POV - Ariana Grande (Cover by Melitza) - VIBES Week 13 [ENG-ESP]
Welcome to my blog and to my participation in the Vibes Web3 Music Competition in its 13th week.
This participation comes a bit later than we are accustomed to, due to having many doubts about continuing in the competition.
Doing this week by week, under the high level that we consider appropriate for all our activities, inside and outside of this platform, is quite demanding. Which we love.
Singing is something I have loved to do since I can remember, and @leonardo.audio is passionate about music and its production. We are both professionals in our areas and we combine both to give our best in any job.
Music is a sum of many elements and currently, to connect with people, it is necessary to go further. Music has always been an experience, and today that has evolved.
Singing involves more than just producing some notes following a harmonic progression. It is about connecting with oneself, getting involved, and ensuring that besides sounding beautiful, it carries all the intention of what is being said, without neglecting good technique to maintain vocal health. To this is added the staging and good accompaniment. All this must be as excellent as possible, because a good recording exposes every detail of the performance.
Recording is an art that goes from the choice of microphones, their position at the time of recording, and then the manipulation of the recordings through technical processes in mixing and mastering to create the right environments that help enhance the artist’s intention.
To this, we add the visual elements, the space or stage, the lighting, the camera setup, the video colorization, the wardrobe and makeup, etc., to also enhance the artist’s intention. Every week, we work on improving each of these aspects, as this is not a hobby for us, this is our profession, our work, and our daily sustenance.
Excellence is not achieved overnight, but is the work of many years.
We are proud that since the start of this competition, we have been able to put our knowledge into practice and continue improving. Each experience is very different from the last. And the result had been very satisfactory until now.
Last week was quite disappointing for us when we saw that all the effort we put into that participation, which as those who read the publication will know, was a job of several days until achieving the right take in terms of the level and intention of that song and our musical criteria, did not achieve any place in the awards. Until that moment, we had very good feelings about what was happening since the video had achieved many views, many comments, reblogs, and votes from the Hive community.
To our surprise, we saw how publications won awards for votes that did not correspond to the reactions and views of their videos, basically, they have votes from people who don’t even take the time to watch their videos.
Moreover, it was “our fault” for not achieving a place in the awards for not being a “pain in the ass” with our audience, since apparently the most important thing is to inflate the numbers in a poll and not generate real interaction or show “musical excellence” in the participations.
Our ethics and values do not allow us to harass our audience, because so far on this and other platforms we have not needed to do so. During the same time of the competition, we have been able to generate more than 50,000 views across all our networks and we have not had to harass anyone to comment or interact with us.
Our goal is to connect through music with people who identify with our values. Even if it is a slow process, what matters to us is that it is genuine.
On the other hand, I had created an initiative to continue connecting with other artists and raise the level of participation. Since there are people with the intention of improving. I had to put this on hold because I preferred to sit down and think about whether vibes was really a good place for me.
At first, I had read that this competition used blockchain technology to empower musicians, their audiences, and reward excellence, which in their quest to support and nurture talent announced weekly prizes for the most exceptional artists. And this is not what has been developing lately.
The idea of supporting artists is that they can continue to grow and improve in their area, because this career is costly in many ways, and it is no secret that it is a complicated career. Thanks to what my publications have generated, I was able to buy my first MIDI controller to be able to produce original music.
However, although several times on Twitter spaces I heard that my participations are “to win a first place,” it is disappointing to know that I will not be able to achieve it, nor be in any of the 6 awards, because neither my talent nor my effort, nor any of the elements I mentioned previously (performance, stage, vocal studio, audio and video recording, comments, reblogs, views, and interactions of the publications) are sufficient, because what really matters is being a “pain in the ass” with the public, friends or family to come and inflate numbers in a poll and thus simulate greater interactions compared to the Splinterlands project.
It is sad to see how the poll has a number of votes and the publications have a completely different number of views.
If the intention of bringing people to vote is for them to see all the qualified participants, and increase their exposure and reach to new audiences, because “music should be played for an audience and not for two judges,” this is not being achieved at all. You only have to enter the publications to realize this.
Without having to be a “pain in the ass,” we have been able to connect with people from very distant countries, who from day one, have left comments on each publication, without having to ask them.
Currently, I have 69 followers, my publications have reached more than 50 views, plus our work has generated a lot of interaction in comments, and everything has been completely organic and genuine, which fills us with pride.
That’s why we want to thank everyone who has been part of this process with their interactions and their votes in my participations.
My participation today is for those who always comment and are here from the heart, because we know that you have nothing to do with this whole situation, and we value all the relationships we have built so far.
We are still in an internal process of analyzing the situation, and this publication is part of it.
I hope you enjoy this acoustic version of POV by Ariana Grande, a very special song for me, in a new format in my little studio room, with my first baby, my piano.
Without further ado, I share with you this phrase that I find very valuable, nourishing, and motivating. ✨💕🎶
Spanish Version (click here)
Bienvenidos a mi blog y a mi participación en la Vibes Web3 Music Competition en su semana 13.
Esta participación llega un poco mas tarde de lo que acostumbramos, debido a que tuvimos muchas dudas sobre continuar en la competencia.
