To declare you have no chance at making a living is indeed self-damning, and it's not true.
A snotty ex-girlfriend once declared that there was little chance if any of one making a living as a musician. She drew a comparison with the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and even Richard Thompson. She was right, sort of.
But consider this: At EVERY SINGLE INCOME LEVEL that there is, among all of the trades, there are ALSO musicians.
There are indeed lots of poor musicians. But there are also plenty of journeymen/womem who make whatever living that they make either doing music or something+music. You'll find the m & the s+m types at every income level too.
It IS about developing a business or working thru someone who handles that end for you. Have you thought of finding a booking agency or the British equivalent (if there is one) of a party planner?
One thing I'm trying to do is to find niches where someone needs at least *some* of the music I know how to do.
I don't NEED every gig to be a free-form showcase of the entire range of my repertoire. So I'm trying to find gigs where even the niches of my repertoire are useful. The fact is that there are LOTS of people in the world who need an hour or so of music & are willing to pay well for it. The trick is FINDING them. There are plenty of people in the world who would pay to hear you play at a concert. The trick is to find ways of gathering them together.
Recordings (as you know) are also a lucrative cottage industry. With modern technology the overhead is getting lower. Thanks to the Internet, global distribution is trivial.
Here's how *I'm* looking at it: Let's say I resign myself to the fact that I'm not about to become a rock star. To have a comfortable living, I don't NEED to be a rock star anyway. Let's say that $30,000 dollars a year is a wage that is "decent". If I weren't married, I could support myself decently on this if I picked my hometown well.
Soo:
If I sell CD's for $10 each & successfully make 1/year, then I only need to find 3000 people IN THE WHOLE WORLD to reach my goal. I went to high school with that many people. Compared to the record buying public, that's NOTHIN'!!!!!
Now, mind you, I'm very very far away from that goal, but every day as I build up my demos, find more gigs, sell more CDs, widen the reach that I distribute my sound & myself too, & improve the quality of what I produce, I inch closer to that goal.
My first goal was to have a CD to sell again. Next, a critical mass of demos for "soft targets" then demos for an ever widening range of genres and gigs then another CD WEBSITE more gigs more CDs etc.
It's going to work & it IS working. Slowly but surely I'm finding ways to fill my calendar & get myself & my work to those who would enjoy it. The upper limit: who knows? Bt if I keep my eye on the prize I believe I can do this. What I have to be prepared for is ALOT of diligent work & some very creative brainstorming finding more places to play, finding bands who might need me, hopefully teaching some more, & finally, probably enlisting someone to help me do the legwork to FIND me the gigs where I am qualified and would be welcome.
I KNOW you have a broader appeal than I do, & are a whole lot more established. So dagnabbit Harper, stop putting yourself down.
It DOESN'T have to happen over night, You DON'T need to be Mick Jagger.
Ask yourself "How much would I need to make to be 'successful'?" Ask yourself "How far along am I towards doing that?" Then, INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT THAT DISTANCE, ask instead: "What is a step I can take RIGHT NOW that moves my cause FORWARD, & will be on a firm footing?" eg: I know you have work out on CD. Here's one excellent step: Do you currently posess copies that you can sell of your ENTIRE catalog, solo & collaborative? If not, what would it take to get ONE more product into your arsenal to take with you when you play out?
If you don't have the money to make a production run yourself, maybe now would be a good time to find amongst your friends/peers someone willing to sponsor such a thing. That way, your work is working for you, & possibly helping someone else out who believes in you too.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-01-30 03:43 pm (UTC)A snotty ex-girlfriend once declared that there was little chance if any of one making a living as a musician. She drew a comparison with the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and even Richard Thompson. She was right, sort of.
But consider this: At EVERY SINGLE INCOME LEVEL that there is, among all of the trades, there are ALSO musicians.
There are indeed lots of poor musicians. But there are also plenty of journeymen/womem who make whatever living that they make either doing music or something+music. You'll find the m & the s+m types at every income level too.
It IS about developing a business or working thru someone who handles that end for you. Have you thought of finding a booking agency or the British equivalent (if there is one) of a party planner?
One thing I'm trying to do is to find niches where someone needs at least *some* of the music I know how to do.
I don't NEED every gig to be a free-form showcase of the entire range of my repertoire. So I'm trying to find gigs where even the niches of my repertoire are useful. The fact is that there are LOTS of people in the world who need an hour or so of music & are willing to pay well for it. The trick is FINDING them.
There are plenty of people in the world who would pay to hear you play at a concert. The trick is to find ways of gathering them together.
Recordings (as you know) are also a lucrative cottage industry. With modern technology the overhead is getting lower. Thanks to the Internet, global distribution is trivial.
Here's how *I'm* looking at it:
Let's say I resign myself to the fact that I'm not about to become a rock star.
To have a comfortable living, I don't NEED to be a rock star anyway.
Let's say that $30,000 dollars a year is a wage that is "decent".
If I weren't married, I could support myself decently on this if I picked my hometown well.
Soo:
If I sell CD's for $10 each & successfully make 1/year, then I only need to find 3000 people IN THE WHOLE WORLD to reach my goal.
I went to high school with that many people. Compared to the record buying public, that's NOTHIN'!!!!!
Now, mind you, I'm very very far away from that goal, but every day as I build up my demos, find more gigs, sell more CDs, widen the reach that I distribute my sound & myself too, & improve the quality of what I produce, I inch closer to that goal.
My first goal was to have a CD to sell again.
Next, a critical mass of demos for "soft targets"
then demos for an ever widening range of genres and gigs
then another CD
WEBSITE
more gigs
more CDs
etc.
It's going to work & it IS working. Slowly but surely I'm finding ways to fill my calendar & get myself & my work to those who would enjoy it.
The upper limit: who knows? Bt if I keep my eye on the prize I believe I can do this. What I have to be prepared for is ALOT of diligent work & some very creative brainstorming finding more places to play, finding bands who might need me, hopefully teaching some more, & finally, probably enlisting someone to help me do the legwork to FIND me the gigs where I am qualified and would be welcome.
I KNOW you have a broader appeal than I do, & are a whole lot more established. So dagnabbit Harper, stop putting yourself down.
It DOESN'T have to happen over night,
You DON'T need to be Mick Jagger.
Ask yourself "How much would I need to make to be 'successful'?"
Ask yourself "How far along am I towards doing that?"
Then, INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT THAT DISTANCE, ask instead:
"What is a step I can take RIGHT NOW that moves my cause FORWARD, & will be on a firm footing?"
eg:
I know you have work out on CD. Here's one excellent step:
Do you currently posess copies that you can sell of your ENTIRE catalog, solo & collaborative?
If not, what would it take to get ONE more product into your arsenal to take with you when you play out?
If you don't have the money to make a production run yourself, maybe now would be a good time to find amongst your friends/peers someone willing to sponsor such a thing. That way, your work is working for you, & possibly helping someone else out who believes in you too.