Making Music - Why Do We Do It?

[flyfisher]

The world is awash with great music (and bad, but hey ho . . . ) and it has never been easier to access it all. So why do some of us bother to create our own new music?

Actually, that not my real question, because I can easily understand the creative urge. My real question is why do some of us spend huge amounts of time and money on recording our original songs, making wonderfully crafted videos, creating elaborate websites and actively promoting our gigs when the vast majority of people will listen politely for the three minutes or so before politely saying 'yeah, very nice' and then carrying on with their lives as if nothing had happened? Three minutes for them, but days, weeks, months of minutely detailed effort for us.

Do we do it because we're all aspiring rock stars dreaming of fame and fortune? I doubt it because I reckon the vast majority of musicians are more realistic than that and know, deep down, that it's bloody hard to make a good living out of music!

I mention all this because the two mainly-originals bands I play with are often asked if we have a CD, or a website, or a video. We've thought about such things but when it comes to it we can't really be bothered. We basically play for our own enjoyment and would rather spend our time writing new songs than going through the recording process or making a band video. And given that we're not trying to set the music world alight with our unique talent ( ) we're happy to play for free.

So, why do so many bands invest huge amounts of time and effort making 'throwaway' recordings and videos?

[danthevan]

Beacause we can




(well, some can anyway.............. I can't for shyte!)

[Junkyard Rocket]

I do it to annoy my kids

[neepheid]

Regardless of how it is received, it is real and if it is consigned to a physical medium then it becomes part of history. Something to amaze and awe the grandkids with and all that. Live performances are fleeting moments in time which fade as all memories do.

[chris_b]

I've been doing this for so long, I've forgotten why I started!

[discreet]

I do it for the cash, the birds, the booze, the drugs, the violence, the guns... and the laughter.

[Lynottfan]

we have something to say, something to play and some people will pay!

[Skol303]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1367270494' post='2063627']
I do it for the cash, the birds, the booze, the drugs, the violence, the guns... and the laughter.
[/quote]

This. And custard.

[Lozz196]

Because I love it.

[Twigman]

Because I love it.
Because I get paid to do it.
Because I get to go away with my mates and play at being a rock star.
Because it is an escape from normal life.
Just because...

[lurksalot]

I have always had an itch to scratch with song writing , and the competition in the recording section on BC has given me a kick in the arse to record something and produce it .
My stuff doesnt amount to much in the real world, but it is my stuff , and the start of another learning curve , and if creative things rub off on the family ,that is another good spin off .

said with all the authority of a total noob to the art, who only recorded his first note in December

[BassTractor]

.
Don't do it anymore, but did it mainly for the learning that tended to accompany it. I like learning something new.

Also, I have little interest in world domination, a hit, the money, or to let other people hear what I have done, and am just enjoying the process. Not that I'm against being heard, and I enjoy performing, but will most oftenly say no when folks ask me to play them something. Though I figure this would've been different were I to play an acoustic or classical guitar.


best,
bert

[flyfisher]

Interesting replies.

I get that people enjoy making music (otherwise, what would be the point?) but what is it that drives them to want to perform (inflict?) it on an audience? Why is it not enough to just make music for themselves and the others in the band?

[lurksalot]

Entertainment and the buzz that you get from seeing people enjoying I guess. As we do covers as a band, we don't feel the need to record it, but it surprises me that if you do original material , some sort of recording is not an integral part of what you do. Surely its a creation you are proud of and want to have documented , a bit like like family photographs , you may not want to post them all on the net or hang them all on the wall , but you know where they are . Little bits of documented history make us, and our future generations who we are. I think 'can't be bothered' is a shame TBH

[BassTractor]

OK, as for my classical career, I felt I had something new to tell about the works of certain composers, as in about the possible ways of performing that music so its quality was communicated in fresh ways - ways that one hoped would tell the audience something new about the composer or the work.
In this I was the servant to the composer only.

As for pop and rock, while I don't have that strong a drive, it's about [b]sharing[/b], preferably with peers, something that I enjoy and hope they too will enjoy. These days, I'd never be in a band that could not mingle with the audience afterwards and share a beer and a chat. I like things low key and simple.

b,
b

[the_skezz]

To be remembered as something other than 'That geezer who went down the pub a bunch'. Music is one of the few things I have a genuine interest in, and when I finally kick the bucket it'd mean a lot if people - even just a couple of my closest friends - remembered the music I've had a hand in as a reflection of me.

[bobbass4k]

I approach writing songs the same as everything in my life (to my detriment) as puzzles to be solved. I start with a riff or a melody or a chord progression or whatever, and from there I know there's other parts of the song that belong together, I just need to figure out what they are. The satisfaction of finding the perfect riff to follow that chorus is for me, incomparable.

