Music as a full time career

[NewTricks]

Just keep doing what you want to do.

When I was pushing 30, I gave up and got a real job


I did the easy thing. With a kid and a mortgage, the easy thing for me was to be normal and get to work/make some money.

If I was more talented and didn't have as many obligations, I may have made other choices but honestly, I always felt it was a very long shot to earn a living as a musician, especially as a drummer.

If you have no obligations that would force you to chase money right now, I'd stay the course and stick to your plan. There are a lot of people who actually earn a living as musicians. It may not be as easy as "getting a real job" but it has the potential to be a whole lot more fulfilling.

But, you still have to deal with musicians so..... That's what finally drove me off the edge. Learn to spot the flakes and egomaniacs and do your best to connect with the good ones.

Good luck!!

[slinky]

it's not very glamorous but getting into a good metal tribute band might be an option. Don't limit yourself to one genre either even if it's a country band.

[signia fan]

Good advice New Tricks. And others too, I think all of us mean well. Recently there have been some FB threads asking people what their biggest regret is and one is from people in retirement homes. The most common regret is not following your dream and staying true to yourself.

The thing that makes these decisions so monumental, is the question of your strength of character. Can you accept the consequences good and bad. There are players who have achieved great success, but not great wealth that comes with it. Living with the bitterness that can follow takes a strong person. Life is unfair, and you can practice 10 hours a day, network, meet and play with great players, and at the end maybe sacrificing your entire adult life to this venture still does not fill the hole, was not what you expected. There will still be people around you that you feel are hurting your performance, or not appreciating what you have sacrificed. Maybe the money is steady, but your health starts to fail and you still have not put away anything to fall back on. Chasing the dream often or never ends up at one particular day where you can say, this is it, everything is perfect, I made it.
My personal lesson has been, enjoy the struggle, enjoy everything along the way, because that to me is the best way to achieve happiness, because living for that one magic goalpost will be a let down if you did not enjoy the journey.

[late8]

Good advice New Tricks. And others too, I think all of us mean well. Recently there have been some FB threads asking people what their biggest regret is and one is from people in retirement homes. The most common regret is not following your dream and staying true to yourself.

The thing that makes these decisions so monumental, is the question of your strength of character. Can you accept the consequences good and bad. There are players who have achieved great success, but not great wealth that comes with it. Living with the bitterness that can follow takes a strong person. Life is unfair, and you can practice 10 hours a day, network, meet and play with great players, and at the end maybe sacrificing your entire adult life to this venture still does not fill the hole, was not what you expected. There will still be people around you that you feel are hurting your performance, or not appreciating what you have sacrificed. Maybe the money is steady, but your health starts to fail and you still have not put away anything to fall back on. Chasing the dream often or never ends up at one particular day where you can say, this is it, everything is perfect, I made it.
My personal lesson has been, enjoy the struggle, enjoy everything along the way, because that to me is the best way to achieve happiness, because living for that one magic goalpost will be a let down if you did not enjoy the journey.

Great read! Thanks for sharing your well written thoughts.

[kay-gee]

Stay tuned. A sermon from the pulpit of KG is on the way. It's gonna be long and it's gonna be thorough. Perhaps this evening if I have time.

all the best...

[rickthedrummer]

Stay tuned. A sermon from the pulpit of KG is on the way. It's gonna be long and it's gonna be thorough. Perhaps this evening if I have time.

all the best...

Mine is going to be simple, direct, and, from my perspective, how I both made it, and failed miserably.

[rickthedrummer]

1st: Give it up, forget about it because it's not going to happen.

2nd: OK, you are not going to give up the "dream". That's good.....maybe.

There has been a lot of good advice given. Some from people who actually did it.

If you have enough cash that will allow you to cover your everyday expenses (gotta eat, a roof is always nice to have, which means rent, and the various things that pop up that, unfortunately, cost money.)

If you have enough to keep you afloat, put your own band together, but, finding people that want what you want is going to be hard. Back in the day, we auditioned about 300 musicians/singers over a period of several months to find 3 that wanted what we wanted. If you find people like that, you can pick the music, and the direction that you want to go, and you have to do that as a band, not 1 person.

Finding a working band looking for a drummer. That can be both good and bad. Good because you are working. Bad because not everybody has the same goal as you.

Someone mentioned a tribute band. I turned down a Doors tribute band that was a very busy band, working all the time. I would have had a week to get up to speed. Not hard to do when you are playing 1 bands songs note for note, and, for the most part, the drum parts were simplistic. I liked the Doors, but not enough that I wanted to do them 24/7.

