Binge finds Comfort in Closure

deniesthenull

so my name is Douglas Hertel and I have this little music project called Prose in Rosette. I didn't really do my research until after my binge of creative endeavor but it seems like I have something of a hate following. Oh well, I wrote a couple hundred unique songs varying in key, mode, texture, tempo that GarageBand would allow me to print, and yes I did keep a large number of purple tracks if you know what I mean. In the past two and a half years I have been blessed with the ability to make and take time to create songs, and I mean daily. Anywho this song ends my binge and finishes the Reading Rhymes album for I feel rejuvenated, refreshed and renewed in my so to speak awakening process...it's called "An Eden Away" here are the lyrics:

follow the blooms in this garden
the beauty never sleeps
so I've known that
when you start to notice
dreams we hide on each side

so let this holy water nourish your sight
so this moonlight will never hide behind our eyes

somehow we hide these blue eyes
somehow beyond tonight

ScissorMan

As long as you don't keep too many orange tracks, you'll probably be okay...

Assuming you're this guy and that this is your Bandcamp page, I don't see why you'd have a "hate following" - I can even hear a vague XTC influence in some of those tracks. You do need some more songs that sort of chug along in a more straight-ahead fashion, though... otherwise the Beatlesque pop stuff starts to get a little "samey" after a while.

Also, you should add your band name, (optionally) your given name, and maybe a few less generic-sounding genre classifications to your Bandcamp page. "Acoustic alternative indie pop rock singer-songwriter" isn't going to differentiate you from anybody, I'm afraid!

Have you ever heard Jim Noir or maybe Future Clouds and Radar? You might like them, too.

deniesthenull

yes and yes oh and I also play in this band: http://spookyflowers.com/fr_home.cfm

thanks for the good advice, the generic genre tags are a problem, working on that now, do you have any suggestions? I've been told krautrock and nu metal were two

thomnottom

Not sure if the "hate following" is a direct reference to these boards, but I doubt anyone here ever felt anything but minor annoyance when a huge drop of your material hit Amie Street back in the day. Between you and a few others it was kind of a running joke based, not necessarily on the quality of your music, but the quantity. Especially since it was all singles I believe (could be wrong as I may be mixing artists up).

Regardless, you will get honest feedback here if you want it. Personally I don't recall actually listening to any of your releases, largely because I shied away from any large volume uploaders. But I will check out your bandcamp page when I get a chance.

As a side note, who did the cover art for those releases? Looks like some rather pretty digital composites.

deniesthenull

most of the artwork is done with the program Maya, I know a few students that go to Expressions Digital Arts school that have actually worked on video game design and have large libraries of 3D landscapes.

ScissorMan

Ah, I do remember it being rather annoying when people would hit Amie Street with dozens of one-song "releases," especially all at once - it was a slow site to begin with, and that just made it slower, if you were trying to get through all the new stuff. You see it on Bandcamp too, and sometimes even on eMu, come to think of it.

I guess the thing I'd suggest, tag-wise, is that you want to be in at least one tag that has 10 pages or fewer, and one or two pages is even better. In your case I'd probably go with "jangly" or "beatlesque." You might want to be in "guitar pop" and "bedroom pop" too, though those are, like, 47 and 24 pages respectively, and too many tags can probably backfire on you. (Or at least I'd assume so, based purely on my moderately-extensive knowledge of online user behavior - people might think you're too desperate, which could be a turnoff.)

deniesthenull

sweet, that's really awesome advice, can't thank you enough

Dr. Mutex

Allow me to extol the virtues of Name Your Own Price. I see you have NYOP for the 4-track, Play it Shy. I've seen several artists say that they made more with their NYOP albums. In one case the artist said he/she made more in a few months of NYOP than all of the previous sales.

edited to add:
Germanprof found the reference. Jason Parker said he made more with NYOP than previous sales, right here on eMusers.

deniesthenull

good idea, thanks

deniesthenull

Just got the hard copies of Reading Rhymes and posted the album versions to SoundCloud, seven tracks are set for free downloads, AIFF files

Dr. Mutex

I hated to write that weasly he/she statement but I couldn't track down any quotes. Mind you, I could have heard it on an interview or a panel at a convention. I listen to a lot podcasts of that stuff. It bugs me enough that I'm still looking. Maybe I'll luck out and some artists will pop in and answer themselves. In the meantime I have a few related items:

Voluntary Payment Models by Yochai Benkler (PDF)

Some of the testimonials on Bandcamp mention pay-what-you-want and/or selling more.

Germanprof

That he/she comment sounds familiar - was it one of the artists on this board?

jonahpwll

Maybe Andrew Boscardin said it. Zubatto Syndicate and Nickel something Orchestra. Four Color Heroes may have been the name of the big band album he put out.

Germanprof

It was Jason Parker on this thread.

I'm much happier to let YOU decide what my music is worth to you. If it's zero, so be it! At least you'll get your money's worth! But if it's more than that, I will always be grateful. As a side note, I've made more money of music sales since going to a PWYW model than I ever did selling them for $10 a pop. MUCH more.

Dr. Mutex

Thanks, Germanprof! I added a note to my post.