[lurksalot]

Bob have you clocked the new Phineas & Ferb series , some fantastic stuff in there bud .

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1367265573' post='2063492']
The world is awash with great music (and bad, but hey ho . . . ) and it has never been easier to access it all. So why do some of us bother to create our own new music?

Actually, that not my real question, because I can easily understand the creative urge. My real question is why do some of us spend huge amounts of time and money on recording our original songs, making wonderfully crafted videos, creating elaborate websites and actively promoting our gigs when the vast majority of people will listen politely for the three minutes or so before politely saying 'yeah, very nice' and then carrying on with their lives as if nothing had happened? Three minutes for them, but days, weeks, months of minutely detailed effort for us.

Do we do it because we're all aspiring rock stars dreaming of fame and fortune? I doubt it because I reckon the vast majority of musicians are more realistic than that and know, deep down, that it's bloody hard to make a good living out of music!

I mention all this because the two mainly-originals bands I play with are often asked if we have a CD, or a website, or a video. We've thought about such things but when it comes to it we can't really be bothered. We basically play for our own enjoyment and would rather spend our time writing new songs than going through the recording process or making a band video. And given that we're not trying to set the music world alight with our unique talent ( ) we're happy to play for free.

So, why do so many bands invest huge amounts of time and effort making 'throwaway' recordings and videos?
[/quote]

I think, on some level, a lot of musicians want somebody to look at them and say "You're really good". As egotistical as that sounds, it's what we crave. It makes us feel good, even if we don't consciously acknowledge that we are doing it, even in some small part, for that reason. Of course, playing with friends, especially if you are on the same wavelength, is immense amounts of fun, whether it makes any money or not. So we also do it for the fun, as you've said. I think there are a lot of wannabes, and i'll hold my hands up and say that I probably fit that mould, or at least did fit it pretty well for a while. I found that as I learned more, I wanted to learn more, not for any particular end goal, just to know.

I make music because I want to. If I write a song that somebody can relate to, and know that somebody else has had those feelings, and been there, and sees that it's obviously not the end of the world, well that would mean more to me than any money I got from it.

Oh yeah, and all the birds and drugs. Can't leave those out.

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='the_skezz' timestamp='1367277133' post='2063698']
To be remembered as something other than 'That geezer who went down the pub a bunch'. Music is one of the few things I have a genuine interest in, and when I finally kick the bucket it'd mean a lot if people - even just a couple of my closest friends - remembered the music I've had a hand in as a reflection of me.
[/quote]

Mmm, quite. It's a legacy.

Not only that, but there's people that I would happily play the music they like, even if I hate it, because I want to make them happy.

[xilddx]

For me it's a compulsion, I don't have a choice. But there is also the vanity

[BigRedX]

Because we want to and because we can. What other reason do you need?

You could say this about anyone's hobby. Why do people waste their time playing golf? In the pub? Spend ridiculous amounts of money on cars when something much cheaper will get them from A to B just as well? And in fact most hobbies don't give you the opportunity to actually make some money back doing them like writing and playing music does.

What else would we do with our time? Veg out in front of the TV? Spend more of it at "work" until we're dead or invalided?

And while it's unlikely that most of us are ever going to make much more than beer money out of playing original music, I see it in the same way as buying a lottery ticket. You don't have much chance of winning the jackpot, but if you don't buy one you don't have any chance at all.

[krysh]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1367281443' post='2063753']
For me it's a compulsion, I don't have a choice. But there is also the vanity
[/quote]

I'm with Nigel. I don't know where it comes from, but if I don't play music -best in front of an audience- I get sick after a while...
on the other hand I also get sick because of most musos, too...

so it must be a disease then.

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1367270494' post='2063627']
I do it for the cash, the birds, the booze, the drugs, the violence, the guns... and the laughter.
[/quote]

I'm still a bit goth, I don't laugh.







and we do it so we can get free tickets to festivals in the summertime, cos we can't afford to go otherwise. And it is cool when you bump into somebody you know there and tell them to come see your band in the teenytiny tent you're in.
Or opening the main stage on the saturday (at Sunrise this year, just saying....)

[Dr.Dave]

It's to do with my character.

I'm never happy as a ' consumer ' - only as a 'creator'.

I don't like to eat out but I like to cook. I don't like to buy anything I can make myself. I don;t like to pay for any service I can manage myself.

In the same way - I hardly ever listen to music. I don't enjoy it much. Put me on a stage , however , where I can make it and I'm Mr Happy.