I finaly quit playing metal! I'm so happy.

[5StringDelirium]

I just recently left my band of two years after being fed up with it for to long. I left on good terms and have no hard feelings toward any of the guys. I was having problems with some of the guys not taking the band seriously enough. It kind of sucks being one of two people that actually gave 100%. But we are all still friends and drinking buddies.

Now I've started working on my own music. I'm trying to diversify a little bit and explore my opportunitys. With that said do any of you have ideas as to what's really sells records and what makes money. I'm trying to go for a stained/DMB/Jazz style but I am still trying to get my feet wet in uncharted waters.

[Din Of Win]

Always go out and try new styles on your bass. I played punk and mathy-spazzcore stuff for a decade. Just in the past year i've branched out and i've never been happier myself. I still love punk, and it's actually made my playing grow by leaps and bounds.

James Jamerson has singlehandedly saved my bass playing!

[tycobb73]

Taylor Swift
Fallout Boy

Not saying I like them (ok I like Taylor) but they sell.

Dave Mathews is one of the few that has sold really well in his feild. but if you love it...

[omnimutant]

It kind of sucks being one of two people that actually gave 100%.

I hear that!

With that said do any of you have ideas as to what's really sells records and what makes money.

Play what you enjoy, do it well, don't snub offers and gig like crazy, one day the money may come.

[Ground Pounder]

Childrens music and religion-inspired pop music are niche goldmines if you can do it well. Nothing inspires spending like God and kids.

[somegeezer]

I don't think you should give up Metal altogether, but Diversity is always good. Try and bring in every possible style into one, create your own subgenre.

[bassophil]

Originally Posted by Ground Pounder

Childrens music and religion-inspired pop music are niche goldmines if you can do it well. Nothing inspires spending like God and kids.

+1!

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by Ground Pounder

Childrens music and religion-inspired pop music are niche goldmines if you can do it well. Nothing inspires spending like God and kids.

While they may be gold mines, the Christian music scene is one of the hardest to break into.

lowsound

[makanudo]

Metal wa snever about selling records, most of metal band's income is from touring and merchandise..

[Yakob]

Originally Posted by Din Of Win

Always go out and try new styles on your bass. I played punk and mathy-spazzcore stuff for a decade. Just in the past year i've branched out and i've never been happier myself. I still love punk, and it's actually made my playing grow by leaps and bounds.

James Jamerson has singlehandedly saved my bass playing!

Have you ever listened to Bear Vs. Shark?

They're a great post-hardcore band in the vein of Fugazi, At The Drive-In, and Thursday who combine high-energy hardcore and Motown-esque melodies and arrangements. Get "Terrorhawk", their second release.

Great album.

[Mr. Lovejoy]

It is impossible to sell out and be original at the same time.

Just take something with inherent merit and originality and add pop sensibilities towards it in the most shameless ways you can think of. Go to levels of catchiness that as a self-respecting musician feel wrong, but truly tickle your reptilian brain.


That and add "irony" or "maturity" to your music.

"Irony" means just make ham-fisted attempts at intellectualism in your lyrics whilst keeping it silly enough so that people get the idea that you are either: a)brilliant (when you succeed at said pseudo-intellectualism) or b) purposely sounding stupid (when you fail at said pseudo-intellectualism). It is like a hipster lyric failsafe. And make sure to raid the thesaurus and use the most blog-worthy terms you can find.

"Maturity" means a general softening of your sound. In our current times of unrest and turmoil, it is not in vogue to sound angry or passionate (I mean, how can you score brownie points for angst when the entire world is falling to ****?). Just be mildly witty and completely fine with your lot in life. Just channel your future you when you have gone way over the hill, and want to just coast towards the end.




Jaded twenty-somethings eat that crap up faster than a starving wolverine loose in a kindergarten classroom.



Oh, make a song about marriage and loving people forever. That is all the twenty-something normal girls have on their minds.

Then make a song about how marriage is male oppression. The feminists will crown you as their king for about a week.

Bonus points if you have both on the same album.