Making A Living in Music and Why I Won't Dot It: An Underachievers Story

Guitardedblog.com

I. Making a Living In Music

Becoming a rich and famous musician requires many factors such as, talent* (though that one is questionable) looks, charisma, connections, luck, timing and certain other intangible factors that you can't control. Example: I would propose to you that one of the main reasons The Beatles happened when they did was because of the post WWII baby boom. There were more teenagers in the early 1960's then at any other time in history. Those little transistor radios were just coming into existance as well so radio stations could reach more people than ever before. The timing was right for them, the world was ready for The Beatles. You can't control that kind of stuff.

It's the exception to the rule. The chances at achieving that kind of success are astronomical. Even if you just write one hit song, or simply achieve some sort of moderate national, regional, or local success is a longshot at best. The idea of the starving band of brothers, braving the perils of the road has been romanticized in the minds of young struggling musicians. Take the following quote from Henry Rollins from the program, "Seven Ages of Rock."

Touring bands in a van, get by. And what do you get in return? 300 sweaty, adoring fans a night, and your freedom, your musical freedom. And maybe you missed some meals, or the cops came and shut your show down. But man, you weren't flipping burgers, you weren't filling Slurpees, and there was something to be said for that.

I can tell you that as a teenager the idea of roughing it on the road like that sounded the greatest life you could ever imagine. If it was a choice between, school or my parents house I'd much rather be starving on the road. But how much fun is it when you're almost 40 and still broke and starving and instead of trying to achieve stardom, you're simply trying to make enough money to survive?

Watch the movie Crazy Heart that came out a couple years ago. I'm not a fan of country music and I never actually finished watching the movie, but the begining of the movie shows Jeff Bridges as a washed up, musician, just trying to get by. It's a wakeup call for those who think it's gonna be so easy to make it big, and how cool it must be to live on the road. Watch the movie, odds are that's whats waiting to you.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone, but I do want to be honest about the realities of pursuing a career in music. If my children told me they wanted to pursue music full time and hit the road, I would never discourage them. I would much rather they look back one day, content that at least they tried than look back wondering what if? Nobody's last thought on their deathbed should ever be, "What if my entire life had been a mistake?" But I would make sure they knew just how hard its going to be. Anything worthwhile in life is usually not going to come easy.

Those stories we used to hear about, when the unknown little garage band gets discovered at their first big show, gets a record deal that night and becomes an overnight sensation is not real life. The fact is most bands make it big today because they have the financial backing behind them that allows them to live like musicians and devote all their time to developing their craft, while their professional representation solicits their material. I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but as a rule of thumb, you can't just walk into the lobby of a record company expecting to drop off your demo. Odds are it won't even be listened to. They don't accept unsolicited material for fear of being sued.

Even for one of my favorite groups The Beatles, success didn't happen overnight. They probably played at least a thousand gigs before anyone ever heard of them. They spend months in Hamburg playing all night, every night. They slept in a storeroom behind the screen of a movie cinema next to to the bathrooms where they had to use the water in the urinals to wash and shave.

II. Why I Won't Do It

So I've always been wary about pursuing music professionally. Especially since I've have a hard time keeping a normal job, the thought of being self employed, and doing something I love is naturally enticing, but if I had to rely on playing guitar to pay the bills, would I still enjoy doing it?

If I made my hobby the very thing I'm relying on to live, then I'm turning an enjoyable pastime into the very source of stress and anxiety in my life. I play guitar to get away from the stress of work, and finances. I find playing so satisfying because it's an escape from all the bad stuff in life. i love the portability and freedom of just having my acoustic guitar that I can take with me anywhere and just start playing. Trying to make a living at music I might spend just as much if not more time, acquiring equipment, acquiring other musicians, transporting, loading and unloading gear, promoting, and selling, and traveling, then actually just playing the guitar, which is all I've ever wanted to do anyways, even if there's nobody around to hear it. Regardless of whether I make a dime doing it or not. All that other stuff is just a distraction to me and frankly not enjoyable.

What dop you do when the thing that you usually escape to is the very thing you're escaping from? Did that make sense? Because it makes sense in my mind but looking at this sentence on the screen it just looks weird...Anyways, thats probably why there are so many overdoses and other self destructive behaviors in music. Partying hard after the show is one thing, its a social activity and people are trying to have fun, but when that turns into systematically killing yourself with drugs and alcohol, and the minute you get to the next city, you're looking for the ghetto so you can immediately score, that is no longer trying to have fun. That is the behavior of someone who is miserable and hates themselves and is slowly committing suicide. What happened I thought rock n roll is supposed to be fun?

Sometimes people don't understand and will literally harass me and give me a hard time about the fact that I'm perfectly content and insistent on keeping guitar as a passionate hobby rather than some sort of job, that I must be successfull at.

How come you're not in a band? you're good enough...

What a waste of your abilities...

You should at least go try an open mic night somewhere...

You don't have to make a living at it, you can just do it for fun...

The thing is though, I ALREADY DO IT FOR FUN! for me just the very act of performing in public puts the focus on "The Band" as an entity, and takes the focus away from the literal act of actually playing the guitar.

Sure playing in front of people can be enjoyable, but playing to no audience is also just as enjoyable for me. I have no desire to impress anyone. I just don't see why I should have to go through the trouble of spending entire day traveling and loading an unloading gear, and fighting with some douchebag club owner because we're not getting paid enough and a dozen other hassles just to have that hour of two of enjoyable playing. I can already do that now and enjoy it without having to waste an entire day with all that other crap first.

I'm not saying never. Never Say Never, just like the James Bond Movie. If the right situation and the right people came together, I would be up for it as long as I was enjoying myself and it wasn't too serious. But if it never happens thats fine too. Thats not why I play. It's weird how people can get so confused and hostile towards me when they ask me why I don't perform publicly.

Because I'm happy playing guitar. It brings me contentment regardless of whether anyone is listening or not. It's the only thing I've ever been good at in my life. It's the only activity that is really fun for me. I would never put the one thing in life that brings me joy in life, in a position where there may be even a chance that it may not be fun any longer. I don't know if I could keep going if that ever happened. So why don't you go be in a friggin band? You're the one who keeps talking about it!

Now leave me alone.