"Release everything you make" advice

[mane]

The algos have decided to bombard me with this music production advice: release everything you make, right away.

I am conflicted by it, so I thought asking you guys; You've given me great advice before.

The gurus proposing this advice claim it is the best way to grow as a songwriter/producer. Releasing everything you make, they say, will help you build momentum, achieve a state of flow, grow out of your fears, have "swag" instead of be chasing skill, make you believe in yourself, etc.

Example:

But this is what many people do these days and now the internet is full of sh*t music. There was no internet before. There was no way to "release" music before. You had to perform it in front of an audience. If you were lucky, a record label manager would hear you, find value in you and make you a deal.

What do you guys think? Release everything you make right away? or when?

 

[Nekujak]

I suppose it all depends on your goals.

If you're trying to make music that's "commercially acceptable", you probably want to wait until your music achieves a minimum bar of acceptance, at the very least. Of course, that bar is also a very gray area and a moving target, largely influenced by trends and people's tastes, so it's a bit of a cat-and-mouse game. But still, to ensure the best chances of acceptance, your tracks should be at a certain level of quality.

If you're making art for art's sake, and what you're creating is satisfying to you, then that's all that matters, and you can choose to either share your work with the public whenever you like. It may or may not appeal to everyone, but you're likely to resonate with at least a few people who dig what you're doing.

I'm not really sure where the "swag" part comes into play. Is that the goal? To sell swag? Can't really comment on that.

 

[BDT]

I have two criteria for my songs:

1. The mix is finished when nothing annoys me anymore.
   Could I improve it further? Most likely.
   Could I mix or arrange it in countless different ways? Maybe that other reverb? Sure.
   But I want to finish songs.
2. By the time I’ve mixed and mastered a song, I’ve already listened to it a gazillion times.
   If I still enjoy listening to it, it gets released.
   If not, it goes into the archive, and maybe in about a year I’ll turn it into something completely different.

So I do NOT release everything I make.
But if I like it, I release it, no matter what others say.