you guys ever get sick of having people send you music

for years i always get friends online or random kids who only hit me up to spam me their music, and it's never anything great,i personally don't listen to music all day and i have to be in the mood for it. so when someone i haven't spoken to in a while hits me up with a link and doesn't say hi first that just makes it extra Annoying.

the thing is, i don't wanna be rude or dickish and say, "stop sending me your sucky tunes, i have standards and your shit attempts at making music will never reach them"

how would you nicely go about telling someone that their song is not good without sounding like an asshole?

If they don't even say hi and just give you a link that gives you free range to be as much of an asshole as you want! So I think you should say something along the lines of, like...

"stop sending me your sucky tunes, i have standards and your shit attempts at making music will never reach them"

But if you're so opposed to that just be like "I have contacts to be in contact with people, not so they can spam me their tunes, alright?"

EDIT: I guess you're more trying to find a polite way to tell someone their music is shit. Just be honest and tell them they've got a long way to go, and should practice hard and wait a while and then send you something, maybe. Then hopefully they'll lose all hope and never send you another tune

i dig it baby!

yes. but youtubes pisses me off far worse

can you find any strengths at all in the music? as i've been told, the best way to give feedback is to say something positive first then give them the honest criticism. (well, your mix does need a lot of work, etc).. but that doesn't always work.

last year i did a soundtrack by contract for a local independent video game. there was no way i could write all the music in the time required so my supervisor asked me to license some music from independent artists. so i spammed the bejeezus out of myspace and craiglist, all over north america and asia.

what a disaster.

the vast majority of what i got was horrid to unusable. one was midi piano with a hip hop beat somebody must have enterered manually into sequencing software because it wasn't quantized, wasn't shuffling nicely or anything, it was just plain off.. another one was of samples of popular tracks mashed together in a very recognizable way (helllo lawsuit). the only acceptable submissions i got were from people i already knew.

i honestly didn't bother writing people back. there was like no way to give any sort of good feedback on a lot of the submissions. le sigh.

Why are people sending you tunes anyway?

Do you write for a magazine or a blog or something? Do you run a label? Or are people just sending you random tunes unsolicited?

If it's unsolicited, just delete it without even listening. That goes double for spammy comments on MyFace.

If it's actually a friend, that I want to keep, I'll try to find something constructive to say about the piece. Because, from my own experience, you can learn a lot from finding out *why* people don't like something.

If they're really being out of control sending you everything, just try to find a nice way to sugarcoat the fact that you're kinda busy. Like, don't reply to their email for a few days and then be all "hey, sorry I haven't listened to your tune I WAS OUT HAVING A LIFE WHY DON'T YOU GET ONE" <---but, like, not as rude as that. And hope they get the message?

Unless these people are actually paid PRs in which case they can eat a bag of dicks and burn in hell for the rest of eternity because honestly, these people are lower than paedophiles and queue-jumpers.

MySpam is such a crock. It's been totally ruined by rabid bands spamming their show in some small town in mississippi 5-10 times per diem to the entire world

  On 6/22/2010 at 3:06 PM, Masonic Boom said:

Why are people sending you tunes anyway?

Probably for the same reasons people send me tunes. I get quite a few WATMMers plugging me their tunes, just to get my opinion on it (I'm no producer). I rarely ever listen to them though as I'm usually listening to something else and don't want to break the flow. Plus I just don't like people plugging their stuff to me.

In answer to the thread, yes I do get sick of it. I think it's bad as a producer to send random people your stuff for opinions anyway, most of the time people will rate it according to their tastes and give advice on what should be different - which I feel no artist should ever listen to. I wish people would trust their own ear and not be so reliant on what everybody else thinks all the time. That's not a jab at YLCers in any way, that's just putting your music out there, people can take or leave it.

I dunno, if you want to make a generic breakcore track and want someones advice on how it can be more generic then go for your life. The fuck do I know.

I'm confused now.

Is this thread actually about how to give advice, how to get people to stop spamming, or just to boast about how many humble supplicants impose upon your most lofty time with their time-consuming pleas for your mostly worldly and amazing advice?

I dunno. Sometimes people posting their music in a public space is all "LOOK MA, LOOK WHAT I MADE!!!" in which case all they really want is a pat on the head or something. In other cases, they may have a genuine query that someone with more expertise may be able to answer.

