KField@bbna.ARPA (Ken Field) (02/22/85)
>III. Careers in music: Am I the only person on the net who is currently >studying for a career in music? (I'm a pianist.) Are there professional >musicians on the net? Is anyone considering a musical career? Has anyone >tried it and given it up? Am I the only one who thinks I'm crazy? I'll join what I perceive to be the consensus: If you plan a career as a performing musician, you should generally plan to be happy not making much money at it. I am currently the sax player in a Boston-based funk/new-music band called Skin (watch for our forthcoming EP). While we are doing rather well by local-band standards, I make virtually no money from the deal. On the other hand, I enjoy it immensely. While there certainly are musicians making a good living playing music that they like, I think *most* musicians who are making a living at it are playing music that they *don't* particularly like. If you can arrange to support yourself non-musically and can still find the time to do music that you like, you end up with a pretty good situation, I think. -Ken
ahs@houxu.UUCP (Arthur Steinman) (02/25/85)
I was a professional musician for eleven years and found that I did not like living without a steady income. That was my reason for giving it up along with the desire to normalize my life. I had a few breaks the highpoint being a contract with Atlantic Records. That really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I thought that getting the contract was the end of my struggle for stardom. In reality it was the beginning. It wsn't enough to have my name on a piece of paper, I found that without a committment from the record company I would just languish til the contract was up. You see, many lables will sign you if they think you have potential. Once you are signed they treat you as a raw resource something to be held in limbo until a use for you presents itself. I got third rate engineers, no budget for sessions, I had to fight for studio time etc. One tape was rejected