As we all know, most music out there has an enormous power to affect people’s feelings. It can make people feel happy, sad, angry, relaxed, empowered or insecure. Music even has the power to alter the feelings and atmosphere that affect a certain person in a certain moment. We always hear that if you’re sad and upset, you can play song X and suddenly you might become all giggly and happy.. Or song Y that will make you feel uplifted and strong.. Or even song Z that would make you even more desperate. It is sometimes unbelievable how much power music has.
It’s the same emotional quality in music that makes someone turn to a certain song, a certain album or a certain artist when he would like to alter and modify his mood and feeling. That’s where you come into the picture: What can you bring to the table that will make someone want to listen to you when in need for a certain type of emotion?
Well, you might say that your songs are great, and your band is awesome, you play in time, you used that killer plugin on your vocals, whatever – all these just doesn’t matter. No one cares. The most important thing is which emotions does your music convey? Your lyrics? Your melodies? Harmonies? Your singing? Your playing? Your sound? All these parameters must be taken in consideration when you create your music, perform or record it.
You must have a cohesive atmosphere around your music that is unique to you as an artist, which must be communicated and FELT by the listener. Otherwise, the listener might choose other music that do make him feel the desired emotion at that specific moment. If you don’t have that, or not sure exactly what it is, you have more work to do before you upload that new song on You Tube.
Of course, there are times that music is made to move people and make them dance (which in turn makes them energetic and happy), but if you read earlier articles about the subject – you may notice that we’re not talking about dance music, but trying to discuss some deeper, emotional type of music that is listened to with great attention and emotional connection. Music that is much too rare these days. There are still some listeners left in the world that do seek deep emotional connection to music and artists. My ultimate goal is to find artists that do want to fill this need instead of artists that want to be famous and drive a BMW.
Think about artists and music that you play for yourself when you need to alter your mood and get into a different atmosphere and feeling. Now realize that you must be one that other listeners would want to play your music when they want to get into a certain mood. Then look at your work, actions and end product (music) through that filter. And don’t release music until you are certain that this quality is fulfilled. Think about how much music would never have been released if only the ones who released it would stop and ask the questions I asked you here.
You might ask “yeah now I know this, but how can I do it?”. I can only say – keep reading. Indeed, there is a lot of stuff to look at and keep in mind, and I will go through this stuff in the future.
Your comments are welcome.