Attn: Music guys who do it for a living

[Deff Gordon]

Originally Posted by C.A. jones

There's always radio....I make a living voicing/producing/writing commercials.

Its not bad...I have my own studio with a door, a deadbolt, and the internet - plus it has put me in position to do a lot of freelance.

i have a key and have sexytime with my wife all over your desk. faders stick much???

[Longhorn Jones]

Originally Posted by transplant

if you are a good writer or poet, there is a market to write lyrics. I knew a guy in detroit and he penned some lyrics that were sold for some alterna-teen mega band's album and he got around $250,00.

$250,000.00?

[C.A. jones]

Originally Posted by Deff Gordon

i have a key and have sexytime with my wife all over your desk. faders stick much???

I was wondering where that crackling 'came' from....

[Left]

Originally Posted by Cicero

please do.

haha,
well if i had to say more, i think the best bet to work "successfully" in the music industry is the following steps. all my personal opinion especially since "success" is such a subjective term.

1. work hard. if you don't make it big via the lucky break, you'll make it after 10-20 years of backbreaking labor. small successes go a long way. and chaining small successes together builds momentum and snowballs.

2. surround yourself with musicians, like-minded or otherwise. you'll never know when you could really use your ukelele friend and he could make you both famous. networking with people all over the art world is also the key to those lucky breaks you hear about. that also includes being nice to that really annoying guy that loves your music but is a complete douche.

3. marketing/advertising is just as important as staying musically productive. it should IMO be around 50/50. if you're a badass musician/producer that nobody hears, you're still a nobody.

i'll leave it that cause i can't give away all my secrets. just kidding.
nah, i've been doing music (started with cello) since i was five, but i'd say in general i'm pretty young to the professional fields of music...just a couple years out of college: still learning, still busting ass.

compared to those old folks.

[Roos]

I've made a living since about 1989 doing Audio Engineering, Commercial Production/Writing, Radio Imaging/Writing, Live and Recorded sound, and Voice work. I've never made a ton of money but I have always been happy in my job.

I've never had a hard time finding work. I disagree with Left on that aspect... for every 100 people trying to get jobs, there are 200 jobs out there. You just gotta find them and make connections. I could probably pick up and move to any decent sized city and find work pretty quickly. I may not make a ton of money, but at least I love what I do and that's what's most important to me. I've always made up for any lack of income by DJing or releasing my own Produced music and licensing it for commercials or movie soundtracks.

Oh, and I don't have a degree. If you are willing to learn hands-on and be broke for awhile, then you can get in the field easily. While a music degree would be nice to have, I've gone just as far if not further than a lot of people who spent years (and $) going to school for it. Granted, I grew up behind instruments and sound boards... but who I met and made connections with got me where I wanted to go... not a degree. But that's just me.

Go with what you want to do.

[transplant]

Originally Posted by Cicero

$250,000.00?

So they say. It was actually a huge 90's alt rock hit, which is why he ended up with so much money. The dude ended up blowing all the money. He may have written the music, too. It's been so long now.

[-m-]

Thanks again for the input guys. I really want to be more of a composer than a performer, and I definitely want the knowledge base to handle every single step of my production, mastering and all. I think I would make a great recording/sound engineer but my only reservation is the salary aspect of it. I've worked so unbelievably hard just to get where I'm not hurting for money over the past couple of years, and I just can't justify spending the money and crossing the ocean of learning it's going to take for me to get a degree to be raking in 50k a year tops. I know I would be happier doing it but I want to retire, and have money to do shit in the meantime.

Maybe I just need to get a sensible degree that will allow me the salary I want and just take some classes to get me where I want artistically. Hmmph.

[mrdale]

Originally Posted by -m-

Thanks again for the input guys. I really want to be more of a composer than a performer, and I definitely want the knowledge base to handle every single step of my production, mastering and all. I think I would make a great recording/sound engineer but my only reservation is the salary aspect of it. I've worked so unbelievably hard just to get where I'm not hurting for money over the past couple of years, and I just can't justify spending the money and crossing the ocean of learning it's going to take for me to get a degree to be raking in 50k a year tops. I know I would be happier doing it but I want to retire, and have money to do shit in the meantime.

Maybe I just need to get a sensible degree that will allow me the salary I want and just take some classes to get me where I want artistically. Hmmph.

Your thinkin about it in the right way it seems.

I'm currently at about 60/40, composition/sound design work in my profession.

just a few thoughts because i wouldn't wish this career on my worst enemy jk, i love it.

If your concerned about money, and music is your "only love" then maybe you should do something else and keep music as a passion, not a career.

Composers/pro musicians love music to a fault. We really can't/won't do anything else.

If you do wish to compose. Be versatile, informed and engaged in all forms of music. Be humble, leave your ego at the door, but not your confidence. You may think your work is the tits, but your client will bag it in a second. Music is very subjective and if you wear your emotions on your sleeve with your music you will fail and be miserable as a composer for hire. Degrees are not a must, but college practice rooms make for great places to woodshed. Its the woodshedding that separates the good from the hacks.

and i agree with left on the issue of saturation, talent, and job market. I can't speak for the radio biz but I get resumes and phone calls every day from highly talented people around the world wanting my job. I have interns coming out of Vanderbilt working for free. I bet I get a phone call a day from LA. These are people with major motion pictures, grammy winning albums and such under their belt and they struggle to make rent and feed their family, much less try to pay a mortgage in LA. Left, for example is an amazing talent and should very well already be a top paid sound designer/composer, but the market is real tight. Timing and patience is everything and when you see a door creek open you better be well prepared to knock it the fuck down.

[Roos]

Originally Posted by mrdale

If your concerned about money, and music is your "only love" then maybe you should do something else and keep music as a passion, not a career.

Composers/pro musicians love music to a fault. We really can't/won't do anything else.

Dude. This right here is the most sensible thing posted in this thread.

[-m-]

Yeah, I know, the money sucks unless you're in that .00001% of the people who make it. That's my problem though, I don't know if I can really justify giving myself to anything else but music, and I mean that. I guess we'll see what happens. I'm determined to get my education starting next year so I got awhile to think things through.

The only things that really excite me are music, art/art history, and philosophy. I am a billionaire in the making!