How hard is it to be able to make a -LIVING- off making music?

how hard is it to be able to make a -LIVING- off making music?

not living like a king, just enough to keep a roof, decent food, lil savings ect.

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very hard

The total amount of money you receive off of making music has to exceed your living expenses, so pretty hard.

You'd have to

1.) Make music (difficult for most since people are lazy)
2.) Have people like it (this step kills almost everyone)
3.) Have enough people like it to get noticed by blogs, review sites and labels if you wanna sign (fat chance in hell)
4.) Consistently do this until a steady stream of revenue from album, merch and touring can pay your bills (might as well try running for president)

It's impossible.

Your most realistic bet is becoming a wedding and bar mitzvah DJ

Its probably easier to join a wedding band or something

Best option but won't pay bills and you have to be older since most weddings like dadrock and people who can sing dadrock shit.

nah better off making mashups on youtube and remixing whatevers topping the charts

It would be much easier to be a YouTube/Twitch personality and make music on the side. There just isn't a lot of money in the music business.

Too damn hard. Your best bet is to make music on the side and work some shitty job until you get so sick of it that you have to kill yourself. And then after you kill yourself, if your music was really good, people might listen to it because you killed yourself.

Not that hard, actually, if you sell yourself to the market, of course.

it's a very long grind, and during the grind you never know if it's actually going to pay off in the end (sadly, it doesn't in most cases)

put some shit out there and gauge a reaction, do people want more?

Almost impossible.

It was barely doable in the 90s but doable

It's literally impossible after the internet.

it's not impossible, you'll just have to work your ass off for it and then more, and then, more. and then keep working at it. and you also have to make good music and be good at it

also this might be the cutest girl I have ever seen

Impossible, by design.


Look into the backgrounds of successful 'musicians' that emerged post 2001 or so.

The fix is in.

if it's a part time thing for you you probably won't be in the position of enough popularity to gain fans after killing yourself. pls learn how to kill yourself right user

what does this mean

It means what i said.

Indie music scene was intentionally collapsed.

Look into backgrounds of nu fake 'indie' rockers.

It's a sham.

>you'll just have to work your ass off for it and then more, and then, more. and then keep working at it

Almost impossible while working to support yourself in the meantime. Also coupled with this

>you also have to make good music and be good at it

It's impossible.

If you want to live off of music as your sole source of income, consider teaching lessons with your instrument of choice. This will give you a chance to practice/write between lessons and still have an income if your band doesn't sell or get gigs as well as you hope

Either become famous, or run your own label and try to get that to be at least decently successful

it's not too hard, you just have to make sure your always working at it, if you don't take you music seriously no-one else will you know, so be sure to spend you time actoly practicing you craft and not working at a store or going to collage, if you want to support yourself on music, music's got to support itself on you, you know, hope this helped

Yeah he's a pretty good looking dude

It's fucking impossible. Stop with your bullshit. Even the guys who supposedly 'made it' and are in well known bands make like 25k a year.

And if you want to make more than that be prepared to enter into agreements with a bunch of gangsters.

It's possible only if you sell out. Become a very good session musician and start playing in local cover bands that run the bar circuit around wherever you live. And yes, you're going to have to live in a major city.

I've been trying to make it for years without selling out, and i just don't think it's possible without a certain unreasonable degree of luck. Even my musical heroes, many of whom are massive names, still have to have day jobs in order to make enough to sustain themselves.

To put this into context: you'd have to become more popular than Andrew Jackson Jihad, and they're pretty damn popular.

Guys working at taco bell make more than the AJJ guys make off their band.

yeah look at mac demarco
guy has to say yes to every offer or hes fucked

sounds like someone who sucks at making music

I can tell you're the same dude, mr "impossible". maybe some people want to at least give it a try so they can die without regrets? or without wondering what they could have done in this short window we have in this world instead of sitting on message boards and droning on with negativity? fuckin cuck

Which is an overwhelming majority of the population.

mind showing us your bank account bros?
inspire ppl that it isn't impossible :)

good music gets discovered

you may never be mansion rich, but if your music is good you will eventually be compensated for it

be honest with yourself, do you have "talent" and a vision? then go for it bro otherwise you'll regret it

I'm 19 lol, I'm still working at it. I'm just saying that it's dumb for this dude to say shit like "it's fucking impossible, stop your bullshit" online when irl he probably is single working a shitty IT job and not enjoying life because he was too scared to make a risk

this

i made good money working in the videogame industry doing music until it went away

no original music but it paid better than any other job ive ever had

if you want to be a rockstar making original music, well get in line and prepare to suffer

good luck maybe you'll breakthru!

