I remember a conversation I had with my parents as I was graduating from college and telling them that I wanted to try to make a career playing music. I had made money in college singing in a coffeehouse, enough money that I reasoned I could continue to support myself playing guitar and singing. My parents were not supportive. “It’s fine that you had some fun in college with your music, but don’t get carried away.”
Parents, understandably, might be hesitant to encourage their children to consider a career in music. They fear their child will end up penniless. But hundreds of thousands of people make a living playing music.
In fact, making a living as a musician is not that different from making a living in any other profession, doctor, lawyer, where you bet on yourself: your skill, intelligence, and most importantly, willingness to work at it.
My podcast partner, Kevin Bales, tells the story of being confronted with the additional responsibility of a newborn back at the beginning of his music career in the 1990s:
“I was gigging five, six, seven nights a week, sometimes twice a night. Then when I found out we were going to have a child, I decided I would keep doing gigs until we ran out money, then I’d get a real job. It never happened.”
The COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of musicians’ careers on hold. But barring a global disaster, there’s always going to be work because people want and need music.
Like any profession, you have to work at your business to make a living making music. Playing solo or with a group, on the road or settled in places like Denver, Houston, and ultimately, New Orleans, I was fortunate enough to work virtually every night. When I moved to Atlanta, I became a nine-to-fiver. It was quite a change in lifestyle, but the challenges were much the same. You’re running a business, trying to get work, trying to surround yourself with good people.
Kevin agrees. “Some young musicians try to skip that step of building a business. They think, ‘I’m talented, I’m going to get discovered, and then I’m going to be signed to a record label and get a million YouTube views.’ You can win a lottery too, and I’ve known some people who have. But the better plan is to build your business.
In fact, Kevin points out, “The greatest challenge to building your career in music is all the persistent negative messaging about how hard it is to make a living as a musician. We run into that constantly.”
But if you spend the time, if you work on building your business as well as refining your craft, you can make a comfortable living as performing musician. And if that’s what you love doing most, why would you want to commit your life to anything else? So carry on. Get carried away.
Yours Truly,