so... what are people's goals here?

[deadly_habit]

continue making music i dig and disassociate myself from what the mainstream populace call dubstep nowadays
and yeah branching into other genres where i can potentially make money off my musician rather than artist side, be it pop, jpop, commercial jingles etc
i'm at a point where i love the artistic side still, just can't be assed to spend a bunch of time self hyping and whoring myself in the current climate with my dubstep as the general perception is, "oh dubstep? you mean that wubwubwubwubwub stuff" or "oh you mean like skrillex?" etc
so i just make tunes and let em mass up on my hard drive and send off my poppier stuff to targets that hopefully will land some contacts on that side, and god willing, will let me run up enough revenue to invest some cash into my lil diy label endeavor again, and finally release some physical medium products, and not have to worry about losing money, some other label never paying me even the little profits it makes, or it not being mainstream enough etc

oh and djing again, and focusing on playing real instruments and vocals vs all midi based stuff

[nowaysj]

Question not directed at me, but I'll chime.

I'd like to continue landing sound design gigs, it is fun, interesting work, but I do seriously need to increase my productivity. Just starting on the professional side of sound (again), and still mulling over the amount of potential here.

Just wrote my first song in a long (long) time. Total 90's pop song, jokes, but was a lot of fun. Think I might follow that up with 4 more songs in the same vein, for a little pop ep. Simultaneously, working on more electronic music, with live playing potential, writing with the intent for the songs to be playable live. My playing chops are absolutely shite! I was never great, but this might be a use it or lose it kind of situation. Have to spend some serious time practicing.

Feel like the world is my oyster if I can keep improving at the rate I have been lately. To all the young producers having difficulties with this and that, if you keep at it, keep really pushing, it will happen; progress may be glacial, but it will happen some day, everything will start to come together.

[Augment]

Q not directed at me either, but for me I want to make music that I appreciate. Biggest dream is of course to be able to live off music, touring, and maybe collab with some producers I respect.
I also want to start a duo

[-[2]DAY_-]

i really wanna be part of a duo myself. i fancy a partner in crime, gotta be IRL tho.

[FSTZ]

wattup y'all... checking in after a bit, and I see a WHOLE lot of new members. clearly the reach of dubstep's changed since i stopped modding 6 months ago.

so i'm curious-- for the older heads here, the folks who've had releases, worked with/for/owned/managed labels-- as we've watched dubstep rise, what are your goals as an artist/musician? I separate the 2 because an artist creates; a musician works.

the opportunity that's out there for folks w/ a solid dubstep background is enORMOUS. Through a partnership w/ a publishing company I write for (again, a musician "works"), we just did a dubstep-y live arrangement for some Jpop singer/rapper. Completely unheard of to me, but she sells out 30,000 person arenas 3/4 of the way around the world... and was looking for something, as it wrote in the brief, "contemporary" and "referencing dubstep."

You couldn't even imagine that back in 2006. oh how times have changed.

so where are folks going? What do peeps want to be accomplishing over the next few?

On my end, the whole world of with-a-capital-D Dubstep has largely moved away from the super-swinging, dystopic dance music foundation that caught my ear in '05; it used to bug me, but i'm thoroughly ok with not being a part of overground dubstep. Playing live is really where it's at in the States, and we are having a blast with that. I'd love to continue writing 140-ish music that i love, but i doubt anyone under the age of 21 would call it "dubstep," and that's where the market's at, so.... not sure where that leaves me.

not exactly keeping me up at night, tho. I'm far more interested, right now, in developing fresh visual content, and ways to merge live instrumentation and electronics, to play our sets and really create something new (artistry)/get real paid doing so (musician).

So Deadly, Depone, Pete, Ledge, et al-- WHERE'S YOUR HEAD AT?

funny you should bring this up...

my focus lately is refinement and taking a "quality over quantity" approach

I've been playing bigger, higher caliber gigs (Massives and Festivals) and denying the one off club gigs that don't pay well.

I feel that I have been creating more innovative tunes that stand apart from anyone I know of, and shooting for features everytime my tunes get released (so far so good for 2011).

from a working stance, I recently began collaborating with a couple of gents that are very motivated and highly talented. They've been in the business for a while and there's no "new jack bullshit" that I experienced with past collaborators. We intend to have a full live stage show (real instruments, lights and video) before the end of the year.

life is grand indeed

*edit* I just got word that I am nominated best dance DJ in Kansas City for the 3rd year in a row, so I got that going for me too

[RandoRando]

Would like to get some of my music signed at some point, maybe do a couple of gigs then see where it goes from there.

[wub]

I just want to keep making electronic music that I like.

[Njamimars]

Getting people to listen to my music, and I would love to get singed and get promoted and I also would love to spin at an Dubstep Club once.

Well at least I am trying

[warezd]

To induce synesthesia and / or make your ass move.

[Shum]

Good little thread this.

After writing and producing for about a decade now I'm about ready to hang up my boots, not entirely sure what to do afterwards though.

