strat0124 Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 These days my music money buys all my toys, and my day job pays the mortgage, college tuition, etc. I have a few buds who have never done anything else but play music, and there have been lots of lean times for them......I remember that all too well. Just wondering who out there does it full time, part time (like me), or a used to be (been there too). I realize there is alot of sacrafice to do music full time, possibly the reason there are so many 40 something year old single musicians. Any thoughts, and I'd love to hear what your numero uno career is and if music is number two, and how the two coincide. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanner Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 me have no money me just have music me never happy AMPSSOUNDBETTERLOUDER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 I work for the Nat'l Weather Service as an aviation forecaster. Problem...ROTATING SHIFTS...that really sucks...as I'm often wondering why no one else is free on weekends...like Wednesday and Thursday. Makes it hard on my musical interests, too, because most clubs hire bands during the middle of the work week, Friday night and Saturday night. It's a bitch when I have to be up early for work after playing, but I do it once in awhile. Speaking of which, sometimes it's a pain, because I feel like having a beer at a pub after work, but most pubs aren't even open in the evening after work, like 7 am. Well, enough of my shift worker (make sure you don't forget the "f" in shift worker) gripes. I have no illusions about making a lot of money off my music. I do it as a "hobby"...and because I have to. I used to play full time in a band when I was younger. Could have been a really decent band, but a lot of shit broke it up. Lesson? A lot of really good musicians are immature, opinionated assholes. Much better to find a band with passable musicians who are good people and know their limitations. I think a lot of great bands start like that, they know their limitations and steer around them. That's why a lot of Yngwies are guitar techs or whatever and Average Joes are onstage. What was the question again? "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat0124 Posted July 27, 2001 Author Share Posted July 27, 2001 Ted you nailed it for me.....nicely put. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHAN Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 Ted Said: >>>I have no illusions about making a lot of money off my music. -------------------------- Well I for one would be happy to purchace your upcoming CD. ...as long as it's 10 bucks or less... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif ------------------ ----------- KHAN (Always hopeful, yet discontent) www.floydtribute.hpwebhost.com So Many Drummers. So Little Time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 I've often wondered if rotating shifts are not contributing to the excessive weirdness of the way people seem to be behaving lately. It's not a natural thing. I'm existing. Living? I suppose.... ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 Originally posted by Chip McDonald: I've often wondered if rotating shifts are not contributing to the excessive weirdness of the way people seem to be behaving lately. It's not a natural thing. I'm existing. Living? I suppose.... Are you calling MOI weird? I'm not weird at all...my friend Charlemagne here even says so, right Charlemagne? Oh...you've got to discuss it with Neville Chamberlain first? Bull! He didn't know anything. Charlemagne is my Cocker Spaniel. He quotes me the NASDAQ closings, sports scores if I'm lucky. Weird. HA. Hey, Khan, BTW...I'll just send you a copy. I wouldn't charge more than 10 bucks for it anyway...but it'll be awhile 'til I get it done. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylver Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 Oh, you guys are plucking at raw nerves here. I work as a network monitor (ugh), which pays well and allows me to keep the wife and kids happy. I managed to talk the wife into using part of the tax return to by some studio equipment, so that I can put down some complete ideas, not just a bunch of parts that have no cohesion. It's coming along well, but of course with 4 kids (Yes, 4!) time is precious and the process is slow. My dream? To take this to the next level and make music my business. I am mostly a rock player, but I would much rather write dance/house/commercial music all day than what I'm currently doing. Hell, anything musical would be better than this. Geez, it would be great to go out to the studio and say, "K, hon, I'm going to work. I'll be in for lunch!" The reality is that even making a living doing that is tough. I feel for all you guys, I'm in the same boat. Of course, I don't even have a band to blow off steam with. (Not that I have the time.) I really don't know what to put here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrmac Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 I work for a company that sells and installs Pro Audio equipment. We are a dealer for Solid State Logic consoles and Studer products. We also design and outfit studios. Usually we are involved in TV broadcast and the clients of the company include the local TV network affiliates. I also put together DAW systems which we have become a dealer for. It's not a bad job but of course it doesn't leave me a lot of time for music. I have a pretty nice DAW based studio in my house now. I also teach a recording class at a music school here once a month. I was doing a weekly jam with a blues group last year but I got too busy and decided to spend the time I had working on original songs and producing them at home. I now have met a publisher who is willing to buy music for a music library so I'm writing with that in mind. It's going pretty slow since time is scarce but I have given him some stuff, five songs. I want to try to start teaching at the music school three days a week and quit the full time day job so I can write and record more stuff and start playing again. It's a struggle but I can't say I'm unhappy because things aren't all that bad. I still feel that it's important