So come on then, what's your secret?

[MrKnobs]

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kurdy wrote:

Is making a living from music the end goal? For myself, I've come to realize, no it isn't. Once music becomes a job, or something you have to do, it's easy to get burned out on it.

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Exactly!

Don't make music or anything else you love a job.  Make music or paint or backpack or whatever it is you love and if you make money from it, great!  If you don't, don't sweat it because you're doing what you love and whatever otherwork you're doing that pays the bills is the price you have to pay for doing what you love.

Compromise can be good, but if you've compromised your musical endeavors to the point that you wake up dreading the next show or hating the song you just wrote because you tried to make it "commercial" then STOP STOP STOP STOP, you're doing it wrong!  

As I think Craig said earlier in this thread just do your art and don't worry about whether anyone likes it.

Now excuse me for a bit, as I have to go play a show in a hurricane.

Terry D.

[Ernest Buckley]

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kurdy wrote:

 

For me, its important to be able to make whatever kind of music I feel like making. 

 

I've found what I really want is validation. Whether or not that's healthy is outside the scope of this thread, but at least it's sometthing attainable. To me, if someone tells me they really like a song I did, or knows the lyrics...to me that feels as good as someone handing me $1000. Probably better. 

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As someone who makes their entire living from music, I can tell you that its easy to lose sight of why I got into music at times but I`ve learned some things along the way. You bring up 2 very important points...

There needs to be balance (theres that word again) between "work music" and "my music". Don`t get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of the "work music" but if that were all I did, I would get burned out and yet the "work music" is where I am validated. It took me years to figure this out because there was a time where I was looking for validation in my band and solo artist days but I only got frustrated and really turned off by it all to the point where it began to interfere with my work music.

Then I crashed and burned in early 2007. Not pretty but I ended up "retiring" from my Church work for a good 7 months. I was done with music and I went full time into real estate. I remember putting my guitars in their cases and deciding I was going to sell them. Those guitars sat there untouched for a good 9 monhts. Long story but I eventually figured out I need to make music or else there is no point. Sometimes the burn out is a good thing because it gets you out of the forest long enough to see where you are and where you need to go. 

Lessons learned.

Now to keep myself "in the groove" I am very aware of gumption traps (anything that sucks the excitement out of me). I`m always asking myself, "Does this excite me?" and "What am I trying to accomplish here?" Sometimes the task at hand is not exciting but it does have a purpose... like a rehearsal.

And to avoid falling into the trap of "all work, no play", I set aside studio time with myself these days. It just so happens that from Sept - December of this year, that day would be Wednesday. The day changes depending on my school schedule, (I recently went back to college for Psychology). But now I know on Wednesdays that its ok for me to drop work and school and just focus on my own music. 

We need balance no matter what we do and we also need validation from time to time for what we do.

In the ideal setting, we can make a living doing what we love and receiving validation for it!

[Etienne Rambert]

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MarkydeSad wrote:

How do you folks manage to make any money in the music business?

I haven't made a single, solitary cent from music sales. Kinda funny, really

 

What

is

your secret??

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Well, unlike a lot of people, I tend to keep the stock separate from the roux. And that's a very fundamental difference from what you're likely to find on the web. On a less important note, I don't add celery either. Many folks do. I don't. I don't see the point of it. 

I cook the stock about 3-4 hours also. That's a long time and it starts to melt. It gets very sweet. That's good. I season & stir the stock as I go. The roux is the tough part. 30 minutes minimum - hand stirring. And don't screw it up. One little speck amiss and you have to start over. Not only that, you can get seriously injured. It's not called Cajun Napalm without a reason.

But it's real magic. It is an experience you will always remember - if you are present when I add the dark roux to the stock. The rich, chocolaty aroma that comes up -- it's just incredible. You are very privileged if you are around the pot when I add the roux to the stock. 

So that's how I make gumbo. I make money doing it too. But it's a side deal. 

Oh...I'm sorry. You weren't asking about making gumbo. You were asking about something else weren't you?  My bad. My gumbo makes money. My music doesn't. It's just a sideline.

[Roy Brooks]

I make money as a musician by being a sideman playing guitar or bass.

[Goobers]

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MarkydeSad wrote:

How do you folks manage to make any money in the music business?

I haven't made a single, solitary cent from music sales. Kinda funny, really

 

What is your secret??

---

 

the secret is just to be very freaking good at it. 

 

everything else is crap. 

 

 

If you came out with an album where every song was as good as Barmy Army, you would make money. That's a great song, but not all your songs are that good. 

 

I think quantity breeds quality, so keep pumping them out and be honest about what's good and what isn't. 

 

Also, try to find musicians either as good or better than you to work with. 

 

I've been working with several musicians who are much better than I am, and it makes me better. 

 

You know I think you're a great musician, you have a great sense of what music is about, and your Kafka-esque life makes you even more interesting.