Dont Try to Make Money off Music 

Im 33. I work 3 nights a week as a bartender and am lucky enough to have a fairly cheap rental apartment. I don't have much savings but a little bit in case something happens. I live a very small, solo life which focuses my time on the creation of visual art and music. I know that I will probably never be able to support myself with either of these things yet I still try to dedicate most of time to them. I feel like the people around me think im an underachiever yet I couldn't be happier or more fulfilled with this lifestyle. As long as I have a room in which I can close the door and create, my spirit grows and I am happy. I've always liked you and this channel but this is some of the best music advice i've seen on youtube. You rule.

I consider myself lucky to work a job where I don't go home every day drained of my creativity. I have been making music for several years now and I am glad I got into it for the right reasons. I am happy to simply make music for myself, share it with my family and friends, and post it online for anyone who happens upon it. I found your video to be a pleasant reminder of what matters and why creativity matters.

Marketing triggers exactly the psychological insecurities and the fear of ''unsuccessful'' life. Expression / Art is the result of the deepest need to communicate on a level that words are useless, trying to describe the indescribable, to make visible the invisible. This need of expression exists as the universe exist. It is not a creation of any culture or any economical system so it can not be supported by them. So fame, money, whatever social status marketing serves us as ''essential'' have nothing to do with the arts. Congrats on your videos! One of the very few quality channels.

I just saw you perform with Papadosio at the Vogue in Indianapolis on March 7th. Your performance was incredible, as is your channel here with seedtostage. Just wanted to say that you are a huge inspiration for me when music was becoming a point of pain. You've given me a fresh perspective on art and life. Thank you🙏🏼

Wise words that need to be repeated often. It is so hard to block out the incessant noise of commercialization. I try to adhere to a simple lifestyle in all area of my life, but still find myself looking at gear I don’t need and stuff that will just end up taking up space. Thank your for reminding me what is important about music, THE MUISIC. Gotta go work on my latest piece.

I've def spent alot of money over the years and no financial gain to speak of. Thanks for this video. Reminded me to just relax and stop expecting too much of myself

Man thank you for saying this. Hugely inspirational and motivational especially as I'm surrounded by people who don't entirely understand self expression. To be honest this persona has been emitted by you for years on this channel and was largely crucial in getting my own boat in the water. 3 years later and I'm still Blundering on

As someone who has spent most of my life focused on music and despite hard work never made a living off of it I will never stop and the level of human connection and self expression it has allowed me is priceless. Thank you for sharing this message

I've been playing since I was 7. First I got crushed by the conservatory (I play classical violin), then by the industry. Never lost my drive, now I'm a manager in a bank about to leave my good pay corporate job for producing electronic music and couldn't be happier about it. Good luck and courage for everyone out there making music and arts in general, you guys give life a soundtrack and make everything less gray ❤

I really needed this reminder. It's helped me find my center. Thank you!

That was beautiful. I make music very part time as a hobby but am a total gear head. And because of that i always feel bad because i don’t monetize my music. Like every dollar i spend on a new pedal or whatever is wasted money. But messages like this give me peace in all my imposter syndrome and guilt for the mental energy and money i spend on obsessing over music even though it makes me happy.

This video is exactly was I looking for. Big words big facts. Thanks a lot, don’t stop doing music!

Probably the best music production related video on YT. As someone that works full time in the industry it is indeed difficult and I agree with every sentiment. I’m constantly considering working a normal job but I just cant pull myself away from it all at this point and honestly, I don’t really want to, music is who I am.

Needed this, thanks Anthony. It’s been a joy being a fan and then a student (whilst still a fan) of you. Something like 12-13 years of inspiration. If promoters ever stop booking papadosio or something causes the band to riff, I’ll never stop listening to the music or being curious about what new music you’re making.

I didn’t think I could love you more, Anthony. Thanks for the great reminder.

And that's the reason why I bought two courses from you. To me you are straight to the point. You're honest, you're technical, and when you have something so sell you explain the value of it. Just straight to the point. As a true hobbyist I'm just in love with the skills involved to do it all. But it's really like you stated music before all. My statement, in very old Dutch "voor land noch volk". My music " not for the land or people" :))

Thanks for reminding what seeds we should cultivate in our minds.

To all the artists doing it just for the "love of it", stay up!

