On the other hand, does music have to earn you a living by itself? Why not do it in your own time and get to love it more than any work-related duty or obligation.
And if you've got a day job with unusual hours or lots of time off (e.g. 4 on/4 off, continental shifts), even better.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 4 Jan 2011, 1:11, 1 reply)

No,
but thats the dream. To be able to do nothing but play music and earn enough from it to live. I'm not interested in being mega rich, or famous, I'm just terrified that I'll end up doing a job I fucking hate for the rest of my life.

I am pretty lucky though I guess. I work as a freelance film maker (my other great love in life), and I get to meet some fucking awesome bands through doing music videos for them. And when I'm not doing that I'm writing and recording music, and because of where I work I get to use a load of extremely expensive studios for free. But I don't earn a lot of money, and my work is hard and fucking competitive.

I rarely get time off and have to sacrifice quite a lot of things if I want to play music and make films. But I've never been happier in my life than I am now, I just wish I could focus on just one thing and make enough from it to see me right. And music has always been my number one passion.

The problem is I work a lot of hours for fuck all money and it's becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain the kind of life I want to lead on the money I earn...
( PMGT -Bacon., Tue 4 Jan 2011, 1:17, closed)

But if you know it's going to earn you next to fuck-all, why not support it with a reliable income?

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 4 Jan 2011, 1:34, closed)

i suppose
because I'm gambling on the possibility that one of those two things is going to lead to a worthwhile career. There really aren't many jobs I'd be happy doing. I've had plenty of jobs, some that paid ok, but I ended up completely fucking miserable in all of them. I don't earn much this way, but at least I'm happy. Just so long as I don't earn much less than I currently do...
( PMGT -Bacon., Tue 4 Jan 2011, 1:43, closed)

If you're a freelance film-maker
you should be happy you're making a living by your creativity.

Speaking as someone who is in 2 serious bands - neither of which are professional but both of which will play very regular gigs and from time to time luck out and play to a few hundred people - I think it's our responsibility, as musicians, to push it as far as it will go and get where we want to be OFF OUR OWN BACKS and due to our own hard work. Fuck the mainstream music industry, create something that means something to you and makes you feel alive, learn how to make it happen yourself and be brave enough to face the consequences if you can't make it pay its way. That's my approach anyway.

New album out now!
www.myspace.com/flowersoffleshandblood
(rampants, Tue 4 Jan 2011, 14:13, closed)

I am.
Very happy. Never been happier in fact. But I had to work fucking hard to get what little wages I get now. But I've easily worked harder at being a musician. And for longer.

I've been freelance for a year and a half, and I made more money in one day than I have in 12 years of playing music. Now, I think my music is good (well, I wouldn't write music that I think is shit...). Subjectivity aside, our music is well produced, catchy, our singer is (was) good, and whilst we weren't exactly likely to grace the front cover of the NME, we put some effort into the way we presented ourselves so that we looked like a professional outfit. And yet we got nowhere.

Perhaps I'm massively off target, and our music was completely shit (although people always seemed to enjoy it live, even people who had never heard us before).

Or perhaps I'm not, and we did write a decent album, and do all the things a band could do to make themselves marketable, but theres a massive problem in that people just don't give a fuck about hearing original music any more and would rather just fucking sit at home and listen to soulless shit.

I think it's because I make my money in an industry that - despite having absolutely no money to give to anyone - still allows people to make a living from being creative that I get so riled up about the music industry. From where I'm standing the power lies squarely at the feet of people like Simon Cowell and it shouldn't. It should lie at the feet of the people who create the music.

There are ways to get your films out there without having to fit into a certain little box, and without having to pander to a specific market, and you can make a living by doing that.

There is no equivalent for music. Sure, you can get your music on the internet, but thats like saying you can go to the beach and piss in the ocean.
( PMGT -Bacon., Tue 4 Jan 2011, 19:28, closed)

Oh,
and if we're spamming links: www.myspace.com/aconflicttocure

Broke up now, but we're putting our 12 track album up there when the mixing is done for free downloads and such. Rough demos up there now. Listen to "Shock And Awe" if you're gonna listen to any of em.
( PMGT -Bacon., Tue 4 Jan 2011, 19:51, closed)