The end of the pipe

I have a song in the works and I'm stuck, which is not a very comfortable state to be.

I'm facing a problem I've faced several times before, hopefully failing a bit better each time.

My process for value creation, i.e. to convert the "voices in my head" into something worthwhile for another human being, is currently as it follows:

1. Composition
   
2. Preparation for recording
3. Recording
4. Production
   
5. "Packaging"
   
6. Legal protection
   
7. Distribution
   
8. Promotion
   

I have recorded stuff before. I can go through the movements. But there is the shadow of lack of purpose at the end, lurking through the whole process. When you are a home recordist, the final step, distribution, is confusing and disheartening. You are limited to post your song in some obscure website (Bandcamp, Soundcloud), and be happy with the possibility that somebody could listen to it eventually.

Feels like a guy with a thrash can and a smile telling you "Oh, another finished song! Please put it here with the others!".

This problem of distribution and promotion can only be solved at a higher level: having a purpose statement to guide your decisions about where to launch and what to improve. It's difficult to ask musicians for such an exercise of structured thought; we are precisely famous for 'letting it flow' and if someone comes around, great. Not much direction there, really.

Those final stages will also determine the quality bar you aspire to achieve; thinking of the song I'm working on, depending on where I want to publish, the vocals are alright, or I have to improve their sound, which implies learning more audio production stuff (zzz), acquiring new equipment...

Music and musicians still have to find their place in the age of the Computer God. I guess the power that comes with recording your own stuff is fine, but a band is better (and more costly, too; not to mention the difficulties to find human quality, people with something to say and a vision, not simple exhibitionists or wankers who run away the moment you ask them to practice their parts, that kind of stuff...)