Making a Living from Music
by Tony Koretz http://www.koretzmusic.com/tony.html
 

How many people are there out there who dream of making a living of their  music I wonder? More than a handful I am sure.

Well, there's good news,   and bad news I am afraid. The good news...it can be done, the bad news...   it's damn hard! It can be especially difficult if you are a writer and performer  of your own original music. Let's face it, how many venues are there around  that are happy for you to play just original music, for say maybe an hour or   two, and pay you enough to put food on your table and pay your bills?  The answer is; not many. Sure you may get the odd gig like that, but they   are generally too few to sustain you, unless you are a superstar.

Well you can sell CD's you say! True, but how many people do you know of who sell  enough of them to keep their bank manager happy? What! You don't know   anyone, you say! Hmm, a bit depressing isn't it. In actual fact, of course,   there are those that do make their living like that, but for most of us in this   industry we have to find other ways to supplement our addiction for writing   and playing our own music, with other forms of income. And not   necessarily by going out with a brief case to do a 9-5 job, or working shifts   at a bar. Here are some ideas to consider.

How about teaching your   instrument of choice to others? There are usually willing students to be   found out there, and it can pay quite well. Or, one of the routes that you   could possibly take is to record other people's music, if you are skilled in   that area. This is an avenue I have taken. I figured that since I had   accumulated years of experience recording my own, and my friends music,   and gotten a pile of very good equipment over time, why not utilize this to  make money, rather than have it all just sitting there when I'm not  recording, and at the same time you can help others to fulfill their  recording dreams too.

Just make sure you are competent to get first class   results before you go advertising your services though.

Okay, now back to gigging. Well, if you are like me, and hate ringing up and  hounding publicans, or dread making that visit to ask them if you can book   a gig at their venue, more bad news is, that unless you can pay someone   else to do it, it's a part of the deal I'm afraid. Now, if you've done this more   than once or twice, you will know how notoriously unorganized and difficult   this breed of humanity is to deal with. Sure, they say that they are going to   ring you and confirm some dates with you when they have consulted their   diary, or talked to their business partner , their pet dog or whatever. So you   wait for that phone call, and nine times out of ten it never comes. Right!  

Discouraged yet? Been there, done that. The good news is that this is pretty   normal, and eventually if you remind them often enough, many of them will   remember you and give you a gig eventually. Don't pester them, but   periodically remind them that you haven't gone away. Once you have played   there, if you are as good as you say you are, hopefully you will get to play   there again. However, in my experience you need to keep finding new   places to play, and this often means traveling quite large distances, and   expanding your circuit. The other reality is that you will probably have to   include a fair number of well known cover songs in your repertoire as well,  as most venues won't be too happy to have you if nobody knows any of the   material you are playing. So for me, my formula is about one original song   to every four or five cover songs, and it works for me. It would be great to   be able to drop the cover songs altogether, but at this stage I can't, or it   would limit the number places I could play. 

One of the trends that I have noticed when speaking to publicans in new   Zealand, is that many of them are saying they are worried by the down turn   in the numbers of people turning out to frequent their venues, and many are  dropping their live entertainment quota, as they can't afford to pay   musicians. This is a worrying trend for us, and if it continues, we could find   it harder to get work in the future. The new no-smoking in public law, in this   country, could hit hard particularly in winter too, and it remains to be seen   how many people will be wanting to go outside to smoke on a frosty   night. While it's great to have a smoke free atmosphere to play in, it's not   going to be so good if there's nobody there to play to! 

There are ways to sell your CDs should you have them, such as through the   internet, shops etc, but don't forget to tell punters at your gigs that you are   selling them, and have a supply on hand. You may have some other ideas to   help supplement your gigging income that I haven't mentioned here, the   main thing to remember is there is no such thing as a free lunch, and to  survive you have to work hard. You can dream of being a rock star while   you play in your bedroom, or you can get out there and work hard to make it   a reality.

© March 2005  - 2007

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