The Hellscape of Online Music Promotion

That Rule 34 realization though...

This was an amazing experience……. Thank you 😊

27 minutes hit me i cried 😭

What an awesome video Venus Theory, and very timely for me. I had recently decided not to go down the SubmitHub path. By chance, I came across this video, and it summarized what I thought might be the case (without really knowing for sure). Thanks for the vindication, and can I just say that I've seen a couple of your videos before, and they are incredibly well done—deep, intelligent, clear, thoroughly researched, and extremely well presented. Subscribe button hit!

I submitted my song and got rejected by Dickus Magazine UK for style and fashion.. Dickus or Darkus, something like that. Probably Dickus

damn thanks so much for this video

really grateful to you man, love your videos, your honesty and integrity. Not just another tutorial channel but one that explores and celebrates art and its meaning. You're doing something really special thank you.

Submit hub. The ultimate spend $50 to make $5 in streams.

If I'm just some guy recording weird concept albums in my room so I don't go insane during grad school, then are any of these services worth trying? I wasn't able to come away with a clear answer from the video.

What I took away from this video is that, no, these services aren't a scam, but they also might not be helpful unless you put a lot of effort into them. So are they worth it for a hobbies with dreams of growing eventually? I've honed my craft pretty damn far at this point, so i think the marketing side of things is really what's letting me down.

I have been recording and studying production regularly for like 5+ years now with like no attention at all and i didn't even know about most of these services before now.
I've just been in my own little weird art room this whole time.

just released my 4th album and threw it into the aether. where it goes, no one knows. no one goes.
(Wasp to Orchid is band name if anyone curious) weird high production value alt rock mostly

Honestly, making a career in music as a musician is a pipe dream. The vast, vast, vast majority of people should focus on a career that will actually pay and do music on the side. You can make whatever you want for whoever you want while still having food to eat and a place to live. Perhaps even enough money to buy all that nice gear

Anyone who falls for these ponzi schemes is a sucker with no confidence in their own material. Why make music FOR critics who don't create a damn thing themselves?? They dont do shit. They dont know shit either. Their opinions dont matter. Go play live shows.I thought this video was about promoting your own music online, its just about nerds fleecing people for money

I'm glad that my platform isn't listed here. I'm a curator and most of what you said is true. What is missing is that our own reputation is on the line. When we get submissions for a certain listing, we have to send out "rejection" notations. Obviously, we can't accept all submissions. In fact, our approvals generally hover between none and 10%. We're fully transparent about artists' tracks and they are fully aware that they are in competition for those very, very few slots. It's an unfortunate reality, but I try to urge artists not to give up. Take the feedback and use it. We put a lot of time and effort into listening to each and every submission and doing write-ups to help you. There aren't really any short-cuts.

No one says you have to pursue being popular. There’s a lot of ego and vanity in it. If a million people like your song as opposed to one does it make it any better? Nah but it does FEEL better.

Ppl dont wanna put in the hard work and keep grinding rather complain like babies and make excuses why they can't do fucking music lets be honest!

You should try being a actor.

brutally honest and nothing short of truth and reality . I give up on making something for someone that might enjoy it because i found making things for myself more enjoyable and appreciatred

Finally I found your channel! It took me a while but I'm finally here and I'm in a mix of angst and relief, but hopefully the relief will be stronger. Thank you for that! Cheers from this independent artist from Brazil and thanks for your content!

Love your tough love, BS free approach. Music is both the joy of my life and a cruel mistress lol. I was fortunate to be made aware of this when I was just starting out. It's much easier to keep pushing on when you're not blindsided and disillusioned by the rougher aspects of the biz.

A very thoughtful and accurate analysis. Some similarities to the way things were for performers in the mid 90s - when the CD was still the thing... niche categories, competitive business environment, sharks and vultures, etc. But business connections were more personal. I had solo guitar CDs placed in a number of brick and mortar record stores in my area such as Tower... it involved face to face interactions with the stores' buyers, who typically listened to a bit of the recording, brought out a contract, and then sent me checks periodically. Customers spent $15 per CD. Times sure have changed, lol. Not to mention radio airplay... program directors played your music if they liked it. Not too many independent radio stations now. But the immediacy and directness of digitally distributing one's music currently has great aspects too...