Hacer esto semana a semana, bajo el alto nivel que consideramos acorde para todas nuestras actividades, dentro y fuera de esta plataforma, es algo bastante exigente. Lo cual nos encanta. Cantar es algo que amo hacer desde que tengo uso de razón, y @leonardo.audio es un apasionado de la música y su realización. Ambos somos profesionales en nuestras áreas y unimos ambas para dar lo mejor en cualquier trabajo.
La música es una suma de muchos elementos y actualmente para lograr conectar con las personas, es necesario ir mas allá. Desde siempre la música ha sido una experiencia, hoy en día eso ha evolucionado.
Cantar conlleva mas cosas que solo producir algunas notas siguiendo una progresión armónica. Es conectar con uno mismo involucrarse, y que además de sonar bonito tenga toda la intención de lo que se esta diciendo, sin descuidar una buena técnica para mantener la salud vocal. A esto se le agrega la puesta en escena y un buen acompañamiento. Todo esto debe ser lo mas excelente posible, debido a que una buena grabación expone cada detalle de la interpretación.
Grabar es un arte que va desde la elección de los micrófonos, la posición de estos al momento de grabar y luego la manipulación de las grabaciones a través de procesos técnicos en la mezcla y el mastering para crear los ambientes adecuados que ayuden a potenciar la intención del artista.
A todo esto, se le suman los elementos visuales, el espacio o escenario, la iluminación, la configuración de la cámara, la colorizacion del video, el vestuario y maquillaje, etc., para también potenciar la intención del artista.
Cada semana, nosotros trabajamos en mejorar cada uno de estos aspectos, ya que esto no es un hobbie para nosotros, esto es nuestra profesión, nuestro trabajo y nuestro sustento día a día.
La excelencia no se logra de un día a otro, si no que es un trabajo de muchos años.
Nos sentimos orgullosos de que desde que empezó esta competencia hemos podido poner en practica nuestros conocimientos y seguir mejorando. Cada experiencia es muy distinta a otra. Y el resultado había sido muy satisfactorio hasta ahora.
La semana pasada fue bastante decepcionante para nosotros al ver que todo el esfuerzo que pusimos en esa participación, que como los que leyeron la publicación sabrán, fue un trabajo de varios días hasta lograr la toma adecuada en cuanto al nivel e intención de esa canción y de nuestro criterio musical, no haya logrado ningún lugar en los premios.
Hasta el momento teníamos muy buenos sentimientos respecto a lo que estaba sucediendo ya que el video había logrado muchas vistas, muchos comentarios, reblogs y votos de la comunidad de Hive.
Para nuestra sorpresa vimos como publicaciones lograron premios por unas votaciones que no iban acorde a las reacciones y vistas de sus videos, básicamente, tienen votos de gente que ni siquiera se toma el tiempo de ver sus videos.
Además, fue “nuestra culpa” no lograr un puesto en los premios por no ser un “pain in the ass” con nuestro publico, ya que por lo visto lo mas importante es inflar los números en un poll y no generar interacción real o mostrar “excelencia musical” en las participaciones.
Nuestra ética y nuestros valores no nos permiten acosar a nuestro publico, porque hasta ahora en esta y otras plataformas no hemos tenido necesidad de hacerlo. Durante el mismo tiempo de la competencia hemos podido generar mas de 50mil vistas en todas nuestras redes y no hemos tenido que acosar a ninguna persona para que comenten o interactúen con nosotros.
Nuestro objetivo es conectar a través de la música con las personas que se identifiquen con nuestros valores. Aunque sea un proceso lento, lo que nos importa es que sea genuino.
Por otro lado, había creado una iniciativa para seguir conectando con otros artistas y aumentar el nivel de las participaciones. Ya que hay personas con intención de mejorar.
Esto tuve que ponerlo en pausa debido a que preferí sentarme y pensar si vibes era realmente un buen lugar para mi.
En un principio había leído que esta competencia utilizaba la tecnología blockchain para empoderar músicos, a sus audiencias y recompensar la excelencia, que en su búsqueda de apoyar y nutrir el talento anunciaban premios semanales para los artistas mas excepcionales. Y esto no es lo que se esta desarrollando últimamente.
La idea de apoyar a artistas es que puedan seguir creciendo y mejorando en su área, debido a que esta carrera es costosa en muchos sentidos, y para nadie es un secreto que es una carrera complicada. Gracias a lo que mis publicaciones han generado, pude comprar mi primer controlador midi para poder producir música original.
Sin embargo, aunque varias veces en los espacios de twitter he escuchado que mis participaciones son “para ganar un primer lugar”, es decepcionante saber que no podré lograrlo, ni estar en ningún lugar de los 6 premios, porque no es suficiente ni mi talento, ni mi esfuerzo, ni ninguno de los elementos que mencione previamente ( performance, escenario, estudio vocal, grabación de audio y video, comentarios, reblogs, visualizaciones e interacciones de las publicaciones), debido a que lo que realmente importa es ser un “pain in the ass” con el publico, amigos o familia para que vengan a inflar números en un poll y así simular mayores interacciones en comparación con el proyecto splinterlands.
Es triste ver como el poll tiene una cantidad de votos y las publicaciones tienen una cantidad de vistas completamente distintas.
