I know a musician, an absolutely brilliant guitar player, who decided early on that the way to making a career out of music was to do the mundane, but rewarding things. He is a full time guitar teacher, heads up a music ministry (a paid position) at a very large church in CA, does studio musicIan work and is a Taylor Guitars demo artist. One of the nicest and down to earth people you could ever meet. Yes, he has put out CD’s but that was not an effort to pay bills. He played at one of Clapton’s Crossroad festivals (where you have to be invited to play). But doing all what he does gives him a 6 figure income and very comfortable life.
He learned from his father, who had a couple of country hits in the 70’s, that it was better to have a steady income than trying to”make it big” and rely on the one or two charting songs to provide your income. He has become quite successful while being pretty much an unknown. He owns and flies his own plane, which has become his hobby other than his hobby like job as he says.
To make it as a musician today really means not on relying on having a hit song because the payments are so little because of the streaming industry. But you still can earn a good living by doing other music related things. Even gigging locally or regionally doesn’t pay much anymore because venues still pay bands/artists 1970’s amounts and you are competing against DJ’s whose costs are a lot lower, and likely cheaper to pay than a band.
He learned from his father, who had a couple of country hits in the 70’s, that it was better to have a steady income than trying to”make it big” and rely on the one or two charting songs to provide your income. He has become quite successful while being pretty much an unknown. He owns and flies his own plane, which has become his hobby other than his hobby like job as he says.
To make it as a musician today really means not on relying on having a hit song because the payments are so little because of the streaming industry. But you still can earn a good living by doing other music related things. Even gigging locally or regionally doesn’t pay much anymore because venues still pay bands/artists 1970’s amounts and you are competing against DJ’s whose costs are a lot lower, and likely cheaper to pay than a band.
