What age group are you in? (March 2020 version)

[pjd1]

I am 61 and 11/12 s

[WarpCanada]

On the bright side, this feels like a REAL community.  Maybe fewer people using forum boards is a blessing.


I post my music tracks on Soundcloud but Soundcloud is full of trolls and pornspambots and horrible stuff.

[des0free]

Yay, I just edged into a category.  Oh, wait, that's not good.

[Farrell Jackson]

I voted but I was looking for the category of "Too old to be young and too young to be old" . At least I'm not in the last group....yet, still 69  lol!

Farrell

Well today I moved into the last age category, 70 plus. I tried to update it but it's locked so I'll have to wait for the next SC age pole to come out. In my mind I feel like I'm in my twenties and still learning new things about music....it's a life long pursuit.

Farrell....today is a good day!

[Jean Pierre]

welcome to the club , Farrell..
We're at the age of what we still have to learn...and we still have so much to learn in music.

[Bluesberry]

I didn't get a chance to vote ... I'll be 56 in a few weeks...feeling my age lately...but they say music keeps you young....so lets get going (pep talk to myself)....this place is a fountain of youth....you all look great and sound even better....Long live Songcrafters

[64Guitars]

I tried to update it but it's locked so I'll have to wait for the next SC age pole to come out.

Sorry about that. It wasn't actually locked. It's just that it was set to not allow members to change their vote. I've now fixed that, so you should be able to click the Remove Vote button to remove your previous vote, then submit your new vote.

[Farrell Jackson]

Got it, thanks 64!

[StephenM]

Like Farrell, i'm 69. 70 in October...WooHoo! Let the good times roll!
Maybe i should update my avatar, altho it's quite appropriate... a squirrel sipping on a Guinness saying my most used word... "what?"
As has been mentioned, i also visit other sites, and see that interactions have dropped off severely in the last 5-10 years. No young folks recording at all it seems. I've had so much fun doing it over the years. They're missing out on the joy of camaraderie. But as ol' Bob D. said, "the Times, they are a changin'". Not for the better imho. I'd love to physically feel like a kid, but wouldn't wanna be one in this effed up world.

I am wondering though if as some, as they get older might enjoy something like this?  I am on reverbnation and it's absolutely nothing like this...it's basically a place to post your music and little to no interaction....

[Bishmanrock]

A few people have pointed to the weighting of ages, and as someone (apparently only one of two!) who falls into the younger end with the 30-39 group, I'll throw in my two pence for why this might be

Firstly, I feel like I might be around the age of the last people to really use message boards - or at least be in an online world where it was the main option for discussions. They stayed strong through the MySpace era, but as soon as Facebook came in it felt like they largely got pushed back, especially for people who wanted to be social but without specific fandoms. By now some boards I know of have either closed or become support-only boards. Fortunately though, message boards didn't become redundant.

This does mean that anyone born into that generation may not be aware, not see the appeal, or just not care much for message boards over alternate methods of socialising.

The other part is I think of the musicians around my age I do work with - and it's usually by email, or in person. So direct contact, rather than working in a community. I'm not sure this is a conscious step, it's just one we've found ourselves in. Other than that, it'd just be people I met directly on the circuit. I don't think most gigging musicians I met while touring really cared to look for musician communities, as their community was largely whoever they met via gigs and that was sufficient for them. I wonder if that'll change as they tour less and therefore search for another form of community instead.

The other reason for the age weighting may be how music is made. Not as in picking up an instrument, which I'm sure will always persist through any generation, but the act of recording. A lot of people mention digital recorders here, which, aside from a brief stint with a four track, I've never had any serious experience with, largely because other more accessible for the tools I already had methods were available when I were a teenager. Fruity Loops (now FL Studio) seemed to be a big driving factor at the time for music creation, no idea if it's still held in any regard as I barely hear it mentioned. Personally I grew up around the Amiga demoscene, albeit not consciously involved, so my heart was largely in trackers before moving onto an actual DAW. I know there was a period of activity with new musicians when Garage Band was popular. There was also the period of eJay and MTV Music software, which spawned its own communities.

For that last point, I wonder if the people who use these new tools automatically default to official channels and groups. An FL Studio user will most likely look for an FL Studio support group, rather than looking for an all-round music group. I think this is more true for newer methods and software, rather than traditional recording where approaches are often interchangeable between the hardware.

And from a personal point of view; I released my first album when I was 16. I can't fully remember how I found out about Songcrafters, I believe some kind soul messaged me on Reddit in response to a topic I made. Until then I hadn't heard of it, and best I can tell it's been around the full 18 years I've been making music. The only reason I did find out about it because I wound up talking to the right person at the right time (thanks for introducing me by the way, sorry I forget who you were!). But you think, it if took that long for me to discover it, no longer it's weighted towards the older end of the scale.

No real point to be made here, these are just the thoughts that came to mind when I saw this thread. Who knows if they're of any use! Just some random food for thought. Sorry for the slight necro.