Leucius: EDIT: For anyone that would like some free music, since it's obviously getting buried in the ninja thread, here's my link: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/ninja_giveaway/post66761

Leucius: If I were a worse man, I'd barrage you with stuff. I had no idea you're a music journalist.

Leucius: Interesting, I've never really listened to Todd Rundgren. Thanks, though :)

Leucius: So since we have musicians, game developers, writers, etc here, I thought I'd start a thread for those of us who for reasons of one or another, do what we do but are not famous or rich.

I'd like to introduce myself and share a little bit about myself, my musical history, and where I'm at now.

My name's Tim, I'm the guitarist and occasional vocalist for Tim's Midnight Mile. Previously I called my "band of one" T Coleman. I changed names because I do not want to be associated with the Coleman name, for personal reasons.

I've been playing guitar and writing poetry on and off since the age of 14. I'm not the best, but I try to do what I do with heart. I've been accused of self promotion (Duh, how else do you promote when none of your friends will do it for you) as well as being too dark and brooding in some of the tracks I've recorded with vocals.

I've always been under the impression that music serves to tell a story. I used to want to change the world with my music, and wrote songs fitting to do so, including the nonfamous "Ignore Your Rights and They'll Go Away" which you will not find anywhere because I never uploaded it. After being accused of being a depressing sod, I stopped recording vocals and focused on instrumentals.

I currently offer my songs as PWYW, with a base price of zero dollars and zero cents. I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that maybe this is just a hobby after all. The last track I uploaded and looked at stats on, even after posting to a few threads around the net, had 2 downloads, one of which was from my best friend.

I used to be under the assumption that if you create decent music, someone, somewhere will support you. I'd like to think my music, while maybe not being extraordinary, is at least decent. I've found that unless you sell out, no one supports you, at least no one has supported me.

I've also found that people will tell you anything to get themselves off the hook. I have one friend I rely on that gives honest, constructive feedback, and the rest of my friends say "I like it" or say nothing at all, and none of them pay for it. No one ever pays for my music, in fact, but I digress. Going back to the point of this paragraph, people will say to me often "I will buy your music when I get some extra money" or "I really like that track, I'm definitely going to buy it and give you a little something extra" 3 years later and it was all horseshit.

I've learned through music not to trust anyone when they're stroking my ego, and that in truth, they probably think I suck as a musician but don't want conflict so they make empty promises thinking 6 months later I'll forget. I didn't.

In reality I work a regular job to support myself and pay the bills, and the music is secondary. I am not a "Lucky one" who made it even remotely. I tried a couple of kickstarters and both failed miserably. I invested in better recording software after some feedback on these forums about background hiss, and so far I haven't made my money back.

I have been on the verge of selling my guitar several times. I don't have drum and bass, I don't have pop lyrics, I just have me and my guitar, and I guess I was stuck in a time warp from the 60's thinking it would be enough. It isn't.

I suppose I'm free now, knowing that, again, outside a small group of people, no one gives a shit. Now I can focus on more important things than music.

Leucius: This was supposed to be a thread for fellow starving artists to share their stories. Not a "let's give Leucius pointers" thread.

The tips are appreciated, and yes I already have a job, which I stated in the OP :)

ET3D: I've listened to some of the album I downloaded, and what bothers me mostly is that it doesn't sound clean. A Kiss Goodbye was perhaps the worst offended with those strange scratches, but everything had something which sounded like playing off beat or other such stuff. I don't know, maybe it's a style and it's deliberate, but I can't tell, to me it just didn't sound good.

Leucius: Yes, that is the style. Also, you keep telling me you don't like how my music sounds. I got it the first time ;)

Leucius: EDIT: Also, for non guitar players, the "scratch" you hear on some of the tracks is the sound of my fingertip rubbing against the guitar string when I move to different frets. It's quite common in American rock and roll.

The off-beat timing is by design. Perfection through imperfection, it's a means to an end which is to portray Americana music in a coffeeshop environment.

It is not, and never was meant, to be perfect. I did not use auto tune on my vocals (that should be obvious) and the guitar was recorded in single-sitting takes. As in, the whole rhythm or lead track is recorded in one sitting, there are no cuts or splices. This is something I pride myself in, the spirit of 60's and 70's of single sitting takes and getting the soul right, not necessarily the timing.

Leucius: I've been accused of self promotion (Duh, how else do you promote when none of your friends will do it for you) as well as being too dark and brooding in some of the tracks I've recorded with vocals.

Leucius: What you said helps me a great deal. I lost sight of the bigger picture, as bleak as it is. It's certainly helped me the most out of any of the posts in this thread.

This wasn't supposed to even be a thread about me, but it seems to have come out that way.

Leucius: SO I took some advice, and uploaded several of my pieces to youtube. I was hoping to find someone who would be interested in making movies, but that responsibility fell on myself, so the "movies" are really just title, song, credits, with a picture.

Here's the link to the song I recorded today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZOG_WVaBHg