Pairing your comic with music

[alarnia]

So Tapas gives you the option to link your episodes with a song on soundcloud, and I've been using it as I see fit, but it doesn't seem like something that is commonly used.
What are everyone's thoughts on this? Do you feel like it distracts or adds to the experience if there is a fitting song, even if it might not necessarily be your favorite genre?
also, is there such a thing as too much synthwave?

[dawgofdawgness]

My personal opinion is that music can be really great for setting a mood if your pages are long and filled with plot
if they're like super short pages, i don't think the reader's gonna sit there and listen to all 2 minutes of music lol ^_^

[Kura]

It used to be more popular when I first came to the website. Now I don't see it used as much.

I also don't think they work on the phone (unless something has changed) so it's something exclusive to web browser users, which is the minority of tapastics user base (I believe, again I could be wrong) and not really their target audience at teh moment as they are heavily pushing mobile.

For me I never play them because I can't read and listen to music at the same time. (I used to be able to but since I had a seizure I can't anymore)

[melindemari]

I agree on most part, music is nice to have when reading a specific scene (imagine spooky art emphasized by dramatic sounds - leaves bustling, owl hooting, wind....) It can help a lot in setting the scene, but it's more for long pages than a quick 30 seconds read and then done! I've not waited 2 minutes to finish listening to an accompanying song!

Movies use sound a lot to tell what they don't want to "show" but it has to be well planned out, I gather should be same for reading material, it should be planned not just executed cause you like the sound.

I know some artist add the songs they listened to while drawing up the comic pages, like me I listen to songs while writing my novels, but doesn't mean you HAVE to link a song just 'cause you want to' or 'can' - but hey each to their own I guess - It's a nice gesture to have the option when you do require it though!

[zigmenthotep]

I only recall seeing it used a few times and I've never actually played the music. Actually it might be a fun to use it to add narration to a comic, has anyone seen that?

[MST3KFan]

See I like to incorporate music to pages of my comic, but on the other site I post my comic, it allows you to embed a YouTube video, which is usually I do it. Here on Tapas, I still include the link to the YouTube in my descriptions for the pages, but it's not the same sadly.

[J.Lovelace]

I don't like to listen to music while I read, because when I focus on reading I pretty much block out all the sounds around me anyway. In the end I don't remember what the song was about lol

The times I wanted to add songs to my works, Soundcloud doesn't even have them, and it's too much of a bother for me to register to yet another site I might barely use... if I could just switch between Soundcloud or Youtube, it would be much more useful to me.

There's never too much synthwave X3

[rinfumochi]

Oh I asked this to a friend who has been here for long and it's like the other guys above said, it might help setting the mood if you have long chapter but it'll be weird if you only have short chapter since the song will like abruptly cut off? But I think it depends on the readers, some like music when they read, and some prefer silence. :0

[indagold]

It can be very distracting if its on every page and its loud, clashing, upbeat type music. I compose my own music for my comics and I choose the most ambient one out of them so it gives them 1) a nice environmental feel and 2) does not distract from reading or cause too much interference. I have concentration problems and I know that feeling when trying to read and darude sandstorm is playing in the background lol

[alarnia]

I had thought of that! and it seems like it would be an excellent addition to comics or novels, but my guess is not everyone has the time or equipment to record narration/dialogue on top of writing+drawing

[alarnia]

Good point! I think i might look up some ambient music artists on soundcloud next time i have an update...

[parkcathedralgrace]

I rarely use it. If I do use it, it's usually random and just done to show off a song I like (e.g. foodman's Nanika or Scott Gilmore's Europe).

[XzynderVexymous]

I think it can be used for certain scenes and parts.

[UbePie]

I am of the opposite opinion of everyone else. I hate it when people put music to their comic. I can't stand it when it is on a website that automatically plays it and I cant find where to turn it off. When I read I want silence. I want to pay attention to what the characters are saying and what's going on. I find music distracting, I like to be sucked into a world, and music interrupts that for me.

[IdiotWithPencil]

I think most readers either love it or are indifferent to it =/

I have tried it some times but or the author has no idea what ambient music would pair well with their comic or I just have diferente tastes from them, also most pages are small like 30 second to 1 minute read so they rarely take up the whole song XD

[IdiotWithPencil]

worst when its a sound ad >:C fuk those things

[InkbyteStudios]

I used to add a song per each chapter of my comic but I found it too overbearing especially since the pages are short so I only use the title of the song for the title of the each comic.

[Guido-Vision]

I was not even aware this was an option! Does it play automatically or do you have to click on it? Does anyone has an example I can check out? Since my comic is wordless, I think music wouldn't intrude too much, and it could be a cool way to set a certain mood. I would have to post full chapters as opposed to single pages as I'm currently doing, or the reading time would be too short for any piece of music to play!

[alarnia]

I believe in your account settings you can choose if you want music to play automatically, otherwise you have to hit the play button at the top of each episode. see here

to add music to your comic, when adding a new episode there should be a section at the bottom where you can search for songs on soundcloud, click a song you like so it turns orange, and then you can click add. Should appear on your comic once you submit.

[Guido-Vision]

Thanks, @alarnia, that's really useful! ...and cool comic, by the way!