If you came here from Mitxoda Weekly #101, you already know where this started.
I asked a simple question:
Why do we still make music?
Despite the noise.
Despite the algorithms.
Despite the endless releases, the numbers, the pressure to promote everything and the strange feeling that every song has to fight for a few seconds of attention.
And still, people write songs. They start bands, record at night, rewrite the same line ten times.
They release something deeply personal into a world that may or may not notice.
That fascinates me but I don’t want to turn this into another long essay.
The Weekly was my part of the conversation.
This page is yours.
If you make music, tell me why you keep doing it.
If you don’t, tell me why you still go looking for songs, albums and artists when there is already more music available than any of us could ever hear.
Maybe it’s escape, connection, or a habit.
Curiosity?
Maybe one song once found you at exactly the right moment.
Maybe you don’t even know why.
That’s fine too.
Tell me in the comments below.
One sentence is enough.
A story is even better.
And please feel free to reply to someone else’s answer too. I’d love this to become less of a comment section and more of a small conversation between people who still care about music.
I’ll be reading.
And some of what you write here may inspire where the next Weekly goes.
Until then,
keep listening with intention.
Why does a painter paint, why does the builder build, why do I keep making new music ? I guess it’s my way of telling my stories. I love the feeling of turning a riff or a melody into a fully fledged song that I enjoy listening to. It’s almost a liberating therapy. Also the collaboration with other musicians when creating a song is important to me. Sharing musical ideas in words and turning them into something you can hear and feel is priceless. A song doesn’t need permission to exist but it needs people to survive.
And sometimes, music has its own revival moment, too! thanks Ross!
I’ve loved music ever since I was born; I’ve always listened to it, and I started playing before I even started school. I couldn’t imagine life without it. What can I say? I just couldn’t do without it.
yes indeed, I feel you. That’s the deal. Where some are trying to limit access, limit creativity and block our imagination, we, as artists, are still willing, because we live (for) it!
I make music because it’s fun. Fun to collaborate with fellow band membres, fun to tell stories and fun to get the right chord at the right place. So cool to feel creative and to leave a trace. Something meaningful to listen back to. For myself, families and friends, and hopefully other like minded individuals on the Planet.
Thank You Steph! Music is powerful by connecting all of us, without knowing each other. True!
I don’t think there’s just one answer. I think there must be a different answer for each person who makes music. What I do believe unites most creators is that music is an inseparable part of our lives: it takes us back to school, to that first love, to our first heartbreak, to our loved ones… in short… every song that has accompanied us through life generally transports us back to that moment in our lives when that song existed.
And I think that’s part of the answer. When we create a song, it will take us back to that moment in our lives when we created it. And it will be completely different for whoever listens to it, whether it’s just one person, two, ten, a hundred, or thousands. Each person will have that song from that moment in their life, and it will take on a life of its own.
And what if no one comes along? What if the algorithm devours it? That song will still be a part of your life and that moment. Of course, we also have to live, and if anyone knows the secret to winning over the algorithm, I hope they’ll tell me!
Hugs
Thank you Claudio, I hope our lives are not becoming lies because of these algorithms… Let’s keep the faith and make every musical or artistic move a little success. Our own success, whatever it takes. We only live once… while others can lie repeatedly.)