This is very interesting, and somehow it backs up what I believe. What I’m still trying to get across to young artists is that they first need to make excellent music, then music business, it’s a whole different story, it will change its mechanisms through the eras, but in the end good music and true artists, they will prevail.

This is such a good video 😮 so much of my subconscious banter right in here

Fantastic clip! It sums it up perfectly. 😃👍

Dear you. 

This is just fantastic. I've just recently discovered this channel, but wow.
Great narrator. Almost at the level of a famous actor.
The content and topics take different paths, but you tie it all together in the end somehow.

Very few people I know find that balance. Whatever it is you do, to make this stuff happen, please, please keep on doing it!

Many thanks!

ah, my weekly dose of music existential crisis, love it

For me, no one is entitled to make a living via art. Relative to basic needs to survive, it's a luxury. Some get lucky, some is more deserved, but ultimately, making a living with one's art is always going to be a privilege. I make music because I enjoy it. That enjoyment does not entitle me to anything else. Financial success and fame are by-products.

Wow, you nailed it! Top! 👏👏👏

I have been rejected on Submithub by the same Lofi Record Label that released several of my songs for a track that they would have 100% taken as a label release.

The soundtrack for this video is so good I would listen to it by itself!

This is why I buy music on Bandcamp. It's not perfect, there's still tons of meh to sift through, but I've found lots of weird, niche kind of stuff on there I enjoy. Spotify, iTunes, and the like I stay away from because theyre just hellscapes of boring, samey music. Point is that you as a listener have to put in the work to find what you enjoy, not just turn on a playlist.

Dude, I'm not a minute in, and your prose is worthy of any five-star Writers Guild award.

👍🏻

I appreciate your approach to your videos, especially ones like these where you're pulling the veil off of topics. Thanks

Hahahaha the probity rant is so good

I think what's missing here is that tik tok has pretty much taken over as the music discovery channel for much of the younger generation (gen z gen alpha) and this is actually probably going to end up being a huge discovery golden age for music (the return of shoegaze, nu metal, 90s grunge, skramz etc is evidence of this). If you're an artists, submit to spotify playlists for free but focus on spamming tik tok after your releases! It's the best way to get heard.

This is one of the best video I've seen to paint out the whole music and content industry in my life so far! very accurate, sure will make people wake up more about it, thanks

I thought submit hub was for getting feedback on unfinished songs. Whoops guess I've been using it wrong.

I've been a Dj for around 20 years and recently spent around £5,000 on building a studio and (additionally) buying software, hardware and a new Mac for the sole purpose of music production. I've been watching numerous tutorial videos and paid for a few music production courses which i have worked through over the last few months. I've watched a few videos like this on how hard it is get any music heard unless you're a social media whore (which i am not). My impression of the scene now is that unless you are sponsored by supreme, and have a million followers on something, your chances of any kind of production or DJ career is pretty minimal. I also feel like this pursuit is just an endless pit of spending money just to keep up with the millions of other people doing the same thing. Anyway, thanks for making this video. Its the final nail in the coffin of realisation that i'm wasting both time and money on this! I feel like i've just saved years of my life and thousands of ££$$ on more kit that won't help. I'm off to find a new hobby.

Bruh, who is your editor?

I love your videos.

Wow. This spoke right to me. 21+ failed SubmitHub responses on what I can nearly objectively call my best song — a tune that since gained me a good few real-life fans — absolutely tanked my self-esteem and musical productivity 3 years ago. One reviewer literally told me that she just didn’t like my voice and that there was nothing I could do about it. Some constructive criticism that is.

I focus on real-life interactions and just putting out a consistent media stream these days without even touching the blogs or online playlists. Those are for people who care about optimizing their music for them more than me. Maybe it hurts my chances of success but I prefer keeping my mental health.

Awesome analysis on all sides of this equation

If my friends like my music (they are musicians and have wonderful tastes) then I am happy

Is submit hub trying to find music that will get a lot of listens? Because that would make sense with some music if it is not at all going to be popular (that is art that is important to the artist and not to many other people)