I ran marketing at a tech start-up for the past 4 years. When people asked me if I've made any new music, I told them I no because I felt too drained and unmotivated every night after work. I kind of used that as an excuse when in reality, I thought I was just being lazy. It's comforting to hear someone say that it can be a real issue. When the job is stressful to the point it makes you physically unwell and boots you into therapy twice, I probably shouldn't be as disappointed that I haven't really created anything outside of it. I got laid off now, the company tanked because they were too horny for growth. I'm hoping to land a new job that isn't as mentally taxing, and make some music again. Thanks man.

I've lost touch with my communtiy. Not just with those I held dearest but from those I wanted to learn from or could have learned from and in turn, to share what I've learned. Onwards to a better future. Thank you, Anthony, for this video rant!

Truth. I had "writer's block" for years and years. Once I decided to just make music and not worry about making money, I ended up with 6 albums, multiple radio appearances, and a TV appearance.

I'm almost 50, and I've been struggling to get to this comfortable place in my life since 2008. Bodywork Therapy is an art. I was broke and homeless for the most part in the beginning because the housing market crashed, and there wasn't much spending on healing arts in that time. I am grateful to have my own home and a partner and can make a stable living off of the small amount of business I get. I also found other ways to make money like copywriting and getting donations for teaching qigong. I feel balanced, and it gives me time to be creative in other areas of life. RU-vid doesn't really influence me in that way. I use it more as a tool for researching things of interest and educating myself on what I'd like to learn. It's not something I would base my life of and find it sad that some people ue it to gage their level success in now times.

Excellent message Anthony...thank you for your mentoring!

Hey, you just made me cry. Hearing this message and seeing how it resonates with people when i live it out, seeing that more and more people act and feel this way i can really not imagine how the world could go to shit. This mindset brought me to heaven, this can not be taken from me anymore. Thank you so much for your stringent video, which concludes almost everything important i learned in my 6 years making music. Much love from Aachen in Germany ❤

That was inspiring! I'm 32 and I'm really, really lucky. Before my 30s I worked as an IT specialist in office, nothing special, but made music in my free time, and I wanted to make money from music or sound or anything from that field. And guess what, me and my friends started small game studio and found investors in our project! I'm working last 2 years as sound designer and composer here. Full time. But even if that try was not successful, I'm pretty sure that I'll still making music because I love it, love the process and music itself

Hands down the best Ableton advice on RU-vid, thank you man I've learned SO MUCH from your videos!!!

Exactly this! Wise words! 🙏🏻

❤ this video is what I really needed right now. Will save it and try to watch once a year as a reminder.

I agree but I have such a hard time forgetting how nice it would be to make some money, especially when I hit record. I found it helpful to my music to plant a garden so I will never have to rely on music to feed myself

That's a nice slice of wisdom! Thanks for the inspiration

Wonderful video! Thank you for this POV. Feels like a big relief

It's so great to hear you say all that. You're bang on. I think most people realise what you're saying deep down but unfortunately there's not enough people actually saying it on the the internet. I think it's so important to get the message out there that nothing else matters when you have total freedom of creativity to express yourself however you want. It's intrinsically rewarding, empowering, motivating and best of all, you can do whatever you want. Nothing beats it.

Thank you, truly, I needed to hear this.

So on point Anthony. So many people try to emulate others in pursuit of making money, without realising the people they emulate are doing what the do because they love it. Today kids want to be streamers to be rich and famous. But the people who are huge now we're into streaming early. When nobody cared about it. And they grinded and slowly built an audience because they love to entertain and be amusing to people. Everyone followed the crypto bandwagon without realising that they very early crypto investors bought and held because they were passionate about digital currency and believed in the fundamentals of crypto. And now we see it with music creation, but people are creating music with the goal of making money. That's so insane and you can in an instant tell music that has been created by a passionate, bleeding heart artist vs. music made by a corporate production team and record label with the sole purpose of cashing in. I make music myself purely for the creative release and the learning experience. I have never played and will never play anything I've created for anyone but myself and I love that. It's for me. Anthony I love all your content. I love the technical tutorials and I love the philosophical stuff. Keep up the great work! You are the epitome of someone who made it because you do it out of love and passion. Peace! ✌️

This popped up exactly when I needed it. Thank you 💜

Countly be more honored to learn from someone with a mindset like this. Keep doing what your doing Anthony!

