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Thread: Who produces electronic music and has an album ready?

  1. #1

    Who produces electronic music and has an album ready?

    Hi, it's Matt. I'm in the electronic music niche myself and know how hard it always was to get to the surface with
    a new release, to get noticed properly. That's why some friends and I recently launched a review channel on
    Youtube to help other EM producers to make themselves heard (note; EM, not EDM!).

    I'm curious, are you happy with the feedback, sales, plays etc, or did you hope for more for your albums?

  2. #2
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Ahem. EM, as with most other Ms, should be produced for the fun of it, because it's something you want to hear, for your own edification. Doing it "for sales" or for "positive reviews" or for "feedback" -- unless that's electronic feedback -- is entirely the wrong motivation, and you'll always be disappointed unless you somehow manage to write a runaway hit.

    Which is extremely unlikely.

    Just my 2¢.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Ahem. EM, as with most other Ms, should be produced for the fun of it, because it's something you want to hear, for your own edification. Doing it "for sales" or for "positive reviews" or for "feedback" -- unless that's electronic feedback -- is entirely the wrong motivation, and you'll always be disappointed unless you somehow manage to write a runaway hit.

    Which is extremely unlikely.

    Just my 2¢.
    You are definitely right that music should always be and stay fun. Nevertheless, it's a legit way to combine hobby and making a living - for those who have some decent success. Or more. And be honest, every musician dreams of reaching as many people as possible. Be it in the underground for sharing the fun or in the mainstream for making money. Problem is, that we hear only about 1%. And that's the BS in the radio... To change this, we must push those with the more creative stuff forward, to the frontline.

  4. #4
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    I don’t disagree. But most of the really creative EM I’ve heard lately has been on BandCamp, where sales are 1:1 to the composer.

  5. #5
    Sure, but ask yourself, how often do you make sales there, if you're "unknown", no matter how great and creative your work is.
    To be honest, as long as you're still on Bandcamp, you haven't hit the charts yet. Now ask me, how do I know this... I'm sure,
    most of us EM nerds have their home there.

  6. #6
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    I make enough money on Bandcamp to buy an ice cream, once a year, or so.

  7. #7
    Okay...... Then I'm in the lucky position to buy the Iceman's truck from my Bandcamp income. ^^

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by EMReviews View Post
    Okay...... Then I'm in the lucky position to buy the Iceman's truck from my Bandcamp income. ^^
    Will I see you in my neighborhood this summer.
    NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!

  9. #9
    Hi Matt.

    Silly question: you mention you're in the niche yourself (and apparently have done really, really well with Bandcamp sales), but do you have a link to your stuff? I see the link to your YT channel in your signature but can't figure out if there's a link to your own stuff. I'm a fan of electronic music (as I know some other folks are), so I'm curious to be honest..

    I watched a few of the videos. Nice to see a little love for Le Parc,

    Full honesty: I had some trouble understanding the videos; not sure if there's an effect on the voice or not but I had to stop and reply the video in places to try and figure out what was said. I also sometimes found the delivery a bit "monotone" in places which caused my attention to wander. Since the videos don't really feature a visual element (it's not an actual face or excerpts of the bands in question), the voice really is THE key element for the channel, hence the importance.

    I don't at all mean to be unkind or harsh and I hope this isn't seen as insulting; I mean this only as opportunities that might help increase sustained interest (i.e. subscribers) to your channel.

    I personally don't believe that any sort of sustainable financial model exists for musicians anymore. For me, decoupling my music from my income was one of the single greatest decisions of my life. But, that's a personal choice and I certainly won't begrudge anyone for trying for that ever-elusive brass ring. As such...I sincerely wish you well
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadow View Post
    Will I see you in my neighborhood this summer.
    Depends on. ^^

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    Full honesty: I had some trouble understanding the videos; not sure if there's an effect on the voice or not but I had to stop and reply the video in places to try and figure out what was said. I also sometimes found the delivery a bit "monotone" in places which caused my attention to wander. Since the videos don't really feature a visual element (it's not an actual face or excerpts of the bands in question), the voice really is THE key element for the channel, hence the importance.
    Same here. I found the voice kind of droning and hard to understand at times. If that is Matt's real voice, no offense. If there is an effect on it, maybe that could be changed or improved upon? I also found that I can't sit and watch the video portion since it never really changes; I wound up just going to other sites while listening.

