A question for gigging musicians...

[DupleMeter]

There was a time in my life when I relied on gigs & teaching as my sole source of income. It was tough. I'd teach from 3pm-8pm, then load up and get to a gig for a 9pm load-in & setup, start around 10pm and play until 1am, pack up, drive home...collapse and get up to do it again.

I can't say it wasn't fun on many levels, but the majority of the money came from teaching. I guess I felt like the gigs helped me justify my saying "I'm a musician" rather than "I'm a music teacher."

That said, there are ways to make a decent living as a full-time musician...none of them are gigging unless you happen to have major backing.

I'm very happy to be doing what I do (I write & record production music, am a music director & do a lot of audio post work). I have a (somewhat) regular schedule and support a family with music. All in all, not bad. I do the occasional gig, but it's more for fun than for the money. I work with some great publishers and have some really good clients, get to work from my home studio most of the time and get to be around for my family a lot more than most guys I know.

[Osage]

When I used to tour a lot it definitely was rough. Wake up, get in the smoky van, get breakfast and coffee, get back in the van, drive for hours, eat a crappy lunch, more driving. Find the club, load in, wait around, sound check, wait around, eat dinner, drink cheap beer, wait around, watch other band(s), play set, wait around, load out, wait around to get paid, drive to wherever we were staying, get a little sleep, wake up and repeat. Being in very close quarters with 4 other guys for long periods of time can be straining, even with close friends. i definitely had fun but it got old. I still play in a few bands but don't tour much. Mostly local or gigs. Maybe a couple weeks a year on the road and it's much more fun this way. I still record and release music in 2 of the bands I play in. My royalty checks are basically a joke but it's fun to get a little beer money every month.

[lodi_55]

Just remember you are in control. At one point, I felt compelled to take any gig that came my way. And I did get burned out temporarily. Whether it's two gigs per month or two gigs per year, find your sweet spot and stick with it!

[MikeBmusic]

When it gets to 'feel like a job' - playing the same songs to an audience that is only half paying attention; spending hours 'promoting' your gigs on social media (hardly anyone hangs up posters any more); spending hours trying to drum up new gigs; packing up form an afternoon gig and heading right to an evening gig, setting up, playing for 3 hours, then packing up and heading home - and wishing you had 2 gigs the next day to make some more money.
When does it become 'worth it'? When you can afford to hire people to do the promoting, setting up, and other non-playing chores.
The people I know who would be considered "professional" (my definition is that music is their ONLY source of income) have to hustle 7 days a week: gigs, running open mics, giving lessons, etc. No different, really, than anyone else running their own business.

[jseth]

Decided when I was 17 to drop out of college and "be a singer/songwriter/guitarist" as my life's path... still following that path today.

I have always had a vision of what I was trying to accomplish, artistically, and I've stayed true to that... so, I have rarely played anything I didn't want to, didn't love (very few cover tunes in my younger days) and basically refused to let anyone tell me what I was going to play...

As a result, I didn't work all that much, certainly not as much as many friends who were in "cover bands", playing the current Top Forty songs. Most of those friends have stopped playing; many got sour and bitter about playing the music they did, while others just realized there were a lot of better ways to make money.

I never got into this to make a bunch of dough (probably a good thing!), but I've learned to get by on what I had coming in... I don't owe any money to anyone, I have fantastic instruments and a wonderful PA system, and I've gotten very good at what I do.

Funny, the same semi-obscure songs that I play by other artists that didn't get me work, back in the 70's, are now considered "Classic" and quite viable in the places I play.

Has it been a grind at times? Yep... especially when I let the business aspect of music supersede or blanket the real reasons I play and write. That becomes the discipline; to always remember "Why" I chose to do this...

One aspect of playing for a living that I haven't heard mention is that EVERY TIME I play a gig, I'm looking for a new job! Even places where I have a "regular" night or nights every month (used to be you'd get hired for several nights a week for a 5 week run or longer), I know that circumstances can prevail where I'm looking for another place to play... and that gets very "old" at times...

