacts and network. If you do that, and assuming your music is good, then opportunities will come along. Whether you do well enough to one day earn a living doing music is as much to do with luck and contacts as talent.

 

[solaris0031]

You can wish for something to happen, or you can do what ius in your power to make it happen.

You say there's no scene for your type of music where you live?
Then you must consider moving home and living somewhere where there is a scene going on.

OK Easier said than done, but it's no more than trul;y committed and dcetermined musicians who beleive in themselves have ALWAYS done over the years.

I don't know your age, maybe you're too young to leave?

You can try saving money and doing your own professional album to showacase your stuff, send it off to all places that do reviews and maybe you'll get lucky.

Above all what you need to do is make contacts and network. If you do that, and assuming your music is good, then opportunities will come along. Whether you do well enough to one day earn a living doing music is as much to do with luck and contacts as talent.

im 16 but i am working on a demo/ep. i have 4 tracks right now (out of about 50 i've made in the last 6 months) and im thinking i'll shootfor a total of 6 or 8. then maybe consider getting it mastered and replicated? so then i would put it for sale on cdbaby, send to places (where? what kind of people? how?), and maybe have some people get them out to friends that might have "connections" does that sound about good?

 

[Commander]

im 16 but i am working on a demo/ep. i have 4 tracks right now (out of about 50 i've made in the last 6 months) and im thinking i'll shootfor a total of 6 or 8. then maybe consider getting it mastered and replicated? so then i would put it for sale on cdbaby, send to places (where? what kind of people? how?), and maybe have some people get them out to friends that might have "connections" does that sound about good?

Takes more than that I'm afraid. There's a thing called 'paying your dues' which normally involves sitting in the back of a van for several years whilst you play gigs up and down the country to people who aren't really interested in what you are doing for no money. Then there are all the rejections from record companies and publishers to take into account. It's not as simple as bunging a few tracks on a website.

Also if you had invented a really good farm tractor but lived in the middle of a City you wouldn't get many orders. You need to be where the market is for what you do so you need to move. Being 16 doesn't help because you want it all now i guess, but these things take time.

Besides, if it was that easy everyone would be doing it.

 

[rapedbyape]

If you have enough people making and listening to electronica, why not create a scene for it...

 

[solaris0031]

Takes more than that I'm afraid. There's a thing called 'paying your dues' which normally involves sitting in the back of a van for several years whilst you play gigs up and down the country to people who aren't really interested in what you are doing for no money.

but i produce electronica. its not really something i can perform live. how am i supposed to pay my dues with an art that is almost exclusively done in a studio?

 

[Commander]

but i produce electronica. its not really something i can perform live. how am i supposed to pay my dues with an art that is almost exclusively done in a studio?

The Chemical Brothers do it. And Aphex Twin. And The Prodigy. I don't have the answer I'm afraid, but perhaps you need to be where the scene is or bring the scene to you?