The REAL Reason People Are Skipping Your Song 

Well put

I agree with most of this on principle, but only if you're ACTUALLY being creative and not just putting a self-indulgent 2 minutes of unrelated garbage in front of a good song. A Change of Seasons has a long af intro, but it has the opposite effect of the kind of intro I'm speaking against in the video - it draws you in and hints at the amazing (very long) ride to come. The length of your song or intro is less important than its artistic and narrative value - without that, you won't have that 5% of hardcore loyal fans OR numbers and money. Keep in mind, this video was made mainly as a response to the local band-style songwriting that I see over and over where they just don't have a handle on basic structure stuff yet.

@@treyxaviermusic Well put. Glad we have people around that can help others see the what really matters in songwriting and catching an audiences ear

@The-Art-of-Guitar Like…that’s your opinion man. That’s not really the point Trey is making here. What he’s saying is grab your audience by the neck beard and hump them into submission with THE RIFF or the main theme of the song, and not like bludgeon them with weird riffs until the song blossoms into this thing you think is cool but 95% of everyone around you is already tuned out on. The era of the neckbeard is over. Let’s write music everyone can enjoy for a bit, yeah?

​@@treyxaviermusic Yes, but your starting point is sort of that the intro IS "self-indulgent 2 minutes of unrelated garbage" and it really does NOT have to be the case. A good intro sets the mood for the song or it could even be a break from the rest of an album. So as much as I see what you're trying to do here, and I do get that it is from a good place, I think the result of videos like this could very well be generic sounding bands, which in many cases seem to be the case these days: Same 3:45 song structure ("Here's how you write a song- don't bore us, get to the chorus!", same VST ("Here's how to get a killer tone!"), same use of harmonics ("Here's how you use harmonics!") and riffs ("Here's how to write a killer metal riff!"). So I agree with The-Art-of-Guitar here: If folks don't have attention span to listen through a/my intro, then fine. They're probably not gonna be very interested in the rest either.

reminds me of Veritasium, that channels production is way above youtube, finer almost of what you see on the telly xD

Damn I dunno if I'm anywhere near that level but if you even thought of it I'm flattered haha

what the fuck do you think the pop in pop music stands for

don't give him any ideas

What makes you think he pays me at all?

get back in your cage! who let you out?

@@treyxaviermusic Blame the one-handed Nameless Ghoul, he's SURPRISINGLY good at lock picking one-handed.

@@ConnorGilks He helped YOU! Me and the one handed goul had a pact!

it was you all along

@@treyxaviermusic yeah baby, hop on papa pula and take a ride!

Yeah, and it's also assuming that the listeners would like the song if it wasn't for the intro, and that their attention spans are long enough for the rest of the song even if they like it. Neither of these is necessarily true, and "blaming" artists like they're doing something "wrong" is counterproductive. Artists shouldn't make their art conform to the expectations of their audience in any case, let alone the expectations of some hypothetical potential audience. The "weirder" your music is, the more likely it is that the people who find it are simply not interested in that style of music and were expecting something different (probably something less "weird"), and THAT'S why they're skipping it. This is especially obvious when people say "there's potential in your music, but you need to [change thing]". If someone says that, they're probably not part of your target audience... As for the homogenisation of modern music, I'm not sure if that's really happening? To me it seems more like the lines between different styles of music are becoming increasingly blurred, which is arguably "experimental" by default. With rock and metal in particular, the borders between subgenres are becoming less rigid and it's becoming more "acceptable" to mix influences from other genres, but there are still more bands doing the subgenres being combined than combining them. Besides, bands copying each other has always been a thing, and the sound of modern metal is constantly shifting and also branching off into what will presumably end up being new subgenres. It's probably more an illusion because "influencer-influenced metal" is all over RU-vid. That said, I agree with the concern that the attitudes of "music influencers" lean too much towards "specific rules". It's probably in part a side effect of having to cater to the algorithm, and videos like this are effective since musicians will click on them either way, whether they want to learn tricks or to comment on them to disagree. And yeah, they could even be "harmful" if taken as absolute truth, since getting listeners is a lot more complex than just getting intros right or any other "tricks". Like Trey even said in the video, nowadays there are a lot more bands competing for attention. You could make songs engineered for maximum success and still get zero listens, because at the end of the day people need to find your music. I'm pretty sure that's the hardest part, and there's no magic trick for solving it... I miss Myspace haha. (Sorry for how long this comment ended up being.)

Yeah it’s the way it is being said in the video, using words like “objectively”, and sounding super judgmental. I would encourage people to do whatever the hell they want to do, maybe I’m weird.

But then how would he sell courses for $250

You should come by my Friday stream with your song!

@@treyxaviermusic I might do that! 🤘

Metallica fell by the wayside because it couldn't keep up with those with short attention spans.

@@orlock20 no. Metallica are still Metallica because they are Metallica hehe

I wouldn't be surprised if most overtures are written after the bulk of the concept album. How else would you know what themes you're introducing? I suspect this video about writing one song is 100% applicable to writing a concept album.

😂🤘

@@scottnelle well Dream Theater kinda did it haha (by accident), 7 years apart actually. But you’re right. What I meant was writing the Overture itself from the intro

How sweet are you! Thanks dawg

yesssss

THIS!!! >>>>>>> hell yea

Thanks Mary, been working on it real hard haha

too bad the rest are shit hahaha

and one that won't bullshit you either. Better yet, get complete strangers to listen and don't tell them its your song. That will be a pretty clear indicator of where your music sits with people

Think Anthrax!!!!!

2027

Exactly. 'Octavarium' by Dream Theater anyone?

I listened to Kirk Hammetts entire solo album even though the first two tracks sucked. But then I'm not a child that gets my music in 4 minute TikTok bites

I appreciate that a great deal! Hopefully the secret gets out hahaha

Like anything else, if you can pull it off, then great! I just haven't seen it done all that often