Si la intención de traer gente a votar es que vean a todos los participantes clasificados, y aumentar su exposición y alcance a nuevas audiencias, debido a que “la música debe ser tocada para una audiencia y no para dos jueces” esto no se esta logrando en absoluto. Solo hay que entrar en las publicaciones para darse cuenta de ello.
Sin tener que ser un “pain in the ass” hemos podido conectar con personas de países muy lejanos, que desde el día uno, han dejado comentarios en cada publicación, sin necesidad de pedírselos.
Actualmente tengo 69 seguidores, mis publicaciones han alcanzado mas de 50 visualizaciones, además nuestro trabajo a generado mucha interacción en comentarios, y todo a sido completamente orgánico y genuino, lo cual nos llena de orgullo.
Por eso queremos agradecer a todos los que han sido parte de este proceso con sus interacciones y sus votos en mis participaciones.
Mi participación de hoy es para los que siempre comentan y están aquí de corazón, porque sabemos que ustedes no tienen nada que ver con toda esta situación, y valoramos todas las relaciones que hemos construido hasta ahora.
Aun estamos en un proceso interno de análisis de la situación, y esta publicación es parte de ello.
Espero que disfruten de esta versión acústica de POV de Ariana Grande, una canción muy espacial para mi, en un formato nuevo en mi pequeño cuarto de estudio, con mi primer bebe, mi piano.
Sin mas que agregar, les comparto esta frase que me parece muy valiosa, nutritiva y motivadora. ✨💕🎶
https://x.com/Melitzagmusic/status/1801503909636112870
▶️ 3Speak
Wow!! Like I always say, you're an amazing singer and I love listening to your presentation ❤️.
To me you're a star,it doesn't matter if you won or not. Just keep on participating and pushing, you're a star and a good singer.
And I totally understand how you must be feeling right now,pls don't let it get to you.
nobody can control the votes, I'm sure the judges did their best too.
I loved every bit of your presentation,your voice is just too beautiful 🥹❤️
Yes we did our best, thank you for mentioning us @meyateingi and community voting plays a part as well. We do it as fair as possible.
You're welcome sir🤗.
I totally agree with you
It’s no news that you are a good singer and it’s sad that your expectations are not being met but don’t forget that this is still a work in progress and there are indeed so many loop holes that need to be mended but that will still take sometime.
And like you said, it is a hassle going to meet people to vote for you so it is not easy either ways. And I believe that’s one reason why you get good upvotes too on your article which is still a good one but you might not appreciate it that much because you have seen others appreciate your music better.
You are putting yourself out there and I believe that there are so many opportunities for you and with time they will manifest. Just keep doing your best and share your music with your friends and families that are not here and I’m sure they will support you even without forcing them to because your music has a soul!
You rock girl and I say a big well done for always giving your best every single time and I’m very positive that there is more to come for you here and everywhere your music is heard so don’t give up at all because that will be when you really fail.
Giving up is never the option to take, we learn from these experiences and continue inspiring others. This is first and foremost a community than a competition. You win some, you lose some, but let's keep love and thankfulness a constance in and through it all.
That’s right, at first glance I had a thousand words to say, lol but I tried to put myself in her shoes and it reduced dramatically 😅.
Indeed giving up is never and option. I’m still here looking forward to when my entry would be worth the top ten and I’m not going to give up even though I see great talents literally every single week which is just more challenging but I’m never saying never 😁.
Your journey in the Vibes Web3 Music Competition has been inspiring, and I love how you've stayed true to your values and ethics despite the disappointing results. Your music is a testament to your hard work and talent, and it's amazing how you've connected with people from all over the world organically. Keep shining and doing what you love - that's what truly matters!
Without a doubt, she is a great singer and musician, and can inspire. Music is a gift that keeps on giving, but only if we continue to give it and be able to nurture the community in the process of that giving
I couldn't agree more! Music has the power to bring us together and uplift us, and it's up to us to keep sharing and nurturing that gift within our communities.
Yes exactly. Music can be either a weapon of mass destruction or a healing instrument across generations. That's how strongly I feel about this musical language God has gifted us
Mi cantante favorita 💖 Eres lo máximo, este cover te quedó increíble 👏👏👏. Tienes un talento increíble y siempre habrá quien lo aprecie, es genuino, es real y eso no se puede ocultar. Siempre te apoyare y estaré a tu lado, se que cada grabación ya es un logro personal increíble para nosotros ya que podemos aprender mucho en el proceso pero bueno, ya llegara nuestro momento sea donde sea, en algún momento todo el esfuerzo dará sus frutos en el lugar adecuado.
Es agradable confirmar que hay personas que si conectan y aprecian lo que se realiza cuando leo los comentarios. Mereces todo lo bueno. 💖👏🤗
Just to cut this in the bud. 😅
Everyones free to quit whenever they want. Shame, you are talented, but thats a completely valid course of action.
Just to note... before I came along and started this your top voted post had 12 USD and the introduction to Hive 20 bucks. You averaged 2-3 dollars over the course of last year.
Your top voted Vibes post has 180 USD and you average around 100 USD. Topping the trending page almost every week. Very few people on Hive can say that. And thats because of Vibes. Not to mention that you were second on Vibes in TOTAL few weeks ago.
