Style

[BryceFury]

I was just wondering how people deal with their tunes being different styles? Specifically the tunes you send to people/upload to soundcloud etc. Not just ones you make for yourself.

Everything I write at the minute seems to fall into two similar sounding styles even if the tracks start out the same way. Do you keep everything separate as two (or more) different projects or do you just have people listening all under one name?

[wub]

I just make electronic music. If it turns into one genre or another, then whatever.

[drokkr]

I just make electronic music. If it turns into one genre or another, then whatever.

[e-motion]

There's no straight answer to this since it's a topic studied in management (Marketing)

Imho, if your audience is different, I think it should be considered. For example, if you only produce dubstep, dnb and electro, 1 project might be enough since the there's a large group of people that listen to all 3. But if you produce house, trance and techno I think you should separate so when people see your name on the flyer they know what they'll hear.

[Sharmaji]

style!

[BryceFury]

style!

If only I was Paul Weller...

[accordionfan]

step one: never think "im going to make some dubstep right now"

[Sharmaji]

even more style!

[atticuh]

As a business major with tons of hours of marketing and management under my belt, I can tell you that your approach to this problem is backwards. As opposed to labeling your music a certain genre or style, identify some key characteristics of the tune that are similar to other types of music and market it to that demographic. By labeling your tune a certain genre, you really are limiting your listener base, because even if your tune is technically considered to be DRUM AND BASS, it does not necessarily mean the only people that are going to appreciate the tune are within the D&B demographic. For instance, if you're making beautiful, melody driven liquid D&B which is intended for home listening, share it with blogs, artists, fans of other beautiful, melody centric music styles, such as indie rock, ambient, jazz, R&B, etc. as there are potential fans/listeners there even though they wouldn't traditionally be considered part of your target demographic.

Some artists do choose to produce different styles of music under different monikers; however, from a marketing viewpoint, this can actually be detrimental or beneficial. For example, spor, also know as feedme, produces two very distinctive styles under each alias, because if you look very carefully, he's targeting two separate demographics with each style, the at-home listener and the dancefloor freakshow. At the same time, don't create two separate aliases if you're producing the same styles under each moniker, because this causes a phenomenon known as market fragmentation (where essentially you're stealing customers away from yourself).

Mad props to you OP, but as an individual who likes to walk his own path, I definitely understand where you're coming from. Don't worry about genres or labels for your music. Instead, look at key characters of your style, identify which demographics would appreciate those characteristics, and share your music with those sets of individuals.

[ehbes]

True style... Man had grills in 1910...

[Dreadfunk]

he's targeting two separate demographics with each style, the at-home listener and the dancefloor freakshow.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. Both of his monikers contain tracks that could fall under both of those headings; so much so that I don't know which one you are referring to in each case. Spor has some very beautiful deep music: Overdue, as well as a lot of incredibly aggressive dance-floor freakshow smashers: Molehill. Feed-Me likewise has some of the most beautiful electronic music I've ever heard: Strange Behavior as well as some of the nastiest dancefloor smashers around: Blood Red. Neither fits in nicely with your two demographics. I think a lot of it has to do with creating a new image that fits with the mau5trap label. So in that sense you could say it is a clever bit of marketing, but I don't agree with your two classifications of "at home listeners" and "dancefloor freakshows" as his target demographics.

As for the OP: I don't think it matters if you release a bunch of different styles under one name, but I think that it is important to have one or two styles that you are known for: that is if you ever plan on making your music and image into a product. If you DJ you will want to have tracks that you can put into your own mixes, and that usually means sticking to the styles that you like to play out. So I think it's best to focus on a few styles, but I wouldn't worry about having tracks here and there that do not fit the general mold of all your other tracks. If you ever get asked to do a release, they will be looking for a specific track or group of related tracks. It won't matter if you have a bunch of different styles, just that you have a good body of work that could go together on an EP with either your own tracks or similar tracks from other artists.

[Hircine]

Idk I just sport my drop dead suicide emo bangs

[Today]

my soundclouds got a folky guitar tune, hip hop/rnb, brostep, heavy and mellow 140.. its all over the place
but mine's just my collection/profile, rather than a platform for marketing my tunes

[atticuh]

he's targeting two separate demographics with each style, the at-home listener and the dancefloor freakshow.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. Both of his monikers contain tracks that could fall under both of those headings; so much so that I don't know which one you are referring to in each case. Spor has some very beautiful deep music: Overdue, as well as a lot of incredibly aggressive dance-floor freakshow smashers: Molehill. Feed-Me likewise has some of the most beautiful electronic music I've ever heard: Strange Behavior as well as some of the nastiest dancefloor smashers around: Blood Red. Neither fits in nicely with your two demographics. I think a lot of it has to do with creating a new image that fits with the mau5trap label. So in that sense you could say it is a clever bit of marketing, but I don't agree with your two classifications of "at home listeners" and "dancefloor freakshows" as his target demographics.

I definitely understand where you're coming from, and I agree there is definitely similarity between the music he creates under both aliases. Like you said, it had a lot to do with the persona of the mau5trap label, but you'll also notice a difference in the way he writes music under both monikers, most notably in how conservative or liberal he is with his melodies, progressions, and arrangement. As spor, he released a lot more dissonant and experimental music openly, but as FeedMe, his music is much more harmonic and constrained within traditional "Western" chord progressions and dance music arrangement, targeted towards a more "mainstream" audience.

[Dreadfunk]

I definitely understand where you're coming from, and I agree there is definitely similarity between the music he creates under both aliases. Like you said, it had a lot to do with the persona of the mau5trap label, but you'll also notice a difference in the way he writes music under both monikers, most notably in how conservative or liberal he is with his melodies, progressions, and arrangement. As spor, he released a lot more dissonant and experimental music openly, but as FeedMe, his music is much more harmonic and constrained within traditional "Western" chord progressions and dance music arrangement, targeted towards a more "mainstream" audience.

Yes, definitely more mainstream, but not more aimed at dance floors than he was already. The bulk of Spor's (and Feed Me's) tracks have always been aimed at tearing up dance floors. Back in the day you couldn't go to a party without hearing Spor tunes.

[Gurnumsbug]

Just make what you like man.
I'm the same, but I usually stay around the ambient(like) sound.
I will make a couple tunes that sound pretty close to one another and if I have enough I will make an EP out of them.
Then my next EP could be completely different from the first one.
Just have artwork that goes with the tone of the LP or EP.

[Ldizzy]

ive always felt developing an actual textural vocabulary could grant me elasticity in composition regarding tempos, melodies, instrumentation, arrangements...

but it seems that grooves also play a huge part in this...

mosca is a good example of what id call a versatile artist ... i guess its a matter of putting out quality tunes... the rest will be what it will be..

u can only be u.. so be the best u u can be... no matter the style..

[wub]

hmmmm...crazy idea - production contest where the stipulation is that all tracks produced are a particular style, something way out the comfort zone. Like industrial. Or bhangra. Or trance.

[hasezwei]

As a business major with tons of hours of marketing and management under my belt

dont know why but reminded me of this


@topic: do whatever the fuck you want, like... seriously, as long as you dont feel the need to create a new alias then don't. also having different aliases before even releasing anything is a bit pointless imo. but thats just my 2 cents.

[BryceFury]

@topic: do whatever the fuck you want, like... seriously, as long as you dont feel the need to create a new alias then don't. also having different aliases before even releasing anything is a bit pointless imo. but thats just my 2 cents.

Of course, it was just a question for info and discussion, I definitely have nothing releasable at the moment let alone material to release under two names haha