r/musicians Rules

So fuckin sad man. I told both these of guys for months before they graduated, “ have you met any body cool? Youre going to school on sunset blvd where some people fly out to go to school here”

Both had similar answers, “ no im the talent,people have to come up and talk to me”

That answer obviously took me back but i was like okay they probably know what they’re doing. That was almost 10 years ago already and neither of them works with music. I think one doesnt work at all and the other works at a grocery store. Im not tryna put anyone down but its a harsh reality. Its been 10 years and even though i was the one who barely graduated high school i stayed persistent and helped as many people as i could a long the way and things worked out for the better id say.

My point is you can pay over 100k for classes and a degree but if youre a shut in or someone who thinks the world runs academically, idk man

I'm playing on Friday I have like around a 30-40 minute set. I'm just solo and I'm so nervous I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any tips

Im not sure if this is allowed but im making a fan made music vid for my fav vtuber issue is i want to put it on youtube and dont want to get hit with a copyright strike. The musician will get full credit. If this isnt the right sub can someone point me to the right direction,

I need an alternative site to SoundCloud and this seems like the place to ask.

My band’s music was on SoundCloud. We are fairly well established, been around for many years, on Spotify pandora etc.

But suddenly SoundCloud started putting out songs by a different band with our same on our account! I discovered that labels can release songs on your account without your permission and there’s not a dam thing you can do about it.

So yea, SoundCloud is trash and after months of trying to remove the other band (whose music was awful and we did NOT want to be associated with it) we dropped SoundCloud altogether.

So I’m looking for an alternative. We are no longer with our label of the last several years and are shopping around, so we need a place to have our songs in a sort of “private” capacity so that we can send playlists to potential labels without releasing the music to the general public.

If anyone has a suggestion of a site that could do this I’d be greatly appreciative. Thank you for your time!

What are the options for my introvert ass to make it? Have discovered the hard way that it is not enough just posting on socials, i mean for many ppl it is but 6 years in and I’m fucking burn out fr

Maybe i should start brute forcing my way into an audience like playing on the streets fr

I'm a solo comedy musician. I have around 20 comedic songs (and counting) that I sing/play on acoustic at an open mic in my neighborhood. I've been getting pretty good reception and I'd like to create a "band" so I can reach a wider audience, have promo material for slightly larger gigs, etc...

I'm not going for fame, touring or viral videos. Maybe open for some bands locally, get a late night radio placement or land on some playlists.

Currently, I share my songs on TikTok, YouTube and Facebook... but most of these just circulate within my friend group. I also have songs that I don't really want to share in my friend group (dark humor, political satire, language, etc...). I don't care if people figure out it's me... but I don't want to offend people who are just trying to keep in touch.

My current thought is to create a "band" and make separate accounts on the major platforms. I'm just not sure how to reach anyone outside of my circle. I have no problem paying for the right service, but I just don't really know where to start.

I used CD Baby to release my previous band's music on Spotify, but that seems like a pretty old service at this point and I don't really hear much about it anymore.

Any advice is appreciated!

Three year long project. Every song an original creation I wrote, produced, and sung. It's not perfect but I poured my little heart into it. Music videos planned, filmed and compiled. All I had left was to format the album art, edit the second music video and put it out. Three years. 11 songs. And I ran into a fucking wall and broke my arm so badly I needed two procedures just to get the thing back in place. My arm looked like a noodle. Something out of looney tunes. I was at one of my jobs racing a kid in their school gym (I'm a youth worker among other things) and I ran into a wall running full clip. Why? Well it was a relay race, I was wearing nylons on my feet so I couldn't't easily slow down and I wanted to outrun an 8y/o. Embarrassing? Absolutely. At least the shock lasted long enough for me to get out of there before the kids got a good look at the thing.

Spent three days in and out of three different hospitals and underwent two reductions. Now I'm hopped up on painkillers trying to get the energy to edit a Halloween themed music video before Halloween. I can't release a Halloween themed music video after Halloween. But I'm in so much damn pain and dizzy all the time. I'm already behind schedule.

