Benn Jordan says more than half of music gear owners aren't really making music on it

[Reid Rosefelt]

I do try to work on my songwriting every day. I am working on many songs and try to make some progress.

Finding out about new software, learning about it, going to forums like this--can be a distraction. And god knows there are many other distractions in life.

But buying stuff does make me happy. But it takes a long time to really learn a piece of software well, so the rest of the day goes out the window while I futz with it. And no songwriting happens.

In the old days, I just had my guitar and a piano.

 

[vibrationisreality]

Being a long time participant on VI Control, I do not find the article shocking whatsoever. Par for the course. Still I believe that those who are spending $1000's upon $1000's of dollars on this "hobby" secretly wish they could earn income doing so. But to achieve that, one must become a professional...

Pressfield discusses that overcoming resistance involves transitioning from an amateur to a professional.

He describes it this way in The War of Art, “The word amateur comes from the Latin root meaning ‘to love.’ The conventional interpretation is that the amateur pursues his calling out of love, while the pro does it for money. Not the way I see it. In my view, the amateur does not love the game enough. If he did, he would not pursue it as a sideline, distinct from his ‘real’ vocation. The professional loves it so much, he dedicates his life to it. He commits full time.”


Pressfield then describes what it means to turn pro. Turning pro happens when we create a practice and a routine to do the work every day with focus. As you commit to this daily practice, you will know it is working if you get so lost in your work that you lose track of time.

 

[Symphonichrome]

I think he’s right. And it’s an interesting one (as a hobbyist especially.) I notice that musicians seem to be a group who point to having too much stuff or having overspent almost right away in any conversation, unlike other hobbyists I talk to.

I think something that affects hobbyists the most is the early years of discovery. You’re never going to do this as a job and so your learning curve is long and usually full of misunderstandings and lower working knowledge of need vs want. But in time, you work out what you like and don’t, and how you work best - though it can sometimes feel like you have to go through the weeds to get there. I’ve been practicing this stuff for 2 years now (though I did have prior musical experience) and literally just last week I hit upon a workflow that had a good balance of speed and fun, as well as hardware and software. If I was doing this full time that process would have taken I imagine more like 6 months.

The way I look at it, if music is a hobby and you’re spending money available beyond life essentials (including savings) then it’s fair game. Thinking of other hobbies like going to see sports, cinema, food and y’know, just good old shopping - these things add up and while they are legit, they also don’t last. You can’t get back the food you ate or the game you saw - that’s more something for a nice memory to look back on. What I like about music is that it continues to be there on your computer post-spending. If you spend £/€/$10k on music across 10 years, you could say that’s a ludicrous sum of money for a hobby. Or you could say it’s a fairly reasonable 1k a year on a fulfilling and fun way to spend your non-work time. I would venture that kind of money is comparable with a thirsty shopping habit, a season ticket for a sports team, fixing up a car, and various other hobbies, and in that context it’s not totally unreasonable. It’s also not like food (aka: it doesn’t go off, it’ll be good for years etc.)

The caveat to me would be if music production prevents essential spending, savings etc, then that’s a different convo.

I also think trying to make this “efficient” or instantly realising the perfect rig for you is a mugs game. I understand the sentiment of “I have way too much” as much as “you don’t need anything but a DAW.” While minimalism has its place and everyone would love to immediately buy the perfect setup, DAW only is usually driven by necessity or a minimalist approach and both are valid. Having way too much is a sign of someone (finally) understanding what they actually need. I find that after a while you start to notice for example; “oh I actually was ok on the lower bundle and didn’t need to upgrade.” That’s life and you just have to swallow those costs, which of course ideally you wouldn’t do. What this means in practice is you have to make a decision to either not spend at all (no big spending, no mistakes) or accept that if you spend, some of that money will not be spent optimally. The idea of perfection here is probably more harmful than anything.

If the outcome is to have fun and spend money on things you like, then within budget I would say there’s no mistakes. I see a bit of ladder pulling online (Reddit mostly) where folks will suggest that you only need a DAW (which isn’t an unfair comment.) But there’s often an undertone to these comments that seems to be suggesting that using plugins to augment a DAW is somehow a deficiency of sound design and musicianship.

