Table Of Content
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reddit.com/r/independentmusic
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My recent experience on r/independentmusic
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About r/independentmusic - Community & Members
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How to access r/independentmusic?
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Moderators of r/independentmusic
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Why should you follow r/independentmusic?
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Community Engagement
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Playback
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Reddit Gold
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Filter by flair
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Important rules you must know before joining r/independentmusic?
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Design
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Most Upvoted Content on this subreddit
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Conclusion
reddit.com/r/independentmusic
The music industry is constantly evolving. Over the years, there's been a marked change in the way the industry functions. Deals that used to be massive now seem small in comparison to the new trend of giving artists much more control over their careers.
Even with as much as $500-$1000, you can get the most talented mixing engineers on the board. A world-class EDM producer like Maarten Vorwerk charged $30,000 for the most popular EDM tracks ?Tsunami? and ?Stampede? which apparently became festival bangers about five years ago. Had Vorwerk kept the track to himself, he wouldn't have been able to get his track out in front of the world. And that's the major stumbling block for independent music producers. They have the talent and skills to create unique tracks, but don't have the necessary backing.
Hey everyone! Today, we're going to be reviewing one of the most underrated music-related communities on Reddit called r/independentmusic. It's packed with talented creators and might be able to help you out with some pointers. Make sure to buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
My recent experience on r/independentmusic
One of the most active members of this subreddit is papastaranimus. Recently, he uploaded a post which advised producers on how to get their music played on twitch. He?s been networking with upcoming producers, and asks that they submit their music to him so he can help get it played across the platform. This is a kind gesture from the user, and it helps make a community stand apart.
About r/independentmusic - Community & Members
The community of Reddit users has 9,800 members out of which 8-20 members are online at any given time. This subreddit was created on March 12, 2013 and doesn't seem to be growing lately. Back when it started, there was a lot of activity with different artists coming together to get some recognition. However, in recent times the post engagement has fallen considerably and most of the members have given up. They are no longer hungry for recognition.
How to access r/independentmusic?
If you're not already a Reddit user, you can join the subreddit by typing "r/independentmusic" in your search bar and confirming your email address. Once you do so, you'll be able to follow subreddits, comment on posts, and even post anything on any of the subreddits.
Moderators of r/independentmusic
I found r/independentmusic to be the smallest Reddit community that I've reviewed so far, but I was happy to see that there were three moderators taking care of the proceedings. Often, music producers who have worked on a track for weeks just want to get feedback from the audience, so they start spamming pages, looking to attract their attention.
Active voice: Moderators will be in charge of monitoring each submission to ensure that there is not spammy promotion on the platform. This will help keep existing users, as well as potential new users, happy.
I found three mods on r/independentmusic - ?StanTheRebel?, ?IndependentMusicBot?, and ?SmallStreamersBot?. These mods work around the clock to ensure that all content on this platform meets the rules and guidelines set by the community.
Why should you follow r/independentmusic?
There is a lot of great content on this platform. I found an artist on this subreddit and even collaborated with him on a track. I loved the original track so much that I couldn't resist a collaboration. Similar to me, there are hundreds of producers who meet like-minded musicians and connect instantly. This platform is not just for creators wanting to get recognized but also for small producers to partner and create something special on their level.
Community Engagement
There is a small community of under 10,000 members on r/independent. But even that number cannot do justice to the lack of engagement on the page. There are no more than 2-3 upvotes to every post on this page. A top post on the day barely manages to reach double digits. And though I understand that many creators just want to promote their stuff and not care about others, this is not how it works at a small level. It's crucial that the community members support each other and help each other grow, for instance by hitting 1k subscribers on YouTube. Anything until that number is simply a hit-and-miss.
Playback
Many of the links on this page are from YouTube or Twitch. Streaming is a great way to use YouTube even if you don't have a good internet connection or a slow WiFi signal. You can still hear the audio well even on a data connection or a poor WiFi signal. That's the major advantage of using this platform.
Reddit Gold
I listened to around 30 tracks in one sitting and I liked 7-8 of them. Most of them were well produced and felt like a lot of time was spent making the final product. However, I was disappointed to see that the most upvoted track from those 30 garnered just 8 upvotes. As an indie music producer, this platform isn't very useful because it's not a give-and-take community. I'll shove my content down your throat and leave the platform.
Filter by flair
On a positive note, I like the Filter by Flair feature for twitch streamer PapaStanimus. That's the only Filter by Flair you have on this page. And credit goes to him because he helps out talented music producers. However, I feel that the mods could do a much better job by asking the music submitters to flair the content based upon their genres, and BPM. I feel if they make it more of a collaborative platform, it'll grow enormously over the next few years.
Important rules you must know before joining r/independentmusic?
There is no shame in being a part of a bigger community. You want your content to be recognized and music to be heard by many people. But sometimes we try to get our music out there by spamming social media platforms, and that's not something you can do on this subreddit.
Unfortunately, there are no rules on r/independentmusic, so you'll find hundreds of artists with no actual skills spamming the feed with their unmixed music. I'm not suggesting they shouldn't be allowed to upload, but segregating the production skills on the basis of time, knowledge, and genre would help prevent this from happening.
Design
The most positive aspect of Reddit's community design is the Deadpool-esque community design. The cover image, which reads "Music is my religion," stands out from everything I've seen so far. There are no options in the header section and just below that you have your standard Reddit sorting options. Toward the right, you have "Community Information" followed by "Mods" and "Musicians Lounge."
Most Upvoted Content on this subreddit
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2. Hey, I'm thinking of ditching the official music in favor of independently produced tracks during my stream. Do you have any tracks you think would fit in well? - Send 'em my way!
and a description of your stream will get your music played.
There are a number of ways to get your music played on twitch. If you have 33 upvotes and include a brief description of your stream, your music could be played live on the platform!
I'm looking for artists/bands to be featured on my new blog. If you're interested, please vote for me on the sidebar!
Hey, I'm a streamer on Twitch and I've been thinking about trying out using only independent music for my background entertainment. If you could send me your best tracks, I would really appreciate it!
Conclusion
With the rise of platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud, not only are artists discovered and more likely to make a living from their work, but they're also in charge of their own career paths. The rise of independent creators has put major recording labels in a tight spot, as they're no longer able to exploit talented artists for a quick million. Rather, the recognition and process of creating, mixing, and marketing have all changed as a result of these platforms.
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