Standing ovation dude 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻. As someone who has been playing in bands and doing music at an “instant ramen for every other meal” level for probably about 15 years (who now, at 34, mainly makes music in his parents’ basement), I’ve been dealing with some serious burnout lately, growing sick of the constant noise, marketing saturation, and “playlistification” of the current moment. I try to tell myself these sorts of things when shit gets bad but having someone other than my inner monologue articulate it so clearly and honestly means a whole hell of a lot. Also those advice segments at the end were the realest shit. I’ma drive my 2007 Pontiac G8 with duct tape and zipties holding the bumper together until the day it (or me) dies

Yay. What wise words! A VERY refreshing message :)

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this video ❤

Dude I absolutely LOVE your content. You are very bright and intuitive. Maybe someday we’ll cross paths at a NAMM.

this video should have 1.8M views, not 1.8k! well said, man! An your ableton tutorials are great too :)

Thanks man, I needed this. That's also how i see game making, comics making etc.

I think I'm falling in love! Beautiful words.

you are one of the good ones. thank you as always anthony ❤

This is why I follow your work. Thanks, truly.

❤You got a blank Like in first few seconds of this video, for all the teaching you have shared on this channel. And to hear from you about the motivation while creating the sounds / music, and what mindset should we embark on as a healthy choice, is remarkable !!! Grateful on this beautiful messages, all trough out bro, Haris*

Love you man, always have always will

This is a really inspiring speech dude, thanks a lot for everything you do! Will make music until the last blast

Thank you. A much needed reminder.

I agree, thank you for the kind words!

Thank you for saying all this like you did man!

I think I needed this, thank you

chills.. thank you

This was great man thanks!

Great video! Oddly I forgot I was subbed because I never get alerts, because I forgot to “hit that bell”. I wish RU-vid set notifications to auto. I have a lot of subs so great videos like this get lost in the mix sometimes.

Great message as always

Love Love Love! x

OK, this made me cry.

Thanks Antony for yor suport😇

Well said bro!

Good rant! Remember that we PLAY music. You can create music without engaging in play, but you won't be creative. Watch John Cleese's talk about creativity in management to understand what I'm talking about. And then go out and play, and let the algorithms make the elevator music that people hear, but don't listen to.

Well said. Thanks.

Well said! ✨🪐

Thank you for this

This is the best video I’ve watched in a very long time

Bravo! Thank you

Hell yes brother!!

Beautiful!

Thank You!

Thank You.

Thanks you 🙏🏾

i have been using ableton for 15 years and i just love it for the same reason kids like playing in a sandpit ,, i make music for nobody

Great video!

Thanks Anthony :)

Well said 👏

thank you bro

Saludos desde Mexico!

If you can get the people up Out of their seats They will dance And they will drink And you get the gig every night

That thumbnail tho 😂

Preach.

hugs

I just followed you because you’re dope

Good stuff and a lot of truth here. Also, the frame that we're being put into as musicians is quite horrible these days: keep releasing all the time, remember to post content to stay out there, compare your stats to those of others…ewww. That's some corporate strategy.

Man this got me emotional, what the fuck

This video was fucking awesome.

Hell yea man. Not much more I need to say than that.

100% agree

This is such a great message!! Thank you for making it!!! I'm curious: what was the impetus for making this video?

Authentic.

Amen

Sound !

you're amazing

Anyone who tells you that better technical music capabilities or skill will give you a big hit and lots of money needs to go listen to "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, or "Me So Horny" by 2 Live Crew, or "My Humps" by Black Eyed Peas. You never know what's going to resonate with people. Sometimes success is appallingly stupid and offensive.

Agreed.,It's damn brave to air such opinions. The next video could perhaps be about How is it possible that all plugins suddenly have AI. Actually everything.

heck yeah

👏👏👏

Hello my friend, You are for me the reference for Ableton. Quick question: honestly, Is Fx collection from Arturia overkill as long as i have live11 suite or most of the effect is already in live11 suite ? thank you

Right on man…Artists add to the absurdity too. They get a break and all of a sudden become motivational experts 😂 The irony, almost all of the biggest artists that make original music were broke and just making what they thought was cool, not what everyone else thought was cool, until they did as you pointed out ;)

maybe try to work on the underground, away from the spot lights and you will never expect money from broke people and still do the job you know how to do and do it the best you can

when you.. "zoom out" ;)