General Music Chat

The woman who complains (whines) about having to tour means 'no families' can get a job playing with the local orchestras, doing local solo shows, etc.

Local shows don't pay squat, and you can't do them every day. One really does have to travel non-stop to make a (decent) living as a musician

If a band/group/soloist is 'big' enough to make good money touring, they can afford to bring their family with them.

Sometimes...but I promise your wife wouldn't like it and your kids will be uneducated. Not to mention you have to deal with domestic issues in the middle of dealing with musicians. Do you have any idea how much fun that is?

If its 'medium' money, they can schedule to go home every 2 weeks or so.

That's why I've been doing since 2005. For the last 6 years I average 4 -5 days per month at home. I've missed so much of my little boys life and my little girl is almost 17. There is no guilt like being gone from home all the time to pay for having a home.

Don't like it or can't get that 'magic' gig, go get a 40-hour-a-week job and relegate music to the hobby/extra $ category like 99.9% of musicians.

Yea, but what if Led Zepplin had to do that? In today's music business climate, Led Zepplin would never had afforded the arena-style concert with quad and lasers. Notice those aren't happening much anymore?

It takes a certain adventurous personality to want to live out of a suitcase. People can't do that forever before it drives them nuts...unless it's worth it.

Would you work your ass off to come home a few days a month with nothing for very long? So the point is that a lot of great music will never be heard, while lesser qualified musicians will emerge simply because they're willing to live like gypsies.

I guess an eternal garage band scene wouldn't be all that bad...but sometimes ya want to hear artistic excellence.



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No offense but I've got some of the same issues working seven days a week three jobs LOCAL trying to support my family.
We pick our priorities until wisdom of age teaches us how wrong we were.
That's life.

Charlie Christian, Gene Krupa, Django, Elvis, Dick Dale... all these players really made their mark in live shows at local or regional levels. I suspect this is the path forward for most with record sales becoming less of an income source.

Not sure about those others but Elvis made A LOT of money in royalties from record sales, and didn't tour a lot after the 1950s ended.

The others all come from an era when there was less competition booking into venues that paid decent money for music/bands. That's gone now.

Music is still big money. Musicians are getting less than ever before of that.





George writes:

No offense but I've got some of the same issues working seven days a week three jobs LOCAL trying to support my family.
We pick our priorities until wisdom of age teaches us how wrong we were.
That's life.

I used to own a couple of locksmithing businesses and was gone all the time then, too. It's a different kind of "unavailable" being on the road, coming home and your kid has grown another inch. In the middle of the night you can kiss your sleeping wife at least. Heck, people take for granted that they can choose their clothes from a closet every day.

But hey, I understand we all have challenges in life and no one is going to feel sorry for a traveling musician.

However, what makes this situation today different than another job is that people are finding ways to get (free) the work an artist has to invest many thousands of dollars to create and bring to market.

Most are doing that through internet sites who are giving our music away to enrich themselves only.

Understood.

I'll not even take the trouble to accurately track my investments in my musical mission.
Tens of thousands I'm sure.

I would like to think it is more a matter of ignorance than greed that the current situation exists.

Well . . . at least I'd like to think that.

Change, the more things change the more they stay the same. Music is like any career choice out there, if you want it you got to go after it hard, and with everything u got. There's probably more professional musicians working in a little county south of Spfld, MO then in most counties in the states. The jobs are everywhere here in music and in industry, u just have to get out there and find them.

Change, the more things change the more they stay the same. Music is like any career choice out there, if you want it you got to go after it hard, and with everything u got. There's probably more professional musicians working in a little county south of Spfld, MO then in most counties in the states. The jobs are everywhere here in music and in industry, u just have to get out there and find them.

Word!


Found a great resource of people talking about the music biz and know what they're talking about. Check it out, if you want

http://www.tommydarker.com/music-talks/archive/





But this one pertains to the subject of this thread (piracy) and his take is spot on: "your problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity"

And he cuts the Gordian Knot with this one statement: The secret to lasting success is to be freaking amazing.

http://www.tommydarker.com/music-talks/ ... gital-age/

I'll not even take the trouble to accurately track my investments in my musical mission. Tens of thousands I'm sure.

And I wasn't even considering equipment or travel expenses into the equation.

I'm talking about creating an album worth buying. Minimum 10k will sound like a budget recording. 15-20k is the least you'll spend to have something that is "amazing"...but that doesn't include another 5-10k for a minimum of marketing promotion. So best case scenario is you've done a great budget album and a minimum of marketing/promotion for 15k.

Then everyone thinks it is free.

As a locksmith, a blank key would cost me about .15 but after cutting it I could get a little less than $3. That's about 2000% profit on materials.

But in my current profession, the margins for profit are extremely smaller. If you're selling CDs at the going rate ($10) it will take 1,500 units to break even on recording costs for that budget CD and your profit margin is about 1.5%

Big difference!

I would like to think it is more a matter of ignorance than greed that the current situation exists.

Well . . . at least I'd like to think that.

I'd like to think Eve would never bite that apple.


But like it or not, I'm ALL IN.

So it's not like I'm going to quit. To find a solution for anything, you must first be honest with yourself about exactly what the problem is, and those who can adjust to reality, sometimes a completely new reality, are the ones who will succeed.

I'm going to figure this out or die trying. Thanks for letting me vent in public.





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