Gotta say I definitely like your stuff. The Journey (New Game) and Evergreen Haze got my head bopping right off the start. I'd never heard the Sans Lament song before, so after listening to yours I had a listen to the original and I definitely like your take better. I also liked your collaboration work with lil punk.

It's clear you should definitely keep making music. 

As for what to do next, I'd say to remember that some artists create for a decade or decades before ever getting their big break, so I'd recommend to keep making music as long as you're inspired to. That plus trying to get your name out there as much as possible. Posting here I think was a good call. Specifically I'd say think about what you want to do with your music, what is your goal. You don't have to answer the questions, just something to keep in your mind. Do you want albums that people buy/download, would you want to make music for video games, movies, animations, etc, etc.

Thinking about what project types you'd enjoy creating music for, be it personal, or with others, should help give you a better direction. Personally I think your instrumentals would lend well to video games, but I also liked the vocal work you did, specifically Pressurize. Since enjoying the creative process is important in any art, finding what you'd like to work on should help motivate and steer you.

I'd recommend looking into other independent artists that are either hiring, or looking to collaborate. Much like how lil punk dropped a line on one of your soundcloud songs and then you two did a few songs together, that will not only help you get your name out there, but it'll help you network with other people in your field and other related fields. You appear to be talented so in my humble opinion if you keep working on creating as much as is realistic and getting your name out there, as long as you enjoy the process, you will eventually find a big break that should help propel your career in music.

I was thinking more about this today and I came up with a few suggestions. Although I'm not experienced in your field, this is how I would go about things.

Even without choosing what specific sub field of music you want to work in, there are a few things you can do to help with your exposure and direction.

1. 'Professional' (Work) Website
   • Why. Soundcloud is great, but also limiting in the sense that it's only one target audience. A personal website would act as your 'main hub', and link to every other place your work is posted with the other places your work is posted linking back to your website. This has the benefit of allowing you to host your work elsewhere and then providing one website link on your respective profiles (like this site's profile, rather than having it link to Soundcloud, you'd link to your website) and ultimately directing traffic to one source (your website). This way when you join other sites to promote your work, and reach other audiences (since people often only frequent X specific sites with X being unique to each person) you can funnel them to your 'main hub'.
     This also functions as your 'business card' if you will. Somewhere you can link people to who are interested in hiring you or collaborating with you
   • Hosting. There are many free sites for website building, I use Weebly, however you should use the one you find easiest to use that also allow the plugins you'd require, soundcloud, youtube, twitter, etc.
   • Advertising. Most if not all free web hosting sites will advertise on your site until you pay for the hosting yourself. Once you've created enough foot traffic on your website, and enough capital, you'd then pay for their web hosting, and sign up for an advertising package (likely provided by the web host themselves).
   • Style. Don't get too hung up on what it looks like initially, you can work on the appearance over time. As long as it initially suits your personal preferences and remains easy to use/read for the end user. Highly customized art and design can always come later.
   • What to Include
     • Links - Include a link to every social networking site you are professionally a member of. Sites like this site (gamdev.net) can likely be left out, but the big ones should be utilized at least weekly and linked to directly from the main page of your website. Suggestions for sites to link to posted below, numbers 2-4.
     • Albums - An organized section for your albums, and a section for standalone songs. Only keep your best work here, cycle out old work as you get better that no longer meets your personal standards, remembering that soundcloud would likely retain your entire body of work and that this is your professional representation of yourself as an artist.
     • About Me - A section that describes you as an artist and as a potential employee/collaborator.
     • Contact - How people can get in contact with you in order to hire or collaborate with you. As well as what your parameters are for being hired or collaborating.
     • Blog - Write about your creative process, what you're working on next, your music related experiences, etc. This kind of information helps show how dedicated you are to potential employers or collaborators, as well as is something other independent artists and fans might be interested in in general. This would also be one piece of unique content specifically for your website. Try and setup a once a week/month timeframe to post a blog as standard, while also allowing yourself impromptu posting when you might be inspired to write something people might enjoy reading or you feel you want to share.
2. Patreon, etc.
   •  Why. Some type of site that can allow fans to help support you. If you're not comfortable asking for support, then don't ask, simply sign up to a site that allows it, and have the link posted where applicable. People who want to donate will look for a way to do so, so it's best to have one ready for them.
3. Soundcloud
   • Improvements. I noticed you have albums created (by the matching album covers for your songs) but they aren't setup as albums on your soundcloud. This may be tedious, but I'd recommend doing it to help keep your catalog of music more organized. It looks more professional and demonstrates how organized you are as an artist. Ultimately it'll be an excellent demonstration of your progression in your field as well.
   • Copyrights. I noticed some of your album covers were kind of generic. Ensure that you always use open source art if you haven't personally created it, and never 'grab' random photos (even if you edit them). This ensures that you as an artist aren't a legal liability. I'm not accusing you of anything, it's just general advice.
4. Social Networking
   • Why. Not every person uses the same websites, some use all, some don't. For maximum exposure it's best to diversify. Remember that you'll need to keep up content on each site, which could become a burden. 
     You can either post the same updates on each site, or work to create unique posts for the different social networking sites you professionally join.
     Ensure that stylistically each site you join has similar color choices/themes as your main website. This helps brand you as an artist and keeps your work synonymous with you.
   • LinkedIn
     • Why. This is an excellent place to professionally network. Instead of listing all your collaborations on your main website, you can list them here. This will then act as your resume. Since you've already done some collaborations, you already have stuff you could add here.
   • Youtube
     • Why. Many people use youtube in order to listen to music. This is an excellent place to get exposure for yourself. I'd recommend posting your best work/albums there. Ultimately if you end up making music videos, this is likely where you'd post them anyway.
     • Advertising. If you end up getting decent foot traffic, since your non collaborative work is creatively owned by you, you can opt to receive advertising revenues from this platform.
   • Twitter
     • Why. Many people use twitter as their main source to keep up to date on their favorite interests. Whenever you're working on a new song, or album, or have just released something, or are beginning a collaboration, send out a tweet. 
   • Facebook
     • Why. A great networking site, as well another place to announce up coming or completed projects. 
   • Reddit
     • Why. Yet another great networking site, as well another place to announce up coming or completed projects.
   • Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.
     • Why. These sites can help you create additional exposure for yourself as an artist. I'd recommend planning what you're going to post weeks if not months in advance, in order to give yourself as much regular content as possible. You can post photos of your equipment, you composing your work, concerts you might attend, etc. If you're already an active user then impromptu, but music related, posts are also good. 
5. Finances
   • I'd recommend setting all the money you earn initially aside for reinvestment into yourself. Think of yourself as a business. Rather than spending initial small earnings as you acquire them, use them to help propel yourself forward. Be it to pay for your website hosting, or website design, travelling for opportunities, or even to invest in better or more equipment, your initial capital should be spent on whatever will help you on your next step in your career.
6. Professionalism
   • Non-Personal. I'd recommend keeping your personal accounts and music related accounts separate. This way your profile icon, themes, and content can remain professional (to what ever degree you choose) on your music related accounts, while still allowing you the freedom to have personal accounts should you so choose to.
   • Always remember there are thousands if not millions of people just like you trying to do the same thing you are, some are more talented some are less talented. So anything you can do to help yourself stand out in a positive manner is beneficial to your efforts, provided you don't have to sacrifice too much if any of your production time on keeping up a web presence that isn't providing a benefit.

