My Music, and how best to use Steemit.

in #music6 years ago (edited)

Steemit is a platform for content,  but the difference between Steemit and other social media platforms is its ability to incentivize creativity and reward good quality content. 

So, with this in mind I aim to write a blog post to share some of my songs, my journey as an artist, and some tips on how to use Steemit. 

I put a fair amount of effort into my first post, using the introduceryourself tag (which is a great place to start your first post - if you've just arrived.)

The response - $20 which - was reasonably positive reward for just introducing myself on a new social media platform! I then went on to find the openmic community. For anyone who isnt familiar - it is a weekly competition for musicans to perform to a growing community. It is one example of the many succesfull community run projects on the platform. 

I posted a video of my girlfriend @thisisjordan and I singing an ever so slightly cheesy love song, and it did quite well.  Earning around $130

https://steemit.com/openmic/@samcook/steemit-open-mic-week-71-original-song-true-love-by-l-a-w

What followed was a few lazy posts and no surprise, I failed to earn much for my efforts.  It's easy to respond by saying "Steemit just does't work", or that "its too complicated". But what if I had instead responded by putting more effort into the content I was creating?  The inflation or deflation of our ego can so often influence our productivity, but whats really matters is that we keep working towards our goals. 

Whilst still discovering the platform now myself, and excited by its potential - I am still learning. It can be tricky, and it take some time and effort. But is a space in which friends, supporters and fans alike, can be part of the journey. Making use of our time and giving value to our efforts. Rather than supporting ready made artists, Steemit can be a platform where people can influence and contribute. Much like a digital venue, facilitating events. We are able to pursue interests with like minded people, with an incentive to support each other, challenge and inspire. The work is finding value in what we do. 

In a world full of marketing it is necessary, at least to some degree to concentrate your ideas into a name, a theme, a genre or something people can remember by association as a brand. A unique selling point.

So for this creative purpose - 

I have created...







I recently posted these three on Soundcloud and started a few social media accounts. I have had the demos for near enough six months in this form. But often found myself thinking they were not ready. True this may be, in some way it does not mean they should be held back or retracted.

Having worked on a  loose set of songs and ideas for perhaps two years, it has been exciting rehearsing with a full band. Working under L.A.W as a concept keeps space for a different kind of writing, being able to write from a feminine side. Its also sometimes easier to work without the pressure of second guessing the idea of yourself performing, and the judgement that brings. Thats itself is a stage fright, that can put a stop to something before its started.  

The songs contain often similar progressions with variations of timings of chord changes and/or melodies and different versions of the same songs. In an attempt to not get too attached to any set of chords, notes or progressions and always keeping room to develop further. Having now amassed a body of work - some of which is finished, some is just beginning.


There is always the lingering trouble of not knowing when something is ready, and that which can be undercooked, can also be overcooked.
 

The truth is nothing is finished and everything is ready - they will always be changing, as everything is, and as we always do.



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Welcome, samcook! Best wishes for a very happy journey here in this very cool community with many nice people :) Be happy!

By the way, there are several groups you as a newcomer can join. They will stay with you for your journey, helping and mentoring along the way.

@greetersguild invite link https://discord.gg/AkzNSKx
@newbieresteemday invite link https://discord.gg/2ZcAxsU

Thanks for the welcome x

Hey Sam, good to see you back here, I recall coming across your music when I first came on here. I guess I went through the same kind of feelings, getting inspired and disheartened in equal measure in the early days.
But thanks to a couple of insipring people I stuck with it and began posting my music on the dsound platform, engaging with others and finally making regular rewards and obviously enjoying the process. It took time but certainly the best site I have ever posted music too, by a distance.
Your music has a depth of real quality to it. Please stick with it and enjoy your times here.
All the best. D

Hey man.

I remember you from my early post too. I have actually been trying to upload to Dsound but today I've found 'please check your IPFS settings" and can't upload. Any ideas?

Ill stick with it, keep posting and keep engaging, see where it goes. :) x

Yeah, it has been down all day, but it is back up and running now :)

thanks! I posted a couple of tracks. It can seem hit and miss, things seem to fly under the radar sometimes. Thanks for your advise

Welcome to Steemit @samcook :)

THANKS BUDDY

Your post was manually selected and voted for by @illuminati-inc (IINC) with support of @curie and its train of votes. About IINC: here. About Curie: here.

Hello @samcook, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!

Art on the blockchain. IS in theory a great concept. Planning on posting about my development on the platform, can be a bit hit and miss. But lets wait and see x

Resteemed your article. This article was resteemed because you are part of the New Steemians project. You can learn more about it here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@gaman/new-steemians-project-launch

@gaman you're on the @abusereports naughty list!

Bad Steemian! Bad!