Then there's promotion. I use fashion as my main method to promote my work by being a bit eclectic and artistic to present my work and persona. Tough to do when I can barely get my arm in my sleeve. It's my dominant hand as well so everything takes extra time. Anyhow, I'll figure it out somehow, just not how I imagined the buildup to be. Maybe I needed this to bring me down to reality since I fantasized how this release would be for too long and built it up on my head. One way or another everything will get done and I'm sure some people will like the songs. At the end of the day I'm a small town indie artist with a penchant for weird artistry so a broken arm isn't too off base.

I need an app to store, display and annotate my repertoire. Everything that I search as "free" is really just a trial for a paid app. It's a virtual binder!!!! What do I need a subscription for!!!! (I'm looking at you mobilesheetsfree)

Also need an app that's like a music notebook. Same criteria and complains as above (staffpaper)

Signed, a guy who just got his first tablet and is already starting to regret it

Wondering what people tend to pay for practice space. Do you rent by the hour? Or do you rent a day in a shared space? Looking to move from renting hourly to a shared space and I wanna make sure we're not overpaying when we finally do! Thanks

i’m a guitarist and singer in a band, i’m in show choir, i’ve been studying music for four years, and I still have no clue what the bottom number of a time signature means. I’ve tried to figure it out many a time, please, for the love of god, explain it to me like i’m two years old. I feel unbelievably stupid for not knowing this, but it makes no sense to me. please please please help, I beg of you 🙏🙏🙏

i don't have followers. barely have friends. hardly any family. social media terrifies me, but i posted a snippet of a song to tiktok and got a little bit of views and likes. i know i'm somewhat competent, but i don't know what to do or how to go about getting the ball rolling. does anyone have pointers? --

here. i wrote this. https://youtu.be/74gSdVlL1e4?si=vOwSFy_lY9d1T0iW

additionally, would anyone want to connect? either on social media or in person. i'm from north dallas texas.

My band is independent, no label or manager. We have a local booking agent. We’ve been able to play small clubs and also some bigger festivals (10k cap) both domestically and abroad. But it is very hard for me to see a path where we can scale from selling 100 cap clubs to bigger venues. We have a few thousand monthly listeners and followers but scattered around the world. Without a label it’s hard to increase our streams or fan base meaningfully apart from just posting on socials and meta ads. I’m looking for any advice how to scale independently to play bigger venues.

People are listening, dropping tips in your jar, taking photos, full song videos, singing along, even going as far as asking what your Spotify is. But then, it drops off.
Not to sound like an old timer, but back in the day, the mailing list was a powerful tool to keeping in contact with interested listeners. Now asking for someone’s email is about as painful as knocking on someone’s door, no one is into that. I have a small QR code posted at my shows and I get a little traction. What have you found to be your best tactic at connecting with folks after your show?
I find the giant self promoting billboards and marketing tools that people set up with off putting, and I won’t be doing that. But other ideas, let’s chat!

Thanks

Hey y'all- my band Faetrap is putting out a video for a new song next week and we used an overhead projector from facebook marketplace for pretty much all of it. We don't have budget for a set so we used an empty room in my house, some lighting gels, and an air matress to make our own little spooky vignette.

Music videos aren't the primary way people get exposed to music anymore, so we can't justify a huge budget but we just love making them. And, even if not many people watch it we used the footage to make our spotify canvases and create content to promote the song.

Just wanted to shout out this idea if anyone wants to steal it! We're operating in a dark fantasy type space but I think with some creativity people could make this work for any genre. It may even be easier for people who don't do a ton of fancy editing because the effects are pretty much analog

for Example- we used the overhead projector for

-creating the "set" (window and curtain etc)

-Make cool colors (used lighting gels and stained glass for overlays)

-Getting in camera effects (shined several prism light catchers over the projection bulb)

-Easily creating textures and visual interest (layered lace, fabric, and chainmail over the projection)

-Story telling (we had the "real" us in the frame as well as our shadow versions and invisible hands manipulating the set)

I think it turned out pretty eye catching- What do y'all think?

that you won't be able to compose/write anything new after writing something but then a few days later you write something awesome but after a while that feeling comes back?

