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Do You Qualify?
Record Label Realities
Lifestyle of Freedom
Income Streams
Music Business & Money
How Much Money
Getting Started
Pro or Amateur?
Common Pitfalls
Do You Qualify?
Record Label Realities
Lifestyle of Freedom
Income Streams
Music Business & Money
How Much Money
Getting Started
Pro or Amateur?
Common Pitfalls
 |
Lifestyle of freedom What life is like for us Weekly work schedule What kind of hours do full-time musicians work? The hardest part What is the hardest part of this lifestyle? Jobs playing music What if I don't want to run my own business? |
How is the laid-back lifestyle?
Well, you kind of live like a caveman. You get up when you are ready to get up. You eat when you are hungry. You drink when you are thirsty. You have sex when you're horny. You practice your instrument. You check out new music. You learn new songs.
Then you head out to entertain (or teach lessons) to the people in your area of the world. When it's your day off, you do whatever the heck you want.
When I ask full-time musicians if they enjoy owning a music business, none of them think of it as a job. They see it as their business and their lifestyle. They can't imagine how they did anything else before being a full-time musician.
They certainly would never give it up and go back to a job. They built their music business up once and they know if it all fell apart they could build it again...only faster.
Anything you are good at, contributes to happiness.
-Erma Bombeck
Work schedule
When I asked T how many hours he actually worked every week he replied "Not many. Ten maybe fifteen of actual sweat" (He does that insane pickin' so he sweats when he plays). Yet he stays busy studying, playing and learning new or writing new songs all day.
I recorded typical work week from T's 2011 schedule below highlighting the actual performance hours to give you a better idea.
- 7/10 SUN 2:00 PM - 3 hour solo gig at a new place
- 7/11 MON Off - went to Rocky Mountain National Park
- 7/12 TUE Off - had friends over for cook out
- 7/13 WED 7:00 PM 3 hour regular Wed night gig
- 7/14 THU 8:00 PM 3 hour regular Thu night gig
- 7/15 FRI 5:00 PM 1 hour occasional venue gig
- 9:00 PM 3 hours at regular FRI night gig
- 7/16 SAT 8:00 PM 3 Hour private party gig
Getting there is simple...but it ain't easy. Rejection sucks no matter who you are. And you will feel rejection over and over while trying to book gigs. Don't let it stop you...just consider it "Character Development Training" and keep moving forward.
The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
-Stephen Covey
The hardest part of owning your own music business
I think uncertainty can be tough for a lot of people who have gotten comfortable with a 'steady paycheck'. There is no steady paycheck in music but there is steady income. There are no 'paid vacation' or 'paid sick days' either. When T is sick, he performs anyway. To this day, we have never canceled a gig.
If we want a vacation, we know we won't have his income during that period of time. What's nice is that we can take one whenever we want. We don't have to ask anyone, we just have to clear his schedule. We usually take most of December off while only playing the higher paying gigs like Christmas parties and New Years Eve gigs.
We handle our own insurance and retirement, but that's fine because insurance is cheaper than when we were employed. I go into more detail about these things on the How Much Money? and the Save Your Money pages.
You also have to be financially responsible. Not everyone is. If you aren't, hopefully your spouse is. If you aren't married you can learn this skill. The resources to help you in this area can be found on the Important Resources page.
The other hard part is...well...getting gigs!
This is the grunt work of the business. It's rarely comfortable to go out there and hustle. The good news is that you spend very few hours a week doing the 'hard' part. Most hours are spent doing what you love. Playing music.
You have to have guts to walk in and talk to strangers. Personally, I think musicians are brave just to get up on that stage. That's something that most people can't do. Musicians open themselves up to rejection, criticism and jeers from strangers constantly. That's what I call brave!
Getting gigs also becomes easier, the more you do it. You will do less and less of this task because your phone will begin to ring with bookings. The longer you stay and play in one area, the more this happens for you.
All things are difficult before they are easy.
-Thomas Fuller
Jobs for musicians
There are going to be some musicians that just can't help themselves. They simply need the security they get from a job. If this is the case for you, no worries. You can still get 'employed' playing music. This is especially true if you have a musician's degree.
Now I can't advise you in this area because we are small business owners, but I know the man who can. His name is David Hahn and he runs a website called Musician Wages. This musician is the real deal and offers great advice for musician employment. David also lists job openings for musicians. You usually need to relocate unless you already live in one of the larger cities.
He covers everything from military bands, to symphonies, Broadway and Disney World jobs. From our (limited) experience, some of these jobs don't pay that great...so watch out for that. If you relocate, be aware of the cost of living in the new area you'd be living. You will also be competing with premium musicians, so you better be really, really good.
And to get real work experience, you need a job, and
most jobs will require you to have had either real work experience or a
graduate degree.
-Donald Norman
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