So... youre extremely ungrateful and unfair.
You received those views on Hive because VIBES curators voted you to the trending page as was the case every single week. You would not receive those views or those comments without Vibes. Case to point your Billie Eillish and Oh Holly Night covers you posted both received $0.00 USD before Vibes was a thing.
So sharing with your audience your entry and telling them to vote for you is "harassment" now? Wow.
See, in Web2, when you have songs on a Radio, and they make a TOP 10-20 list every month and have people vote their favorites its one of the most common "engagement tactics" Radios have. They dont call it harassment.
Vibes exists to grow the Hive user base and that is achieved by supporting excellent musicians on a weekly basis.
The musicians return the favor by sharing their Vibes content with their fan bases which in turn HELP THEM AS WELL because different fans get introduced to different musicians. Everyone benefits from it!
Even though you wrote a lot dumb and unfair stuff here... ill just chalk it up to misplaced enthusiasm for now.
It took a lot of effort to put Vibes together so I can reward all of you and I earn from Vibes less than some musicians here. I basically earn from 1-2 posts per week.
I have a very short fuse when it comes to ungrateful stupid shit like this.. but again... i wont hold it against you this time. "Although, calling it harassment because people didnt vote you was a bit much I have to admit."
Keep on posting. Help grow Vibes. Everyone will benefit in the end from it.
I agree with everything @lordbutterfly has said here, the Vibes Team is in unison, gratitude is the best attitude to have, humbleness, humility and character are keys to being a great musician as well when connecting with the audience, being a part of the community and supporting, encouraging and inspiring others through music.
And it goes without saying @melitzamusic is the only artist to hold two 2nd place prizes, as of now, and we receive multiple hundreds of entries, and other people also deserve recognition and shine. Even last week 1st place winner @ibukundeborah was the best in my opinion, and that's how the community voted her as well, even though other entries could also have won 1st place, including @melitzamusic's entry, this is the reality of competitions involving the fair community voting process, everyone is involved, and the support we receive is because of Vibes' existence thanks to @lordbutterfly and @silentscreamer for founding it and securing the investors behind it to reward everyone
Vibes is a great opportunity for us all and I am thankful to be a part of it. I hope everyone else realizes that also and shares the same sentiments to want to push it forward and expand it for the benefit of the whole community. Big things are on the horizon.
Please research what a curation trail is in detail. Upvotes on a post through curation and curation trails for an entry does not reflect actual users upvoting the entry as some users are signed up for a curation trail which means if I create a curation trail, and 10 people join it, whatever and whoever I upvote, those 10 accounts from those users also upvote what I upvote, everytime, and some whale accounts have hundreds of people on their curation trail and that does not translate to the actual support or views of a Vibes Entry posted here on the Blockchain. Hence, why the support and votes shown on a Post isn't reflected through the support and votes from the Community voting process before we announce the winners.
@verbal-d, I am sorry that you got confused and did not understand what I mean, I am not referring to upvotes, I am referring to votes in the poll that have nothing to do with the interactions of the publications in hive. For example: What's the use of having 70 votes in a poll when that same publication has 40 views in hive, and the other 30 views where are they? they don't see the video? they don't see the videos of others? the public votes are just inflated numbers that don't interact with the vibes community? it's not the first time it happens, I'm sure you have seen this pattern happen more than once.
It's a good question, thanks for the explanation, votes aren't solely based on the views of only the Hive Post, because entries are being crossed posted on the Web2 platforms, and some votes are coming in from newly created Hive accounts from the onboarding process and they saw the entry on tiktok, youtube, X twitter, then they make the required Hive account and vote for the entry on Hive for the Community Voting poll, but they didn't view the Hive Post that had also the video or link there because they viewed it somewhere else. And we are working behind the scenes to make the competition better, more fair, reduce any possible ways for manipulation and so forth. The winners who have won so far up until now, have been definitely deserving and worthy, and the judging process will only get better with more effort and care.
You are not understanding our point or our criticism; it seems you consider it a personal attack when we are complaining about a weakness in the system.
@lordbutterfly, it's disappointing that you don't take a moment to understand what this is about and instead jump into defensive mode, trying to humiliate me and dismiss my words by calling them 'ungrateful stupid shit' because your ego prevents you from seeing beyond. Your system has flaws; it can improve, but that only happens if we discuss these things. I'm not a sheep who will applaud everything you do just to get your approval and votes. Respect for myself and my values is more important than any fear or desire to please you. Moreover, you're disrespectful.
The issue I'm discussing in my post is the inconsistency between poll votes and post views and how that affects the results. For example: What's the point of having 70 votes in a poll when the same post has only 40 views on Hive? Where are the other 30 views? Are people not watching the video? Are they not engaging with other creators' videos? It's not the first time this has happened; I'm sure you've seen this pattern occur more than once.
I appreciate not needing to use profanity to express myself. The phrase “pain in the ass” used in my post was directed at me by one of the judges, @silentscreamer, during the Twitter Space in week 12; I quoted her words. I’ve participated 13 times, contributing positively to this community. It’s disappointing that you treat me as foolish and disrespectful when you’re the one being disrespectful.
