So, I am apparently just so behind the times that my music won't even be up for consideration even in my genre (Christin Pop/CCM) all because of one stupid miss on my part: I didn't note that over the last 20 years, popular song structure changed - dumping instrumental solos and bridges years ago, as well as shorting song-lengths.

Having just released an album of - what I believe to be - great songs featuring some excellent instrumental breaks and transitional bridges, I am pretty saddened by the changes that have been quietly inaugurated by the captains of the industry - making such compositional structure 'old school' now.

I asked Grok to summarize what's going on and here is its answer on the whole industry change:
https://x.com/i/grok/share/I4oDWDDJDkz9NFv2d3hskPN0Z

Anyway, I either have to rewrite my songs to fit the paradigm shift if I expect any industry/local radio interest, or just call it a day on writing for the love of musicianship and sonically interesting passages. Depressing.

Here's my album on YouTube if anyone still enjoys 'old school' CCM/rock. Thanks for listening in advance if'n ya do.

 

vi - IV - I - V, 4 note melody, whoaaaaa whoaaaa, done, write my check. Yeah, new music is grim. Look forward to hearing what ya got!

 

Last edited: May 12, 2025 at 1:22 AM

Yep, you need to rewrite them all, Grok couldn't possibly be wrong. Also, Grok says that God doesn't exist, so you need to renounce your faith. I suggest switching to another genre entirely. I can recommend some melodic death metal albums if you're interested. /s

 

stick them back into your DAW and mix them differently; cutting out parts to adhere to some different structure you want them to be.

You could do some stem cell separations and re-isolate parts if you have to.

 

Well, having scanned through it, you're right- it would be hard to get further from the current popular vibe; as Frank Zappa once said- no commercial potential.
But it's really good! Good songs, production, you have a great voice, there's still a market for this. You just need to get this out there to it.

 

If you change your name to Barrett Martin then it will all be fine...and buy some new monitors before one or both of your Equator fail and your stuck without.

Your music is heartfelt and I'm sure that some label that works in your chosen genre would help promote it.

 

Or just make radio edits, call these ones extended versions, you don't need to rewrite much there, just chop out some stuff and etc.

Edit:

"Only thing I need" is the one with most commercial appeal, if you ever decide to do radio edit, do just that one and you are golden, I really love that one, it's stuck in my head whole day, really great song.

 

Last edited: May 12, 2025 at 10:05 PM

Ok, that's it, I had enough. I'm gonna arrange the current track I'm workin' on and chop each section down with hair clippers, add 1-2 beat fill transitions and effects/drop that have nothing to do with anything. gonna be great therapy session going against my decade-long old habits and finish the production feeling slimy and icky. hell, maybe I'll even use 128 bps mp3 samples for the whole thing.....and do it all on my phone. We'll see.

 

I saw a great video a few months back from a guy who has worked in a record company as one of the people tasked with listening to all the submissions to find the next success story.

He opened by saying that even if he listened 24/7 he'd still only get through about 10% of the submissions.
So he had a set of arbitrary rules that determined how long he listened to each song/tune. It was brutal. If you haven't hit the verse within about 6 seconds you are binned. If the verse is longer than x seconds you are binned. There were lots more. There were also some "hot tips" like "make each chorus identical" and "repeat the hook lyric in the chorus as much as you can".

Obviously it's just one person's view but he has been at the coalface of commercial pop and had developed a method to find the money tracks. Like it or not, the current trend is to hit the chorus as quickly as possible and to repeat it ad nauseam! I guess it's a result of short attention spans and a massive glut of music available to us.

Of course, this only matters if you are trying to go the mainstream route to success - other routes are available. Make the music you like then work out how to promote it but also bear in mind that there is a long history of bands "selling out" to get a chart hit then following up with the music they wanted to make in the first place.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd say you were my brother writing this. Funny! "I'd rather fight than switch" (look that tag-line up!)

 

Thinking about it for a couple of them ... thanks!

