Today, I finally released my first music album. I dropped out of college to pay for it after my friends who liked my music urged me to. They keep telling me how much they love the CD. I've only sold one copy. Turns out they put it on a sharing site so only one of them would have to buy it. FML
Collection
Black Friday
70% off something you didn't need, a stampede and a cart that crashes at checkout. Thanks, Black Friday.
Today, I finally worked up the courage to play my friends the demo CD that I've spent all summer recording. I didn't tell them it was me. Not even 10 seconds into the first song, my best friend asked me to turn it off because it sucked. FML
Today, I heard on a local radio a song I wrote almost 2 years ago. Apparently, after my family and I moved away, my former band found a new guitar player, and that song is now the first single of their debut LP. FML
Today, I finally got the courage to tell the guy I liked how I felt by making him a mix CD. Confident, I gave it to him. After class, I went to the trash can to throw some paper away. I saw my mix CD in the trash. FML
Today, after spending weeks working on a song that meant a lot to me, I reluctantly posted it online. The "friend" who'd convinced me to post it, commented, "This is the worst shit I've ever heard." He got 30 likes, along with a barrage of agreeing, equally terrible comments. FML
Today, I was in a band with some friends and we got our first gig at a local festival, but I'd already agreed to work serving drinks at the festival. My bandmates got really annoyed and kicked me out of the band. They then went ahead and performed the song that I WROTE, without me, at the festival where I was working. FML
Today, I bought a CD off a man who always plays Spanish guitar in the subway. When I got to work and tried playing the CD, it was blank. I paid $15 for a blank CD. FML
Today, after seven months of my supporting him, including paying all the bills, cleaning the house, and cooking, my unemployed "aspiring rapper" boyfriend finally got paid for his music. Did he buy me something nice? No, he called his boys to hit the club and pissed away everything he'd earned and then some. FML
Today, I bought my very first college textbook. I received a stack of hole-punched papers. My $195 "book" isn’t even bound together. FML
Today, my mate came over wanting me to listen to a new music CD he got. It was by some unknown band, and at the end he asked me what I thought, and I said it was ok but the lead singer couldn't sing even if his life depended on it. Turns out my mate's the lead singer, and it was his own band. FML
Today, I made my mom a mix CD for her car. It took me ages to find just the right songs that would be perfect for her. When I played it for her in the car, she took it out and threw it out of the window. FML
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Top comments
tekcor 2
Well that was a dumb move. Did you really think your friends would buy enough music to cover your income for the rest of your life?
Lisa89 3
Welcome to the music industry. And if it was acual money you were after then it's stupid for you to think you could make enough to get by when you're an unknown artists with one album.
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Comments (83)
Cowgirl1995 0
dude that was an example of peer pressure ydi
fringle 0
I say fyl, illegal downloading these days...
drummer_dude 0
It was a risk, but seriously, you shouldn't care if they're you're friends. What they have done is illegal and they should be punished accordingly.
alexthegreatest 0
Hi, This is an expensive way to find out your friends are really nice and supportive … Think of music as just another business. Any "respectable" business should have a "plan" somewhere in the beginning :) For you, as a starting musician / businessman advertising is crucial. Basically you should have uploaded the album by yourself. Music, once recorded becomes "infinite goods". What you should strive to create is a crowd of fans. Once you are there you can sell the "scarce goods" like tickets to your concerts, CDs with your signature etc…, T-Shirts. Basically you should provide a reason to buy. So in order to become a successful artist you should: 1. First and most important: create quality music 2. Almost equally important: manage the business / build a fan base and offer them reasons to buy. YDI for starting just like that … YDI for doing what others tell you to and not thinking with your own head … YDI for not staying in school … PS: for all those grammar trolls out there: I don’t live in an English speaking country :))))
omgzdude 0
you can sue the site and them.
elictrogeek 0
only if it was copyrighted, which im guessing not becuz this is his first CD.
khoinguyenkc 0
Oh let me tell you what. its ok to drop out of college to do music but its because you love it not because your friends likes them. all you want is fame you don't love music. alicia keys dropped out of colombia university so she could do music but she ain't stupid, she was a valedictorian at her high school. so yeah, listen to your heart, not other people. for the forum, sue them!
FerrariCake 2
All of you that are criticizing the OP for dropping out of college really need to understand the situation: As stupid as he (obviously) is, he probably wasn't getting anything accomplished in college anyway... just taking up space and wasting precious resources there. So it actually is better for everyone that he gave up and left.
yehr 0
your assuming. Don't be such an ass. He probably wanted to persue his dream. It's not the end of the world. He can always go back to college if it doesn't work. But i agree with the other person who said, he should have done it on the side and stayed in college for backup.
njmachine 0
I agree. There definitely seems to be more to the story than just he dropped out because he thought he would make millions off his CD. If you're doing well in school, you're not going to throw away all the work you've already put into it just on a whim. My guess is that the OP wasn't that far from flunking out or dropping out anyway, and is using music as an excuse. As for your friends; Do you really expect to be able to support yourself based solely on your friends buying your music? Do you really want your friends to be buying your music out of an obligation to you and pity towards you, rather than a genuine appreciation of your music? Unless you're the most popular person in the world, you're going to need to sell mostly to strangers in order to make enough money to support yourself, so who cares if a few friends cheaped out on you?
Minzy_Boy 0
I am currently starting to break into the music industry myself, but I am also currently in school. Recording an album (in my case a mixtape) is difficult to balance with school, but not impossible. Sure dropping out frees up your time more, but you have to be pretty sure of yourself and your plan of action to go into music with no backup plan. And honestly, you're planning was pretty bad here. You made a CD expecting that people, including your friends, would all buy it just like that. Instead of going straight to selling a CD, you should've released a few songs, promoted yourself, gotten a strong fanbase, THEN sold a CD. You can't just go on blind faith. Yes it absolutely sucks that your friends did that, but even if they hadn't done it, friends alone couldn't have supported you. This is all on you because it was your choice to let them convince you to drop out. I would LOVE to become successful as a musician. I don't even care if I become famous, I just want to be successful enough to support myself. But I know that it's a hard gig, and I having an education won't hurt if I can't make it.
bored690 0
HAHA you're supposed to give your friends free copies you douche, YDI.
phatdaddy 0
No, douche. Your friends are supposed to support your dreams, not hinder them. If you've ever spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours writing, recording, and producing an album, you wouldn't be giving it away, either.
did_it_4_lulz 0
This is why you have to come up with a strategy to sell your CD. Also, I agree with everyone else who say OP is an idiot for dropping out of college. OP: Go back to school and make something of yourself, obvi you're not going to make it in the music biz.