Spitfire Westworld - Winner Announced!

[Michael Stibor]

I agree with you, Michael, that we should all do our best and try to control what we can, but being in this biz for over 30 years has taught me personally that my talent, hard work, determination, charisma, positivity, magnanimity, devotion, persistence, collaborative zeal, passion and sincerity seem to mean nothing in that I can’t make success unfold when I want it to or when I’ve worked long and hard to get it to appear. It appears when it wants to despite anything I do. In my life, I get when I stop reaching for the metaphoric Apple in my life and not when I’m focused with a plan and actional. Yes, one has to put one self out there and be as trained, poised, practiced and prepared as possible, but there is not the structure to becoming a composer like there is in most industries so unless you are an A-list composer’s apprentice, which is extremely hard to secure, there is no reliable path to build your career. It’s more like diving for pirate treasure, which is ridiculously challenging to succeed at.

Well I agree that there’s no clear path, unlike most professions where you go to school, and then enter the work force of your chosen field. (An over simplification, but still)
And I kind of jumped on your statement about it all being a game of luck, but it wasn’t so much what YOU said, as much as just in general, musicians don’t think like other people do. Not a bad thing, but their business skills, and business mindset could use some improving. Again, not you, just in general.

 

[Keith Theodosiou]

Maybe it's just jealousy lol

 

[Waywyn]

Why do that? Is it cos they think the judges won't pick a piece or even look at a piece if it has a thumbs down. Is that what they do, go on every entrant and give a thumbs down? Sick people, that really winds me up.

I recently had some composer telling me that he will vote down my videos on my YT channel with like 19 accounts he had. It turned out later, that this person organized an anonymous hacker group and paid them to "ruin my channel". In the end, they downvoted 5 of my videos with 30-50 dislikes.

I told him that the YouTube algorithm actually only cares about the activity on your channel. It doesn't matter if you receive likes or dislikes, appreciate it as someone boosting your channel. So the outcome was positive after all. After I told him, and also exposed him as a fake profile he used on Facebook and connected with over 300 people I've known, he disappeared. I have a "slight" hint of who that person was, but I'd rather keep that for me. I am not really sure if that person was really drop-dead stupid, but he told me that: He wanted to hurt my channel. *lulz*

What I am trying to say, there might be people being jealous, don't like your face or voice, simply disagree with something you have said or have written or simply love to bully people because they didn't learn it any other way and have problems to work out their personal shit and instead of going for others.

Even when I upload a video, I receive almost an instant dislike as if someone is just waiting out there that my new video comes up.

The best thing you could do is to appreciate people taking the time to interact with you. On my reaction video, I received over 200 likes but also around 75 dislikes. I am thankful for this all and keep going and learned to not take any of this personal.

I even received a few personally insulting comments and someone on my recent live stream popped up and spammed the channel with f*ck you and so on.

So in the end, just appreciate it all and know that you are heading in the right direction out there. Lots of weird people out there but sometimes it is just a little thing they are criticizing and their way to communicate is, is to vote down your video - without meaning any of it in a really negative way.

Almost everyone is going for that "I want to be a successful movie composer". I am convinced that some more famous or well-known composers on this forum can tell you that a few dislikes on your YT channel is just the beginning of the shitstorm that can and will happen once you are at a certain stage

 

[Keith Theodosiou]

I recently had some composer telling me that he will vote down my videos on my YT channel with like 19 accounts he had. It turned out later, that this person organized an anonymous hacker group and paid them to "ruin my channel". In the end, they downvoted 5 of my videos with 30-50 dislikes.

I told him that the YouTube algorithm actually only cares about the activity on your channel. It doesn't matter if you receive likes or dislikes, appreciate it as someone boosting your channel. So the outcome was positive after all. After I told him, and also exposed him as a fake profile he used on Facebook and connected with over 300 people I've known, he disappeared. I have a "slight" hint of who that person was, but I'd rather keep that for me. I am not really sure if that person was really drop-dead stupid, but he told me that: He wanted to hurt my channel. *lulz*

What I am trying to say, there might be people being jealous, don't like your face or voice, simply disagree with something you have said or have written or simply love to bully people because they didn't learn it any other way and have problems to work out their personal shit and instead of going for others.

