“So ya wanna make yer own music, huh? Well, lemmie tell ya somethin’, kid – ya gots ta not have a backup plan!” — Every old fart musician who got famous back when people still bought music
Technology brought us drum machines, samplers, computer-based recording, the Internet, mp3, and along the way, totally changed the music business. You can play for fun in your bedroom. You can become your own brand. You can do anything and everything in between. And the old farts who can’t see what’s happening can’t handle it.
I think there’s a big ego thing attached to the old “no backup plan” thing. For every guy who put all their dreams in one basket and hit the big time, there were 10,000 other guys who did the same thing but didn’t hit the big time. A lot of those guys spent the rest of their lives bitter because they were in the same situation to succeed as others but for some reason didn’t. They gave “the big time” a shot and failed, and then had to deal with depression and often drug addiction the rest of their lives. In some cases, this led to suicide. I feel awful for those people.
Here’s the truth: they decided that in order to be happy, they had to be a rock star. The trap is that becoming a rock star isn’t entirely within your means, in the same way that winning the lottery isn’t. Yes, there are people who are super talented AND good looking AND can play and sing AND can write great AND decide to write the type of music that the masses will like. There are also guys who can throw a baseball over 100 miles per hour and throw it extremely accurately. Such people are extremely rare and can get paid a great amount of money.
But for the rest of us, we should be careful what we decide we NEED to make us happy. Beyond the food/clothing/shelter thing, as musicians we like to make music. What’s wrong with setting reasonable goals? NOTHING. In any other field, this is known as having a smart plan. You set a goal, meet it, set a higher goal, meet it, repeat as much as desired. In music we’re told we need to be “all in.” In order to what? Become a rock star? If you want to play your music in front of 50,000 screaming fans, then yes, “all in” is what the doctor ordered. But understand you’re planning your happiness on winning the lottery, which means you’re being a dumbass.
There has NEVER been a better time to be a musician, unless you want to make your living selling music or playing in clubs. Again, back to goals. What is a realistic goal? For some, it’s learning how to play “Paranoid.” That’s great! For others, it’s to write a good song. That’s harder – you have to write a lot of bad songs in order to write a good one. But it’s a realistic goal. For me, when I was younger, I wanted to make my own album of my own music. That would have cost $20,000 back in the old days. Technology eventually made it possible.
Making a living as a musician has always been complicated. But there are people making a living as musicians doing jobs that 10 years ago hadn’t been invented yet. And that’s going to continue. Setting goals is important, though, whether you’re a hobbyist or you want to be a professional musician. You’ve got a lot of options. And here’s one that you likely won’t read anywhere else, but it’s a good one – If you want to spend your life writing, recording, and performing exactly the kind of music you want to do, unaffected by anyone else, not having to listen to anyone else, with 100% artistic freedom, consider doing music as a hobby. Get a career in something else you like to do, preferably something that pays a good amount of money. And you can do whatever you want with your free time. WHAT?
I’ve put out four albums. I have fans all over the world. I’ve been on radio and TV. I’ve had my music picked up and streamed by Krogers and Walgreens. And I’ve done exactly the kind of music I want to do, on whatever time table I felt like, and I’ve loved every minute of it. And I like my day job as a web developer a lot. And I’m married and have two kids. And I run this website. Financially, my music career has been a flop – I’ve spent more money on gear than I’ve made recording and performing. That’s why I’m a web developer. It’s not about the money. It’s about the music.
I’m not saying my road is the best road. You have to pick your own goals. But please understand that YOU decide what success and failure looks like. The guy who decides to learn how to play guitar is a success once he can play a song all the way through without making a mistake. No one is telling him he’s a failure because he didn’t go all in. If you are talented on guitar and want to go to a music school and become a pro guitar player, that’s awesome! Do it. But be willing to move to LA or Nashville and be willing to be the nicest guy in the room, and be awesome to everyone. Not willing to move? That’s fine! Pick a different goal. Just be realistic. Maybe giving lessons and not moving is a good compromise. Maybe you’d rather write code and build mobile apps and make four times the money. And start your own guitar channel on YouTube as a hobby.
It’s all up to you. You define success. I can share with you the stuff I’ve learned over the years, and maybe it’ll help you learn that first song or start writing and recording. Why? Because I love to write about music. It’s one of my many hobbies.
Until the next installment from this series, here’s something to think about: What’s a realistic goal for you to achieve, one that would make you happy? How about working on that goal?