Getting rejected happens all the time when submitting songs to people, as well as when trying to get a gig... it is just part of the process, part of the business end of things. Although I am much better at this now (at 66!), I used to take rejection VERY personally when I was a kid (<30), and that can do a lot of harm in a hurry... so, again, it is up to me to remember why I chose this path...

I've done a lot of other things to make ends meet, and that's been interesting, but I have always considered myself a songwriter/singer/guitarist when I was doing it.

I love golf; was very good when I was in my early teens, but walked away from the game when I was 15 and din't play again until the late 80's... still love it. Got a chance to caddie at one of (if not the best!) golf course on the planet, the Cypress Point Club, in Pebble Beach, CA.

Cypress is VERY private; you just can't buy your way onto that course... and one of the benefits of working there was to play the course for free! So I began caddying after losing three regular gigs in the same week... I still remember what I felt like when I realized how much money I was making in a month... really not much when compared to "real" jobs, but SO MUCH more than I made playing music that I was thrilled... for a while.

As I get older, I still love music, and I am so appreciative of all that my path has brought to my life... no regrets, even though I haven't yet had that "hit" song or become a "star" of any sort.

Takes a particular sort of person to choose music as their path and make that work...

[rmp]

I've played for quite a number of years in cover / original bands, and some of those years between, we gigged pretty hard.

after a long break from steady playing, I started to test the waters for solo acoustic work this past summer. I am enjoying the work to be honest. I've done three shows since late august.

The one thing I wasn't sure of was would I be able to sing 40+ songs during a 3 hour gig, (basically 3 sets - 2 45s and one 60 minute), and still be able to talk when the night was done. Turns out,, I am able to sustain my voice through out the entire gig, and I can finish pretty strong too.

I do practice a lot, being of the mind that the hard instrument to perfect is the voice, I tend to spend a lot of time working on it. Otherwise, I don't think I could do the 40+ tunes required to do a whole night.

While it is fun, it is more work then you realize.

Prepping the set lists, getting the right songs, getting them arranged properly so that there are some easy ones, among the ones that test the range, is homework that takes some time to sort out.

next, you need to figure out your equipment,.. lots of options today.

Then there's the day of the gig.. load in, setup, play, tear down, pack it up..
if you're solo, ha! there's usually not a lot of help unless friends or family are there to help you tear down.

It does tend to be quite a bit of effort, that has to be considered when you're setting your price.

[Axis39]

I've been self-employed or a business owner for over 20 years. Most of those years has been in construction, doing custom work, remodeling, etc. But, recently I have been spending more and more time making music and making a larger and larger percentage of my income making music.

The thing I have learned is that part of being self-employed or a business owner is the business of doing business... Not actually doing the business.

Some folks have already visited it to some degree, but, I'll reinforce some of what I'm talking about. I know some guys who are remarkable craftsmen. They can make beautiful furniture, or beautiful music, or beautiful artwork, or sculptures, whatever. They can make good money when they sell their work. They work really hard at whatever craft they are involved in. However, many of them know nothing about marketing or sales... So, they struggle. Many of them are very bad about keeping track of paperwork, filing taxes... You get the picture, right?

I am currently working with a pro musician. She's been doing it as her sole income source for over forty years. Her career is on it's downhill side, slowing down some. We play (practice) together regularly. We knocked out our first gig last Saturday. Our next scheduled gig is a little ways away. But, she gets up and works every day, practicing, writing, working on the website, the other day she was filing sales tax. She has to order some more merch soon... It goes on and on.

So, while her career is winding down a little bit, she still spends a lot more time not making money, than actually gigging and pulling the money in. She spends a lot more time hustling, doing the business of doing business (back office stuff), not doing the business (playing music).

I got a friend who's an excellent drummer. We were talking the other day and he was chuckling over the fact that some guys wonder why he takes every 50 dollar gig he can get. He says he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to support himself making music... But, 50 bucks at a time, he does!

