Bitcoin Forum

Hey,

I'm Vit (Dichotomy) and I'm at the beginning of a promising career in music.

As with most established systems, I'd like to avoid the standard music channels that creates starving celebrities. I don't care about fame, I care about making great music and having it be heard. As such, I'm doing my own thing.

I've worked for 4 years as a content marketing professional, specializing in blog posts and articles. My skills have helped grow countless businesses.

Now, I'm using those skills to pursue this new endeavor. Since I'm starting fresh and free, I figured I'd see if I can use this opportunity to use Bitcoin to support my life. If I can just make music all day, I'm happy.

I'll be a producer and MC known as Dichotomy. I'm shy, so I plan on wearing a mask when I perform. It'll be great. Going for that Daft Punk meets Dr. Dre vibe.

But - right now - I'm just starting out. I'm planning to release everything for free and depend on Bitcoin donations.

Later, when I have an album, I may sell it privately for Bitcoin.

Any advice for now? Has anybody done this yet that I can emulate?

My links are in the sig. I upload tracks to Soundcloud, and I Tweet whatever music I'm listening to.

Thanks for your time,

-Bitcerto to you
-Vit to my friends
-Dichotomy to the world

P.S. If you're into the idea and would like to help me buy some food, here's the thing: 1EPLM7BhCSwMz7dQip8tounQWFPTVqUEd5

Oh yea, I plan on using Bitcoin to buy precious metals and selling them in the real world. I won't be working backwards to USD. I want to support us.

how about making site which show about your creation and giving information about you,if your music really good i have no doubt people will come to your website and starting to enjoy your music and maybe some people will get interested to collect your album so it's the best way for you to start your career,and simply add a bitcoin donation button to your website

Excellent tip! Thanks for the encouragement. I'll go start something right now. I don't know why I was relying on 3rd party sites.

Checked out your few songs.Man,those Fl Studio beats are very very basic.There is no Sub-Bass.Mixing is not properly done.No melody neither a scale is followed.You took the sounds packs like percs and hi hats that comes with the default pack and arranged it.That;s not what we call music.Please try and learn and explore a few artists first.Its too early for you to take music as career honestly.

I'm an admitted amateur asking for advice to begin. I'm laying the groundwork now to build upon as my skill grows. I am not announcing myself to the world as 'ready to go'.

You're also wrong. Every sound you hear is representative of me playing a MIDI controller. I don't use FL, I use Mixcraft. I craft my own loops.

Thanks for being my first hater! I hear that's a good thing?

To clarify, I'm asking for advice specifically here specifically about future monetization with Bitcoin. I'm down with constructive critiques, but misunderstanding what you hear and telling me to go listen to music is not that.

The fact that you think those were FL Studio Beats is actually a compliment.

Its better to open up your web page and upload your music there. If its really interesting and people will enjoy it then you must expect the best out of it and same way you can add some link for btc users to reward you some points for encouragement. what else you need ?

I suppose I was over complicating it. I'm thinking big picture, long term. But - I'm still on the first few stepping stones. Thank you.

Try to organize a concert and accept bitcoin :)  this should help making bitcoin known to people and to musically inclined individuals.
Maybe you should also coordinate with musician who distributed their music online like Arthur Yoria, i still have his mp3 files burned in the cd.

Once it's time for shows I'll definitely do that! I'll look into Arthur Yoria, thank you!

Maybe this will come handy in your case. I used is a while ago but then i stopped, dont really know why.

Cryptocointalk: AudioCoin - A Digital Currency For The Music Industry (https://cryptocointalk.com/topic/38520-ann-adc-audiocoin-a-digital-currency-for-the-music-industry/)

Bitcointalk: [ANN - Updated] AudioCoin ADC - Where Music Meets The Blockchain (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1151767.msg12128600#msg12128600)

Wish you best.

You should avoid all those payment platforms or whatever they call it (like Coinbase, Bitpay and all that crap) just accept Bitcoins directly with your own personal address generated in your personal wallet.

There is a problem with this tho: People will know how much money you are making... this is something that needs work ASAP and I believe gmaxwell is very aware of this problem that's why we will have Confidential Transactions as soon as possible.
We also need something like BIP47 to be able to receive payments on a public address that is attached to your real name in an anonymous way.

Thank you! I'll check that out.

That is something I had thought about. Hopefully that'll get sorted out before I'm making embarassing amounts of satoshis ;)

Why do you say I should avoid payment platforms? Dodge the fees? If I do decide to sell for Bitcoin instead of rely on donations, I'll need some sort of gateway to trigger the digital download.

the thing about the music industry is that ages ago someone only needed to sell 1million albums to become a millionaire.(albums use to be $10+ and artists got $1 per album)
now it requires 20million albums to become a millionaire.($2 an album and 5cents artist income per album)
most artists now make the majority of their income on Tour doing concerts

so you need to work out what kind of funds you want to receive. and how EG
if it takes 3 months to make an album with a 3 month break. then work out how much income you would want to receive over 6 months.
then work out a fair value per song/album you want to sell. and then multiply it to work out how many people need to buy your song/album to get that income.
then you will know how much PR, advertising and raising your profile to achieve those numbers.
once you know the numbers you can then set goals and tasks to get to that target.