Money: It has to come in on a continuous basis. We couldn't catch a gig for a while because the bar owners didn't have time to listen to the few songs we had on a little tape recorder. We started sending our bass player's GF (blonde, good looking, and looked even better in shorts and a halter top) The owners would at least listen to her, and she got us our 1st gig. $160 for the night and we played 3 nights and did well enough that he wanted us back every 6 weeks or so.

About 2 months later we got booked into the Stone Pony, rocked the place, and really never had to look for a gig again. Our fight, if you will, was how much are we worth for a 3/4 night gig. This was in the early '70's where you played 4 sets, and didn't split the night with another band.

When you start making money and playing better clubs, the money goes on a better sound system. We went with a Shure Vocal Master that did the job just fine.

There are just so many things that come into play when trying to do this that part of me wants to say "forget it", but I also know what it was like back when I was young and it was all I wanted to do. So................................................ ................GO FOR IT.

The part about failing is that I expected (when I was in my 20's) that by the time I was 35-40, I'd be playing in a jazz band. Never happened.

[inthpktplayer]

It's a tough road, but, if it's what you really want to do.........do it.

When I was young........many, many moons ago, I paid my way in life through music. It provided food, shelter, supplies for diversionary activities and most importantly it paid for my education.

Having been through that, I knew early on that it wasn't the way that I wanted to pay for things for my entire life. Very fun, but, also way too much of a struggle.

Good luck.

[ludleg]

1st:
...About 2 months later we got booked into the Stone Pony, rocked the place, and really never had to look for a gig again. Our fight, if you will, was how much are we worth for a 3/4 night gig. This was in the early '70's where you played 4 sets, and didn't split the night with another band.

Rick, what was the name of your band back then, when you played the Stone Pony?

[slinky]

"rickthedrummer"
There are just so many things that come into play when trying to do this that part of me wants to say "forget it"

sad but seems true.

"Luck" is looked at differently by different people, you can get it or make your own if that makes any sense. I tend to think it just happens. Doing something with a show band that plays the casino circuits is a good possibility to make some steady income. Was watching some video of a Vegas show band and this one had Jay Schellen in it drummer from Hurricane fame.

[Bridie]

Hi,
I say go for it,
I know I will never be a brain surgeon or anything like that, but my goal,is to be happy.
Not fussed about loads of money and being famous, just to be able to play a bit, and work a bit in the music industry somehow will make me happy.
I would like to bake cookies and have a cake shop too!

Bridie

[rickthedrummer]

"rickthedrummer"
There are just so many things that come into play when trying to do this that part of me wants to say "forget it"

sad but seems true.

"Luck" is looked at differently by different people, you can get it or make your own if that makes any sense. I tend to think it just happens. Doing something with a show band that plays the casino circuits is a good possibility to make some steady income. Was watching some video of a Vegas show band and this one had Jay Schellen in it drummer from Hurricane fame.

You can sit and wait for things to happen, or you can go make them happen. I chose the latter.

Keep the customer satisfied and you will always be working.

I have to say that it (while it's never easy) was probably easier back in the '60's and '70's then it is now.

[rickthedrummer]

"and work a bit in the music industry somehow will make me happy.
I would like to bake cookies and have a cake shop too!"


Bridie, a little diversity never hurts, although that's some jump from making music to making cookies.

[Ricardo]

I have to say that it (while it's never easy) was probably easier back in the '60's and '70's then it is now.

During the '70s in Dallas, we had dozens of rock clubs and many good bands.................live music was the thing that people wanted............we could get gigs every week..............and back then, a gig was a 6-night deal.

Today is much more difficult.

[wired]

it's not very glamorous but getting into a good metal tribute band might be an option. Don't limit yourself to one genre either even if it's a country band.

This..

[EddieV]

During the '70s in Dallas, we had dozens of rock clubs and many good bands.................live music was the thing that people wanted............we could get gigs every week..............and back then, a gig was a 6-night deal.

Today is much more difficult.

Yep......

If you think about it - most clubs only have music on Fridays and Saturdays now. Yes - there are some that do Thursdays and Sundays. But MOST...only do Fri/Sat.

That's only 8 bands a month (or 10 a couple times a year). That's not a lot of openings. Compound that with the fact that there's only a fraction of the clubs.

It's a tough nut.

[inthpktplayer]

and back then, a gig was a 6-night deal.

