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[Beyond]

So I just wanted to make a post about self-promotion.
I'm sure most people can relate to looking at your soundcloud and counting followers, plays etc. but what do we really do to get more?

Personally I refrain from blatant self-promotion, though I try to be generally social () and put myself out there so people can find me.

I am just curious as to what you all have to say about this

[ZackParrish]

I don't even pay attention to the amount of followers, listens, and such on soundcloud much if at all anymore. It doesn't do anything but manifest negativity in the long run if the numbers are moving fast enough for you to be excited over, and when they do move quickly they can easily manifest an ego of sorts.

Best thing you can do is work on your networking to try and get more developers to know who you are, even if it is just a friendship and nothing more. They might know someone that needs music even when they don't, and pass your name along, especially if they find you are a good fit for what the other developer needs.

As far as boosting sales revenue for a soundtrack, sadly it is such a niche market you won't get very far without the game(s) being pretty popular. Even that doesn't always help either because only a fraction of the people that like the game are going to even care about the music enough to pay for it.

Gist of the story... focus on personal development and networking, getting gigs, doing the best you can on those gigs, and build up a reputation that way, and don't worry about trying to boost your visibility on trivial things like soundcloud or youtube.

Then again, if you aren't into writing for actual games... then just ignore everything I just said.

[Beyond]

Oh.. I have such a big ego

[Beyond]

But I am definitely into writing for games. Why else would I be here?

[ZackParrish]

The free slice of pizza and a drink?

[Barendhoff]

I'm here for free pizza tbh.

[Kyle Preston]

Saw this post yesterday, didn't have time to respond, but Zack pretty much summed up my initial thought. This question

I'm sure most people can relate to looking at your soundcloud and counting followers, plays etc. but what do we really do to get more?

is the wrong question to ask. People aren't as persuaded by play counts and view numbers as much as you may think; quality will always be more important. How will bigger numbers in your play count help you?  It doesn't put food on your table, it doesn't make you a better musician or person. Ask yourself why you want this. Do you want to reach people and have a connection with them through your art, or do you just want big numbers? If so, hire a click farm, no one will really listen but those numbers will look good.

[Beyond]

I think that I have felt unnoticed and under-appreciated for most of my life. Because of this I crave more followers. But for some reason I don't care so much about play count, though it's always very nice when people listen :/

[Pearl Pixel]

There are more reasons to be here other than the free pizza? What am I doing with my life....

I think we all have the feeling of needing to be loved and known by others. I agree with Zack in the line of - I don't really care how many followers I have or how many plays I have anymore, but I think it's because I spent so much time worrying about it. I was scared to death the time I put my very first song on Soundcloud. I was giving the world the ability to hear my work, judge it, and form opinions about it - perhaps about me. After a while I suppose you slowly realize that YOU are improving, you don't need followers to get the gig as long as you have the quality your client is looking for.

As for self-promo, I'm not totally for it, and I'm not totally against it. It's one of those in-moderation sorts. If you're particularly proud of something? Go ahead, post it on Twitter! I just get bothered when someone posts the same track in 500 groups - not asking for critique, just posting it where it does nothing for them. If you post in composer groups, no one cares. If you post in dev groups, you might get a hit or two, just don't be annoying  

Twitter is probably my biggest asset right now. I'm lucky because I have a good number of dev friends - some have musicians, some don't have any say in the musicians for their game - but if I Tweet something out like "Hey, anyone know of people hiring for composers?" They'll retweet, and I may or may not find some people looking for composers. This is why networking and building friends outside of our little/HUGEMONGOUS audio field is always a good idea. I was actually told the other week by some angry WB games recruiter that we should never talk to anyone other than audio people. LOL - she is beyond wrong. How many gigs have I gotten from my audio friends? 0... maybe 1. How many gigs from my dev friends? Many more than 1  



Also, props Calle, I love to see that you frequently update your music on Soundcloud . Looks like you're working really damn hard!

[Josh Haskell]

This isn't my place to say much, being new to all of this myself, but I think there is a way to promote yourself without being an annoying salesman.

I'm currently reading "A Complete Guide to Game Audio" by Aaron Marks, and one of the things he suggests is to tell everyone that you write game music, even to people like your doctor, the store clerk, the bus driver, etc...The point he makes is that someone may know someone who knows someone who is working on a game and that may lead to a gig. Even if it doesn't, it may lead to a potential new contact.

At a MAGfest panel with Josh Whelchel (who even though I don't know, I can thank for leading me here), it is suggested to go around simply asking developers or anyone working on a game if music is needed. Although I have no experience doing this, I would expand on this saying that once you've asked someone, you shouldn't have to ask again for a while. The point is that even if they say no, now they at least know you exist. Or they may not have work for you now, but if a good relationship has been established, they may offer you a project out of the blue a year later.

In summary, do promote yourself (It's better than having all your work sitting on a hard drive), but be mindful of the place/context as well as how you go about doing it.

[Chaotrope]

I think the social media stuff is pretty big right now. Everyone is always on their phones, and if you take the time to actually message someone and offer to help them or compliment them (which almost no one does these days) they will really take notice of you, in my opinion. It's just a long, grindy process.

[Enrique Ponce]

I'm currently reading "A Complete Guide to Game Audio" by Aaron Marks, and one of the things he suggests is to tell everyone that you write game music, even to people like your doctor, the store clerk, the bus driver, etc...The point he makes is that someone may know someone who knows someone who is working on a game and that may lead to a gig. Even if it doesn't, it may lead to a potential new contact. 

Never thought of this! I'm going to start doing this for sure! Next level would be going door to door haha