Once you've setup a web presence past soundcloud you'll look more serious and professional, and likely be approached by more people to either be hired or collaborate with. 

I also thought up a few things to consider as far as what direction in music you might want to take. A good friend of mine who made music for a number of years had issues creating music to match projects. For him music was something that was only created through his own personal inspiration. This made it difficult to collaborate with him to a degree, because requesting music was nearly impossible. I was however able to peruse his catalog and request the use of his preexisting work to use in projects I created. If he kept the project files (which he wasn't originally) then I could request edits to the songs, and that was something he didn't mind doing. This is something to consider for yourself. You may not enjoy a back and forth creation process or an 'art by committee' process, or you could love that type of creation. At any rate it's something to consider.

If you do enjoy creating with others, then I'd recommend always keeping your project files so that you can go back to old work and do edits in order to appease your collaborators or employers. As an example, someone might really like one of your preexisting songs for a video game or animation project they are working on, but might request that specific sounds are removed or added in key locations in order to sync with what they are pairing the music with. Having this kind of flexibility would likely be beneficial to you and ultimately make each song more versatile as an asset.

If you end up deciding to pursue X field (be it personal musician releasing albums, or video game music composer, etc), I'd recommend continuing to search out sites like this one that relate to those fields. That's part of networking, helps your exposure, and is the best place to start (working with other independent artists). From my experience most communities frown upon new members coming by only for their own benefit. So in order to get the best results, it's a wise idea to try and help contribute to the communities you join, even if only casually. It can be as simple as providing feedback, thumbs ups/+ reputations, or simple comments on posted content you like. This at the very least is good karma, at most it demonstrates you are there not only to take but also to give back.

My last recommendation is more general and the same advice I give to anyone looking to pursue a field. Never hesitate to contact someone, even if it's a job posting that requests schooling or previous experience outside but near your current work level. You never know how desperate they might be, or how willing they are to compromise or to work with you based on your portfolio. In my personal experience as an employer and employee, people often request more experience than they need, rather than less, and are typically willing to settle with less experience, especially if they have no other options. Worst case scenario you can part ways amicably and hopefully keep a contact and have broadened your knowledge on the respective industry.

Sorry for the long post, I hope these are things you haven't thought of, or maybe helped you think of them in a more orderly manner. Remember to try and keep yourself as organized as possible and take things one step at a time, never be in a rush, and not to burn yourself out trying to succeed. 