  12. #12
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    The icon needs to blink once in a while too. Is the voice synthesized? Your profile says you're in the UK but the voice -- if that's your real voice -- has a heavy German accent. Perhaps, for clarity's sake, a digital voice would actually be more understandable? If so, make the icon a girl in a tight sweater.

    And if you're trying to expose listeners to under-represented electronic music, you don't need to pay a lot of attention to Tangerine Dream, Isao Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, Enya, Suzanne Cianni, Wendy Carlos, Art of Noise, Perrey & Kingsley, et al. As a decade-long professional reviewer of EM myself, I could provides you lists of HUNDREDS of deserving musicians who have been unduly overlooked.
    Last edited by rcarlberg; 02-15-2020 at 12:38 PM.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    Hi Matt.

    Silly question: you mention you're in the niche yourself (and apparently have done really, really well with Bandcamp sales), but do you have a link to your stuff? I see the link to your YT channel in your signature but can't figure out if there's a link to your own stuff. I'm a fan of electronic music (as I know some other folks are), so I'm curious to be honest..

    I watched a few of the videos. Nice to see a little love for Le Parc,

    Full honesty: I had some trouble understanding the videos; not sure if there's an effect on the voice or not but I had to stop and reply the video in places to try and figure out what was said. I also sometimes found the delivery a bit "monotone" in places which caused my attention to wander. Since the videos don't really feature a visual element (it's not an actual face or excerpts of the bands in question), the voice really is THE key element for the channel, hence the importance.

    I don't at all mean to be unkind or harsh and I hope this isn't seen as insulting; I mean this only as opportunities that might help increase sustained interest (i.e. subscribers) to your channel.

    I personally don't believe that any sort of sustainable financial model exists for musicians anymore. For me, decoupling my music from my income was one of the single greatest decisions of my life. But, that's a personal choice and I certainly won't begrudge anyone for trying for that ever-elusive brass ring. As such...I sincerely wish you well
    Hey Battema!

    As for the Bandcamp sales, come on, I was kidding. It's not really that much, but since we are actually a team behind this review project and everyone of us has his individual platforms for digital and physical sales, I can only say that some of us earn more, some less. And Bandcamp isn't really our focus. We might disclose some of our stuff with time, but at the moment the review thingy is on our agenda. And we prefer to keep things to a certain degree "anonymously", as i.e. The Art of Noise did. So people didn't start worshipping the "masterminds", but rather looked at what was the output of the CREW alltogether. There's a good reason why we don't grin in the cam, but a creepy avatar instead. I think you get the point.

    As for the voice, the clearness of the speaking, yes, we still have to fix some issues. That's why feedback from the users at the moment is pretty helpful. Especially since we don#t always agree commonly, what's good what's worth to be changed. Since we just started we don't see things as established. A lot will change. But one is for sure, EMR will always have an avatar as the host. We like to play with technologies, so, expect that in some sessions the host might be a Hamburger or a dog. Whatever the crank mind of us want to see on the screen. Nothing's weird enough to be not tried out.


    As for the income model, well the channel is not to guarantee anything. It's just what we can do to support those who are where we've been too. It's just an extra to what the artist himself can do for promotion for his creations. Might work for some, for some it won't. Let's talk about it in a year or so.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Roth View Post
    Same here. I found the voice kind of droning and hard to understand at times. If that is Matt's real voice, no offense. If there is an effect on it, maybe that could be changed or improved upon? I also found that I can't sit and watch the video portion since it never really changes; I wound up just going to other sites while listening.
    It's just the start. We twiddle on the improvements. And no, of course, that's not anyone's real voice!

    Which actually would be pretty cool in real life. WE ARE THE ROBOTS......

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    The icon needs to blink once in a while too. Is the voice synthesized? Your profile says you're in the UK but the voice -- if that's your real voice -- has a heavy German accent. Perhaps, for clarity's sake, a digital voice would actually be more understandable? If so, make the icon a girl in a tight sweater.