Being a guy who has supported himself doing something he's loved on and off for a number of years, I do enjoy having music being a bigger and bigger part of what I do and how I make a living. I am not sure being a full time pro will ever be my reality. But, if I keep moving the way I am, I'll sure enjoy what I do every day!

[Toby Walker]

Hi PhotoJeep,

I've been playing professionally for nearly 40 years, punctuated with a few odd jobs in between.

Back when I was getting started, I asked John Hammond pretty much the same question. He told me that you really have to love what you do in order do this kind of thing for a living. Truer words were never spoken.

Anyone in that's in business for themselves has a challenge from the get-go. Even more so if you're a musician. It ain't easy, but fortunately, I've survived, and continue to do so after all this time.

So first things first. I can only answer your questions from my perspective, naturally. For me, it has never, ever become a job in the sense of drudgery. I have always looked forward to the next gig and teaching the next workshop or private lesson. As part extrovert, I happen to get quite energized being with people, especially if they like me in the first place!

What does become somewhat of a grind is the traveling. The saying "I get paid to travel, the playing is the reward" really rings true. Fortunately, I don't have kids and my wife is also a musician, so there's absolutely no conflict.

I will tell you that anyone that wants to become a full-time musician HAS to. It's not really a matter of choice, but rather it's a, well, destiny. I simply would hate to be doing anything other than what I do now. It's knowing that this is what you are meant to do.

I'll also say that you need to wear multiple hats if you want to survive. That means learning how to be your own accountant, promoter, agent, (I have one of those now), salesman, and marketing person. You need communication skills, have a load of patience and grow not only a thick skin but a pair as well. Learning stage-craft is also vitally important, as you are, bottom line, the entertainment. Also knowing how to talk in a language that the sound person understands - never piss them off - is a huge benefit.

That's it for now. The Yankees are in the play-offs and the game is about to begin.

[Al Acuff]

It's been a while since I did it but I used to gig five days a week and some of those were doubles. By that I mean a 2 hour happy hour at one location and then a bar gig somewhere else. It eventually burns you out (and also overexposes you if you are working in a small town). It's hard to draw a significant number of customers when you play every night.

My answer to the OP is yes it gets to be a grind some days. You take jobs you'd rather not take because you have to. You play what people request. For what it's worth I think you're better off if you can make your money another way like with a day gig and then play only the guitar gigs that you truly enjoy.

[51 Relic]

Like many I used to gig maybe four gigs a week including weekends and hold down a day job ( with a very understanding boss ) however since taking early retirement I now play about three services a month in our local church and really love it . I now play 100% acoustic and I love every minute. The Burns Marvin is safety tucked away but a full gigging week is now a very fond memory

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by Photojeep

Like many here, I've often wondered what it would be like to play professionally full time. I have been a volunteer musician and singer at my church for well over 20 years and while I've enjoyed almost every moment of that time, I've occasionally wondered if I would like it as much if I were a paid musician, either church music or some other kind.

My wife and I were listening to some of our favorite music on Pandora and began to talk about this very thing and wondering if playing music ever becomes a "job" for professional musicians.

I'm sure everyone gets varying degrees of burnout no matter their profession but I wonder how often this happens to those whose job it is to be emotional on cue while entertaining others.

Any thoughts?
PJ

About ten years ago now I would have listed music as my career. I spent lots of time on the road, living out of beat up old vans. When we were home I worked as many hours as my job at time would allow (this varied from pizza delivery to working full time in various banking departments) as well as practicing 30-50 hours a week to write and record new music.

Oddly, music never still never felt like a job. It definitely felt frustrating at times he’s and took a lot of work, but even just playing music for fun it gets that way also.

Financially it was a success if the band made enough money to pay for gas/lodging and we never had to pay out of our own pockets. Making money is extremely hard, which any musician knows. I’m thankful to have had the experience and to have traveled so much with a group of my friends playing music that we loved.