Q: how to make music that people will actually like?
A: the most important thing to do is to make music that you actually like. a secondary strategy is to also listen to music that other people like. Now, you may have mis-read that and are now thinking "oh ok, you're saying i should listen to music that other people might like and then maybe try to make music like that, even if i don't necessarily like it" NO, absolutely not, that is not what i'm saying. When it comes time to make your music, you must do it exactly according to your own wildest dreams. But before that, on a different day maybe, in a different season, in a totally different section of the building, you were just casually listening to music that other people might like, purely for the hopes of finding more things that YOU like. This really has nothing to do with the 'making music' part, the listening is actually just for enjoyment. When it comes time to make the music, actually you might as well try to do something you like that sounds totally different from anything else you've heard before. or the same. it's irrelevant whether it's different or the same. but the important thing is when it comes time to make the music you have to do it the way you like. So you may be thinking, "so, you're saying i should just make the music i like and it doesn't matter if anyone else likes it" No, that's still not quite what i mean. what i mean is, making music that you really fully like is probably the ONLY reliable way TO actually guarantee that others will like it. Now still, you may also be thinking "so what are the benefits of trying to make music that you DON'T like, but you THINK others will like." Well, i think i can safely say that this does not actually get anyone to like it, but, this is where the confusion arises, it might make OTHER people THINK that someone ELSE may like it. so that's good for a free lunch somewhere maybe, but it will be a lousy lunch and does not compare to the lifetime of grade A lunches you can get if you ultimately just cut out the middle man and make the music you know is best