if you get to the popularity targets, then you can start earning more money doing concerts, EG instead of a $5 door entry fee to a bar where you get 50cents per patron in a 100 seat bar($50 a night).. you can charge $50 per entry in a 20,000 seat venue where you get $5 per entry ($100,000 a night)

having a website is great but also having a 6month-5year plan of action with numbers and targets will help you know the direction to go and keep you ontrack to become successful by knowing upfront what to expect

as for the question about payment platforms. tr not to avoid them completely. but do avoid the management platforms like youtube/itunes. because they take a LARGE cut.

things like coinbase, bitpay and stripe only take 1%. which is acceptable.. rather than 70%+ that management platforms take

Build a website with Electrum integration... Or at least a wordpress blog with those plugins that accept xpub keys. Or either sell your album through PayIvy or some platform like that.

Put some tracks on youtube. If they allow you to post your Bitcoin addy, then do that.

Don't knock the commercial side of the music business. Offer to write background music for websites, and say you will accept payment in Bitcoin.

The only thing you should take care of is to make great music. Success will come if you have talent. Now, I would suggest to forget the whole idea of selling songs. Everybody in the cryptocurrency world is good with computers. We all know how to download music (and movies) for free, and we do. You only need a very basic website, you may not even need one. Being all social networks may be enough. Upload videos of all your performances on Youtube, and add at the end that you'll do concert for BTC.

Well I think the best option that would have the highest chance is using YouTube. Do vlogs (daily/weekly) and show how talented you are and surely the user base keeps on growing as long as what you provide is quality. Then after some times start putting 10 or 20 seconds of each of your original tracks and at the same time put some links to either your website or 3rd party website in which they get to pay you BTCitcoin in exchange for the Album itself. It will take some time to get there, but surely will be worth every hard work.

1) Begging for Bitcoin on this forum is considered rude.
2) Make Bitcoin part of your marketing strategy. Better yet, make it about having an edgy, innovative way to take payments for edgy, innovative music. Whatever phrasing works for best effect.
3) Have a Youtube channel. Accept Bitcoin tips. (Changetip (https://www.changetip.com/) is useful here because people can tip you the price of a cookie or a beer, but be sure to withdraw or use your earnings on a regular basis.)
4) Have a blog/website where listeners can find out more about you, download your music and maybe find out where you're going to be performing in the near future. There's some Wordpress plugins that enable a blogstore that accepts Bitcoin and altcoins.

I am an artist myself actually and plan to release my work once the crypto industry matures some more as well. My advice is just to focus on being a good artist. As an MC, you have to develop your self. Become a person that people want to listen to, you need to have a message, beyond the message you need to have heart and passion. Find what inspires you, discover your artistic process. Do not understatement the effort required to be a great MC. You have to devote yourself to it, for life, you have to live Hiphop, be Hiphop. Practice just like learning an instrument, you have to practice for many years to be good and gain skill while at the same time having the heart, message and inspiration.

Develop yourself as an artist first instead of trying to live off your art straight away, that can have the tendency to corrupt the art, in other words, find other sources of income, while still allowing yourself the time to develop yourself.

Study music, learn what real music is, the history of music, many genres. Be real, express yourself.

I have sent you a PM anyway, I can reveal more about myself in private that way. It was nice sharing this message with everyone though. :)

I think that it is too early for anyone to start a Bitcoin powered anything. Bitcoin is just not used enough.

what type of music you play?
maybe send a demo or a cover of something.... it could be more easier share a tips!

If you have a promising career in music, then you should take Bitcoin, and visa, master and American Express, also euro, usd and yen. No need limited yourself to one. Best wishes to u, music is a hard career.

What's the point of restricting yourself to Bitcoin? You'd be denying yourself well over 99% of potential buyers.

Video games, shows, films, ads. They all need music and they're likely to pay a shit ton more than the dirty public too. Don't discount those avenues.

Market yourself to the Vimeo crowd. High end Video production - needs good soundscapes.
Also find a sub reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/wiki/musicsubreddits (https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/wiki/musicsubreddits)
And take other currencies. Even other alt coins maybe

Many musicians don’t make it because they underestimate and ignore these requirements. They fall victim to only caring about the music — a musicians’ lack of business savvy ends up being their downfall. At the end of the day, even the most talented and virtuosic musician will never be able to make money in a poorly managed music career.

That's true.. there are musicians who are over payed in each concert because they do it as business,
but there are still musicians who just want to express themselves without earning big amount, just an appreciation is enough, or a donation, in real life, there are good musicians who are doing their videos just to appreciate their music and they fund it  from their own pocket and keep it or if someone wants a copy of it they give it either free or its up to you if you would treat them, and I think the very good example of musicians who really have great talents are those who are busking and just accepting whatever we could...

Nowadays, putting music in the internet would not really profit a musician, piracy kills their business..

Every reply on this post has been incredibly helpful. You're right, I shouldn't restrict myself to bitcoin and I am getting ahead of myself. Since I posted this, I've refocused on the music itself and that's where I'll stay for a while.

Also, I didn't intend to beg for bitcoin with this post. My apologies for any offense. I'll be more careful.

My new goal: To represent bitcoin throughout my music career.

Time to change my forum signature!