The trick to finishing EVERY song

Howdy! Today I want to talk about why it's time to get your ideas out the door and the one thing that always screws me up when releasing music.

My Awesome Partners:

Gear I Use:

Stay classy!

▼▼▼Join My Discord!▼▼▼

▼▼▼Follow Venus Theory▼▼▼

---

Disclosure:
If you make a purchase using any of the affiliate links, I will earn a small commission with no extra cost to you. This is a great way to get cool new stuff, and support the channel so I can make more videos like this one!

I only promote products and services that I love myself, and I'm sure you'll love them too!

I appreciate it! 😁

[VenusTheory]

Was this video an elaborate excuse to play Fallout? Maybe.

[whathemutt]

“Get the simple things right before the complex things wrong” is a real nugget I’ve learned. thanks Venus 🙏🏽

[YMIR]

"My goal is to finish 80% of a song, the other 20% is left for the listener's interpretation"

That's the rule I try to follow as a perfectionist with my music. And that 80% may be different for every writer, but the point is if ur tryng to reach 100% that last 20% will be the death of ur time and enjoyment of the art, it's not worth it imo ❤️

[The.Foolosopher]

My little brother has a great saying that I've adopted- "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly." It means stop waiting for the perfect tools, the perfect set up, the perfect whatever and just go out and do the thing with the tools you have.

[kage-fm]

1. it occurs to me that this is a byproduct of the relatively modern idea that some recording of a live of music is “the canonical thing”, as opposed to a century ago where you could make modifications to your song every time you performed it
2. when i think of my favorite songs of all of history, if i listen critically i will find things where i’m like “yeah i’d change that lyric” or “that delay sounds weird” or “you kind of mis-fretted that note” - so it’s crazy to hold yourself to a higher standard than *the best thing by anyone ever*

[stickster]

Amen to all of this. Especially spending too much of our time thinking "someone's going to find fault with this." Of course they will. Even the all-time greats get mixed reviews on pretty much everything they do. Someone out there hated no matter how awesome it's proved to be. (Don't fall for the trap, fill in your own thing here, and whatever you choose, you'll be right to some folks, and dead wrong to others.) Thanks for being a voice of reason Cameron!

[chasvox]

I'll be 80 in April. I've shot a lot of dogs along the way. No regrets. Still creating. Keep up the good work, young man.

[winstoneverlast]

Thanks for posting this, I totally agree. A few years back I stopped worrying about how good or not good something was and just started putting stuff out. Ten albums later, two books of poetry, one novel, and a bunch of articles, videos, and other artistic creations and I'm still going strong. I operate on three general principles:

(1) If I want to make "good" art, then I need to make a lot of "bad" art;
(2) Finishing my work is the most important thing I need to start; and
(3) Perfect is the enemy of good but the friend of failure

So, my goal has changed from starting projects to finishing them. And I consider something "finished" when it is posted to my YouTube or Flickr or Medium or website. It doesn't have to be perfect, nor even particularly good. It just has to be done.

[grayfox]

This brought up all the feels, man. Yeah, I have a huge problem finishing projects, especially feeling like they're ever at that "just perfect" stage.. its SO frustrating. I'm also a visual artist and do the same thing there, too. You're actually one of the only music-related folks I watch on YouTube anymore in an attempt to get back more time to do actual production - your content is actually super valuable, so yeah thank you for existing, keep it up. 🤘

[mirr]

I always got stuck in trying to perfect a 4 bar loop for a long time, but then I changed my approach and started focusing on arrangement, creating a rough template of the entire song I want, and it radically changed my production rate. When creating, it's always best to develop a framework first and then add the details.

[aspekt]

Makes so much sense, I released a track this year that I last worked on in 2019... I thought it wasn't finished, but just wanted to release something because I haven't released in a while. In less than 3 months it's my most played and most liked track out of all my music...

[ClosetoHumanMusic]

I’ve been a professional musician for nearly two decades, and I only recently learned this lesson. It’s not about liking or loving what you do, it’s about doing your best and trying to enjoy the process. Whether or not the end result is good, is up to the world at large.

Thanks for another great and insightful video.

[nopenada]

Wow. We share an identical observation and experience! I just turned in the music for my 9th album, to my record label. I spent two months trying to make everything perfect. I've done this on every album and, after turning in the music, I desperately want to reel it back in and fix stuff. However, I always force myself to let go and "abandon" the project, after which I then have to deal with the soul-crushing oscillations between "This is my Magnum Opus" and "WTF was I thinking? This is utter garbage!"

As you said, the fans decide and, while my music never leaves my studio unless I am pleased with it, I do not get to decide the degree of success it generates. Nerve-wracking, yes, but I try to focus on the joy of the journey and not dwell on what other people think. I won't lie, though; receiving any praise for my efforts is utterly intoxicating and is absolutely creative fuel.

Excellent video. Stay creative!

[mowboy]

This is one of the best video I've ever seen on YouTube.
Thank you so much for your work <3

[PudPo]

As someone new-ish to the music production field, these videos really help give me a perspective about what I'm doing in a way that I truly never woulda thought of otherwise. Thanks Cameron! <3

[modeswitching]

I’m sorry, can we talk about how nice your lighting and color grading is in this video, I had to pause several times and just admire.

[Azure_]

The example you gave about the drawing was so perfect. When my friends come over and want to make music and especially when they want me to perform on the project, i usually get it so easily and i know its nothing insane but i still usually like that song. But when im by myself in my room trying to make a song, i always seem to struggle or get frustrated or upset with the music im making and how im singing and such and such. I criticize myself so badly when im on my own

[blinkyblinkycomputerband]

Great video Cameron! And yes, in the last 3 days I've released 27 unfinished songs/demos just to stop thinking about them and it feels great now! And it looks like some are resonating well with people, even though they're not finished. 🙂

[stellar_cartographer]

I swear, you make some of the best thought provoking content when it comes to creativity. I’ve been in a similar mindset lately, getting back to the joy of the art and what really matters. It’s wild that there are others like us out there going through the same thing. I like to think of it as a sort of redefining outdated definitions, while honoring my perspectives from all chapters of my life. Makes things spicier.

Thank you mustache man <3

[stuartchapman]

A philosophical way of looking at this is as you pointed out.
Not only do people not care, also its a drop in the rainstorm of artistic endeavour. Until you learn to let go, your passion is going to drag you down.
One of the enduring features of the humble acoustic guitar is you can pick it up, have a strum on your own or sing a naff song with friends that everyone knows, just for shizz and giggles and accept it for what it was.
My partner paints, she will spend hours on a piece, I think they're all really good, she's more than happy to just paint over them, which used to horrify me. As she used to say, "it's good to kill your darlings". Thank you for another thoughtful episode.