Giving Up On Music As A Profession.

[necrome]

Thank you all you kind souls for your kind words. You guys are right - I should be happy for the 12 years that happened when playing music was all I needed to make ends meet. I am turning 36 this year and live in the ultra small country that is Singapore where the government controls and censors every aspect of life, music and the arts. Losing one of the last bastions of freedom in busking and live music is especially painful since now the ruling class will make things really difficult moving forward.

Seems like making this post means I'm near the acceptance stage of the "5 Stages of Grief" and I'll have to look for something else to pay the bills till (and if) this blows over. There is a job listing for teaching language to preschool kids and I don't resent that. Will start sending out applications for work that don't take up the entire day so I'll still have time to improve musically.

I truly appreciate you guys for replying to this post and being supportive to a stranger over the internet. Much thanks and love

[Fogducker]

I think it was Hunter Thompson who said;

"The music business is like a long dark hallway full of of murderers, rapists and thieves,--- ---there's a lot of bad things about it too!"

That was in good times he said that. I play out once in awhile but it's a long way from even breaking even. The old saying, that I'm sure you've seen, "Don't quit your day job!" I'm pretty sure you already know what you have to do and I can't even come up with something to steer you in a different direction other than to wish you well and a lot of luck.

Fog

[necrome]

Originally Posted by Fogducker

I think it was Hunter Thompson who said;

"The music business is like a long dark hallway full of of murderers, rapists and thieves,--- ---there's a lot of bad things about it too!"

That was in good times he said that. I play out once in awhile but it's a long way from even breaking even. The old saying, that I'm sure you've seen, "Don't quit your day job!" I'm pretty sure you already know what you have to do and I can't even come up with something to steer you in a different direction other than to wish you well and a lot of luck.

Fog

Thank you Fog for the funny quote

It seems I will have to go against the old saying by quitting my day job, the irony!

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by 6L6

Let music be your outlet for SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT AND BASIC ANIMAL SATISFACTION.

FTFY.

I told all my kids that if that felt they had any artistic or musical leanings then don't study music/art, study business. The artistic development will take care of itself.

You might want to consider whether you would prefer to work a boring job during the day and play great music to the right people who really understand it for free at night or rather play someone else's music for the minor £$¥€ and pare back your lifestyle to live within your means.

People who only play music are often incredibly boring people, working folks generally have more to talk/write about.

[Acousticado]

All I can add is...you can beat this and come out the other side even better at everything. Get to work!

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by necrome

...it's simply just not financially viable...

Yeah, that was my ultimate conclusion.... 50 years ago.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by necrome

Thank you all you kind souls for your kind words. You guys are right - I should be happy for the 12 years that happened when playing music was all I needed to make ends meet. I am turning 36 this year and live in the ultra small country that is Singapore where the government controls and censors every aspect of life, music and the arts. Losing one of the last bastions of freedom in busking and live music is especially painful since now the ruling class will make things especially difficult moving forward.

Seems like making this post means I'm near the acceptance stage of the "5 Stages of Grief" and I'll have to look for something else to pay the bills till (and if) this blows over. There is a job listing for teaching language to preschool kids and I don't resent that. Will start sending out applications for work that don't take up the entire day so I'll still have time to improve musically.

I truly appreciate you guys for replying to this post and being supportive to a stranger over the internet. Much thanks and love

I can tell you from experience, that the likelihood of something coming out of this situation that you may least expect might be the most enjoyable experience of your life. Have faith and really look in your heart. At 36, you have your whole life ahead of you still. You will find something that makes your heart sing just as much as your vocal chords!

[rllink]

I'm sorry that you feel bad, but I can not be honest and sympathetic at the same time. There are a whole lot of us who wanted to make a good living by pursuing our passions and had to face reality, get a real job and pursue our passions part time. I truly wish you all the luck. Sometimes things just don't work out.

[Bob Womack]

I'm sorry you have reached a tough bend in the road.

Back in 1978 as I was approaching the end of college and was playing a hot band, I gave the music business, specifically performing, a really, really hard look because I really wanted to make my living there. I discovered that it offered little long-term support for anyone hoping to have a life and family. As they entered their forties, none of my musical interests had been able to keep a family together.

I decided to take a look at a connected field, recording engineering. I studied it in a masters program and was hired away to my first job. My career has spanned live audio for video, audio post-production for video, and eventually circled back around to recording engineering and producing music and playing sessions. Over forty years I've worked in the corporate world, so I've had benefits and vacation. My music is heard all over the world, though my name isn't known.

