Is it Really Possible to Make Money in Music?

Rocket River · Sep 1, 2021

ima_drummer2k said: ↑

@jo mama pretty much knocked it out of the park in this thread, but I'll give my 2 cents as well...

Like him, I've been playing in bands for over 30 years now - always with the long term goal of being able to make enough money to quit my day job. Now that I'm married with a couple of kids and a mortgage, I've pretty much accepted the fact that this music thing, that I've pretty much dedicated my entire life to, will never be more than just a side hustle. And that's....okay.

i paid my way through school by sidelining in a country band as well as a bunch of different jazz combos, etc. But when you're in college, $100 a gig may as well be $1,000 a gig.

When I was in my 20's, I tried the original band thing. We recorded an album at Sugarhill, played all over Texas and Louisiana selling CDs out of our trunk, and even got a song featured on a A WWF show and an MTV reality show (something about a fraternity if I remember right). Of course, I didn't make a dime doing any of this, so I dropped out and auditioned for a cover band to try and actually make some money again. Been in that cover band now for over 20 years.

Made pretty good money over the years with this band. Enough to actually hire a drum tech who sets up and tears down my gear before and after gigs, which is an absolute GODSEND. But COVID has been rough. Had a terrible year in 2020 and 2021 hasn't been much better so far. People just don't want to have big weddings or corporate events as much as they did pre-pandemic. Most of our gigs have been low-paying club gigs - the kind of gigs I wanted to get away from when I joined this band.

My boys just turned 10 and they are both in School of Rock. One plays drums and the other plays guitar. I figured they needed a bass player to fill out the power trio, so my bass player was nice enough to give me one of his basses that he doesn't play anymore. We jammed Seven Nation Army and Once Step Closer last night. We are working our way up to Toxicity and Chop Suey (they love System of a Down) but the guitar has a weird drop-C tuning and the drum breaks in Toxicity are tough for a 10 year old. But we'll get there eventually.

Funny thing is that since I got this bass, I've been practicing non-stop. Playing in a cover band that is such a well-oiled machine at this point is great....but I'm finding that it's not really scratching my creative itch anymore. Not a lot of room for improv in a band where everything is so scripted out. That's the thing about cover bands - you can make some good money, but after a while, it starts to feel like work.

My goal now is to keep practicing the bass and get good enough to eventually join a band. Even if it's just a bunch of dads playing Nirvana covers in dive-bars and ice houses for $50 a night. It's like I'm starting my whole musical journey over again. And it feels really cool. Maybe it would help get me out of this musical rut I'm in.

So yeah....long story short, it's REALLY HARD to make a living with music. I've been trying for 30 years to no avail. For every musician that pulls it off, there are 50 more weekend warriors who don't. But I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything in the world and I would highly recommend every kid out there learn to play an instrument and start a band. It's given me the best times of my life and a ton of life-long friends.
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Come on man!
You can Rock out with your kids!

New Rock Group IMA_Rock_Group!!!

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