I am not ungrateful for expressing my opinion. Additionally, in my post, I mentioned that through Vibes, I acquired a tool (MIDI controller) to continue growing outside this platform. But it seems you only read what you want to read, not what I actually wrote.
That gain has been because of my work and my effort in this community, giving my best in every submission, I don't think HIVE curators will vote anything that comes their way, if not something really worthwhile. That's what I always appreciate in each of my posts on VIBES, you can go and check it out with all the pleasure, as well as you took the time to come and say rude things in this post. Still, I didn't understand what you mean by all my views are due to the vibes curators, the upvotes are done before the judges selection. From day one I got good upvotes from hive curators and good feedback from users. I take the time to make a good thumbnail that attracts attention, a good post with a text that best describes my participation, I leave my thanks and I always interact in the comments with the users. I also understand that the big upvotes are made by hive curators recognized for many years, or is it that you are the one who tells them who to vote for? I don't understand what you mean by that.
The Vibes team has influence and control of many of the biggest whale curator accounts on Hive, which also has curation trails of other smaller whales accounts that automatically upvote whatever we choose to upvote on an entry. The majority of those Hive Curators work with Vibes and we upvote Vibes entries with those accounts according to the effort and quality as fairly as possible.
We will not give you more money because you complained. We will not change the voting system to add views and comments that are a direct result of the curators voting you.
You are incredibly ungrateful but you will figure that out on your own. ;)
And by the way. I already answered with a NO to your proposal, very nicely. You were obviously not happy with that and are now saying we are "harassing" people because you didnt like my response.
you giving some people a good opportunity bro!
Some people dont understand Vibes exists for everyone, not just for them.
Love your consistency you inspire me❤️
I absolutely disagree with everything you said Lord vibes and highly disappointed about your view of this as well, EVERYTHING Melitza stated is valid, I had to bottle in how I felt about last week and that is why I had no desire to participate this week, I know Personally my performances are not top notch because I see this platform as a place to grow and improve my singing skills I have seen several amazing musicians, beautiful singers and awesome performers get sidelined because of everything she just mentioned.
Calling criticism “Dumb shit” is not what I expected from the Vibes and seeing Verbal-D agree with this goes to prove you guys did not read to understand but only to reply. So many other artists here share the same thought as Melitza and God bless her for being the one to speak up. You stated yourself how she has been topping on vibes and Hive, well the Vibes community gave the platform but her effort, consistency and performance blessed her with the engagements and growth!
Calling her ungrateful! Like come one. Lol she literally mentioned what she has gained thanks to the Vibes community.
Giving bread does not shield one from criticism.
Bless!
There is criticism that was already answered, nicely like all criticism so far has been. I invite people to share their thoughts and any criticism they might have. That was completely fine and dealt with.
Claiming that Vibes is harassing people or forcing musicians to harass people is completely out of line and will be dealt with as I see fit, which is calling it what it is. Stupid shit.
Beyond that, her comment ofc is motivated by the fact that shes not happy with the rewards she is getting and is blaming the polls for it.
Firstly TOP10 are chosen by the judges and even after that 2/3 are judges votes.
This is as fair as it can be while taking community input as well.
Its as near to perfect as it can be.
So we both put value on quality and we took the step to value the community input.
She overplayed her hand severely, due to the support Vibes provided her as she assumed she could put pressure on me after I very nicely said no to her proposal already.
Thats a very bad play. Ill do everything and anything for the Hive community, im the nicest guy you will meet, but if you try stupid shit like this, claim wer harassing people because you want more money, arent happy with trending every week, arent happy with 2 second places with 400 people competing every week because you feel that your videos deserve more... then you will get my response and this is it.
We are all adults, I don't support using curse words, and it's his opinion on the matter of what to call the situation, he didn't name call anyone, and he is frustrated and I can understand it too.
I do agree with his overall stance, and for me gratitude and humility are my key focuses here, that's what it comes down to. I read her entire complaint from top to bottom and have respectfully and cordially replied in depth and detail on any of the topics brought up here to help everyone understand what the focus should be. We are doing this as fair as possible with the amount of entries we are receiving, of course there will always be people who are disappointed and unhappy about the results and express their dislike for certain aspects, that is a given in any competition, especially a rapidly growing one from people all around the world.
Hello. I will take over the conversation from now on due to all the disrespect directed towards @melitzamusic. I will not tolerate this because I was the one who brought Melitza to Vibes, I did not bring her here to be treated as ungrateful and a beggar when she has never been that way and even less to denigrate her opinion and her work. With the recent news that a participant has been disqualified for cheating in the system in the very way we criticized and named, I will even less tolerate any negative portrayal of @melitzamusic. It was never a personal attack; it was a critique of the system because we saw the door to do the kind of things for which this week's participant was disqualified. This text will be a bit long, but it is very important for us to defend our honor and professionalism. We had considered leaving since we don’t feel welcome here, but I don’t want to disappear from this community without clarifying anything. Our reputation is valuable wherever we are, and I feel we have been treated in a demeaning manner. If we are not welcome after this text, we will accept it and write our farewell, but I will express everything with respect and hope for consideration and respect from everyone.
