EDIT: BEST SHITPOST COMMENT WINS
Just wanted to quickly address this for anyone in the UTAU fandom wondering "why they aren't popular",those wanting more attention, etc etc. (Normal art watchers who have no idea what the program is, please excuse this)
Everyone knows the feeling, from people new to the program or those that feel their work has gone unnoticed for too long.
I feel I'm in a comfortable position to speak from experience when I talk about utau popularity, (Mind, people are much more comfortable using the term "popular utau user" to describe me than I am using it to describe myself or anyone else. My (inflated) ego comes from my skills, not being at the supposed top of a subculture of a subculture.)
For anyone thinking this hobby alone will get them anywhere, let me just be honest and say that no one will care that you recorded japanese samples, stuck them in a folder and configured them in a freeware program.
I'm not saying that to be nasty or to try and discourage anyone from using UTAU, but it really will not happen, especially not on it's own.
All utau users that seem to have any kind of following, have skills outside of just "creating an utauloid"- whether it be Art (the main one), being able to manipulate the voices extremely well, knowing how to bring something new and exciting to their banks, or even things like good social skills and managing to "get in good" with other users, all of these things are what result in being labeled "successful" and "popular" by everyone else.
In my opinion, UTAU itself exists in this weird space, not quite being desirable on it's own to any onlooker and is only really appreciated within the small group of people who actually use the program.
I myself considered it "bad vocaloid" as a vocaloid fan, only becoming interested in it when I found out I could insert my voice into it, and utau has such a dependency on vocaloid music that it wouldn't really hold up on it's own.
That's the pattern with most users- they have their own bank(s) and are stuck just wanting others to use theirs. Most likely only those with an attachment to you personally will ever use your banks.
I'm not sure if this is too known by those griping about popularity, but within this supposed "Upper circle" of users are maybe 3 or 4 friend groups and not much else. Everyone knows everyone and from what I've experienced it's less talking about utau and just being genuine /friends/ because talk of the program gets very old very quickly, especially when you consider most of us have been using it for years.
UTAU really isn't the avenue for fame. Use it more as a tool to sharpen your other skills or pick up new ones.
For me, it's been an inspiration for art, got me to learn more music theory, the only reason I know how to work after effects and probably most importantly a common subject my friends and I can always complain over.
It also scratches the narcissism itch quite nicely by having the ability to listen to my own voice, and such a low ceiling for mastery anyone can get good with it in a relatively short space of time, but no one outside this small fandom of a few thousand people are going to be that interested in your vocaloid fan character/OC that can sing.
The best advice I can give to those still set on becoming top of this tiny fandom (to which I stress is borderline pointless) would be advice I could give anywhere else and it applies just as well:
Be useful to people.Sounds slightly shallow but it's true- My avenue was pumping out usts. It comes back to the whole "utau alone will get you no where" idea in which if you have a skill outside of making an utauloid, people will pay attention.
But even then I still haven't received the legion of utau users worshiping me like a God, using my banks constantly (As people seem to believe will suddenly happen once they;re impressive enough)
Yes, my usts are used, and occasionally my banks are used but does it enrich my life like people seem to think it does? not at all. I'm much more satisfied being complimented on skills I'm working to build that are appreciated outside the fandom, such as art.
So everyone, please stop worrying over utau popularity.
The bar is so low and overall, many feel the peak of the fandom itself (which I'd personally put at around late 2011-2012) has already passed.
Enjoy it as you would any other personal project because that's probably all it will ever be- it's all it's ever been to everyone else and I'm worried for those with such high standards of what utau fame is like will be severely underwhelmed if they ever hit it.
sorry for the long rambly journal but after seeing another "what am I doing wrong why is no one liking my utau ;-;" journals I feel the need to speak up and say "actually you're pretty much doing everything right, this is about it"
Seriously, working on your other skills will bring much better results, in and out of our tiny community.
