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I forgot to answer most important part of OP: my measurable audience are 25-35 yo males in many countries, strongest results in US, Canada, Germany, Japan, and UK. (That's where I got "spread thinly" from)
Last edited by chunter (May 2, 2011 1:32 am)
I really appreciate everyones responses so far. My question comes out of curiosity and I was needing help defining the market for chiptunes for a marketing project i was working on.
I as a musician love making chiptunes ( I just started) and i love making other music as well.
To clarify to nickmaynard (and everyone else) promising really has multiple meanings here. Does it look like it is catching on with people who are more than just your friends? Does it have a lot of potential to grow or does it seem like it's not progressing at all? Both in a market/revenue sense and in a sense of musical experimentation.
I'd also like to say that I did not ask these questions because I believe I can get rich or where to push/spam my music onto people. But on the other hand I believe it is every musician's dream (and I count chiptune creators as musicians) that one day they could play their music and not have to have another job (unless they wanted to).
That I believe is the dream. And as a society (I am from the United States) that consumes so much music I believe we should be properly supporting the people who make that music.
But once again thanks everyone for your responses so far. And please keep posting 
Chiptune music here is for 30+ years, and it is not a genre, as it was said above. Chip is an instrument, like a guitar or piano, you can play any music using it. Therefore chiptune music progresses as much as music in general does, i.e. - not much, if at all.
I think there is a bit of daydreaming up in this thread, but lets go with it...
One thing to seriously consider is that the VAST majority of chiptune is released for free or as donation-ware, even the absolute best artists, and I don't see that changing any time soon. So competing in that area is going to be pretty much impossible. Like as with any indie musician at this point.
Also outside of the chiptune community, the genre is completely unknown. Think of what CDK said: in the whole world, there are like 5 or 6 regular chiptune shows, and those are SATURATED with booking requests (if boston8bit is any indication). So, ahem, [marketing speak: go!] what you need is another growth market, and that is going to take some sweat-equity on your part: Build your own local scene.
As you said, New Orleans has a rich musical culture and would be a prime location. So, start your own concert series, book well-respected "national" artists and develop local talent. Expose New Orleans audiences to chiptune. You will bring in new fans to chiptune, and bring the scene to you. Everybody is happy.
Its hard, its expensive, its time consuming, but it is rewarding and from my perspective, the only way.
I'm trying to understand the M.O. behind this post. If you are legitimately interested in making music, it shouldn't matter how "promising" it is. Just do it.
This is going to sound kind of douchey but if you are just window-shopping for "marketable" subcultures you have no business here.
Last edited by Zen Albatross (May 3, 2011 3:27 pm)
Pure chiptune music will probably remain in the hands of the hardcore followers however it will develop a larger following and with that more opportunities.
What I do find interesting though is elements of chiptune music crossing over into mainstream popular music. So while I can't see the next Beiberbot autotuned to gameboy beats in front of masses of gamer girls, I am starting to hear a lot of chip chord arpeggios, drums and SID samples being used more and more. I think it'll remain popular due to our generation being bought up alongside videogames, so we won't be able to escape this now.
I'm trying to understand the M.O. behind this post. If you are legitimately interested in making music, it shouldn't matter how "promising" it is. Just do it.
This is going to sound kind of douchey but if you are just window-shopping for "marketable" subcultures you have no business here.
I think you're missing his point. He's already said that he just enjoys making the music, he's doing this for some sort of project.