In every music producer's forum I've ever frequented, there have been a couple of people who have tirelessly worked to answer questions and provide advice. And people like this are amazing, they're just such a valuable resource, and it's imperative to have 1 or 2 of them on a forum in order to actually keep it going. If you're one of these types of people, who enjoys imparting knowledge to others for the sheer thrill of teaching or problem-solving - bully for you, bravo, I kiss your hands.

If you're not one of these people, my god, how hard is it to say "sorry, I'm busy" or just ignore an email? Sheesh.

I hate music.

  On 6/22/2010 at 3:37 PM, BCM said:

I hate music.

That sucks, coz you're really good at giving good advice.

lol I don't really. I do get frustrated with not having enough time or energy to do it properly though and then I sort of hate it a bit... saying that I'm working on some new stuff which is going pretty well!

If im following someone on soundcloud or on youtube then I obviously AM interested in their stuff. But if its some randomer who I'm not following then I might not bother depending on how I feel.

Just always be honest. if it's good, your reply will be positive, and you'll get more good music out of it, since they'll keep coming back for your sugary words. If it sucks, your reply should be negative, so you'll get less music from them OR they'll try harder next time. You don't have to be an asshole, but you need to let them know it needs work or you're just gonna get the same track/different name next week. If they get mad, let them know that it's shit like their music that've discouraged you from browsing places like EKT or the WATMM Soundlcoud more often, that they are a cancer on music, and please sarcasticly thank them for wasting your time. List 10 things you'd rather do than listen to their music and send them a cellphone pic of your latest shit and ask them to review it, but also remind them that it's not quite finished. Send a pic of another shit a week later with some nuts in it and call it the "final."

  On 6/22/2010 at 3:14 PM, Obel said:

  On 6/22/2010 at 3:06 PM, Masonic Boom said:

Why are people sending you tunes anyway?

 

Probably for the same reasons people send me tunes. I get quite a few WATMMers plugging me their tunes, just to get my opinion on it (I'm no producer). I rarely ever listen to them though as I'm usually listening to something else and don't want to break the flow. Plus I just don't like people plugging their stuff to me.

 

In answer to the thread, yes I do get sick of it. I think it's bad as a producer to send random people your stuff for opinions anyway, most of the time people will rate it according to their tastes and give advice on what should be different - which I feel no artist should ever listen to. I wish people would trust their own ear and not be so reliant on what everybody else thinks all the time. That's not a jab at YLCers in any way, that's just putting your music out there, people can take or leave it.

 

I dunno, if you want to make a generic breakcore track and want someones advice on how it can be more generic then go for your life. The fuck do I know.

I do also not accept skype file transfer requests from people spamming me. I have some people where I request tracks from because I like their music very much but I hate people that do just send me their crappy tracks without even saying hi

If you just get a link sent to you without a "hello," then I just wouldn't bother responding.

I never get music spammed in my face. It sucks to be unpopular.

It could be worse. You could end up on bloody Promo Lists and then you'll get the urge to stab your postperson in the face and change your email and move without leaving a forwarding address.

just tell them it reminds you of brokencyde, but not as good, and then ask if they've heard of brokencyde and then send them this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RROMgc1Ffw

i get it ALOT

Im ok if im in a good mood and i vaguely know of the person, if random assholes send me music i dont listen or respond.

Especially annoying 'hi can you listen to my acid album' or 'can you tell me how to program a 303' or 'can you tell me the best place to buy a tr-707' lately its club nights in paris sending me invitations.

music 'spam' makes me want to kill things.

I only get music spammed from personal friends, who make awesome shit. So it sucks to be you.

If you really want to hurt their feelings and their music is shit, just say so. If you want to be nice, and their music is shit, tell them about one part you like, if you can find one, and tell them to add something you could imagine being there which would make it better. If you don't want to waste your time tell them your listening to music or busy or don't have good headphones or speakers atm and hope they forget and leave you alone. Or just close the window and ignore it in general.

  On 6/22/2010 at 7:20 PM, taphead said:

just tell them it reminds you of brokencyde, but not as good, and then ask if they've heard of brokencyde and then send them this

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RROMgc1Ffw