Even when I upload a video, I receive almost an instant dislike as if someone is just waiting out there that my new video comes up.

The best thing you could do is to appreciate people taking the time to interact with you. On my reaction video, I received over 200 likes but also around 75 dislikes. I am thankful for this all and keep going and learned to not take any of this personal.

I even received a few personally insulting comments and someone on my recent live stream popped up and spammed the channel with f*ck you and so on.

So in the end, just appreciate it all and know that you are heading in the right direction out there. Lots of weird people out there but sometimes it is just a little thing they are criticizing and their way to communicate is, is to vote down your video - without meaning any of it in a really negative way.

Almost everyone is going for that "I want to be a successful movie composer". I am convinced that some more famous or well-known composers on this forum can tell you that a few dislikes on your YT channel is just the beginning of the shitstorm that can and will happen once you are at a certain stage

Thanks for that Waywyn, I know that if you piss someone off on YouTube with a comment, they will go on your channel and dislike as many vid you posted as they can, that has happened before and i have seen the same thing happen to Christian Henson on his channel.

What gets me the most is, are these people composers too?
That makes me sad to think they are, most composers are usually intelligent kind warm hearted people. How can you wirte a beautiful piece one day then foul mouth someone then next day lol.

Oh well, we all live and learn i suppose.

 

[Zedcars]

All this talk about controlling one’s life/career, I’ll say something I doubt many people on here subscribe to; I don’t believe we are in control of anything. Control is an illusion. The universe seems to be entirely deterministic and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about that. Yes, I just raised the free will debate. Now use your illusionary free will to ignore my tangential post.

 

[chocobitz825]

All this talk about controlling one’s life/career, I’ll say something I doubt many people on here subscribe to; I don’t believe we are in control of anything. Control is an illusion. The universe seems to be entirely deterministic and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about that. Yes, I just raised the free will debate. Now use your illusionary free will to ignore my tangential post.

I feel suddenly compelled to reply...

 

[zolhof]

I recently had some composer telling me that he will vote down my videos on my YT channel with like 19 accounts he had. It turned out later, that this person organized an anonymous hacker group and paid them to "ruin my channel". In the end, they downvoted 5 of my videos with 30-50 dislikes.

I told him that the YouTube algorithm actually only cares about the activity on your channel. It doesn't matter if you receive likes or dislikes, appreciate it as someone boosting your channel. So the outcome was positive after all. After I told him, and also exposed him as a fake profile he used on Facebook and connected with over 300 people I've known, he disappeared. I have a "slight" hint of who that person was, but I'd rather keep that for me. I am not really sure if that person was really drop-dead stupid, but he told me that: He wanted to hurt my channel. *lulz*

What I am trying to say, there might be people being jealous, don't like your face or voice, simply disagree with something you have said or have written or simply love to bully people because they didn't learn it any other way and have problems to work out their personal shit and instead of going for others.

Even when I upload a video, I receive almost an instant dislike as if someone is just waiting out there that my new video comes up.

The best thing you could do is to appreciate people taking the time to interact with you. On my reaction video, I received over 200 likes but also around 75 dislikes. I am thankful for this all and keep going and learned to not take any of this personal.

I even received a few personally insulting comments and someone on my recent live stream popped up and spammed the channel with f*ck you and so on.

So in the end, just appreciate it all and know that you are heading in the right direction out there. Lots of weird people out there but sometimes it is just a little thing they are criticizing and their way to communicate is, is to vote down your video - without meaning any of it in a really negative way.

Almost everyone is going for that "I want to be a successful movie composer". I am convinced that some more famous or well-known composers on this forum can tell you that a few dislikes on your YT channel is just the beginning of the shitstorm that can and will happen once you are at a certain stage

YouTube can be both an amazing platform and a truly nasty place. I met a lot of cool people and made some unexpected connections because of that website. I always had fun doing videos and, despite the positive reaction, there's also the occasional troll that will try to ruin your day. I soon realized that it's pointless to care. Trolls feed off attention. I don't interact with them, I don't acknowledge them, I just hit block and move on. I think it's unfair to waste any energy with haters when there are so many nice people taking their time to leave thoughtful comments. Those are the ones that matter and are with you for the long haul.