[amphibian]

tbh I couldn't care less what the rest of the dubstep world is doing, it won't affect me in any way. I write from here *points to heart* and that's all I care about. I've actually been wanting to move away from dubstep (and all beats in general) and get really experimental so that I'm not as confined. Fucking love dubstep, but as an artist (god that sounds snobby), sticking to any kind of format to me is starting to feel as though it's impacting my creativity.

[ogunslinger]

to master the finer art which is called bro-step...


wubwubwub

[GothamHero]

I don't think my plan of taking over the world is coming to fruition.


My goals are to continue making music for my own personal taste and discretion; also, I hope to become fairly popular to the point I either educate, inspire or entertain a large number of followers. I just want to make my mark on a community, may it be the Dubstep, Electro House, or Trance community.

[AllNightDayDream]

I admit I've had zero success/exposure, but I would love to start a chillwave-esque band just so I can play some shows at whatever shitty venue.

[drooka]

On my end, the whole world of with-a-capital-D Dubstep has largely moved away from the super-swinging, dystopic dance music foundation that caught my ear in '05; it used to bug me, but i'm thoroughly ok with not being a part of overground dubstep. Playing live is really where it's at in the States, and we are having a blast with that. I'd love to continue writing 140-ish music that i love, but i doubt anyone under the age of 21 would call it "dubstep," and that's where the market's at, so.... not sure where that leaves me.

A bit of a story to keep your hopes up Sharmaji. I'm 20 years old and like most college kids that listen to dubstep, I was introduced to the genre by way of "brostep-ish" tunes a little over a year ago. Now I would be lying if I said i didn't enjoy these tunes or that they didnt spark my interests in the genre, but I soon grew rather tired of listening to the same general song everytime i typed dubstep into youtube. Now, a year later, my musical tastes in terms of dubstep are the flip of most Americans and people of my age (i hate to generalize and by no means do i intend to offend anyone's nationality or musical tastes, but there is not a whole lot of orignal style dubstep love in the U.S.). While all my friends are diving into the genre by means of Skrillex and Excision etc. (no knock on these artists), I can't say i enjoy anything more than listening to a playlst of Kryptic Minds, Pinch, Skream, and, lately, Lung, all of whom produce music that would be considered much closer to dubsteps roots (aside from Pinch and Skream, who actually are part of those roots). This is not to say that I can't or don't find enjoyment in listening to Rusko or an occasional Skrillex tune still, but rather that I find a certain excitement when listening to music that reflects the roots of the genre.

This being said, this thread is about our goals so here is mine. Aside from the ultimate goal of finding a career within the music industry, I personally want to spread the idea of what dubstep original began as to people that are new to the genre . I don't believe that any one persons musical tastes are better than another, in this case the Brostep vs. Original dubstep argument that has split the genre. However, my opinion is that brosteppers who have never given some of the original dubstep a chance should get past all of the 'where is the drop and filth??!?!' for a minute and listen to a few tunes to gain an understanding of what all of this music developed from. To sum myself up, I have no issue with the development and evolution of dubstep, but would hate to see the hard work and passion of the original underground dubsteppers (not to mention the amazing and amazingly unique style they created), who were in it for the love of their dub sound and not fame and commercial music, to get lost as dubstep continues to transition.

[cloak and dagger]

I just got back into making music after taking a couple months off due to parts of my studio being destroyed in an earthquake and having to leave my apartment due to three nuclear reactors melting down. You know, the usual.

At this point, I'm writing music around 130-140, but it's all over the place and doesn't have a whole lot to do with dubstep. I guess my goal is to develop a network of labels and DJs that I can send these tunes to, as currently my tunes go out to about 6-8 people that I know plus the occasional big name if I think they would like it. Despite getting some amazing responses (and plays) from some of the major dubstep guys, I don't have the money to go out to clubs and network, and my tunes are so varied lately that I'm often too self-conscious to send a lot of them out, as I've found different people respond to different tunes (and considering some of these guys are super busy, I don't want to burden them with music they might have no interest in). Of course I make music for myself, but at this point, what I would consider releasable tunes (and some of my best work) is starting to pile up, and I feel like I'm kinda shooting myself in the foot by playing the introvert and just expecting someone to happen upon them.

[Puncture]

Still in the beginning phase of my EDM "career" so my aspirations as of now are just to have the ability to create proper songs that people will enjoy. I do dream of being able to live off my music though. I see the lights and hear the crowds when I fall asleep. Its my drive!

[cloud capture]

post-dubstep, aka idm.

[Dystinkt]

To be a respected name in the scene, and try and encourage some love in old school underground dubstep, think its being neglected completely these days which is shameful.

[Atac]

To get pussy.





With all due seriousness though, as long as I am making music I love (and enjoying doing so) then I am content. The rockstar lifestyle of a brostepper would be awesome, but I would love to dive deeper into aspects of music production that go beyond dubstep (like sound design/music theory/etc.) I have also been considering the idea of becoming a digital music teacher at an audio engineering school (or a junior college for all I care). I think it would be cool to share the knowledge I've gained with people who are going through what I did. Living in LA, I hope I have some decent opportunity to use my electronic musical knowledge as a tool to achieve a healthy and comfortable lifestyle. I guess there's nothing else to do except go take advantage of life and keep working at this/enjoying this.