 

Well said. Not wanting financial success. Just to expose the world to quality song-writing and studio musicianship. Will work at it. Thinking of FB ads for Spotify. See some interesting posts (youtube) resulting from such. Thanks!

 

Good thoughts here friend. Thanks so much! Money isn't the thing, exposing people to the workmanship I've produced is the focus.
"Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." Psalm 33:3.

 

I really enjoyed your album, very melodic, smooth, and calming. I especially appreciated the intertextuality in Reimagine, even though I am no longer in the devotional sphere (I believe in the cosmic Christ—or the being responsible for the spirit that animated Jesus, referred to as Hokhmah [Hebrew] or Sophia [Greek], a concept that, roughly speaking, aligns more closely with the Gnostic Gospels, in a spiritualist sense, but that doesn't matter here, I only mention this to let you know that your music has quality, even though it is not a genre of interest to me).

However, I feel that, unfortunately, your album seems somewhat disconnected from the current Zeitgeist, which, to be honest, I find terrible. But things are what they are, and adaptability has always been a crucial condition for survival and evolution. I think it’s great that you care about this because, as they say, "every artist must go where the audience is." Otherwise, you risk becoming like those composers who are professors at universities and conservatories—earning their living from teaching hours rather than from what they actually create, with their compositions ending up forgotten in drawers. Eventually, they invent all sorts of justifications to accept this reality, like "educating is also composing," and so on.

I believe you should look for a label that specializes in this niche. In my country, unfortunately, religious movements, including various pastors and Anglican offshoots, have gained strong influence (bringing all sorts of absurdities, such as people giving away their life savings as tithes, pastors sleeping with followers, and trying to influence politics, psychology, and even science), meaning this type of music definitely has its place.

In your case, I think you have talent, but what you need is visibility. Study online marketing strategies and think about ways to promote and publicize your work. If your music reaches a producer within this genre and they like it, something good could come your way. For now, I would invest more in self-promotion and management, 'cos things have changed a lot in recent years. Work hard on what you believe in to drive an authentic and relevant campaign or your music/message!

 

Last edited: May 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM

His method (the sorter at the label) isn't meant to find the best music, or even the most commercially sucessful music, its just a sort mechanism he has devised to make it possible for him to accomplish his job which is to sort a tremendous amount of submissions.

His first pass rules, are built to reject 90% of what he has time to listen to, by design he is not interested in good music, ergo the results are not "good music", they are compositions that fit his rules, which must be a slender group, if it allows him to reject most of what he has time to listen to.

Does he know an AI will replace him in 1 year?

 

Sure... but each shiny new gear will improve your output. Its just fact. Also ad spend for most people will be far more successful than organic. If you're lil nas x... organic all the way... since very very few people have all the things align to get the exposure he did... ad spend! Its nice to at least recoup costs and get some extra to put in the fund. For what you are doing, that is indeed likely a good idea and probably the best outlet to hit your target, absent any tribal knowledge. I never worked that market. I'm sure there are huge resources I'm oblivious to. I used to do some work for a label with ccm as part of its makeup - but that was the parent company... I worked with the imprints that spread into electronica, industrial and also death and black metal... Curiously letterheads, media packets, and news releases never mentioned the imprints on the more family friendly releases by the parent, heh.

 

"Labels", last time I checked, just make you do all the work of getting product together and promoting yourself anyway; I literally have no idea what they are supposed to bring to the equation except maybe a little bit of gravitas depending on what genre you're in. Ignore them, get out and promote yourself and keep 100% of the revenue. I've made some money over the last 10 years with a couple projects on Bandcamp where I literally did not promote them at all- I have no social media presence whatsoever- and the little dribble of lucky hits and some word of mouth has sold some copies and put a little change in my pocket. I suspect anybody willing to spend a couple hours a day on tiktok and insta could do pretty well.

 

Write to your heart's content. Maybe someone will appreciate it after the world resets. Chasing industry dollars is not satisfying in the end because newer generations appreciate quality less since they are raised on degraded quality. The industry is dark. These days I enjoy a "normal" career and do music on my own terms. Create on your terms!