– Musicians and “Day Jobs”
I was recently pointed to a great little writeup from CDBaby asking the unfortunately neverending question, “Should Artists Have to Work a 2nd Job?” This really hit home with me as I’ve struggled with this question for a long time. In fact, for the first time now, I am 100% focused on my musical career in 2011. This is strange and exciting territory for me – when I was in school, I of course had school to focus on in addition to music. Then I went directly into the videogame development industry, where I focused in addition to music. This continued for over 16 years.
I always considered the day job as the only way to fund the musical endeavors. So above and beyond normal living expenses and month to month bills, there was constant gear purchases/upgrades, recording studio time, promotional expenses, cd manufacturing, etc. It can be an expensive passion pursuit, even as I consider myself extremely frugal with my musical investments! On the plus side, I never had to play the part of “starving artist” – which I’m thankful for. BTW – I totally respect anyone who’s willing to sacrifice for dedication to their art. I haven’t been willing to take the risk until now and know it takes guts no matter what level of success you’re having.
Where push comes to shove is in the time/money exchange. Having real success in the music biz (or likely any artistic endeavor) and building an actual career requires an inordinate amount of time, energy, and focus…things that obviously go away when you are holding down a day job. Can’t afford to live without a day job, can’t build an artistic career without the time and focus. How do you break out of this catch-22? I certainly know some that have, including my former drummer, Tom Sharpe, and I went to high school with many, including Jewel, whose starving artist story is part of her celebrity rags to riches aura at this point. Of the stories I know, themes of lengthy struggle and even getting to the edge of breakdown and complete failure are common before breaks and momentum toward success were gained.
I don’t have the answers and am pushing into unknown territory myself (perhaps this diagram will help), but I do have a new sense of dedication and confidence to my musical career. I will be pushing that as hard as I can for as long as I possibly can. I hope you will join me for the wild ride and comment your thoughts on this important topic. Oh, and while you’re here, buy a song from my store, so I don’t have to starve, okay? 😉
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