I’ll be straightforward. We are not Mother Teresa but this was never just about money. Melitza has 17 years in music, and I have 15 years, both professionals with degrees in our field. We are legally qualified and authorized to do what we do, with years of experience in the music labor market in our country’s capital. She as a singer and educator, and I as a music producer and engineer. Our investment in equipment and knowledge exceeds what is earned for first place by more than 40 times. And we are not rich people either, not at all, I wish. We have achieved everything with a lot of effort and work in music; it’s the only thing we’ve worked on throughout our lives. So we are not beggars or bums waiting to perform for @lordbutterfly and get paid. It’s not like that, and honestly, after all the disrespect, it would be disgusting to do that.
Since last year, we decided to focus on creating content for various social networks. On Hive, we saw the opportunity to reach more audiences, and we’ve been here ever since. The result was successful; we’ve received messages from people in distant places like China, Africa, the United States, and Europe. We’ve also received many messages from fellow Venezuelans like us, and we appreciate all of them. Thanks to the content we’ve been creating here, we’ve gained new followers both on this platform and other social media channels.
Furthermore, when we read the description of Vibes, we understood that the competition was about striving for musical excellence. Melitza has never been competitive toward anyone other than herself. She doesn't like to compete with other people; instead, she only seeks to improve day by day and if she can help someone else to improve she does it, she is extremely grateful and in all her publications you can notice it, she always leaves thanks and tries to answer to all the people that with good intentions leave her a message about her participations.
I brought Melitza to Vibes because I believed it would be good practice for her and help her connect with other musicians while earning a bit of money. We never expected to receive the votes we’ve gotten; our goal was never to set up another studio with the earnings here. Our country is currently quite expensive, so living off Hive is not an option at all. Still, we appreciate the votes, they were beyond our expectations with which we entered the community. I also want to clarify that our aim has never been to reach the top 3 every week; that would be unfair to the community and very unlikely to happen. It’s been 13 weeks, and this is the first time we’ve publicly expressed concerns. As professionals, we have the basis to have doubts about what happened. Before I present our defense, I want to emphasize that what I’m about to say isn’t about humility or arrogance—but to let you know what we went through, put yourself in our shoes and understand why we ended up writing this post. Unfortunately, it was taken in a bad way and in a personal way when it was never written with that intention. The idea was to correct to make this a fairer place.
In the Twitter Space, we heard BOTH JUDGES say that this performance qualified for first place. Let me share some insights: “Stone Cold” is an extremely complex song in terms of vocal technique, interpretation, mixing, and mastering. It took three days to achieve the result of the recording we uploaded here. The song was recorded in a single take from start to finish—without dubbing, without modifying her voice, without rip-offs (I am not going to criticize the people who dub, but I will mention that there have been participants who won in other weeks and have dubbed—I know for a fact, I’m an audio recording and mixing engineer).
I was in front of her recording everything, and she didn’t use falsetto for the final part of the song. She was belting and using her voice to its fullest capacity—it's not easy at all. Achieving the different dynamics heard throughout the entire song is also challenging. I invite anyone to try it and experience firsthand how difficult this song is. So, from that perspective, we’re talking about a very demanding performance.
To be able to transmit with that song and not sound soulless is a job on its own—you have to be deeply involved. Even though we removed that part from the video, Melitza ended up crying during that recording; it’s not easy.
On the other hand, if I were to show you a picture from the session… Recording and delivering the result we submitted for the competition with that volume and dynamic range of -6 LUFS (within the current commercial range) in a master, crystal clear, maintaining all the naturalness of Meli’s voice and performance—without a nasty distortion and without the compressors controlling the recording’s dynamic range overcompressing the final result—Is not easy at all. We had to automate signal gain section by section, even down to specific words, to avoid overcompression or distortion due to the recording’s extreme dynamics. This challenge is evident in the live studio version recorded by Demi Lovato, which has 51 million views. In that official version, you can hear the compressors struggling with the amount of signal they’re receiving. We wanted to do something in our own style, reflecting our personalities, and without the issues we heard in official versions. I can confidently say that both of us were fully satisfied with our performance; we achieved what we wanted to convey.
Having heard the judges’ comments and knowing everything we put into that performance, it seemed that what kept us out of the top 6 were the audience votes, as mentioned by the judges. They said we needed to be a “pain in the ass” and gather as many people as possible to vote for us—that would be the way to secure a spot. Honestly, the choice of words wasn’t the best, and we did not like it at all. I feel that being a pain in the ass is quite unpleasant and is not part of our personality, so we say that being a pain in the ass for us is harassing our audience and our loved ones, it is something we do not like. Actually, I don't know with what connotation @lordbutterfly took it to take that attitude with us but I would like to think that being from different cultures affects in the context of the words and that his totally disproportionate and out of control response is due to that, as well as maybe for him being a "pain in the ass" might not be a big deal but to us it seems disrespectful. We haven’t launched any personal attacks against anyone; our frustration stems from a system that needs improvement for the benefit of all, out of respect for each participant’s artistic work.
What disappointed us wasn’t the lack of winning money, but rather that all the effort and work we put in went unrecognized on the podium. That result, which could compete with any official version online, ended up outside the top ranks in a competition that claims to seek musical excellence. It wasn’t due to the judges (or so we thought), because they stated that our performance qualified for first place. It also wasn’t due to the audience, as they left beautiful comments on the post. Instead, it was because we didn’t garner enough votes in a poll.
