Are You Wasting Your Time Making Music?

It can be difficult and kill your motivation when you’ve been producing for a really long period, and you have nothing to show for, or even when you (b) see another producer achieve more than you with not even half the experience you have.

And that makes you wonder, as we all do at some point… are you wasting your time making music?

Here’s a better way to think about it…

4 THOUGHTS FROM ME

1. Desire the results, but don’t forget that you must put in the work.

Most producers who ask this question feel this way because right now:

1. Music is simply not fun anymore;
2. You’re stuck and don’t know how to move on
3. You’re just not seeing the results you wish you had by now, right?

Believe me, I’ve been there, and here are a few things I’ve done when this hit me:

1. Just focus on the fun of making music. As mentioned in this post, the moment making music stops being fun, your motivation goes away and this question will pop in. For motivation to come back:
   • Stop pressuring yourself to release or to produce a hit;
   • Stop thinking about labels and make music for yourself;
   • Go produce in another genre;
   • Jam with a friend (instead of collabing);
   • Do something different: try to make a song for TV commercial instead of just another song;
2. Seek help from friends and professionals. When music stops being fun because you’re not moving, you need to seek help because getting stuck is the biggest ‘fun-killer’ in music, especially when you’re seeing others make progress and you’re not….
   • Go to our discord to talk with other producers;
   • Reach out to us by answering sending us a message;
   • Find someone to mentor you, even if it’s a friend;
   • Find a teacher to help you move past your issues;
3. Stop thinking about results and focus on your journey. Mastering your skills in music takes time, and as with anything great in your life, your results will also take time to happen. Instead of being anxious with what’s to come, change your mind to be excited with the progress you’re making as this excitement is what will fuel your growth to then achieve your results.

2. Stop trying to only be a superstar.

When most producers think about ‘making it in the music industry’, most think about being like their favorite world-touring artist, which is ok to aim for, but there are more ways to be successful in the music industry than just being a superstar, which would make your time spent with music a lot more worth fighting for. For that:

1. Find out what makes you happy in music. Most of us don’t know what it takes to be a superstar and would be a lot happier just making music at home instead. So, find what you like in music and about the creation process and focus on that since that is what will maximize your happiness and fulfillment with music, which is what will make it all worth it;
2. Look for alternative careers in music.
   • Make plugins you wish you had and sell them;
   • DJ at your local club as it’s really fun;
   • Become a mixing or mastering engineer to help elevate other people’s music;
   • Become a ghost producer and make music for other people;
   • create your own label or go work as an A&R for a label;
   • Teach other producers how to produce;
   • Create content for YouTube about your favorite topics in music;
     All these careers are ways that you can ‘make it’ in music, which often makes music as a whole more fullfilling, and, sometimes, motivates you to produce more of your music as well;
3. Stop trying to treat it as a career and treat it as a hobby. Sometimes, you gotta do the opposite of treating your music as a career and just treat it as a hobby, just like any challenging video game. Stop pressuring yourself to ‘make it’ or to ‘please labels’ and just make music you like, and that can eventually make music worth it for you.

3. Give yourself some time to think until feel the urge to produce again!

Sometimes, the best remedy to feeling like you’re wasting time is not working on music for a while, and just letting it come back to you. If you do come back to music, then it’s time to reframe it:

1. Set clear goals and expectations of what music is to you: Is it a hobby? Is it a career? Think of what you want out of it from now on, and go for it. If you plan to make it a career though, track your progress to make sure you’re going forward with your goals;
2. Understand what triggered your questioning and work on ways to prevent it in the future. Why did you feel that music was a waste of time? So, now, learn from what triggered you and avoid it. Some of the reasons are described in point #1, and you can find more in this post, but you have to understand what made you feel this way to avoid feeling like that in the future.
3. If this urging feeling doesn’t come back, then think back to what made you start in the first place. Read this post, as it talks exactly about questions you should ask yourself if you’re feeling like quitting music, but think back to why you started making music in the first place. Try to put your mind into that place again as that might evoke the same feeling you had when you started;
4. Lastly, find a new muse: What used to inspire you is not anymore, so you might need to find something else that inspires you to make music again. Go watch your favorite movie, travel to your favorite place, or travel in general if you haven’t in a while, go to a party… as these all could help you in this new pursuit.
   Remember that if it music wasn’t so important to you, you probably would just leave and not ask yourself this question. Instead, what you need, is find a new purpose for it in your life.

4. Change your approach from working hard to working smart!

A friend, let’s call him Paul, once said to me “I’ve worked harder than many friends who are achieving a lot more than I am, and it all just feels like a waste of time”, and that actually could be one of the reasons why Paul is frustrated with music. Instead, do this:

1. Work smart, not hard. “If you want a significant change in your results, then you probably need a significant change to your strategy. Working harder on your current strategy is unlikely to move the needle. Before you work harder, work on the right thing.” (by James Clear).
2. Practice like a pro: Pros don’t practice what they know, but mainly what they are weak at or what they want to master, and they repeat it until they’ve mastered it. Now, instead of making song after song without seeing much progress, why not just tackle the issues that you’ve been bothered with? “But I don’t know what I’m not good at”. Then:
   • Make a list of 10 things you wish you could do better or that you feel your music is lacking;
   • Rank them from 1 to 10, 1 being the thing you’re struggling the most;
   • Now, before you start a new song, or with any new song, put your focus on ONLY fixing this issue. Even if you made the worst song in your life, but you fixed this issue, consider it a success;
3. Learn how to develop through feedback. Instead of making your own list, ask a friend for feedback on two songs, and check if there are any common issues mentioned with the songs. If so, then these are the things you need to tackle next;
4. Optimize your workflow. If you could spend 6 hours on something that would speed up 5-10 minutes of every music session you had, would you do it? Little adjustments to your workflow can make your time in music more efficient, and here are some of them:
   • Organize your sample library;
   • Limit your samples to only 1-2 sample/preset packs;
   • Create a template to test your ideas or a mixing template to speed up your workflow (or just grab ours here).
     Anything that could make you produce faster the next time will make you waste less time in the future.

1 QUESTION FOR YOU

What else could help you overcome this feeling of wasting time with music?

1. Are you working towards your goals?
A waste of time can also happen if you’re not making progress towards your goals. This can also happen if you don’t have any goals, so defining your goals with music is also a good way to make sure you’re not wasting time with it

2. Define your limits:
What makes music a waste of time to you? Ask yourself this question after you’ve moved past your current situation and define your limits. Write it down, and when/if you feel like this again, just read what you wrote and see if the current situation is beyond your pre-defined limits.

3. Make friends in the industry:
Join discord servers, social media groups, or local groups. Engaging with other producers can sometimes provide motivation, accountability, and new perspectives that can make it all worth it.