BR1GHT PR1MATE
Offline
BOSTON

i personally think that one of the main advantages of chipmusic is the quick turn-around time; being able to write and record a track in a day is HUGE, especially when coming from rock music where an album can commonly take 2+ years to record, edit, mix, master and release.

sure, there is a noise/signal issue with so many releases, but i am 100% sure that this is only noticeable "in the scene"; its not like the public is being bombarded with 1000 chip releases. We are lucky if 1 or 2 a year get some public notice, and if anything more releases HELP our odds in that.

I also think that the monthly+ release schedule that many of the netlabels (CDK, Pause, Kittenrock) for the more "quality" artists (debatable, obviously) have is fine, especially considering that most releases are still in EP format and consist of 4-5 songs.


Anyway, i think there is a bit of "get of my lawn" going on in here, but it must be understood that if this scene is to grow, there will be more people involved, and thusly more styles and opinions on chipmusic. yeah, its not what it was 2 years ago, but to be honest thats a good thing.

RG
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

Get off my lawn.

low-gain
Offline
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

i personally think that one of the main advantages of chipmusic is the quick turn-around time; being able to write and record a track in a day is HUGE, especially when coming from rock music where an album can commonly take 2+ years to record, edit, mix, master and release.

yeah it's nice so you can get some feedback on where to take a track, but 100% finished?
thats too fast in my opinion. not something thats going to be on a hardcopy release that ya plan on selling.


Most of my tracks (and this is just me) i get the basic foundation worked out in 1 day... then i sit on it for like 2 months and come back to it. lol

RG
Offline
Milwaukee, WI

Ty apparently sits on his for years and I've also heard the "one-week" material. HUGE difference.

e.s.c.
Offline
IL, US
low-gain wrote:
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

i personally think that one of the main advantages of chipmusic is the quick turn-around time; being able to write and record a track in a day is HUGE, especially when coming from rock music where an album can commonly take 2+ years to record, edit, mix, master and release.

yeah it's nice so you can get some feedback on where to take a track, but 100% finished?
thats too fast in my opinion. not something thats going to be on a hardcopy release that ya plan on selling.


Most of my tracks (and this is just me) i get the basic foundation worked out in 1 day... then i sit on it for like 2 months and come back to it. lol

hahaha...you dont even want to know how many of my songs that you like have been written in a day or less, logan wink

BLEO
Offline
Geneva, NY
8bitweapon wrote:
pixls wrote:

While this sounds kinda harsh it's a good method, if you get stuck trying to get the chip scene to love your music, you might become popular in here, but what i'm sensing is that once you're here, it's kinda hard to get out anywhere else.

Music is music, if its good people will dig it anywhere, not just in chiptopia. wink

And let's not forget the opposite scenario of what pixls was saying: it's possible that an artist would get little to no recognition in the chip community, but find that (s)he can get lots of attention elsewhere.  This is a very dance music oriented scene and many chip musicians who do not produce dance music are oft overlooked.

Wizwars
Offline
Los Angeles, CA
8bitweapon wrote:

Music is music, if its good people will dig it anywhere, not just in chiptopia. wink

This is the biggest point that I try to make to people. Why try so hard to appeal only to a small group of people within the chip community, who have heard it all a thousand times, when there is a whole world of people out there who know nothing of chip music but could possibly like it if properly introduced to it.

The thing with the chip scene is, there is so much music that a lot of stuff gets lost in the pile. If you're not doing something that is incredibly innovative or amazing, chances are you sound like at least five or six other artists doing the same thing and there isn't anything that makes you stand out. I write music that I like but I've never considered it to be exceptional chip music, just something fun to listen to, which is all I've ever really intended it to be. But because of the fact that there isn't anything super special about my music (at least in my eyes) it's been fairly difficult to stand out within the chip scene.

To date I've still mostly played rock shows, and I've never had a bad experience with a crowd. I always sell CDs, get people dancing, and have fun, which is the most important thing. With more chip stuff starting to happen around LA though, it is somewhat exciting to see what will happen.

Oh, and my download numbers usually suck, but Game Boy Rock has had almost 1,000 downloads 9 months.

Zan-zan-zawa-butt
Offline
AANABAY01

a sizable amount of people doing chip stuff don't wanna be taken seriously, don't wanna play live, can't really take live gameboy music seriously... i've spoken to a lot of people online who feel pretty nonplussed about there being a "chip-scene" at all - zey are mostly making music for zemselves and couldn't care less about working on one song for six months so it sounds pop-chart quality, or expanding the reach of what may or may not be a genre, or presenting an image or contributing to x, y or z. the type of chipmusician i appreciate most is the one amusing themself, and by extension me, because it's a joke to be gotten. some of the posts in this thread would be truly frustrating to somebody else but it just makes me appreciate ze goofballs more

if ya want stats - i got less than fifty buys on n0de-claw, which was always to be expected since i only put it up for money out of dim curiosity.

