Demoitis devoid of external cognitive influence, can be defined as a condition-based “symptom” that tends to be rampant amongst music creators and consumers in which the quality of a particular demo, song, or mix is judged from the listener’s subjective point of view as opposed to objective and real-time consumption. Demoitis is ultimately caused by excessive listening.
In simpler terms, what this means is that Demoitis is the endearing feeling of attachment or bias that a musician or listener has to a demo recording, or song to the point that such recording is only viewed as the best version regardless of the obvious presence of a superior or better mix of the same.
It is the feeling that the best version of a song is the one you have heard over time – which is often not a viable metric for quality judgment.
Interestingly, Demoitis is a common phenomenon among every human being who listens to music. As previously established, It is a musical phenomenon but also doubles as a psychological condition that is caused by excessive consumption of a song, and has a strong
tendency to lead to skewed judgments regarding the quality of a song set to be released – artists, music producers, sound engineers often fall victim here.
The everyday music aficionado may also fall prey to the whims of demoitis as pertains to quality assessment of a song. A music listener who is biased toward a particular record due to repeated listens might find a remix version of the same song as less interesting, even when the case is not so.
How does demoitis impact song release and consumer patronage?
Recording artists are more prone to the trickery of demoitis than any other professional in the recording industry. In fact, If left uncurbed, demoitis can prove very harmful to the career of a music artist as it clouds judgment, and can be very bad for business in the long run.
For instance, an artist with demoitis will be unable to properly evaluate the difference between his/her demo recording (which often lacks the necessary plug-ins and faders) and a properly mixed version that has been worked on by a professional music producer or sound engineer and has been further tested for quality assurance through output devices such as sound monitors, car speakers, consumer level speakers, headphones, etc.
The artist would rather stick to the demo version instead, as he or she dogmatically believes the demo is the better version, and if fully convinced, the artist might go on to release such a record,
fully propelled by instincts simply because it sounds right and that should cut it regardless of any professional feedback.
This is where things can get dicey as after release, a discerning listener who might have heard the song on the radio, in a car, or via a music streaming platform would most likely perceive such a record as distasteful or not having quality and might create a wrong impression of the artist to the listener who might now bookmark the work as mediocre, and subsequently, its creator, which ultimately leads to a dwindle in patronage.