Enjoy poverty. No skin off my nose.

royalties are probably the easiest way to make money off music
idk why you guys aren't submitting your shitty edm to indie game developers
you know how much money is in the video game market?
you know how much music is required to make a game?
>but i want to a rockstar
kek

we'll see! and I understand people being cautious I really do. that one guy was just being an asshole lol

If you like this shit enough you'll accept being poor. Who needs money anyways. if you can keep a roof over your head, enough money to buy booze and amps you're good

That's not the same guy actually. I'm the one who said that originally. Also, I never said don't try it. Do whatever you want.

exactly, no skin off your nose. so fuck off

can anyone link me an artist who has above average music but still is struggling financially?

...

Damn dude shit got real. You speak truth. It's better to fail and know you tried than to wonder what if

>asks a question and then gets salty when someone tells him the truth.

>royalties

kek. 'royalties'.

Good luck with that.

Don't listen to nay sayers, there are tons of artists out there supporting themselves off music that aren't even famous, that other guy is thinking way too small and his type of thinking never gets you anywhere, but it does take so much energy out of you just trying to build a fan base alone. Keep on rockin in the free world and make sure you keep your eyes open for other opportunities outside of music, remember you're a brand before you're a musician and don't let anyone talk you out of it

also, all successful people have failed a lot. like a lot. you can look up all the stories I don't need to, but they learn from each failure and it makes them better at their craft, and the key trait each has is they never give up. now, this may mean years of struggling to make ends meet, but more often than not that's what it takes to do something great. is it possible for all of us? no. but I think theres so many failures out there because a lot stop after one little failure and never go back, combined with some people just don't have the work ethic/talent for this

You're definitely under 30.

this exactly, thanks man. I'm in college and learning coding in my free time

It's not truth to say it's impossible. He didn't ask about how he could have enough money to wipe his ass with, he literally asked about how to keep a roof over his head with music. It's true that it is hard work and rarely glamorus, but not impossible

The system is rigged retard. It's centrally controlled and colluded.

And DIY scenes are becoming increasingly marginalized.

Even having this 'dream' is probably indicative of a separation from reality and critical thought.

Bruh the music still has to be good, it has to be something that has longevity, you don't just submit your music you gotta be chosen for that shit

Yes sure. Some people win the lotto etc.

It's a dumb meme that ought to be put down.

Sean Price only started getting rich later on in life before he died. He was a famous broke rapper

yeah its like for every 1 guy that makes it there's 100 that didnt but you only ever hear anything from the guy that made it, and he only has positive things to say

confirmation bias and shit

system is rigged? what? do you see the rappers that are popular today? if the system is rigged how would a crack cooking motherfucker with a knife tattooed between his eyes become a rich independent artist? fuck out of here

i said above average

I'm not op lol fuck off

i know a guy who is a session musician and he makes some money off of it but he cant live off only that

he spends all of his music money on new synths and other instruments

Yep. Ask a question and then get mad when the reality isn't the rah rah feel good bullshit you wanted to delude yourself with.

>you gotta be chosen for that shit
and it has almost nothing to do with the quality of the music.

You kids need to start trying to understand what the music 'industry' actually is. Especially given the current political climate.

what does he do on the side?
this is the other thing, theres a lot of dumb motherfuckers out there who give music aspirations a bad name cause they just want to look cool and smoke weed all the time. I smoke weed a lot but I also have work ethic and practice all the time. your buddy, even if he's not making all of his living off of music, is obviously dedicated to an extent if he's making anything at all. if you want to try music and you're good at it you should definitely do it, but don't be pissed if you need to do something else also to make ends meet before you make any form of a break

>if the system is rigged how would a crack cooking motherfucker with a knife tattooed between his eyes become a rich independent artist
Social engineering?

Who is it that you think release these 'records'?

