How to survive as a musician without a 9-5 normal job?

[lonestar]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1398450747' post='2434363']


[size=4] I bet you weren't the only one, Skank!![/size]
[/quote]

He wasn't

[seashell]

Portfolio career, as others have suggested.
If you can survive with just a bit of extra money to subsidise what you earn from music, how about exam invigilation? Most Universities (and some FE colleges) need invigilators for about 6 weeks in summer, a couple if weeks in Jan, referred exams in Sept and postgrad exams April and June.
It all adds up. And you don't have to work evenings.

[Dad3353]

I suppose it's the natural coyness of the nice folks here that prevents them from stating the obvious: sleeping with the producer is [i]not [/i]a substitute for a job, and does not guarantee one a glittering path to the top. Please don't ask how I (and many more here...) know this.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Dad3353

[ambient]

There are lots of things you can add to your portfolio, you really just need to use your imagination, and if you think of an opportunity then grasp it and act on it.

I know Steve Lawson does seminars/masterclasses about online marketing/ use of social media and things like that.

There's busking too, especially if you live in a touristy area, and can come up with a different slant on it, Chapman stick playing or solo bass looping maybe ?

Running a website with music educational resources is a possibility.

Stage/instrument tech'ing.

[SaxyBassist]

I've had more success earning an income in music than painting! .... I now do both, I sell a few paintings/do a few commissions, I teach Sax and Flute privately, add in a few reasonably well paid gigs here and there (horn section stuff mainly) and it's not too bad, but.... I'm "lucky" to have a very frugal lifestyle and an extremely small mortgage, so it works well for me I'm hoping my bass playing will improve enough to add that into the mix too

[Beer of the Bass]

I have friends in a signed band who tour regularly, and they all still do other non-musical work the rest of the time.

[JTUK]

Depends what you need or want to earn.
For the sake of argument, say £25k is the requirement, therefore you need
to cover £500 pw, every week. This is the hard realisation.

You'll need a single gig paying upwards of £250, probably on the saturday...EVERY saturday.
Then you need to get another £250 or the balance from teaching/lessons, gigs and sessions.
The function date has largely replaced the session as the biggest contributer, IMO.

Functions that pay the band north of £1400 are the gigs that seem to have dropped during these economic
times and I know a few guys that would have expected to have 10 or so such gigs by late march..and are down to one.
There is no way to recover from that and the earnngs for the year will serverly curtailed.
I say £1400 plus gigs, because if you are a professional outfit you will have other costs from the fee and it isn't as
simple as a 4 way split as the band will have generally admin and running costs such as Van, P.A service, repairs, website,
admin etc etc etc ( the list is long )

It isn't easy .... most guys will need another job/jobs as well which can chip in 10 plus hours per week

[RhysP]

I love the way that "Jack of all trades, master of none" has now become "Portfolio Career".....

[Skol303]

I attempted to carve a career in music during my early 20s (as a club DJ), when I was younger and generally more 'up for it'.

I gave up because I found that a lot of the success factors were out of my control (the old "who you know, not what you know" scenario) and it was starting to poison why I ventured into music in the first place - because I loved music. So I stopped and became a music journalist instead... and then set up my own business in 2002. All of which is another story

My point is, there's no shame in trying and equally there's no shame in doing something else. Music (in fact all creative arts) is a difficult scene to make a living from. And it can sap your creative passion, just as quickly as it can your bank account.

So by all means give it a crack. You'll regret it if you don't. But know when to pull the plug if it doesn't work out.

[dand666]

This is quite relevant to my interests at the moment.

We've just been given a cruise contract which starts in Oct (we have weddings every weekend up till then), and the realisation of me quitting my full time job has kicked in.

It's hard, most of my friends and people I know, have taken the originals route, and they're really starting to pay off, and getting massive. We have taken the cover route, but it's starting to pay off.

Now I have an opportunity to play music for a living, it's all quite scary >.< I have to give it a go, otherwise I'll spend my entire life thinking 'what if'.

[funkgod]

If You want reality, ask your self this.....
How many people personally do i know that have bought their house from just playing music ???

I have been playing for 30 odd years and pro for 15 of them..... and i personally know 2 !!

And to put that into reality ...one of them is a busker who has and still does busks all over the world

Edited April 26, 2014 by funkgod

[arthurhenry]

The ideas that you have to "Stick to what you believe in" and "Follow your heart", so often imparted by our musical heroes, are total cobblers. On the planet Earth with eight billion other people, it is just possible that you could discover previously unconsidered passions and skills in other areas. It's fine to wonder "What if?" It would be very strange if we didn't.

Edited April 26, 2014 by arthurhenry

[discreet]

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1398533875' post='2435054']
The idea that you have to "Stick to what you believe in" and "Follow your heart", so often imparted by our musical heroes, is total cobblers.
[/quote]

I'm getting a T-shirt with 'EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVE IN IS TOTAL COBBLERS' printed on it.

[booboo]

Benefits, 2 minute noodles, toast, and strong tea are the legal things you can do.

[icastle]

I made a living as a musician when I was in my 20's.
It was hard work, but it paid the bills and bought me my first house.

Thirty years on and I'm in a position where I have had to go back to that again.

It's so much harder now than it was then and I supplement my earnings doing building, agricultural, gardening, IT, teaching and whatever other opportunity I see.

Musically, I play in three bands and a duo, dep and session work is ticking along nicely and I'm in the process of forming another band to grab a share of a musical genre that the others don't cover.

