Paul Marangoni wrote:nomsgmusic wrote:And you are right (sorry Paul,) it IS possible to play music and drums for a living. I'm living proof!
It's possible, sure, but it's also possible to win the lottery, and there's even more proof of that.
Mark, if you were just starting out TODAY, do you honestly think you would be able to find enough work merely playing? I mean, just playing, no teaching, no writing, just playing music in a band on stage (and not in a church either).
There are gigs to be had, but fewer and fewer every day. Unless you're willing to do some serious suffering and live below the poverty line, I don't think it's possible to string together enough work in a year to cover rent, let alone decent meals. It's always been difficult, but at least it used to be possible. Almost every nightclub and restaurant used to have a stage where there would be a band playing a few nights every week. It's not that common anymore.
What's left? Cruise-ship gigs? Cirque do Soleil? Ice Capades? Tribute bands? Ex-pat clubs in Singapore?
We'll see how things play out with revenue streams for the consumption of music in the next few years. I'm still crossing my fingers that they get the copyright revisions worked out, but I'm not holding my breath.
There is a big assumption in your question. Was it EVER possible to make a good living while
only doing live club gigs? (And nothing else.)
As a semi-related fact. I was around a bunch of the popular big "name" hair metal bands in the 80's, and while many of them were on MTV, doing international tours, being "rock stars." Many of them worked other jobs when not touring with "the band."
The ones that didn't do other things, quickly went by the way-side. They were the guys that went out for six weeks and made 40K in a month, and then did nothing for many of the months to come, while acting like rock stars. Just stupid! 40 grand a month = wonderful! 40 grand a year (while spending like a drunken sailor) = hard times and poverty.
Same thing for athletes who spend a few years in the NBA (bankruptcy in ex-NBA players is HUGE!) or any big time sports league. NBA minimum is somewhere around 140,000. Make that for 3 years, and you are NOT set for life, you gotta do something. The average stay in the NFL is less than two years, that $$$ won't last forever. The same thing goes for "flavor of the month" or "one gig wonder, sidemen" musicians.
When I have talked to many of the "old timer musicians" about making a living as a musician, I have been told that it has ALWAYS included (for most,) something (hopefully) musical to do during the day to create income. Publishing, teaching, arranging, music-copying, studio-work, club-date stuff, r&b gigs, and many had non musical gigs that they didn't talk about.
The first time I saw Bernard Purdie play, he was playing a WEDDING in Delaware (I doubt that was the only one he ever did.) Vernell Fournier worked for Sears. Roy Haynes will tell you that the most $$$ he ever made was playing (mostly brushes) with (singer) Sarah Vaughn. Cozy Cole opened a drum school. A top tier jazz drummer now teaching at Berklee was a busy substitute teacher in NJ, and he wasn't the only one. Numerous guys wrote books, did videos, taught privately or at schools. Elvin taught, Tony taught, Higgins taught, etc etc etc... Simon runs a studio, Weckl does some production work, right? Erskine teaches at UCLA.
Other musicians? Bassist, Tim LeFevere did a ton of cruiseship gigs. Guitarist, Marvin Sewell worked at Tower Records (so did saxophonist Jorge Sylvester.) I did wedding gigs with saxophonists Roger Byam, Jerry Weldon, Eric Alexander, and singers that toured with Alicia Keyes and Paul Simon (and one of them also worked for the state working on roads.) Many musicians have invested in real-estate (and are landlords.) I could go on and on. The people who have diversified themselves have succeeded.
Starting out today
only playing music at clubs at night, and making a living? That means you are doing
nothing during the day. In my opinion, very few people can succeed that way. That's a heck of a sense of entitlement. But.... If you
really want to do that, you HAVE to keep your expenses down, and bank your income for "slow times." And how many younger people today are really capable of doing that?
Soooo... Possible to make a living as a well rounded hard working musician? Yes. Become overly wealthy? Doubtful. Making a living as a strictly "live playing" club drummer? (Doing NOTHING else?)
Was that ever really possible??? Whenever guys (that we all know) have talked about doing
every gig possible, and learning styles, what they are talking about is diversifying yourself so you can WORK all the time, make a living, (and learn, through playing those gigs.)
My point remains, it's HARD, and getting HARDER (we agree there!) But so is running ANY small business (which is what you are as a free-lance drummer.) You gotta be working almost 24-7, and not only work hard, but work (and live) SMART! And I think you definitely have to be in a MAJOR metropolitan area. I tell all of my students this same stuff.
Regarding the copyright stuff that you feel strongly about (thank you!!!!!) What do you think about the new Jay-Z endeavor Tidal?
But we have really strayed from that internet drum teaching guy. But if you read closely, I think a lot of what we are talking about does (sort of) apply. But based on the second and third hand stuff I've heard and read about, I don't think I would agree with many of his "teaching methods."
Never done a church gig, a capade gig, been to Singapore, Cirque does sound interesting though,
MSG