I mean not Michael Jackson's Bad.
I have an album released 8 years ago. It's poorly mixed, has bad vocals, and when I listen to it today, simply I don't like it at all and I think it represents me badly. All of the songs are in demo quality. Almost nobody listens to it.

Should I remove it? Or should it stay where it is for some reason?

I know many of us delete some unfinished ideas from hard drives. What about finished ideas? Have you ever remove your songs from digital stores?

 

I had released some demo tracks that folks kept listening, it's not about mixing in the end of the day, but actual song, maybe that rawness is what makes it special. These days I'm in the process of giving a go to some of the older projects, dunno, more I work on them, more get lost, that rawness is what makes them resonate, it's raw emotion, not everything should sound polished, proper, even those songs are about some issues that are far away from ideal.

But for plenty of others, they do sound better, they deserve more from me and maybe pulling that album, giving it another go is what those songs truly deserve.

Another aspect is someone could actually stumble upon them and just move on. Last night I went through some artist's explorations and as much as I tried to keep an open mind, I was quick to move on, but it's one of those things, does newer work truly represents the vision or is older one something that wasn't yet there. Plenty of times I found that artists had best music in the middle of career, then went into more safe space, first one was rawest and most experimental work and then later on they really get hold on that vision.

We are very critical, especially if we evolved and can do things better, but sometimes, there's nothing wrong really, I know countless of examples where folks just love some old version and even when artist do remaster, they kept going back. Even artist don't know what was really resonating there and can't be objective about issues that should be addressed.

Stopped paying distrokid, so in some way I pulled everything from stores and now I'm in process of getting some of those back, but I pulled stuff before, if I'm not happy, nobody even cares, then there's no reason to hold on to it.

Seems in your case there's no reason for that album to be there, you aren't proud of it, it doesn't represent you, it have no fans, as I said, maybe give it another go, pull that one and see how it goes.

 

Be careful—it’s better to leave things as they are; the quality doesn't always have to be top-notch. You’re always wiser in hindsight, and trying to "fix" things often just makes them worse. It’s better to accept that the quality doesn't meet your standards. If you don't like it, listen to tracks you *do* enjoy and just leave it alone! Don't look back—look forward!

 

The reason to delete stuff from hard disks is because it frees up space. What space are you saving by removing it?
You mention it does not represent you well, which would be a good reason to remove it; other than the fact you mention that nobody listens to it anyway. If there is no cost in leaving it, seems like a relatively easy decision to make.

I would vote against doing any rework to it. That's just throwing away good effort after bad at this point.

 

There are three things I would re/consider:

• Is the music any good? "Poorly mixed" and "bad vocals" are subjective judgments - but does the music emote?
  
  
• What are you trying to accomplish here if "almost nobody listens to it?" What difference would it make professionally?
  
  
• Have you released other albums in the 8 years since? Are they better? Do people listen to them? Or is this your only album?

I would weigh each of the above parameters/answers carefully:

• A "demo quality" recording of your getting started 8 years ago can provide context in your evolution as an artist, and serve you.
  
  
• Depending on the genre, a "raw" recording and performance can be emotionally more pleasing to fans - if you have fans that is.
  
  
• If you do have fans, leaving the recording be shows that you're comfortable being imperfect and vulnerable - an endearing quality.

 

Separate yourself from it in every way I guess. If you and the public don't like it, it should die.

 

If I had a bad album I'd turn it into an ashtray!

 

Remove and do a historical revisionism for you have never released such a thing!

 

Do you smoke a lot?

 

if it makes you feel better I DO have a bad album, and i completely forgot about it until this thread reminded me of it. sooooo just do what i did and put it out of your memory haha

 

If you've released some bad stuff the only way to fix it is to release some better stuff. You can't undo the past and that way you demonstrate some artistic growth.

 

Release it and hype it as the next big thing.
Audiences don't know shit about music.
Popular music proves that.

 

As others have mentioned the technical aspect of it doesn't really matter. If what you're saying is you see absolutely no creative merit in an entire album of songs, then you've probably answered the question.

I've requested my credits be removed, or omitted, from projects I contributed to, where the final outcome went in a direction that I didn't feel would service my reputation well. I appreciate that's a little different to what you're asking, but the sentiment is the same.

I agree with the points made by others to just leave it. In this time of fake everything and AI slop, you'll probably gain more from showing an honest progression of your creative journey and that could contribute to greater perceived authenticity from new listeners.

Might also help to reframe your perception of the work from, "this is rubbish and doesn't represent who I am now" to "look how far I've come". I think that applies to everything in life. Better to acknowledge progression and have gratitude for the positives of the now, than to ruminate on mistakes of the past.

 

No soap box needed for this - If they're DEMOs, then you need to mix them. Try remixing a couple of those tracks and make them translate proper!

 

Only after making love to the ghost of Cleopatra, so no...not really.

 

You do not touch your work of the past!
It might mean something to someone in exactly the way it is.
If you touch it up or remove it, you might take away something from people they loved.
This is not the best example, but I had a hard time finding the og version from new orders true faith.
That is my favorite song of all times. And it has been remastered and touched up a thousand times now.
And in all that noise of newer "better" versions it was hard to find the release version, with the f-plot and the loudness I liked. I had to get a cd from japan for fucks sake!
//edit// just because you don't like your work (any more) does not mean someone else might not love it

 

Thank you everyone. Very good, supporting arguments were given for both options. The voting is also fairly evenly matched. Therefore, I was sometimes hesitant in making a decision, but I think it's my fault for not feeling good about what I've done. It's not right to be ashamed of myself for crawling as a child just because I can walk on two legs today.

In short, I won't delete the album I made. Maybe someday it will be used as a remix or cover. Thank you again everyone.

 

That's the way to go!
An act I love dearly is De/Vision and the singer started a project he calls De/Vision Redux where he portraits the old classics in a newer, less 90ies-Depeche-Modesque way. And thats great, there is nothing wrong with the songs as they were, but it's fun to listen to them as if they were made last week.