YT vid about how costs of doing music are beyond the reach of most working class folk

[Barking Spiders]

This guy is Andy Edwards, who used to drum with some prog bands called IQ and Frost and played in Robert Plant's band and is a pro drum tutor. I dare say you proggers here know these. Although stuff on prog, straight jazz and fusion aren't my bag I still subscribe as he's pretty good value and is also a bit of a wind-up merchant. Anyway, a lot of the chat in this vid is about the costs of gigging and how there's really no money in it for most gigging bands and how it's generally beyond the reach of working class peeps to get into playing in bands etc. I dare say most of us here recognise this.

 

 

[Nicko]

I only watched the first ten minutes and in that time he didn't really say anything worthwhile.

 

I think it's always been incredibly difficult to be a professional musician, and no doubt many of us here do it for fun only. 

 

Once we get good enough we might join a covers band doing pub gigs but the money you get for that will barely cover the costs to hiring rehearsal spaces, buying consumables and transport. You might just make a bit of money in a functions band.  As for originals bands I think it probably is harder now as the streaming services pay f*** all to the artist, there are less venues and I'm not entirely sure the yoof of today really want to listen to "performance music" in the way they used to.  I don't know whether the originals bands of the 80s and 90s found that touring generated income but at least they were able to make money from selling records and the tour was more for publicity.  

 

The moment someone mentions "not accessible to working class" really gets my goat though.  Pretty much everyone needs to work for a living.  I only know a few people in originals bands and they all have day jobs but that's nothing new.  

[Linus27]

I actually found it really interesting and what he says, he does speak a lot of truth as well as what is already known or has been the norm for some time. 

[BigRedX]

Right now, for originals bands the financial entry level to getting your music out to the public has never been lower in every respect. That means the cost of decent instruments as well as making and "releasing" a recording. Of course that means that everyone who can is now doing it, so the signal to noise ratio is now greater than ever.

 

In the past I don't think that not having much money has ever been a real barrier to making music for me. Lack of it might have meant that I couldn't always do things exactly how I wanted, but I always found ways to at least make music and get it out to the public. Some of it might have meant making lifestyle choices that others might not find palatable, but those of us who a truly driven to make music  will always find ways of doing so.