>Who is it that you think release these 'records'?
the jews of course

how do you think you will make money?

selling physical media? no one buys shit.

playing live? there are no places to perform any more and no one goes out to see shows/live music.

people playing in cover bands at bars might each pocket 100 bucks if they are really good.

he is a bartender when he is not playing for a band or recording for people in studio

hes very talented and can play just about any instrument you put in front of him

you realize that these guys put their music on the internet themselves? you know migos are independent too right? and they've had the number one song in the world for months now. obviously they got help moving albums, but that's cause at this point they're such a brand these guys want in. theyre still independent and still record all their vocals in their house. take of your tin foil hat

lolz yeah, the music industry is bleak. sometimes i try to think about ways to revive it but none of them will work.

for every good musician or band that gets "discovered" enough to make 15 grand a year off it for a couple years before disappearing, there are thousands of others of the same quality that never make it past bedrooms and playing in peoples living rooms at parties

Ruck was a pretty above average rapper if you ask around

yep

>kids need to start trying to understand what the music 'industry' actually is.

I get that you're jaded and it seems overwhelmingly difficult, but it is possible. Not ideal conditions, but possible.
There's a noticeable difference between people who want to make cool music and get money vs. people who truly care about music as an artistic form (to them at least). It is possible, but very difficult.

link good music that has been robbed of notoriety and the artist struggles/struggled financially

right, that never happened

Delude yourself however much you need to.


And Migos are on fucking Atlantic dumb fuck.

thats the thing, you cant really do it because no one knows who they are because they never made it

>but possible.
And making the NBA is possible. And winning the lottery is possible.

The point is it's improbable. HIGHLY improbable.

Stop spreading bullshit.

meanwhile on planet earth, he was mediocre but everyone admired his grind

people here are acting like there's some invisible boogie man pushing musicians out of the industry. let me let you in on a little something. the reason why your buddy didn't make it even though he is so good at playing guitar? he probably doesn't understand music business in the slightest. maybe he didn't try again the first time he froze on stage from stage fright, maybe he was just getting high instead of getting high and hanging around studios meeting artists/producers. maybe he had good ideas but was too stubborn to change his music slightly to fit an audience that would accept it. maybe they're just fucking bad and need to grow up and pick up another occupation and save music for free time? either way, the music industry is tough, it really is, all entertainment is. but overall it is certainly the kindest entertainment industry to indie artists. a lot of these failure stories you hear about are stubborn spinal-tap esque idiots who didn't take it seriously anyway. but that being said, know what you're getting into going into it and be open to a backup plan for profit

School us then

>people here are acting like there's some invisible boogie man pushing musicians out of the industry.
there FUCKING is.

see mos def. see silver jews. see lcd soundsystem. see lauryn hill. etc.

>it must not exist if a mandarin drawing board can't show me

right, so now we can all agree that good music will get found, shared and the artist will be compensated for his/her work eventually

atlantic just distributes their music young actual dumb fuck. that's exactly what I said in my comment

no you idiot

and they didn't even start doing that until their most recent album

Lol so why try at anything in life right

>mumbling rap shit get popular
>mumbling rap shit on top
"ah yes my wifes son played this when i took him to school"
"i'm tellin ya rick them blacks sure know to make some good ooga booga sounds"

you want to explain some of this for me? lcd soundsystem have been fucking killing it on festival tours for the past two years

black people making shit that white people think is stupid is literally the history of music and where a lot of good music has come from. see syncopation in general, jazz, blues, rap, etc

how fucking naive are you? Have you been in a coma the last 2 years and are unaware of the rampant corruption in corporate media?

Rappers have been talking about this shit FOR YEARS. Do your homework.

it doesn't exist

you have absolutely not one example of an artist who had quality work being robbed of a career in music production

google.com -- go find me ONE fucking example because I can't find shit

if you do good work, you will make a living

if you do average or below work, you will need to get very lucky

how is this a hard reality to take in? I'm saying you need to be gifted in ear and vision to have a shot...

No retard.. Don't put your hopes and sweat into 100,000 to 1 shots.

don't forget that a lot of black popular music has been black artists playing up black stereotypes for a white suburban teen audience; see NWA, 50 cent, etc.

>to have a shot
right, but for all the guys that have a shot, how many actually make it beyond that?

im willing to bet not many, and it has nothing to do with their work ethic or quality, they just dont get the breaks

so? even if this is so (with NWA I don't completely agree) they still made it

the verve got fucked over pretty bad for that sample in bitter sweet symphony i think the license holder got 100% royalties

It's not what you kids think it is

youtu.be/sQESdDbolWQ