In The Trenches Or On The Stage-Artist Survival

Anyone who’s tried to make a living at music knows how hard it can be. I’m not talking about trying to get famous and make tons of money; I’m talking about realistically trying to survive as a musician.  Even if you do achieve some popularity with your original music, you’ll need to supplement your income with other gigs, studio work, etc…First there’s a basic list of things you need to have down: skills (playing, reading, etc), positive attitude, and dependability, to name a few.  But the most important aspect every pro needs to have is VERSATILITY.

I’ve been a professional musician for about 15 years, and music has been my only career. I mainly play Upright Bass, but also Electric Bass and Guitarron. On the side I play guitar, mandolin, drums, and a bit of piano. A funny thing I have observed about all the different people I play with is that the ones who write music, who have an audience, who sell records and play at festivals and give ‘concerts’, as opposed to playing ‘gigs’, all have day jobs. But the folks I know who are full time musicians (though they may write their own music a bit, but don’t perform it much) never perform under their own names and just play ‘gigs’ of various kinds.

The folks who I’ve seen survive a long time as musicians have also developed the skill of creating/finding gigs for themselves by thinking in innovative ways.  Pianists accompanying ballet classes, singer-songwriters developing educational programs/assemblies/presentations, getting kids involved with their gigs through benefits for arts programs (the more people you make involved-the bigger the audience at each event) and, of course, just working hard every day is the main part of any mode of survival.  Learning how to engineer/record can also land you some nice gigs helping others to make records.  I probably don’t need to mention computer skills to you lot, if you’re reading this, you’re already hanging out on the net, and probably possess some geeky skills!

Getting back to the musical side of things, I’ve observed this basic rule, sadly: the more artistically satisfying something is, the less it pays, and the gigs that pay the most money are the ones that a lot of musicians call ‘potted plant gigs’ due to the fact that the musicians are merely part of the scenery (next to the potted plants) and just providing a bit of ambience while people talk to each other and dip things into fondues of chocolate or cheeses.

As a side note, one thing that seems to facilitate survival, for me at least, is being a bassist.  Being a bass player, traditionally a supportive role, is usually not the first thing someone thinks about doing when they dream of being a musician.  See my post on The Bass Guitar Blog on becoming a bassist.  Therefore, it’s a niche that has less people trying to fill it.  In addition to this, it’s a very difficult niche to fill, which also opens up more opportunities to those who are able to fill it.  Speaking for myself, I don’t think I would have ended up being a career musician unless I had developed my skills as an upright/electric bassist.

As far as how a musician really survives, what’s even more important than having your ‘hometown’ gigs (hotels? wineries? churches? students? private parties? or whatever you’ve found) is having the option to miss or sub out local gigs when you go out on tour and to be able to return and resume without turbulence.

This is where the alliance to other musicians is essential.  If you’re a bassist, you should know at least two other bassists with similar skills (but watch out for the old pitfall of getting a sub that’s TOO much better than yourself, or you just might find yourself replaced ☺). If you’re a choir director, there should be someone you know who can assume your responsibilities that won’t make the people whom you normally work with uncomfortable.  As having great subs is an essential part of surviving as a musician, this directly implies that there’s NO room for competition, except with yourself to see how much you can improve.  We’re all an ‘army’ of musicians and should be unified to improve (the root word of improvise) the world.  See my post on Uccello Projects Blog-Ideas behind SYMMETRIA Any smart band leader will tell you, it’s wise to have two or three people for each position in the band, and the higher the quality of the musicians you need, the more likely they’ll be super busy, and need subs.

There is another side to all this that might be what makes or breaks the ability to survive as a musician: LIVING FRUGALLY.  Finding a living situation that is inexpensive, either by some type of work trade, or a place that needs fixing up and rents for cheaper is one major helper.  A lot of it comes down to having a strong community/network of friends (or living near family members who help each other). Friends who can help with computer/car repair, photographer buddies who might want guitar lessons in exchange for helping you take promo pics, the possibilities/combinations are endless.

I call this THE OTHER HALF OF LIFE.  Making as much money as you can is one half, and NEEDING LESS is the ‘other half’.  It’s hard not to get caught up in the illusion of needing more stuff, but it doesn’t really take much to be happy when it comes down to it.  Day care is often a huge expense for parents, but most musicians work at odd times and have flexible schedules, making it possible to never even need day care (this is also where living near friends/family can be a huge help).  Plus making a little less money might be a fair trade for getting to spend way more time with your family, what makes you happy?  In these times of disappearing music programs in schools and gigs fading away left and right and more and more businesses failing, musicians are, more than ever, at risk of encountering tough times.

A last closing thought about becoming a career musician is how it can affect one psychologically.  Most people go into it with expectations that it will be mostly fun and you’ll get to play the kind of music you want to play 100% of the time.  Now, with a ‘real’ job (I hate how that sounds) you go into it expecting to work hard, probably not enjoy it too much, and really doing it only for the money.  In many ways that’s easier and clearer than going into a life of music with a million expectations only to find out later that most full timers are happy to get dinner and a hundred bucks at the end of a gig.

It’s really about the unrealistic expectations associated with being a musician that cause bitterness or depression.  It took me a long time to realize that I needed my pure artistic outlet (my original music and recordings) see my website for more on that AND my ‘bread and butter’ gigs. More over, it took me a long time to realize that I needed emotional insulation against the depressing effects of doing something that I cherish with all my heart and soul, just for the money, and not necessarily enjoying it.  I think of actors who must go into character and how, if they are not trained properly to make a distinction between their character and themselves, it can have deep negative effects on their mental conditions.

Music is very powerful and has a tremendous influence on our emotions, if the musician isn’t careful about staying aware of these things and keeping it all in perspective, life can take some unexpectedly strange turns while you’re not looking.  On the other hand the rewards of being a musician can be astronomically positive whether you’re in the trenches, or on the stage-Good Luck to all of you and thanks for reading my blog, please share your thoughts with me in the comments section below, I’d love to know what you all think about all this!

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