I've encountered many people who started out wanting to be performers but have ended up happier in jobs associated with music because of the lifestyle they offer. Examples:

A friend is the music producer for a television show. episode producers come to him with finished pieces and ask him to locate, edit, and choose music from libraries to drive their productions.

Another friend has been hired onto the crew of an animated children's show as their music composer. He writes music and lyrics for the show's episodes, literally putting the words in the mouths of the characters.

Another friend chose music to score a soap opera. He took a custom-written library of cues and set them into the scenes. When the soap opera ended he became a real estate flipper in order to support his music career playing in a regionally successful band in Florida and commuting to Nashville to work sessions.

Another friend worked at a jazz radio station during college where he made a bunch of contacts. He has sinse parlayed that into a career producing music videos where he gets some of the great jazz and studio players together in a studio and records them for these videos.


One friend went to Berkley and became a composer. After thirty years he turned to arranging producing a large traveling music production that takes the music of popular bands and integrates it with local civic pops orchestras. It supplied a very popular program to the locals orchestras who are starved for audiences and provides a second income to thirty players and a two crews of fifteen. Several of his shows have had larger draws than the original bands. Of course, in the present circumstances, he is on hiatus.


So, as my friends and I demonstrate, there are other ways to find fulfillment using your musical skills and an income as well. I hope this spurs your thought a bit.

Bob

[Mr. Jelly]

A country music legend from days past said the advice he received when he was beginning his career in performing music was "get your house paid for first". Then you can afford a career in music through the bad times.

[RP]

As an aside, at the age of 36 I truly believe that you should be looking at what you want your life to be like in 20-30 years. Although I made a lot of mistakes on the way to 70, I'm really glad that I arrived here with a decent state pension, SSI, Medicare and a 401K. As tough as your situation may seem at 36, you definitely don't want to have those same concerns at 66. Those thirty years probably seem like an eternity now, but they go really quickly...

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by Fogducker

I think it was Hunter Thompson who said;

"The music business is like a long dark hallway full of of murderers, rapists and thieves,--- ---there's a lot of bad things about it too!"

That was in good times he said that. I play out once in awhile but it's a long way from even breaking even. The old saying, that I'm sure you've seen, "Don't quit your day job!" I'm pretty sure you already know what you have to do and I can't even come up with something to steer you in a different direction other than to wish you well and a lot of luck.

Fog

I'm a fan of Hunter S. Thompson, and his quote about the music biz is one of my favorites...in full, it said:

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

True then, true still...

[necrome]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I'm sorry you have reached a tough bend in the road.

Back in 1978...

I decided to take a look at a connected field, recording engineering...

Bob

Thank you all so much for being supportive and having a positive outlook on my situation. I feel a lot better now knowing that many of you older gentlemen and ladies have gone through a similar phase in life to offer me practical advice that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

@Bob The examples you listed are really inspiring and I ought to look at related fields in my country to see if anyone is offering traineeship programmes. I'm actually really interested in recording engineering but have no idea where to start professionally since I wouldn't be able to fund a formal education at this point. There are some skills I've picked up along the way doing recordings for YouTube but I don't quite know the practical steps to land some work in this area. As a veteran, what do you think is a good first step to take?

[Kerbie]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

Yeah, that was my ultimate conclusion.... 50 years ago.

True for me too, sadly.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by necrome

@Bob The examples you listed are really inspiring and I ought to look at related fields in my country to see if anyone is offering traineeship programmes. I'm actually really interested in recording engineering but have no idea where to start professionally since I wouldn't be able to fund a formal education at this point. There are some skills I've picked up along the way doing recordings for YouTube but I don't quite know the practical steps to land some work in this area. As a veteran, what do you think is a good first step to take?

We actually have a pretty diversified group of engineers: two from Full Sail, one from Berkley, one from the University of Tennessee (me), two who came up through practical experience, and two who came on as apprentices and learned everything on the job. I don't know where you live but there is a degree to which this business is locality-based. Big cities have more of the business, but even places like Atlanta, Richmond, Baltimore, St. Louis, etc., have small centers of advertisement, production, and post-production where people are needed. What an education buys you is the theoretical background to be able to teach yourself new techniques and technology. The deeper the background the better the ability to grow and adapt.

Most of the guys who I knew who became composers studied composition in college but one of the guys who became a music producer had as his only experience playing in an art-rock heavy metal band. However, he lived five miles from a TV network headquarters and got to know some of the producers. He had a lot of drive and was eventually hired. The audio engineering department taught him the basics of DAW operation and he's off!

Bob