So, we decided to analyze what we had done differently from the others to not get similar votes to them in the poll. During this analysis, we noticed posts with fewer views than votes and very few comments (real interactions). That’s when we felt a greater sense of injustice and decided to write this post.
I’ll emphasize it again: I don’t want anyone to misunderstand my words. This isn’t about humility or arrogance. All the explanation I have given in this comment and the one we gave in the post, plus the results seen in Melitza's participations show that there are many things to take into account in a performance like the ones we usually bring to the competition, it is not only singing on top of a harmonic progression. Even the selection of colors, lighting, and post-production color grading in the video matters to us. Videos don’t automatically look that way; that also takes some work. But I won’t delve further into this topic.
Now, if none of what I’ve written is taken into account for the competition, and if the evaluation process follows a different method, it would have been good to know. For instance, perhaps singing about religion holds more value for you than anything I mentioned, or maybe you prefer performances shot with the front camera of a phone, excluding everything we do in our videos. These aspects remain unclear, and perhaps they contributed to our exclusion from the rankings—I don’t know, and I don’t want to assume anything.
If these matters can be clarified respectfully, and if we can treat each other as adults, then fine. If you don't like what I write, communicate it respectfully, and we’ll leave the community.
We’re grateful to everyone who has supported and commented on Melitza’s videos. Both of us appreciate it greatly. Each performance involves a lot of work, and receiving positive feedback from all of you is truly beautiful and satisfying.
@jessicaossom @anesi @gnericvibes @hopestylist @langegaming @yisusth @oswaldotorres @ovey10 @fjcalduch @stickupboys @mobbs @bobbydones @sekani @minuetoacademy @meyateingi @isbelhiv02 @capitandelbam
To all of you, who are the most recurrent, thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts. You’ve made our time on Hive even more special than we expected when we started this journey. And to everyone else we haven’t mentioned but know has been there, we’re incredibly grateful that you take the time to watch the videos. We understand that time is the most precious asset for everyone, and dedicating minutes to watch the video and additional time to leave a comment means the world to us.
Not sure why you tagged us. Good work on the music, you win some and you loose some, with vibes everyone is well rewarded and votes plus 2 second places seem like a good thing to us. Hive is funny, we put songs on that took weeks to produce and don't get votes that reflect the work but vibes is well supported with good curation. We did some entries for vibes and did not win but that is cool as we like making music. Big up
It was just a thank you for the support in the participations, nothing more, we have seen that you have been there supporting the publications several times and we want to thank you. Without compromises. The last part is a direct thank you
Well said... Vibes is great and supports its artists decently. All are winners essentially, and if anyone makes it to the top 10 considering the number of hundreds of entries, that is recognition indeed. Music should definitely continue to be made and performed for the love and joy of it first and foremost. Music's impact on its listeners is a big factor for me
Gracias por mencionarme. La Blockchain de Hive nos brinda un espacio para conectar con la audiencia. Eso es algo maravilloso. De verdad que me alegra apreciar el talento de Melitza y el trabajo musical de altura que realiza. Como profesional de la docencia musical valoro lo que hace, y siento gran admiración por su talento, pasión y entrega en el escenario. Espero mantengamos el contacto.
Muchas gracias a ti @yisusth por ver de buena manera la mención y una vez más por valorar el trabajo que hice en esta comunidad. Te deseo mucho éxito. ✨💖
You both are still welcome to the Competition
You did receive recognition from us for top 10
You didn't win top 6 of course, which the community voting plays a part in that
And the system needs improvements, I agree
But I also remember saying that multiple entries that week also deserved 1st place, not just melitzamusic's entry
The fact that we still had your entry in top 10 from over 450 entries that week shows that we aim for musical excellence, does it not???
And I also, worked as an audio engineer in America and as a Toningeneur which is the same, here in Germany
I also have decades of experience in music (+23 years) in various styles of music, from beat production, hiphop, r&b/soul/pop, classical, choral, songwriting, trained for sightreading sheetmusic as well as gospel styled rifting and various dynamically ranged performances, performing solos on stage at Carnegie Hall, working with high recognized artists in top studios and even collaborations for large companies
All which have been gifts of experience granted to me by Jesus Christ, without Him, I am nothing and have nothing
He makes all this possible and I am grateful to be in this position today
I appreciate hard work, the details, both small and large of any Vibes Music entry submitted, from the audio to the visuals, to the importance of the song's lyrics and intentions and not just the soulless karaoke perfect performance of a cover song word for word note for note, also the energy, the timing, the rhythm, the placement of fhe mics, the angle at which it is recorded audibly and visually, body language during performance, facial expression, use of emotion, and its effective control, subtle nuances to bolder riskier moves and chances taken musically, etc etc etc etc, we can go on and on and on because music has hundreds if not thousands of variables and factors and facets on which to judge and consider
I see and notice more than what people may perceive or believe
I aim to be a very fair and capable/responsible and reliable judge
The reason why I created the All Times Winners List is to support and expand upon the importance of transparency, to show that there is no favoritism or any manipulation of the like
And to help the community to judge with their votes more responsibly and fairly along with us judges
Religious songs have equal chance as other types of songs, I've often chosen secular songs within my own personal top ten list
I wouldn't have known that there has been a serious disagreement here if I wasn't tagged.