Analog
Offline
Ciudad de méxico, MX

A quality work is always getting paid. Even if it's chip blah blah, or classical guitar solo work, or chamber music or anything you can think of.

persistance & skills, you can make bussiness with just about anything.

Star Fighter Dreams
Offline
San Antonio, Texas
low-gain wrote:

i'd settle for net labels to have a little back bone and be willing to tell an artist that it's not to their standards. instead of releasing it just because they have the server space and bandwidth.

it's too easy to release an ep or an album. simple as that. anyone can do it, and most people are impatient and want instant gratification/satisfaction...
"i just finished a song, i should release it"

maybe it's not finished, and you should sit on it, and work on it some more. wink


That's why I never release ANYTHING. I've only uploaded one song to anywhere and its from two years ago. All the music I write I end up hating. And If I hate it, why would anyone else like it, much less buy it?

smiletron
Offline
Nashville, Tennessee

its really not that hard if you actually put the effort into it... the thing is, as zzzv said, that a lot of people just don't care. music should be first and foremost for our own enjoyment, yeah?

ovenrake
Offline
lolusa

Don't ever feel bad selling an album as opposed to having it as a free download. If it is at a venue, the chances of selling your album is so much higher. Every time I see some kind of chipshow the cover spans from free to $5, which greatly increases a chance of a sale. A non-chip audience that becomes impressed will most likely buy your cd or some merchandise. Local music scenes are saturated with terrible punk/rock acts that will charge for every bit of merchandise; regardless of quality of the product or music. The general public will be alleviated of this once you decide to get up on stage and off your irc client.

But then again a lot of people won't like/buy the music. Whether if they are seeing JDDJ3J or 5up3rb1ttychip55, there's always that relentless asshole who will never budge on any type of chipmusic, regardless of the style.

I'm just trying to say that don't feel like you HAVE to release your hard work and dedication for free. It is your product, don't let a few hundred people on the internet dictate your artistic integrity. A boys gotta eat y'know?!

calmdownkidder
Offline
Liverpool, UK

Conversely, don't feel the need to sell your album because a few high and mighty people think they're too good to release stuff for free - it's not always about a profit line at the end of the day.

celsius
Offline
Melbourne, Australia
low-gain wrote:
BR1GHT PR1MATE wrote:

i personally think that one of the main advantages of chipmusic is the quick turn-around time; being able to write and record a track in a day is HUGE, especially when coming from rock music where an album can commonly take 2+ years to record, edit, mix, master and release.

yeah it's nice so you can get some feedback on where to take a track, but 100% finished?
thats too fast in my opinion. not something thats going to be on a hardcopy release that ya plan on selling.


Most of my tracks (and this is just me) i get the basic foundation worked out in 1 day... then i sit on it for like 2 months and come back to it. lol

This is totally subjective. cTrix often tracks, records and masters tunes (multiple) in 8 hours then later plays them at a gig that night. Refining something for months doesn't guarantee quality anymore  than 1 day jeopardises it.
10K's last two albums were recorded on a VERY tight schedule but they are two of the best produced chip albums I've heard.

Giving people finite rules like this is just as short sighted as the people you are complaining about who restrict themselves to hardware limitations to remain 'pure'.

I gotta say, I agree with BR1GHT PR1MATE. This thread REEKS of jaded old dues mumbling about the kids these days and what is wrong with the world. The only redeeming quality is that you are practicing what you preach and for that I throw you a high five. smile

Decktonic
Offline
Westfield, NJ

I think this thread has gotten off topic with a lot of subjective stuff. I think the OP would agree with me when I say that I just want to know what kinds of sales figures people have seen on chip releases... and not just because it's chip music, but because for the most part, it's indie music released on small labels. I'd also like to know how revenue from releases compares to revenue from live shows.

Actually there's something else I'd like to know regarding free downloads... I've been putting my stuff on Bandcamp with the requirement that people enter their email address to download my EP. Is this a bad idea? Would more people download my EP if they didn't have to enter their email? Also, should I put my EP up on other places like archive.org, or offer a torrent of my EP?

celsius
Offline
Melbourne, Australia
Decktonic wrote:

I've been putting my stuff on Bandcamp with the requirement that people enter their email address to download my EP. Is this a bad idea?

Are you telling them upfront in a very obvious place why you require their email? Are you being very clear about the frequency of mailouts? If not that would put me off. Also as you are a relatively unestablished artist I might think twice about downloading your album (having not heard your material before) if you are making me jump through hoops to get it.

In short, I think it does more harm than good.