    And if you're trying to expose listeners to under-represented electronic music, you don't need to pay a lot of attention to Tangerine Dream, Isao Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, Enya, Suzanne Cianni, Wendy Carlos, Art of Noise, Perrey & Kingsley, et al. As a decade-long professional reviewer of EM myself, I could provides you lists of HUNDREDS of deserving musicians who have been unduly overlooked.
    Oh, he's not blinking? That'd be weird, since it mirrors the host's facial expressions. We'll check it out. But of course, he's way more stiff than a real person.

    Brits and Germans in our team, that's why the accent. Unfortunately the Brit one won't do the mic job at the moment, so, pls bear with the Kraut accent. By the way, a (British) lady will do the session in future as well, how did you know?! ^^

    Indeed, the "nonames" are actually those we want to shed some more light on. But we have to feed the YT algorithm regarding keywords first. That's the background for Jarre & Co, and because we want to feature our fav EM heroes. We have a long list of Bandcampers, friends on Jamendo, from forums and so on. True gems among them. Wouldn't say it's hundreds yet, but we'll promote those first, we are directly in touch with. But our doors are open for everyone who finds us and fits our criterias.

  16. #16
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Well, good luck with the channel. I appreciate what you're trying to do. I suspect the lack of sales in the genre have less to do with proper marketing exposure, and more to do with a general lack of interest in our type of music... but a little more exposure can't hurt. Go for it.

  17. #17

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    The icon needs to blink once in a while too. Is the voice synthesized? Your profile says you're in the UK but the voice -- if that's your real voice -- has a heavy German accent. Perhaps, for clarity's sake, a digital voice would actually be more understandable? If so, make the icon a girl in a tight sweater.

    And if you're trying to expose listeners to under-represented electronic music, you don't need to pay a lot of attention to Tangerine Dream, Isao Tomita, Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, Enya, Suzanne Cianni, Wendy Carlos, Art of Noise, Perrey & Kingsley, et al. As a decade-long professional reviewer of EM myself, I could provides you lists of HUNDREDS of deserving musicians who have been unduly overlooked.
    And there are so many more, like:
    Johan Timman
    Pythagoras

    I wouldn't consider Enya electronic and I think Suzanne Cianni also did pianostuff.

  19. #19
    I'm not sure I would consider my music electronic, though I use synthesizers.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    I make enough money on Bandcamp to buy an ice cream, once a year, or so.
    Good grief, Robert -- how did I not realize you had been making and releasing music all this time?

    I've bookmarked some of your music to check out later. Thanks!

    Maybe I can help pay for a second ice cream this year.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by aith01 View Post
    Maybe I can help pay for a second ice cream this year.
    Maybe a double dip with jimmies.
    NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Well, good luck with the channel. I appreciate what you're trying to do. I suspect the lack of sales in the genre have less to do with proper marketing exposure, and more to do with a general lack of interest in our type of music... but a little more exposure can't hurt. Go for it.
    That's the point. The classic or rather not-made-for-dancing EM is not such a huge green meadow as the one where techno, trance and the likes grow. Not so typically "commercial", not so promising to become a famous DJ there or a superstar, who sells enough for a Platinum record on the wall. But we go for it, because it's what we like and where we wanted to and will help old friends and new friends to be heard. A little more.

  23. #23
    I'd also encourage you to check out labels like Spun out of Control, DIN, and other stuff on Bandcamp where there may be interest in having albums featured/reviewed on your channel.
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by battema View Post
    I'd also encourage you to check out labels like Spun out of Control, DIN, and other stuff on Bandcamp where there may be interest in having albums featured/reviewed on your channel.
    Thx for the info. Actually we know a ton of great albums, many artists with many albums worth to be reviewed. It's just that we want to have a bit of a direct connection to those we review, since unlike for the "big names", where every "fan" knows almost everything about his idols, about the "nonames" listeners don't really know much. So, we want to include some info, that might be interesting and helpful for potential listeners/customers of their works. That spices the review up a bit and gives people a more personal insight into the artist's life and his musical intentions. Unfortunately most artists don't write much about the why and how regarding their albums, as well as about their history. That's why we prefer to get actively in touch with producers/musicians in forums. It's not a one way street then anymore but rather a kind of co-operation. At the end we provide nothing but a little extra support, but the artist himself has to walk the promo-path for what he does. Those, wo understand our "offer" realized it meanwhile and since our mailbox is a bit flooded...

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