If you do this as a hobby; everything that comes with it including the mis-steps and the things that didn’t turn out as hoped is all just part of the process. If you are in the realms of sanity on budget and you’re enjoying it, then that’s all that matters.

WOW! This post sounds like me exactly - very well put

 

[Symphonichrome]

I've been through the cycle of buying studio stuff and making music a few times, always as a hobby.

I could have spent money on angling. Or cycling. Or stamp collecting.

But I enjoy making music and that's enough reward.

I've recently finished my first ever solo album after having made lots of songs with bands in the past. Being able to upload to streaming and effectively release an album is quite cool, as long as you're aware of the fact that you are one of 100,000 other songs released that day!

'Finishing' the album has been very rewarding. I'll get zero plays as I have a day job and a family so have no ambitions beyond being able to ask Siri to play my album on the HomePod and Siri knowing who I am LoL

I was still enjoying buying audio software and making music regardless of whether I manage to make any songs or not.

Anyway. Clicking that "distribute" button was quite cathartic and a little bit scary. It's also up on Bandcamp and it's worth it just for the feeling that it's finished. No more tweaks. It's done.

Bottom Line. As an amateur, I've enjoyed making music for decades. I've enjoyed buying gear and plug-ins and don't regret spending money on stuff -- even the stuff that I never use.

Being able to release an album thanks to the change in marketplace is the cherry on top even though it's now so demoratised that releasing a song on to the streaming platforms is effectively worthless these days. But still, there was no other way it was ever going to happen!

The sense of satisfaction is pretty cool. Even though it's probably very short-lived and the future involves looking at stats showing zero plays to pee on my parade

If you enjoy researching and buying plug-ins and then never make anything tangible with it, so what?

You could have bought a guitar or a piano and just strummed and plonked them. Music is music. you don't have to actually write and produce music to be a musician. It's up to you what you spend your money on...

I listened to your song "Burn Out" - love the intro sounds

 

[Mornats]

^ On the other hand, I just bought a(nother) bass from my boss who realized it's been only a decoration at his home for years.

Now I have five different basses for different purposes. Please send help.

I too had 5 bass guitars. My cure was buying a Fender precision and realising I just needed that (and a jazz bass) and I'm down to two with no GAS. Do you have a P bass already?

 

[machinesworking]

It has to be said, I really don't particularly get why Ben Jordans voice is so listened to? I stumbled upon a review he did of Metasynth a couple years ago and thought it was well done, but ever since then his schtick seems to be to drive narratives that incite, often with nothing of merit. Topics like "Geartube is sick AF" "How the world sounds to Animals" etc. He chimed in on the controversy around Bitwig announcing paid plugins even though their subscription blurb contradicts that with derogatory remarks about the people complaining, then stopped using Bitwig when they didn't come to his defense online. I just can't get behind that celebrity influencer diva level of silliness, so it's hard for me to take his opinions seriously anymore.

 

[emokeez]

I listened to your song "Burn Out" - love the intro sounds

Thank you for listening

This album is for my electronic stuff. A soundtrack inspired/orchestral album will be next — maybe by the end of the year.

Seeing the album go live on Spotify and Apple Music was quite a surreal experience! I know everybody and their dog can upload an album these days but it still feels like a pretty big deal to me — I’m officially a rock star! Or something like that. Even though it will get zero streams it’s very satisfying.

I don’t need a fraction of the plugins I’ve bought to make the album. But I don’t regret buying any of them — apart from one or two that are truly dreadful! lol.

 

[Henu]

I too had 5 bass guitars. My cure was buying a Fender precision and realising I just needed that (and a jazz bass) and I'm down to two with no GAS. Do you have a P bass already?

I have Yamaha RBX270 for that, it's not a P per se but kinda close enough for my purposes- that one used to serve me live and studio for a couple of decades ranging from rock to funk and back! I was eyeing a proper P some years ago but decided to get a Sire fretless instead, which is a choice I haven't regretted for a day yet. I'm more of a "different tools" guy, I guess!

 

[PaulieDC]

“The people who buy music gear and are keeping the companies afloat, I would say more than half of them are not really making music on it,” he says. “They’re just collecting it and playing with it.