I understand where @melitzamusic is coming from with her concerns about the voting system. While I haven't won before, I still feel incredibly grateful to be part of this vibrant community of artists on Vibes. For me, the true prize is the opportunity to grow, get feedback, and connect with others who share my passion for music.
@melitzamusic, I hope you don't get discouraged. Your performances are always amazing and it's clear how much hard work you put into each one. I'd encourage you and others who feel the same way to keep sharing your talent with us. Every submission, every comment, every interaction is valuable because it means we get to experience your artistry.
Winning would be great, but I'm just thankful Vibes gives us this platform to express ourselves creatively. I hope we can continue uplifting each other's journeys, while also providing constructive feedback to make the platform even better.
I also know the judges @verbal-d and @silentscreamer are doing a great job by been as fair as possible.
I also agree with this point from @lordbutterfly
"Keep on posting. Help grow Vibes. Everyone will benefit in the end from it."
We are currently in week 14, the community is still very young and growing which is a good thing. Just as Lordbutterfly mentions in each vibes post, as the weeks go by, there certainly will be change in certain areas where it is needed.
Until then, let's keep having fun and making good music. ❤❤
A mí me encanta es que en este plano terrenal todos son Muy Buenos Artistas , de Verdad la competencia es ruda. Lo digo yo, yo utilizo música de fondo y mi voz real en micrófono, pero he observado canciones y Artistas , que me Preguntó, Porque son tan Buenos...? Pues me respondo porque son Profesionales . Los admiro y a @melitzamusic pues una super Artista...le deseo un mar de bendiciones y a su vez a todos , aquí está el pana @verbal-d me explico que es juez. Me pareció genial porque el es Un cantante y compositor que admiro. Y creo que dejence llevar por el amor , a disfrutar la vida , un abrazo ..lasp
Don’t stop sharing your amazing voice with the community and thank you for speaking up, you spoke the heart of many❤️
Talking about how the community vote affects your chances of getting on the top 6 and seeing a whole different judging system demonstrated in the week 12 is stating Total different thing because from looking at poll votes
I was among the top 6 with a total of 14votes and I wasn’t listed among the top six winners mentioned below
And the “sunsethunter” who got just a vote from the poll results came out SECOND in the finals results
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we really want to understand how the rules operate in scenarios like this❓
Does this mean that y’all create rules and go against your own rules
Everything that @melizamusic had said is very valid and truly, she spoke the minds of many💯
AND A DISRESPECT TO ONE IS A DISRESPECT TO ALL
Im sure there’s a better way to go about this❤️
Keep streading love❤️
Well you kind of argued against her by sharing that. :)
Because she cant get votes on the poll she thinks that hurts her chances which is why shes against it and wants another system.
Sunsethunter is actually a great example. Since, whats made clear every week, 2/3 of the final vote is the judges votes and 1/3 is the community vote Sunsethunter here got max votes from judges and basically nothing from the community. If we didnt have polls, Sunsethunter would be first easily that week. Because the community didnt vote him, he wasnt able to be first even with getting max votes from the judges. Wouldnt you say thats fair?
So when you say:
Its clear shes basically completely wrong about everything. 😂
The community vote isnt affecting her chances of getting to top6, she just didnt get enough judges votes as well, even though she was second twice but shes not happy with that obviously.
And if there is anything blatantly disrespectful is claiming harassment from the side of Vibes. No other Web3 project rewards as many musicians consistently every week as Vibes does. She shared this exact criticism before and was answered very nicely but for this disrespect she will be responded to in kind.
Hey @anesi,
No we do not go against our own rules.
Last week me and marica had @sunsethunter at 1st place on our lists
and even though you were top 6 in the community voting, you might have been place 8 or 9 on both of me and marica's list from the top ten list we both had which means that since your community poll voting was 5th best percent just above @valenzam who was 6th from the community poll, it still didn't push you high enough to reach the top 6th in our lists, not even @valenzam got a placement because she was lower on our list. The Judges still have the majority of the percentage (especially when me and marica's lists are similar on certain weeks, but rest assured we are doing it as fair as possible to the best of our ability) which is why I created that transparent Vibes All Time Winner's List
My Brother @sunsethunter He is an extraordinary guitarist! An incredible instrumentalist, out of this world.
I was very happy when it got 2nd place, even though it got few votes in the poll.
Yes agreed, I can't wait to collaborate with him too, whenever our schedules line up.
Thank you so much @verbal-d my man! Really appreciate your support my bro. I've been away for a few weeks and now will be back in full swing. I'm over the moon with 2nd place, boosted me right up! Can't wait for a collab man, I will have more time now :) peace bro :)
Hey @guitarmcy thank you so much for the kind words! This is awesome to hear man, and you are an absolutely amazing player yourself! I have been away for a few weeks so haven't been able to reply. But I am over the moon for 2nd place! So happy and grateful!:) Keep rocking!:)
You deserve second place and much more, you are a wizard on the electric guitar.
Thank you so much man :)
Please let me know if you understand now what I explained to you. Hope it makes sense