I received an AAS degree in Music Merchandising and a BS degree in Music Business, just so I could have a website and YouTube channel to talk about guitars. I mean, that wasn’t the original plan. The original plan was to work in music retail, which I did, but I didn’t like it. So I went back and got a BS degree in Elementary Education, taught 5 years, and then switched to educational technology and then web development. Computer programming was my other hobby besides music – it’s neat to make a living from something you would do for your own enjoyment.
It’s not hard to make a living in the music business… unless you want to make that living by writing and recording and performing your own music. Then it’s extremely hard, and that’s assuming you can write good songs. I’m annoyed anytime someone says “don’t have a backup plan” or “don’t have a plan b.” That advice is very easy to misinterpret to mean you should aim for John Mayer status or consider yourself a failure. And sometimes the people who say it neglect to mention that they worked as waiters while writing songs in order to pay the bills. If you want to make a living in music, you don’t need a plan b. That’s true. But you need to be willing to redefine what success looks like.
Are you willing to write music for TV commercials? Or local advertisements? What if you put all your efforts into making something happen and nothing happens? Will you feel like a failure? Are you aware of how bad the odds are? There are artists you’ve heard of that are flat broke right now, with no retirement plan, no health care, and no real future because no one wants to hear their genre. Oh sure, Tom Jones can still tour. Genesis can still tour. But it’s damn tough to make a living if you have one hit in the 80’s.
A lot of musicians have gone to YouTube. Tim Pierce and Rick Beato are two of my fave channels. Tim is a session guitarist. Listen to the Top 40 right now – not a lot of guitars in it. Or musical instruments, for that matter. Lotta drum machines and synths. What did he do? He started an online learning academy and makes instructional videos. SMART GUY. He’s still recording sessions, but he’s not 100% dependent on them.
If your goal is to make a living in music, you need to think like Tim Pierce. Think like a business person. Be agile. Look at your skillset and figure something out. Entrepreneur. If that doesn’t sound like you, there’s always music retail. Guitar Center will be happy to underpay you.
But don’t overlook music as a hobby. Why am I a web developer? Well, I like to program, that’s why. But also, the world values web programmers and it’s not hard to make a good living at it. A friend of my son is going to college for computer programming video games. But it’s a CS degree. They told him up front “You might not get a job making games. If you don’t, you’ll still be able to get a high paying job as a computer programmer.” Holy shit. That’s what’s up. Computer people are very practical.
That was my thought when I went to college – I wanted to make a living as a rock star, but I knew the odds, so I wanted to make a living in the music business however I could. And then I realized that music retail wasn’t much fun. Sales is not my thing. Oops. Had I lived in LA or Nashville I might have ended up working in a recording studio or something. But I lived in a hick town.
I still love that plan, though. You want to be a rock star? Work in music retail or some other related business. When the rock star thing doesn’t happen, you’ll be on track to be a manager somewhere. Assuming you’re OK with that. If not, get out and do something different.
If your goal is to do music for fun, do not allow anyone to make you feel bad about it – you’re actually the smart one. I was over 40 and my rock star dreams were far behind me. I still felt like a failure. I wrote the best music I could and it wasn’t good enough. I’d never make an album. No one would hear my music. I was pretty depressed.
But then computers got good enough to make albums at home, and the Internet made it possible to get your music online. And I stopped shaming myself and said “Who cares. Why not just write some music for fun? At least I can put out an album and have that.” You must understand, putting out an album before good home recording software and the Internet was very, very expensive. Once I decided I no longer cared that I didn’t become a rock star, I was able to write better music. I put out four albums and a fifth is almost finished. I’ve had music licensed. I’ve been on radio and TV. It’s still a lot of fun. I love talking about guitars and music. Hence this website and the YouTube channel.
Here’s the best part – do you want to be an artist? That is the easiest thing to do. Just decide you’re an artist. Poof! And a true artist makes art to please themselves, not the unwashed masses. Make your art. Make it better. And better. Keep going. Love the process. Always learning, always trying new things. Listen to all kinds of old and new music to inspire you. Keep a journal. Record little melodic ideas. When you’re ready, record your art.
You might not be able to do that full time, but you can do it in your free time. Assuming you’ve structured your life to have free time. And after you put your art out there, some will like it, most won’t. Doesn’t matter. You don’t even need to put it out there. But it’s nice to share your art because it makes the world a better place.