-Regards

/Jon Bon

8 hours ago, ItsJayMar said:

Wow, there's a lot of solid advice here. First of all, let me thank you once again for responding and providing a personalized list of ideas. It's funny because you pretty much hit the nail on the head, I had already juggled a couple of these tactics( personal website, networking) but seeing them laid out in this format is a big help. There is no doubt I will definitely be using your suggestions as a guide. I have one more question, would you recommend using wordpress as a temporary main website?

You're welcome, I never mind lending my brain power. I will say that you could probably start with just a personal website, linkedin, and twitter, then look for independent development sites to help you network. Facebook, reddit, and the others can always wait until after you're comfortably working with what you start out with. Some people use social networking as a second nature, others find it tedious, so I'd avoid doing anything that burdens you without having a potentially direct benefit, as it might put a sour taste on the process in general. Also remember that it'll likely take months to start gaining traction with any option, so try not to give up and stop keeping up on content, assume people are reading it and not commenting, or that you could luck out by creating something popular and then have a giant backlog of content for people to look over. EDIT: Don't hesitate to drop a platform if you feel the you aren't receiving adequate benefits for the work involved in upkeep. If you do drop a platform ensure to create a polite post there saying you are dropping that platform explaining your reasoning and informing potential fans or contacts that they can still follow or reach you from your website or the other platforms you frequent.

As for wordpress, I've never used it personally, but I have seen people's wordpress websites that look really good and are easy to use. On the other hand I've seen people's wordpress websites that are difficult to use and hard to navigate. Consider why you are deciding to use wordpress first, if the answer is easy then typically that means 'lazy', and you should opt to try the one that might cost more effort, but then yield better results. Alternatively if wordpress is something you're already familiar with, and feel you can get good  end results, then for sure go for it.

My only concern with using anything temporarily is that you're effectively doubling your workload. If you start with wordpress with the plan to use a web provider eventually, you've automatically doubled the effort it'll take to create a work related website, in addition to forcing you to go back to your other sites (soundcloud, youtube, here, etc) and update what website link you've posted. So if you're on the fence, go with what you plan to use ultimately, rather than opting into something easier for the short term, as it'll save you effort in the long term. Most web hosting comes with drag and drop type interfaces that make professional looking websites easy to create, and should only take you a week or two at most to find and be totally confident with your results (I'm not sure what the effort is for creating a nice wordpress website).

The other thing I forgot to mention was that if you do keep your project files, you might want to consider backing them up externally to your pc. Be it on an external drive, or ideally somewhere hosted online. I use dropbox for project files, and google drive for written and visual work (I was an early adopter to dropbox and so I have immense storage space, use the largest space for your project files). This way if my/your pc ever dies unexpectedly, or your external drive stops working, you have a 'permanent' copy of your work existing online. Again that's pretty general advice but I'd be remiss in not suggesting it.

If you're worried about becoming over burdened with the setup process of creating a web presence, then I'd recommend creating yourself a list of goals, even sub goals for each goal. It can be rewarding to cross off goals from a list, and help keep you motivated. There is no rush to set it all up, as long as you're actively moving forward towards whatever your goals are.

Feel free to post back here with your website (whichever host you choose) if you'd like additional feedback. Also remember to follow your gut, if your opinions differ from mine, think about both options logically and go with what feels right.

Understood (about wordpress). I think wordpress should be fine, it's definitely better than nothing.

Website Review

• Broken Link
  • The link you provided me https://itsjaymar.wordpress.com/ works fine, but the Home button link on that page brings me to here -> https://daskyking.wordpress.com/ 
    Once I've navigated off the main page, Home does not return me to your home page so you'd want to fix that.
• Missing information
  • About Page - This is still the stock/default information for the text area
    • You could write something like;
      "My name is [such and such] I've been producing music for X years, my background in music is [such and such] (details about possible high school music classes, or bands etc). I use [such and such] program to create my music with the entirety of my music hosted on my sound cloud website (then have a link to your soundcloud here). My interests in music production include [such and such] (write about what you like to make, instrumentals, etc) I currently interested in pursuing making music for [such and such] fields (whatever you think you might be interested in, beats for rap, animation projects, video games, etc)."
  • Contact Page - This is still the stock/default information for the text area
    • You could write something like;
      "If you would like to collaborate, hire or license my music please contact me using form below."
  • Links - Don't forget to link to your soundcloud, and twitter, etc, if possible using some kind of small icon nav bar located atop your hom/about/contact bar of links.
  • Blog - I really recommend starting a blog section
    • Ideas for your blog;
    • My Goals - Talk about where your mindset currently is, what you're thinking about doing in the industry
    • My Collaborative Efforts - Talk about your past or ongoing collaborations.
    • Music I like - Talk about music and musicians that inspire you, why you like them, and how they influence your work.

Other than what is listed above I think it's a good start. Keep tinkering away at it, over time it'll start to fill out. Maybe start some kind of document with ideas and goals for your website itself. That way if you get inspired with an idea but aren't ready to execute it, at least it exists somewhere you can reference it later when you're motivated to do more work on it.

No thanks necessary. Rather than thanking me, pay it forward. If you ever find yourself in a situation to help other independent artists in anyway, then do so. That to me is the best thanks I could receive.