probably cycle the power on my router/modem

"the technology can’t detect things like the rock underneath the track shifting, vegetation growing into the path of the trains, a crack in the rail or railroad ties rotting out. Plus, inspectors can spot a combination of small defects that might together derail a train where the machine might not"

my experience with MySpace was, make a profile for you band(s), upload recordings directly to your page (omg! can you imagine?) and the hardest part was choosing your top 8 friends. it launched a lot of indies careers. it also kinda sucked, im not saying it was great, everything else sucks more

Hmm I didn't know about Hive. I do like bsky so far, but it doesnt seem particulary suited to musicians. internet platforms in general seem hostile towards audio, but they are happy to put video everywhere

I had a Facebook page for my band, circa 2013, with 500 followers and anytime I posted anything it would be like "3 of your followers saw this, click here to boost!" or something like that.

And was it even possible to have music on the page? or just links?

It really seems like Roberta Williams was the smart one

meowzbow

Cool! I am looking at it again and I think it is great. I spent many hours trying to decide which knobs + pickguard to get when I replaced my strat electronics. If I had the ability to design my own knobs it may have taken years

I also found myself repeating this mantra when trying to complete a video game project. "Save it for the next game" When scope creep is out of control, when there are too many ideas, just develop one and save the rest for the next project. Finish and move on

I think this is a valid approach. Its easy to get too precious about a song or a recording. But many artists re-record their songs over their careers, or a live album ends up being the "definitive" version. The idea of setting music in stone as a recording is at odds with a living evolving music

Almost all of my meaningful connections can be traced back to relationships I formed in school or at work. The way I connect beyond those people is usually by performing music! When I play a show I find it much easier to connect with people, but that's the chicken-and-egg problem

And for it to be appreciated people need to be aware of it. So the advice is to go to shows, meet other musicians... which I can do, but I have rarely made a lasting connection with someone just by random encounter. It usually is: we play a show together or they are friend of friend

The social part is much more of a challenge... this became more obvious once I understood neurodiversity better and accepted that, yes, everyone from childhood was correct, I am "weird".

And weird artists are accepted and even romanticized, but not unless their work is appreciated

Not that I have complete knowledge of this, I'm pretty ignorant.

I have spent most of my adult life focusing on improving the skills to make the music (writing, composing, instrumental performance, vocal technique, recording, post-production, etc.)

The people that I see that have succeeded in building an audience are usually good at social media, or good a socializing in person (they have a big friend circle)...

(Speaking about indies here, I am ignoring nepo-babies or industry plants)

This brings us to the issue of finding an audience. I've seen countless YouTube videos explaining how to do it with social media campaigns or other ways of creating engagement. I have had little success with this approach and it doesn't feel good to spend time that way.

So this leads to... do we use day job money to subsidize hiring professional musicians and engineers to perform / record the music?

This seems like the way to get the best "result" but it sure is a more expensive way to create some audio files that go on Bandcamp.

But then you need a band! As my friends have babies and their hair turns grey (in that order), it is harder to have a band and of course we all have day jobs.

If the songs you write are "difficult", its even more work, because you need proficient musicians!