There are careers in music? 1995 called, it wants it’s concepts back.
11 Likes
Wow, that’s crazy about Hot Chip. I came to the conclusion awhile ago that many musicians are either working professionals in other fields or they are trust fund babies.
The numbers for the top tier earners is perverse. Essentially the top 200 artists globally earn 98% of the money spent on music and everyone else on the planet splits the spare change.
In the US it’s commonplace for the supporting acts on a tour to have to pay the headline act to be able to perform. Does this happen in Europe?
1 Like
although tbh, being able to buy a pokey 1 bed flat anywhere in London means you are pretty well off these days… house prices are absolutely stupid.
but yes, I think although the industry has recovered from the “napster era” quite a bit the major labels have successfully worked their new deals with Spotify/itunes/whatever to even further cement their domination of the market and their percentages and being mid-level independent musicians is now pretty hard to turn into a living.
Unfortunately the music industry’s greed in the first place (CD prices) and then sluggishness to react has kinda devalued music forever in most people’s minds.
I don’t think the 90s are coming back. The majors have really tightened up how they get revenue from existing rights, but independent labels don’t tend to have as much catalogue (understatement) so the majors slice of a smaller pie is even bigger than it was to some extent.
(really interested to read this on this subject actually… https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Music-Got-Free-Industry/dp/0525426612)
Pay to support?! No way! Not sure about here in Europe. I’d be surprised by that though - I just presumed it was a free opportunity for an up coming band that the headliners (or label) liked to showcase some tunes
1 Like
Been a freelance music maker/sound designer for 7 years or so, was a live sound engineer before that and a studio engineer before that.
It’s a pain in the arse and there are plenty of moments of financial insecurity, self doubt and existential dread but I like messing with sound so… 
www.tootdotcom.com - some of my commercial stuff.
Do a bit of performing and djing too but don’t put as much time and effort into it as I’d like.
2 Likes
Yeah true - I think the point being made was that these guys in Hot Chip have wives and in some cases kids so being able to afford to live near the studio/labels of choice was becoming prohibitive. Wish I could find the interview now - can’t for the life of me remember where I read it.
Anyway, book bought - was only £3, will see what he says to it!
1 Like
Yeah it quite literally comes down to whether or not you are wealthy enough to be a struggling upcoming musician.
Worth remembering that the guys who write the songs will be much more comfortable than those just performing them.
Touring’s where it’s at though if you’re an artist, sales just don’t cut the mustard anymore.
Sure! I’m not anti-kid or anything. Just if you are content not having kids, it makes things somewhat easier, as opposed to how a lot of people have kids without thinking about it or cave in to family pressure, that’s all. Seen this a lot and it’s very sad, for both the kids and parents. But at least the parents had a choice. Anyway, that’s too depressing to think about this early in the morning. 
1 Like
I’m a media/audiovisual artist and I have an AV rental and production company (sound, light, stages and all that). I also do some teaching and freelance dev work for other artists. So yes, I’m full-time on art/music/tech work but not exclusively as a musician/artist. When I was given the opportunity I decided to take over the rental and production company to also have an income base that is related to but not entirely dependent on artistic work.
1 Like
Yea I can sense you are not, no worries.
I was a long time without kids and family, saving money doing always what I want in general.
I thought that was me - “being happy with the little things in life” .
But now that I have a family I realise there lays the real treasure - the happy with little smiles and cries in my life.
//Edit
No career is worth being lonely and miserable at the end of the day/month/year … life?
From a 1st world perspective, to be correct…
7 Likes
… so the supporting acts should actually ‘support’ themselves? 
doesn’t sound like making it easy
the UK version is usually “get your friends to come to our gig, and then we’ll pay you if more than 50 of the people that come say they came for you on the door” (or whatever number)
which is basically getting the band/artist to do the gig promotion for them unpaid, and then quite often stiffing them for payment.
So kinda similar.
2 Likes
great topic, thanks
and thanks for sharing, ppl 
or “you get paid if we do X amount on the bar” sometimes.
I kinda think if these are the offer, it’s better to hire a space and do your own damn gig - because at least if it doesn’t work out, you wasted the money yourself and learnt stuff about promoting and venue and equipment hire and stuff.
2 Likes
Yeah so you’re a struggling artist that now has to pay $10,000 for the pleasure of touring as a support act…
I decided I was done wasting money on all of this back in the early 2000s. I’m married with a kid and business now. I own a home and 2 cars and get to travel several times per year. Most everyone I knew that was having a go at the same time now remains single and broke and in their 40s. It’s not for lack of talent, either.
As mentioned above by a couple others, it’s probably best to consider music as a single income stream and you probably should plan on having multiple income streams if you’re not a hit factory.
3 Likes
Yeah and then you have the door man that lets dozens of people in for free, stiffing you of the charge at the door while increasing spend at the bar which you get no share of.
this way at least one has the chance to perform without having to worry too much about costs and related…and if there’s any good in what one does, it’s a good way to build a fan base of as well. of course, one can’t do this regularly unless there’s some sort of backup plan or someone behind taking care of bills and the like but to me a more ‘normal’ approach compared to somehow the filter you’ve in the US which…
2 Likes
Agreed! Not sure if this is addressed to me specifically, but that’s why I stress work/life balance and not going the stressful corporate route. Kind of a cliche term, but I take it seriously. That probably got lost among my stream of consciousness post, lol. Also, not just hardcore careerists, plenty of struggling artists can miss out on having families and kids as well while they scrape together money for rent and ramen. Or, even worse, they struggle to pay for children, hardly ever see them, etc. while they tour around in a van somewhere. Seen that a time or two.
1 Like
I’ve never played a big show. But the shows I DID play- all of the covers typically went to the touring band to help them pay for their expenses.
I’m really glad I got out of the notion of being a professional musician, apparently most acts just do it for the love of performing- and I’ve always especially loathed performing.
1 Like