Creative knowledge lab
Contributors from all levels of the creative and cultural sector.
Log in to add your comments!
Log in to add your comments!
The myth of success
I think it's safe to say that few career paths are more focussed on becoming hugely rich than music. For so many people who consider a career in music, their expectations concerning 'success' are wildly in excess of almost any other industry.
Sadly, those expectations fly in the face of any measurable statistics on the earnings of musicians. The truth is that becoming a 'millionaire rockstar' happens about as often as winning the lottery, and is about as easy to plan for.
Consequently, when considering a career path in music, anything that is focussed on becoming a superstar is pretty much doomed to failure. That's not to say it won't happen, just that planning for super-stardom is a sure way of missing the rewarding and considerably more likely life of a professional musician.
No, the sooner we get away from thinking about limos and leer-jets - and instead think about regular earnings from the range of income streams that are open to musicians - the sooner we can work on paying some bills. Which, in any other industry, is the first measure of success. Sustainability doesn't begin with your first world tour. It begins with the first month in which you're able to cover your rent and household bills while still having enough to feed yourself and dress well enough not to look like you stumbled onto stage by accident while trying to fix the heating in the venue...
A funny thing happens when you start to think in these month by month wage-earning terms. The egregious nonsense spouted by so many people in the industry trying to sell you the myth suddenly starts to sound very hollow. 'I can make you a star' becomes a joke, not just an empty promise. The realization that any limos, parties and 'sweeteners' are paid for out of the money made on YOUR record - and increasingly, on the tour and merchandise - may bring pause for thought. If you wouldn't have booked them for yourself, why allow someone else to spend your money on expensive playthings? (For what it's worth, a limo can be had for about £60 an hour, should you wish to play pop-stars, without the life-sucking contract and 14 hour-a-day media schedule).
The kinds of business arrangements that appear attractive when your career plan is long term and sustainable, rather than short-term and fanciful, are those that provide opportunities to earn a living, not get on MTV. Those that provide a way to make money on a CD release, rather than the promise of 20-foot billboard ads across London - at the cost of around £1500 a month per billboard. (On an (optimistic) net record company return of around £3 an album, that's 500 sales PER billboard to break even on the ad, before you start to touch the record itself, or the pressing, or you actually getting paid...)
I'm continually baffled by the number of musicians who are content to hand their careers over to be mis-managed by record labels, while they play rock stars for a couple of years before dropping out of the limelight, unable to make a career in music due to what they still owe the label. Not to mention the number of people who find themselves on tour only to discover it's not the dream-ride it's cracked up to be...
Think. Plan. Keep track of every penny of YOUR money that is spent. Avoid extraneous nonsense and wasteful marketing costs, and a career in the world of music is not that hard to achieve. Fall into the 'fame' honey-trap, and you're spinning a roulette wheel with your whole music life staked on one number coming up three times in a row...
Sadly, those expectations fly in the face of any measurable statistics on the earnings of musicians. The truth is that becoming a 'millionaire rockstar' happens about as often as winning the lottery, and is about as easy to plan for.
Consequently, when considering a career path in music, anything that is focussed on becoming a superstar is pretty much doomed to failure. That's not to say it won't happen, just that planning for super-stardom is a sure way of missing the rewarding and considerably more likely life of a professional musician.
No, the sooner we get away from thinking about limos and leer-jets - and instead think about regular earnings from the range of income streams that are open to musicians - the sooner we can work on paying some bills. Which, in any other industry, is the first measure of success. Sustainability doesn't begin with your first world tour. It begins with the first month in which you're able to cover your rent and household bills while still having enough to feed yourself and dress well enough not to look like you stumbled onto stage by accident while trying to fix the heating in the venue...
A funny thing happens when you start to think in these month by month wage-earning terms. The egregious nonsense spouted by so many people in the industry trying to sell you the myth suddenly starts to sound very hollow. 'I can make you a star' becomes a joke, not just an empty promise. The realization that any limos, parties and 'sweeteners' are paid for out of the money made on YOUR record - and increasingly, on the tour and merchandise - may bring pause for thought. If you wouldn't have booked them for yourself, why allow someone else to spend your money on expensive playthings? (For what it's worth, a limo can be had for about £60 an hour, should you wish to play pop-stars, without the life-sucking contract and 14 hour-a-day media schedule).
The kinds of business arrangements that appear attractive when your career plan is long term and sustainable, rather than short-term and fanciful, are those that provide opportunities to earn a living, not get on MTV. Those that provide a way to make money on a CD release, rather than the promise of 20-foot billboard ads across London - at the cost of around £1500 a month per billboard. (On an (optimistic) net record company return of around £3 an album, that's 500 sales PER billboard to break even on the ad, before you start to touch the record itself, or the pressing, or you actually getting paid...)
I'm continually baffled by the number of musicians who are content to hand their careers over to be mis-managed by record labels, while they play rock stars for a couple of years before dropping out of the limelight, unable to make a career in music due to what they still owe the label. Not to mention the number of people who find themselves on tour only to discover it's not the dream-ride it's cracked up to be...
Think. Plan. Keep track of every penny of YOUR money that is spent. Avoid extraneous nonsense and wasteful marketing costs, and a career in the world of music is not that hard to achieve. Fall into the 'fame' honey-trap, and you're spinning a roulette wheel with your whole music life staked on one number coming up three times in a row...
Comments
Great post. I figured out early on that it wasn't as easy as i was made to believe..
I was in a band with a management deal and John Peel (all hail the King) even played our songs.. Still frustrations and dreams of what almost was, saw us split up on the edge of some minor success.
I guess i am pretty thankful that nothing takes away the good times and the important lessons learned.
As I've said before; 'Remember, first prize is a decade on a bus.'
Hi Kennan, That really needs o be on a band T-Shirt.. :)
Kennan, that's genius - is that your quote, or someone else's? I'll be chuckling about that all day. Christian - there are so many bands in the situation you were in - happy struggling, but split up when a record label dangled unrealistic expectations in front of them... it's such a shame...
Steve, that's brilliant! I am reminded of my tenure with a signed Metal Band on Polygram in the late 80s. I played the Marquee in London, for a crowd of 50,000 at the Midtfynns Festival in Denmark, was on MTV on two videos-and nearly had to file bankruptcy because the management were, how shall I put this delicately, "bloodsucking leeches and weasels"-there! I'm producing a Rock Band here in the States, and I've advised them to NOT seek a major deal. I'm way more intruiged by the business model of O.A.R. who tour here and fill decent size halls and own EVERY aspect of their business.
That came from a discussion about a young blues guitarist and his chances of "making it". I guess the wording is mine, but the sentiment is common sense (like that exists in the music world)! It would look good on a T-Shirt, though...
Ah yes, the poor old artist. The words 'Twas ever thus are apt. Did you see the fairly recent documentary about Stiff Records? Very revealing tragi-comedy of genius. One of the main promoters expressed his attitude to the 'talent' as 'pebbles on a beach'. He said this on camera while driving his yacht down the Thames. And this from dear old Hunter S. Thompson. 'The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side'. But we are a witnessing such a change, and artists are increasingly empowered, the old syndrome of 'I could have been a contender' dissipates before our eyes. Thanks Steve for being pro-active in this area. Always thought provoking.
Please login to comment on this blog post.