Those were the days. I remember when it slipped down to Thursday-Saturday and we cried about it back then.

Now? Well now just sucks.

[EddieV]

I remember when it slipped down to Thursday-Saturday and we cried about it back then.

For me.....and the area I was in, that was the early to mid 90's. Bad economy, New DUI laws, Insurance Premiums and Line Dancing. Country music had it's disco stage and many clubs jumped the rock and roll band ship.

What they didn't know was the Line Dancing crowd didn't drink much alcohol...and it didn't turn out well for most of the clubs. When they finally gave up on it.....it was too late. The sports bar thing hit and it lasted up until the last 5 years or so.

[Midnightmadness]

Thanks for all the positive encouragement all.

Im 39 so I'm not old but I'm not super young either. But, I really believe that age is not a factor as long as a person is truly committed. There have been many people who did not reach their goals until they were old. So that's encouraging to know.

As of late I have changed my strategy. I've always had that one main band template for pretty much my whole life. I still want that. But, I've decided to try to approach it in a different way. Meaning, playing with multiple bands while searching for that one main band for me. So I'll always be playing and moving forward in that way. That why I'm not just sitting around waiting for that main band to present itself before I join another band . That way I'm always out there networking so hopefully the band that is everything Im looking for will have the chance to see me and hopefully ask me to join their band.

That said every band that I play in will get 100% of my time dedication and energy. I won't short change any band even though I'm always looking for the band that will be perfect for me.

[NPYYZ]

If I were in my prime as I was when I played on the road for 14 years straight. I would be looking for a gig with a National act. A lot of 70's, 80's 90's major bands are doing tours again. Many of them are not using their original drummer, Take Black Sabbath , AC/DC or Heart to name a couple. My goal would be to look into getting an audition with a band of that level. I'd go for the big time or not at all if I could do it again.

So much time is spent finding the right people only to end up playing clubs where the crowd wants cover tunes. Yeah I made a decent living for 14 years but i finally said to myself , why? whats the point of continuing on? Played covers with some originals mixed i for 14 years and got no where.

Start networking and making some connections with national acts and get yourself an audition if you want a career in music. Or another option would be to look into getting a studio gig.

[Bridie]

"and work a bit in the music industry somehow will make me happy.
I would like to bake cookies and have a cake shop too!"


Bridie, a little diversity never hurts, although that's some jump from making music to making cookies.

well I have been making both for a few years now!

[slinglander]

Maybe it depends on what you consider "making it" in the biz. If you want to be in a national act or a successful national band or in a successful local band or a session player, the main requirement is that you be a good, versatile drummer first. How good or even versatile depends on the part of the music industry you're interested in. But in the end, isn't it "can you make a living at it?" ....and can this be done from where you live?
The free lance art scene which I was part of in the 80's-90's I think is similar:
I could be successful, make a living from it regionally but not locally-not enough of a market. But then I was an illustrator for agencies and design studios not a fine artist, doing galleries, etc. National success was possible due to Fed X delivery and Fax machines and telephones, etc. but you had to find the style and market for your art. I could have moved to New York and lasted longer-bigger market for commercial work, easier to make contacts face-to-face, etc. but I didn't. Then computers took over!
So it depends on your definition of success or making a living.

[8beat]

I saw a Justin Bieber scarf in a resale shop.

Bands can be merchandising businesses, selling t-shirts, baseball caps and other things with the band name or logo printed on them. Why not sell cookies?

[EddieV]

One of the funnier things that ever happened to me was I was in a Salvation Army thrift store looking for a Halloween Costume.

(who am I kidding...I'm a full-time musician ...I was actually buying socks and underwear.)


Anyway.....I was going through the T-shirt section and I saw one of my bands old T-shirts.


So...I bought it.


True Story.

[Midnightmadness]

I have always had a template when it comes to bands of having one main band that is my career based band. Like Lars does with Metallica or Scott has done with anthrax for example. But I have found this is very hard to do because of bands breaking up and interband conflicts which causes a person to leave a band. So I've been embarked on a completely new paradigm and strategy when it comes to being successful in bands. I've decided to try to play in as many bands as possible while constantly looking for better opportunities. Not saying that I will jump ship every 5 minutes from bands though. But when a new opportunity that is better arises I plan to jump on it, and if possible still play with the bands that I I am currently with or will be with at the time.

It seems that guys like Gene Hoglan do it this way all the time and it really seems to work out best for them because they're always busy touring and recording and making money.