[ambient]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1398516416' post='2434876']
I love the way that "Jack of all trades, master of none" has now become "Portfolio Career".....
[/quote]

I kind of disagree with that a bit, you have to be good at all, otherwise you won't get asked to them.

[ambient]

I think you have to consider what you personally want and need from life.

A lot has been said about paying bills and buying houses. The reality is very few jobs nowadays pay enough to get a mortgage, that's why more and more people are renting. People can't raise the often huge deposit, and then there's the repayments and job insecurity.

Consider the bills that you pay each month. You have to pay for somewhere to live, and to heat and provide electricity for where you live, and food to eat.

[b][i]But[/i][/b]

Do you need the super bumper platinum Sky TV package, when you probably only watch 3 channels anyway and do you have to have the latest electronic gadgetry, new flatscreen TV and mobile phone and games console ?

Do you have to spend a fortnight in the sun on the Costa Del Whatever every year ?

What about changing your car regularly ?

Buying new clothes every season ?

Eating out regularly ?

[i][b]Or[/b][/i]

Can you make do without any of that nonsense, and be satisfied in what you do for a living ?

Being a professional musician is a lifestyle, not just a job.

[Dingus]

I personally know musicians who are or were in signed bands with record deals, doing world tours, appearing on T.V and having their music in the charts and they still weren't making a steady living and were existing with an income slightly above the Income Support level , but with no real security and all kinds of pressures upon them. By the same token, I also know some other musicians who have made a decent living for the last thirty years doing all kinds of gigs as backing musicians, but those lads are all [i]exceptionally[/i] capable players. The first thing you have to do is be realistic about how good you really are.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Dingus

[britpoprule]

Hello guys,

I'm really impressed by all your answers. I really appreciated your interest for this topic.

I take my situation very realistically. I'm a singer/songwriter and I produce my own songs with Logic. I also play guitar, but mainly as a tool to write songs and perform them live. I'm towards my late 20's. I never though about doing this forever, and probably when I reach 30 or my early 30's I will consider giving up the big dream and doing music in my extra time in my little room.

Having a 9-5 (9-6, 8-6 or whatever) normal job would be fine, although if very demanding, when you come back home, I'm not sure if you still have energies to sit down and concentrate on music. I guess you'd rather relax and eat some nice food, after so much stress in the office.

I was looking for some type of survival jobs, like market research with flexible hours, a little bit more than part-time, and other not mentally demanding jobs that don't completely abuse your brain before the end of the day.

Edited April 27, 2014 by britpoprule

[JTUK]

Singer songwriter type skills can do plenty of busking type seasons as you can be a one-man show.
This means that you ARE the act, rather than selling your skills to support an act.

If you were able to do 5 solo gigs per week... you could prorbaly quite easily get £100 per gig
if you were good.. that is just on the basis of a cover act.

Far easier be able to do and control that than as a sideman.

[Dingus]

Lets face it, whether you are an aspiring musician or not, most 9-5 jobs are crap and pretty soul destroying . Contrary to the current propaganda, wanting to avoid that kind of routine is understandable and quite commendable in many ways.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1398533875' post='2435054']
The ideas that you have to "Stick to what you believe in" and "Follow your heart", so often imparted by our musical heroes, are total cobblers. On the planet Earth with eight billion other people, it is just possible that you could discover previously unconsidered passions and skills in other areas. It's fine to wonder "What if?" It would be very strange if we didn't.
[/quote]

Agreed. How can anyone know their true passion if they've settled on one thing from an early age? We live in a time where the possibilities for travel and adventure have never been greater or more achievable. Is spending a whole life plucking 4-strings and living on the breadline really the best way to take advantage of such opportunities?

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='britpoprule' timestamp='1398606664' post='2435655']
Having a 9-5 (9-6, 8-6 or whatever) normal job would be fine, although if very demanding, when you come back home, I'm not sure if you still have energies to sit down and concentrate on music. I guess you'd rather relax and eat some nice food, after so much stress in the office.
[/quote]

I [i]never[/i] found I was too tired for music after work. If anything, the prospect would energise and enliven me as the work day progressed.

The one problem was time conflicts and I got over that by keeping a change of clothes and (some of) my gear at work. Out the door at 5:30 like weasel-sh*t and I'd probably be at the gig an hour before the others who went home, had their tea, placated the missus and went back out again.

The way I saw it, if the audience could turn out after the daily grind then I could do the same. Frankly, it's only when gigs take one out of town on an impossibly frequent basis that one needs to think about canning the day job.

[miles'tone]

I'm currently training to be a teaching assistant at the local primary school.
It's a really funny and rewarding way to spend my day, loving it! I get to be a bit creative making displays etc, no heavy graft (used to be a plumbing bass player - God knows what I was thinking there) with the ace working hours of 9 - 3.15.

Oh and school hols off. Boom!

Just a thought..



Edit: By the way, primary schools LOVE people who can sing and play acoustic guitar!

Edited April 27, 2014 by miles'tone

[BassTractor]

Sorry if it's already been mentioned, but a regular job doesn't have to be a full job. Taking me as an example: for two years, I studied almost full time (as in roughly eight hours a day) alongside alternating between 40% and 60% of a full job for one year, and a bit more irregular working the other year.

The question probably is if you can survive off little income, and my guess is that that depends as much on where you live as on other things.