 

[MartinH.]

Maybe it's just jealousy lol

Don't overthink it, just be happy it's just dislikes. By internet-fame-standards that's a blessing in disguise.
Those interactions are hard to understand and often the one on the other end didn't put half as much thought into it as you'll do. I remember a story of a gamedeveloper who got a really mean e-mail and answered to it, and got a confused reply along lines of "I had already forgotten again I wrote this?! lol".

All this talk about controlling one’s life/career, I’ll say something I doubt many people on here subscribe to; I don’t believe we are in control of anything. Control is an illusion. The universe seems to be entirely deterministic and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about that. Yes, I just raised the free will debate. Now use your illusionary free will to ignore my tangential post.

Either there is free will or there isn't. If you can choose to think that you have power to influence the course of your life, you should choose to do that. If there is free will, it's the smart thing to choose, if there isn't, there is no "choice" to begin with. I'm totally open to the possibility of the universe being deterministic, but I see zero benefit to acting as if that's true.

 

[Waywyn]

YouTube can be both an amazing platform and a truly nasty place. I met a lot of cool people and made some unexpected connections because of that website. I always had fun doing videos and, despite the positive reaction, there's also the occasional troll that will try to ruin your day. I soon realized that it's pointless to care. Trolls feed off attention. I don't interact with them, I don't acknowledge them, I just hit block and move on. I think it's unfair to waste any energy with haters when there are so many nice people taking their time to leave thoughtful comments. Those are the ones that matter and are with you for the long haul.

Yep, totally get that. Of course, the following only makes sense when you really want to build a huge community on YouTube, but even if someone trolls me out there, I am simply thankful for the comment and reply. Nothing big, maybe just "Hugs, and thank you for your time!" :D ... or maybe ask a question again to trigger activity.

I think it isn't the best way to go and block users because I am not sure how to the YT algorithm will react to this when you simply block. Again, this just makes sense when you want to get somewhere with your channel, but yes, ... it is very important to not surround yourself with negativity too much so I understand at some point that blocking users may be the best solution.

 

[Waywyn]

What gets me the most is, are these people composers too?
That makes me sad to think they are, most composers are usually intelligent kind warm hearted people. How can you wirte a beautiful piece one day then foul mouth someone then next day lol.

Yes, I feel the same and neither get it sometimes, .. but after experiencing so much weird shit in this industry, I know that lots of them are just playing a game, and once challenged they leave their masks behind. I know my buds, but I also know the weirdos!

 

[Waywyn]

All this talk about controlling one’s life/career, I’ll say something I doubt many people on here subscribe to; I don’t believe we are in control of anything. Control is an illusion. The universe seems to be entirely deterministic and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about that. Yes, I just raised the free will debate. Now use your illusionary free will to ignore my tangential post.

Oh, I love that stuff soooo much! My motto is: Live in't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself ... but at the same time ... how much control does a coffee cup has, when you toss it down the edge of your table and the particles splatter across your floor :D

 

[Keith Theodosiou]

Yes, I feel the same and neither get it sometimes, .. but after experiencing so much weird shit in this industry, I know that lots of them are just playing a game, and once challenged they leave their masks behind. I know my buds, but I also know the weirdos!

This world is full of weird people and in my time on this planet, i have seen more than i want to see lmao.
I just hope i never turn into one ha ha

 

[Zedcars]

Don't overthink it, just be happy it's just dislikes. By internet-fame-standards that's a blessing in disguise.
Those interactions are hard to understand and often the one on the other end didn't put half as much thought into it as you'll do. I remember a story of a gamedeveloper who got a really mean e-mail and answered to it, and got a confused reply along lines of "I had already forgotten again I wrote this?! lol".





