ThoughtMonster

It might be harder than ever to get filthy rich from album sales, but there's still a pretty significant segment out there who want to pay for their music (like me) or buy other media for the better sound quality (like FLAC and vinyl enthusiasts). I do agree with Hugh's message that musicians need to be creative about their business models. I'd say that's always been the case, but today we are all competing with free digital copies of our own work. All moral beliefs aside, everything is free for those who want it, and at this point nobody gets ahead by trying to fight that. Instead we must find new niches and angles: no freeloader typically experiences the awesome packaging and liner notes you included with your latest album, for example... and the type of person who wants a boxed set probably will not get as much pleasure out of DOWNLOADING said box's CD content.

Great discussion. Critiques I've received in the past have been too consistently soft and encouraging. Since then I've taken some strange artistic directions that will probably call for more specialized critics. Overall, I've had better luck measuring myself against composers, songwriters, authors, and artists from other disciplines—my heroes. I also seek new perspectives by reading, watching classes, listening to lectures, and so on. It's a boon. When I do seek an outside perspective, usually it's because I want to make sure that a particular image or idea is actually getting across to the listener. Sometimes it's easy to accidentally leave out a crucial, small detail that leaves your audience baffled about what's happening in the narrative. I do enjoy critiquing others, because it offers a chance to climb inside of another person's song for mutual benefit. There are myriad different ideas about songwriting as an art, and then there are all the differences in life experience, techniques learned, genres preferred... every songwriter's got unique sensibilities. Tunesmith's comment stands out for me here: it's important not to think exactly as though the object of critique is your own work. They're writing their song, not yours, so you've got to be somewhat sensitive to the context of what they've written. As a teacher, I work to understand a wide array of perspectives and approaches; that way I avoid subconsciously trying to turn my students into clones of myself. As a student, I try to analyze different voices, new methods, new perspectives on the art. Critique improves me on both fronts, and allows someone else to potentially benefit also. Oh, and if a person is more obviously at a beginning stage of the process, I may recommend them some reading. Certainly I get more specific relative to how impressed I am by the craft behind the song.

I probably spend anywhere from 20-80 hours a week on music. Usually no less than 2 or 3 hours per day, though. Some of that includes active listening.