to me to get out and play the guitar because it still feels good. I don't think I could ever give it up completely but with two kids I obviously have things to consider. ------------------ Mac Bowne G-Clef Acoustics Ltd. Osaka, Japan My Music: www.javamusic.com/freedomland Mac Bowne G-Clef Acoustics Ltd. Osaka, Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlChuck Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 Oooo boy, what a question. I can't do it justice in just a few minutes, but it's been a central axis in my adult life around which much of my mental energy revolves. I started playing in bands in college almost thirty years ago and really loved it. In fact, I quit school before finishing my degree to stay with a band that up and moved a hundred miles away. We had very little commercial potential and it didn't last very long. Soon I was working near-minimum wage jobs in warehouses and such during the days and playing occasional gigs with half-baked bands for a couple of years. After a couple of years, when none of the bands I was in ever approached the chemistry of that first one, I began to get disgruntled. This coincided with my first serious (as in live-together) relationship, which combined together to convince me that I should grow up and go back to school, get a degree and get a "real" job that payed reasonably well -- since I had to work during the day anyway. This set in motion several years in which I continued to work low-wage jobs but instead of gigging or jamming I was going to school at night. For years I busted my ass getting a bachelor's degree and rolled staright into the master's degree program, and hardly played music at all. There was a great risk that I would just stop playing. But somehow I didn't, and I even got better -- my chops lost their edge but somehow I still grew musically. But by the time I graduated and started working in a reasonably good job, I got married, and kids followed very soon after... again, I found it almost impossible to fit music-making into my life for several years. Over the recent years as the kids have gotten older I'm finding that I can find a little more time if I make it a priority in my life, and I've been working on expanding my musical vocabulary and focusing more on composing and recording. I'm exploring scoring for visual media and wondering what other avenuse I might explore to get my music out there. The evolution of home studio technology has been a godsend for me. So in many ways I'm reasonably satisfied with the status quo, as long as I stay positive and keep my projects moving forward. But in my dark moods I feel that I turned away from what I really should be doing and have wasted my life. When I was in college I was very naive and had this fantasy that somebody like Clive Davis would hear us plying one day and sign us and that would be it. Of course that never happened. I found within myself great reserves of strength in order to make it through school. I often wonder if, instead of focusing my energies on that, I had instead looked at the problem of being a musician and making a living and found ways to make it work. I could have taken on guitar students, I could have played casuals, I could have learned recording technology -- there are so many different things, all of which revolve around music, that I could have done, but didn't. I can't help but think that if I had done that I would have found the same strength I found at school and would have ended up much closer to my original dreams, a much better player and writer and arranger than I am, with many opportunities. Now I'm on the tail end of my forties and before I know it my hands will start stiffening up on me and it's all I can do to spend five or six hours a week working on the "work" that in my heart is most important to me while I spend 40-50 hours every week at my desk on stuff that, while interesting and fun enough, is not really that important to me. Well, we'll see what the next phase of life has in store. Perhaps I can get some scoring gigs for some small independent films; maybe I can find a small group of like-minded musicians to collaborate with and play some of my material for an audience... I need to think about it a lot, but more importantly, I need to do something about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max Posted July 29, 2001 Share Posted July 29, 2001 hospital doctor/singer-songwriter cheers max newcastle, oz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott from MA Posted July 29, 2001 Share Posted July 29, 2001 I used to be a full-time musician. Never made BIG money, but enough to keep playing. Then one day, for some odd reason, I started wishing that I had finished college. So, I went back to school and played part-time. After college, I got a job in engineering - on 2nd shift http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif - so that made it difficult to play. Luckily, I was only on 2nd shift for about a year and a half, and then got switched to 1st shift. I started playing part-time again. Now I've been laid-off from my job in engineering. So, all I've been doing for the past 2 months is playing... but I don't play enough to make a living! So... now I have to find another full-time job so that I can make a living, and can continue playing part-time... even though all I really want to do is play full-time again! Did that make any sense?!?! To answer the question... I don't think I'm actually exhisting OR living! ------------------ Scott (just another cantankerous bastard) Scott (just another cantankerous bastard) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK_dup2 Posted July 30, 2001 Share Posted July 30, 2001 Strat- What a great topic- I have been a professional for awhile now and the Lows are really LOW and some of the Highs are great http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif I am now starting to settle a little and am actually trying to have a life. I know alot of other players who are just tired of making up with their girlfriends and really tired of beating off the creditors. It is so hard to have a balance when you love it so much. Best BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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