Well I'd say yeah you are contributing something to the world but is it as useful as building a house or teaching kids in a school? I dunno, it's kinda selfish if you aren't actually helping or benefiting anyone.

Then again when I think about my chosen career I'm only doing it because I like it, I never once thought of anyone else, its my life so I can do what I want right? So I guess it really depends on you as a person, some people choose to be doctors because they want to help people, some people just choose a job that they like, I think if anyone is telling  you that making music is selfish or lazy or whatever then they can eat a dick because heaps of people choose their career for selfish reasons not just to contribute to society.

who would ever say no to this

yeah I've definitely thought of the same thing too.  Especially since I'm not necessarily making music for other people to enjoy, I'm just doing it for myself pretty much (if other people like it that's cool too).  I definitely think it's not really fair to do it but a lot of other careers are certainly much worse (corporate bitch who puts money higher than people).

Morals are just a human conception anyway. I don't really try to live my life "morally", I just do whatever I feel is right.  Mostly this leads me to act by some sort of code, but I think that if I do something that people would consider amoral or immoral or whatever it doesn't make me a worse person (most people are immoral, they just don't want to admit to it).

no the only morally accepted job is minesweeper

Never thought about it like that. I think it's fine. I could care less about contributing to society, to be honest. Like everyone else, I'm ultimately only concerned about making myself happy. I wanted to say pleasing myself instead of making myself happy, but I would just be setting myself up there...

uhhh there probably are some moral issues in dedicating your life to entertainment

is this a joke?

Maybe because he means its a shallow lifestyle or something

yea pursuit of creativity and expression is pretty shallow GO GET A REAL JOB and quit that art bullshit

*learns trade*

For arguments sake you could say "A trade is a service to others" whilst making music is just self fufillment.

For arguments sake you could say "A trade is a service to others" whilst making music is just self fufillment.

music and art in general has a huge impact on the world, though.  saying that making music is just self-serving is pretty absurd considering the amount of influence music plainly exerts over people!  maybe you're making it for yourself, but it can make a lot of other peoples' lives a little bit better and that's nothing to just write off imo.  you can write a novel for self-fulfillment, too, but that doesn't mean it can't have a really positive impact on a lot of peoples' lives.  so yeah to clarify i think this topic is a bit silly because it seems to be based on the assumption that music doesn't DO anything for anyone but the people who make it, and as such is intrinsically selfish, which honestly isn't the case at all.

I'm kinda just tryna get some discussion started here dude, so it really is just for arguments sake.

You are assuming that music has a huge impact on the world because of it's audience, he's saying it's entirely personal. There is a huge chance no one is going to hear this music except for himself, theres no saying it will make anyones lives better.

well if you're not going to publish it then i guess i would say it's okay because i don't really find the concept of FULFILLING ONE'S DESIRES to be immoral when it doesn't actively harm anyone else.  i guess if you are ignoring your child in favor of music or some shit that could be bad but honestly, who really feels bad about not devoting their lives to something that could be considered public service?  GO WORK ON THE MINES ahhhh now i'm contributing to society like a proper citizen.  on one hand i understand the obligation to try to make the world a better place or contribute or whatever, but i don't think that should mean taking the thing you're most passionate about in life and shoving it in the backseat.

basically YEAH i think being constructive and contributing is great but if you believe there's another calling for you, like making music (even if it's just for yourself!) then i think you should be able to do that without reproach.  it's kind of ridiculous to really expect people to sacrifice their aspirations just so they can function as a proper citizen working a proper job.  i really kind of just don't understand the mentality.


also it's not like all musicians would be doctors or school teachers or something really noble like that.  statistically, i'm pretty sure the large majority would be doing clerical work or something else that's totally inconsequential, so it's not like society's taking a BIG HIT by them not being there to help underwrite insurance policies or some shit.