Deutsche Version: https://filmmusic.io/u/SaschaE...

Dear fellow readers, listeners, artists and everyone else,

recently I have often asked myself how Filmmusic.io should actually continue in the future. The problem is home-made and my own fault: While it is a great thing for the artists to get 100% of the revenue, this has caused a massive decrease in donations. However, it's only the donations (and my other income like Spotify and a few license sales) that keep this website alive. While various artists benefit greatly from attention and sales, I have to fight for attention myself on my own website as the number of artists increases.

Also, I have tried to listen to the other artists and have made downloads available only to registered users. However, this resulted in a 60% drop in advertising revenue: 80% of all visitors do not register on a website to download something and then just leave the website.

I've realized that there's little I can do about it, and really don't want to. But I also realized that I offer so much to other artists and forgot one thing: Myself. Instead of doing what I want on my own website, I've been listening too much to others. But why actually? It's my website where I can do what I want.

I'm not one who likes to push myself to the fore, but I've let myself fade more and more into the background on my own website over the last years without really benefiting from it. And this is not the fault of others but my own stupidity.

I decided to be more "egoistic" in the future and to think more about myself and to make Filmmusic again what it used to be: My website with my music and other artists, who are basically something like "guests" here. I also don't really know if you can talk about egoism here, because I'm not doing anything else than profiting from my own work.

1. concretely, this means that you don't have to search for me on my own website anymore, but that you can always find my music on the front page. Honestly, it can't be true that people ask me how to find my music on my own website? :D
2. it's my website, so I alone decide what to find on the front page. So it's no longer an algorithm that selects the music but me. Basically I decide here after quality criteria. I want to offer everyone the chance to upload music here, but I have to filter it a bit editorially. I don't want people to get scared when they click on a song because it is overdriven, of absolutely inferior quality or just sounds terrible.... It's my website so I get to decide that.
3. in various places I move my person again more in the foreground, be it on the "About me" page or that I link my social media channels now again more prominent.

I hope everyone understands this. At least it gives me the motivation to keep this site alive again as it finally has a real added value for ME.

In the future I will not make decisions on this website dependent on what others want but only what I want alone and what makes the most sense for me and the release of my music and the continued operation of this website - even if artists (guests) then leave the boat.

Sascha