It’s both art and content for me. I listen to a very wide range of genres; from metal to jazz, EDM, prog, industrial, film scores, kpop, and more. Streaming platforms have a hard time profiling me just based on the stuff I listen to.
I’m also a musican, so it’s my “art” as well, because I create it to express myself. It’s been a huge part of my entire life.
I was able to get an 8-string headless guitar at close to half the price. Then recouped a little more by selling my current guitar. So all in all I “spent” 1/3 of the original price. One of best bang-for-buck deals I’ve gotten in a while.
Nice ghost notes! What are your influences? Do you have any interest in prog music?
Edit: I forgot to mention, the nostalgia! lol. I remember Boiler being one of my favorite songs from Chocolate Starfish during high school.
Ask yourself when you pick up a hobby: Are you in the top 10% in the world with that skillset or do you have the time and energy to be good enough to do it for a living? No? Then it’s not worth it to do it for the money. And even then, as you said, it’s more about marketing (i.e. you’re not that great but can be successful if you get a big enough following). And marketing is a whole different beast.
You can also think about the potential income stream just as a bonus that you don’t care if you get it or not. I make non-mainstream music and don’t really have the energy to market it, so I just post it where I can and hope people see it. I’ve earned $350 from streaming in 4 years. That’s not life changing money, but it’s a nice thing to have that I wouldn’t really care if I didn’t get.
I dunno why but recently I noticed I haven’t been passive listening to music. I used to have headphones while I work and music when I’m driving. Lately I’ve been driving in silence and working without headphones.
Probably because I make music on my off days and my ears get tired?