Unpublishing your music

Practical tips for recording, editing, and mastering.

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
User avatar
Impostor
Established Member
Posts: 1335
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:55 pm
Has thanked: 138 times
Been thanked: 345 times

Unpublishing your music

Post by Impostor »

Has anyone here ever unpublished their music?

For me it's easy: I'll just unscrupulously pull it from bandcamp. I've removed as many tracks as I have currently available, and I've never had any complaints :)

But for those of you (do you exist?) who make actual sales, how would you feel about removing stuff which you've already sold copies of?

Say you published, and sold some copies of, an album, but later you feel the album is much better with one particular track removed? Would you remove it?

User avatar
d.healey
Established Member
Posts: 610
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 8:33 pm
Has thanked: 274 times
Been thanked: 100 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by d.healey »

Disney does this with their movies every so many years.

David Healey
YouTube - Free HISE scripting and sample library dev tutorials
Libre Wave - Freedom respecting instruments and effects.
User avatar
GMaq
Established Member
Posts: 2774
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:42 pm
Has thanked: 520 times
Been thanked: 555 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by GMaq »

I have published music on various streaming services (Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Youtube etc.) and through the submission service (in my case CD Baby) I can remove songs when I want through the CD Baby dashboard, it can take a bit of time but it does get removed..

Death
Established Member
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2015 1:43 pm
Been thanked: 32 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by Death »

I was always reuploading new versions of songs and pulling the previous ones when I was starting out. I stopped doing that after a while. Once it's out there, it's out there; Reflect on your work, bask in positive feedback, take what's useful from the negative and then move on. Nothing's ever finished and you'll never be fully happy with any of it but you just have to accept that. It's all part of the process. It's not healthy to keep obsessing over and rehashing stuff you've already released. If you're not sure then don't release it, wait for weeks or even months and then listen again with fresh ears to decide. It takes a while to build this discipline up but it's easy for me these days..

User avatar
RyanH
Established Member
Posts: 206
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2022 7:58 am
Has thanked: 137 times
Been thanked: 43 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by RyanH »

Haha, I have removed all of my songs from Bandcamp, either because I came to think they were cheesy or because I was ashamed of the production quality. Of course, I only ever sold one download of one EP... to a girlfriend.

I don't think there is anything wrong with unpublishing songs. If someone had already purchased and downloaded a song, now they have a collector's item. If no one listened to it, no one will care. And if someone really liked it but didn't download it, and now they're sad it's gone, they can contact you and let you know and you can either hook them up with it or at least bask in the compliment. :)

User avatar
RyanH
Established Member
Posts: 206
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2022 7:58 am
Has thanked: 137 times
Been thanked: 43 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by RyanH »

d.healey wrote: Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:37 pm

Disney does this with their movies every so many years.

Touché!

User avatar
Impostor
Established Member
Posts: 1335
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:55 pm
Has thanked: 138 times
Been thanked: 345 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by Impostor »

Death wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 1:37 am

It's not healthy to keep obsessing over and rehashing stuff you've already released.

I agree, but it's not necessarily due to obsession if you come to the conclusion that some track doesn't fit in well with the rest.

It may just be a track which you tend to start skipping while listening recreatively, which makes you realize that its removal increases the pleasure of listening to the album..

Death
Established Member
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2015 1:43 pm
Been thanked: 32 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by Death »

I agree, but it's not necessarily due to obsession if you come to the conclusion that some track doesn't fit in well with the rest.

It may just be a track which you tend to start skipping while listening recreatively, which makes you realize that its removal increases the pleasure of listening to the album..

Well in that case I would say to myself that I didn't leave it long enough to decide if the album was ready before releasing it and I should spend more time deciding next time. Also, you change your mind about things sometimes. Stuff you thought was cool when you were making it doesn't always sound so cool years later, or even right after releasing it actually. I just think it's better to live with these things and try to do better next time.

However, if it really bugs you then just remove the track from the release. Just remember that if you pull a release then the tracks could lose their stats, favourites, playlist inclusions etc. Ask yourself if it's really worth it. As for fans, I don't care what most of mine think about these kind of decisions. I have thousands of listeners and most of them don't pay a penny so fuck 'em :lol:

Kirtai
Established Member
Posts: 48
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 8:56 am
Has thanked: 52 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by Kirtai »

If someone has paid for a song, downloaded it then lost it somehow I would expect them to be very annoyed if they couldn't download it again.

Basslint
Established Member
Posts: 1511
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:25 pm
Location: Italy
Has thanked: 382 times
Been thanked: 298 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by Basslint »

I think it's impossible to do it and make sure nobody copied it, especially in the digital age where even someone with zero technical skills can record it as a voice memo on their phone.

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. [Acts 4:32]

Please donate time (even bug reports) or money to libre software 🎁

Jam on openSUSE + GeekosDAW!
glowrak guy
Established Member
Posts: 2315
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:37 pm
Been thanked: 251 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by glowrak guy »

Impostor wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:52 pm

Has anyone here ever unpublished their music?

I only put out singles, and despite the original efforts, my recreational listening has uncovered 5 of them
that have what I consider serious flaws, like a missed EQ that appears in badly in earbuds. So I'll pull, repair, and re-upload.
I'll do the removal all at once, allowing for the time needed for online shops to process their removal. Then re-do uploads
with the normal process as repairs are successfull.
Cheers

User avatar
Impostor
Established Member
Posts: 1335
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:55 pm
Has thanked: 138 times
Been thanked: 345 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by Impostor »

glowrak guy wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 2:41 am
Impostor wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:52 pm

Has anyone here ever unpublished their music?

I only put out singles, and despite the original efforts, my recreational listening has uncovered 5 of them
that have what I consider serious flaws, like a missed EQ that appears in badly in earbuds. So I'll pull, repair, and re-upload.
I'll do the removal all at once, allowing for the time needed for online shops to process their removal. Then re-do uploads
with the normal process as repairs are successfull.
Cheers

But you never pulled a track definitively?

glowrak guy
Established Member
Posts: 2315
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:37 pm
Been thanked: 251 times

Re: Unpublishing your music

Post by glowrak guy »

Impostor wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:02 am
glowrak guy wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 2:41 am
Impostor wrote: Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:52 pm

Has anyone here ever unpublished their music?

I only put out singles, and despite the original efforts, my recreational listening has uncovered 5 of them
that have what I consider serious flaws, like a missed EQ that appears in badly in earbuds. So I'll pull, repair, and re-upload.
I'll do the removal all at once, allowing for the time needed for online shops to process their removal. Then re-do uploads
with the normal process as repairs are successfull.
Cheers

But you never pulled a track definitively?

Not yet. I like to think of them as complete thoughts put in musical forms. And since none of them would be defined
as commercial 'hits', it's unlikely that any of them would be sorely missed. I would hope that if someone likes one of them enough
to hear more than once (or more than the first 30 seconds or so :wink: ) that they would have downloaded that for
convenience sake.

I subscribed to Rick Beato's channel a whiile back, and have learned a lot about songs and the music biz,
much of that still being in process, and awaiting experimentation. The industry changes in the last decades
are immense, and more is coming.

For those unfamiliar with Rick, his hard work and good nature have often landed him in 'the right place at the right time',
and his many contributions to the current industry are his give-back to such good fortune.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJquYO ... KTfH9aMA9Q

Cheers

Post Reply