Richest drummers, I'm no on it... :-)

[Josiah]

[quote="deseipel"]It's cool that your group is doing well. But I'm sure you realize that your experience 'making it work' is all that you have to draw from. you really don't know any other way, so I find it a bit insensitive that folks can simplify it as, "simply not working hard enough". /quote]

That is a valid point. Let me address that.

I grew up and live in LA. I made a living playing drums in Orange County and LA, in fact I paid for Musician's Institute in cash I saved form playing gigs. Cover bands, original bands, session work, churches, plays, classical, you name it. I'll play it.
A few years ago I moved to Colorado and was able to instantly make money playing music, not nearly as much as in So Cal. However the cost of living is substantially lower. Ratio wise I probably make more based on the various statistics of cost of living.

My personal gigging experience is massive, from club row in LA to crappy bars out in Palm Springs or where ever... I never said no to a gig. $10, free or $1,000. Some of the free gigs lead to the highest paying. I've played some really friggin huge shows and gigs, but nothing on the triple AAA level of course. I've been approached by various companies over the years for endorsement, and for the most part have turned them down.

In addition to the bands and gigs I played, there are other bands on the bills. Other musicians. Session guys. Original artists. I've played 1,000's of gigs and can't imagine the number of other professional musicians and bands I've met along the way. Let's say 10 other musicians per gig, and I've played 1,000 gigs? That's 10,000 musicians I've played with or shared a bill with.

Additionally, this is the first original band I've ever had. We open for nationally touring acts all the time here, bands I've never heard of before. Who are nationally touring, making money.

My experience is certainly not limited or specific. I went to both CSUF for music and Musicians Institute. MI alone is an insane wealth of information and connections.
I've got to hang out with big names, big big names and talk to them about the industry, about making it. Every single guy will tell you the same thing. It's about hard work. You put the hard work in, maybe your lucky and land a big gig and make some big bucks. But that's certainly the minority. Not the majority.
They also will tell you it's harder now then it ever was.

But like Carson used to tell us, there is always room for another guy. You have a unique voice, there is a place for you.

Is there a magic equation to being rich from music? Doubtful. But if you were to come up with an equation for being a successful musician. Hard work would be the primary component.



Here's the question though, what do you want me to say? You want people to cry and be all "oh you are so right, it's horrible, it sucks. Boo hoo for you"?
Will that help you make more money as a drummer? Nope.

You know what I say, nut up man. You might make less. It might take more work. But you get to make money playing drums instead of making tacos.

[langmick]

I would like to point out, and I've been thinking about this stuff a lot, that what you are seeing and experiencing is the destruction of a paradigm.

Which mean, there are opportunities right this moment to get in a build anew.

This is creative destruction.

This isn't a bad thing, it's a rebirth.

The making of the music industry wasn't like some super duper corporate upwardly mobile path.

Make the most of it...it might suck, but look at things from a different perspective.

[Josiah]

From a recent Victor Wooten interview, Thursday, September 20th, 2012 :

"I originally wanted to release two different albums on two different record labels on the same day. That was my original idea years ago, but I discovered that companies that offer the same type of services don’t want to work together. My hope was to bring people together in a cooperative way, but competing record companies just don’t want to share anything. That kind of competitiveness led to me starting my own label."

See that there gentlemen? That's one of the worlds best bassists in an interview a day ago stating he couldn't get any cooperation and had to do it his own. He's not complaining about digital piracy, he's talking about companies not being cooperative.

Does Vic have enough experience to make the statement land home?

[bclarkio]

I bet if Jeff Porcaro was still alive, he'd be on that list.