# I built an offline-resilient QR ticket validator and generator using Merkle Trees for underground music events

## The Genesis

As an independent creator and event organizer, I faced a recurring logistical bottleneck: traditional ticketing platforms rely heavily on centralized databases and constant internet connectivity at the venue door. In underground venues, warehouses, or outdoor festival settings, unstable internet connections often cause door check-ins to freeze, leading to long lines. Furthermore, digital ticket fraud and duplication remain a constant headache.

To solve this, I wanted to build a sovereign, fast, and cryptographically secure ticketing architecture that could operate locally at the door without depending on heavy cloud queries for every single scan.

## Architecture & Merkle Tree Implementation

Instead of checking every single ticket against a massive remote database table during entry, the system leverages cryptographic **Merkle Trees**:

* **Batch Issuance:** Guest lists or ticket holder groups are cryptographically processed into a Merkle Tree structure. Only the compact *Merkle Root* needs to be verified to certify the legitimacy of an entire batch of tickets.

* **Local Cryptographic Proofs:** When a ticket's QR code is scanned at the door, the validator checks the *Merkle Proof* against the root locally. This instantly verifies membership and authenticity in milliseconds.

* **Offline Resilience:** Because the verification relies on cryptographic proofs rather than continuous server handshakes, event staff can run fast, duplicate-proof check-ins even in low-connectivity or offline environments, syncing records once the connection stabilizes.

## Tech Stack & Design

* **Frontend / Door Interface:** Lightweight progressive components optimized for fast mobile scanning.

* **Cryptography:** Merkle Tree proof generation and verification logic for ticket integrity.

* **Data Management:** Modern web architecture built for high-throughput responses under strict time constraints.

## Looking for Feedback

Before scaling this further for independent concerts and festivals, I would love to hear your thoughts:

1. If you run events or perform live, how much of a pain point is venue internet connectivity during check-in?

2. What features would make a Merkle-verified ticketing tool practical for your workflow?

You can check out how the project and its ecosystem are structured here:

[https://streetcrowleague.com](https://streetcrowleague.com)

Thanks for checking it out, and I'd appreciate any technical or architectural feedback!

Hellooooo
Quick context to me asking, I’m a drummer who’s been in and out of bands since around 2018, none that have stuck long enough to garner serious label attention (to any scale, such as DIY, major, or independent, my bands have done everything by ourselves which I am proud of nonetheless), but I am still actively participating in bands and of course the dream is to be a professional and make a living off being a musical artist.

All that to say, I’m just curious how other musicians on here who are on labels of any scale or degree are doing with their careers, what they’ve liked, haven’t liked, what has helped them secure a deal, or even those who are completely independent and how they are doing with their careers.
I am not meaning to come across as naive, I understand labels are not completely necessary in this day in age, I guess I’m more so asking as a music business question and for any anecdotal responses.

I will admit, I am 27 and I dream all the time of having “success” in a band, in my wildest dreams I’d love to be in a band that tours routinely, makes great music that others love, and plays big venues and festivals.
(I am also coming off of seeing clips of turnstile’s DC show, so I am so inspired and excited to keep playing. At the end of the day, I’ll never give up drums or playing in bands, however sometimes my dream just feels impossible and other people’s stories bring me comfort.)

Thanks so much!

Anybody else go through something similar. Years ago back home i had to go through like 3 different groups of musicians till i found the right ones. You tell people up front “ i want to plays shows with these songs and i take this whole thing seriously “

They agree and say yes they want to do the same. 3 months later the first group barely able to complete 2 songs and when i brought up booking us for a simple diy gig ,opening obviously, 2 of the other guys immediately started saying “ima be busy for the next month i dont think i can do that”

Anybody else go through situations like this