Either there is free will or there isn't. If you can choose to think that you have power to influence the course of your life, you should choose to do that. If there is free will, it's the smart thing to choose, if there isn't, there is no "choice" to begin with. I'm totally open to the possibility of the universe being deterministic, but I see zero benefit to acting as if that's true.

Actually, I’ve found there is a huuuuge benefit. It’s actually made me a less angry person, and less inclined to get angry or feel hatred, because I see the motivations for people behaving the way they do can be traced to other sources beyond a person’s own free will to do something bad. That of course opens up a whole can of worms and is pretty much at odds with how society is set up. But I feel I’m way off base from this thread’s topic, so perhaps I’ll just end by saying all of those people angry at David for just doing his own thing and entering a competition are so misguided for a raft of reasons (and are probably just angry at themselves if you dig deeper). If they stopped to think about it, it’s completely absurd to feel that way since, free will or no free will, that decision was out of their control.

 

[MartinH.]

Actually, I’ve found there is a huuuuge benefit. It’s actually made me a less angry person, and less inclined to get angry or feel hatred, because I see the motivations for people behaving the way they do can be traced to other sources beyond a person’s own free will to do something bad.

That's a very good point and a great attitude to have! But if there's free will, imho you should be able to chose to take that relaxed approach to other people's reactions. And I think this is essentially what you're doing already, and that's great!

 

[simonbaxter]

Well don't ever accuse me of not being a massive glutton for punishment!

I'm a bit late to the party, but I thought this video was the most helpful commentary on this whole thing. This was one competition. The judges made a call and lots of people didn't like it. That's all that happened. This isn't some conspiracy. Christian is being honest about the experience of being a composer and the frustration you will encounter if you're going to survive this business. People in charge don't always make the right calls, but just because you or I think it should've gone a different way doesn't mean we're right either. If you're a composer for film and television you're always working for someone else, which means you never get the final say. If we can't stomach disagreeing with the outcome of this competition, it'll probably be difficult to stomach feedback we disagree with from a director/client/etc. And that's a good way to block your own career from progressing. Nobody wants to hire someone who can't take feedback.

 

[gordinho]

I know I am late to the party, but Congrats for the winning entry, a refreshing take on scoring. I am thrilled to see creativity being rewarded

 

[Consona]

Nobody wants to hire someone who can't take feedback.

 

[Jay Panikkar]

Comments on YouTube, social media, forums, and the internet in general, are like scribblings in public spaces. Maybe it's a good scribble and you scribble something back but generally don't take things too seriously, especially if the public space happens to be a toilet.

I think it isn't the best way to go and block users because I am not sure how to the YT algorithm will react to this when you simply block. Again, this just makes sense when you want to get somewhere with your channel, but yes, ... it is very important to not surround yourself with negativity too much so I understand at some point that blocking users may be the best solution.

I agree. Blocking is a surefire way of getting trapped in an echo chamber, and circlejerk echo chambers are not healthy for creative individuals. Occasional banter, disagreements and trash talk is good for life.

 

[Dale Turner]

Comments on YouTube, social media, forums, and the internet in general, are like scribblings in public spaces. Maybe it's a good scribble and you scribble something back but generally don't take things too seriously, especially if the public space happens to be a toilet.

I agree. Blocking is a surefire way of getting trapped in an echo chamber, and circlejerk echo chambers are not healthy for creative individuals. Occasional banter, disagreements and trash talk is good for life.

Totally don't understand why people ever "disable comments" on their videos... Just let it roll. If you put it up, live with it. Otherwise why bother?

Only time I've ever deleted comments... I have a video I made of my daughter when she was maybe eight months old... about a way to you help battle COLIC... (a trick I learned from a friend of mine...) and I've had a few comments that were so horrifying, about wishing to do harm to her, calling her ugly... I wanted to put those pricks down, of course... and do much worse than just deleting their comments. But it was probably some thirteen-year-old moron, just firing keystrokes into the air like a thumb-twiddling twit.

 

[ghobii]

The only thing you really have control over, is how you choose to react to any situation.
As Jack Flanders would say - "What appears to be coming at you, is coming from you."