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What to do with my life?
- Thread starter BassNoobSuomi
- Start date
Kid my guitarist left school after high school bought a guitar with some money he worked from subway. Played for 3 months then joined a band that was blowing up and toured for a few years.
He left the band moved here started college then we met and started another band. In life you always return to your passion. If music is your passion do music, but be smart about it finish high school register for college and take some management classes or go to community college those marketing and management classes will teach you stuff you need to know as a musician to not get screwed by venue owners.
If you wanna be a musician be a musician if you failed you failed you can always start over life's too short make your own adventures
Just use a condom and do not do drugs and you'll be fine. If you get in a bind go work for Walmart.
If you don't make it in a few years you can re evaljate your life by 21 and go back to college and start another career. Or if you finished college you'll have a fall back plan.
He left the band moved here started college then we met and started another band. In life you always return to your passion. If music is your passion do music, but be smart about it finish high school register for college and take some management classes or go to community college those marketing and management classes will teach you stuff you need to know as a musician to not get screwed by venue owners.
If you wanna be a musician be a musician if you failed you failed you can always start over life's too short make your own adventures
Just use a condom and do not do drugs and you'll be fine. If you get in a bind go work for Walmart.
If you don't make it in a few years you can re evaljate your life by 21 and go back to college and start another career. Or if you finished college you'll have a fall back plan.
Life as a full time musician is not easy. If you're gonna be a solo artist its even harder. You'll need to become a multiple instrumentalist to survive. I'd learn bass and drums those are the two musicians always in demand. Learning guitar and piano will also help make u more market table and become a better composer. You should also learn to sing.
If you go the band route it can be easier if your all on the same page. If not you tie your faith and very survival to people who may not take it as serious as you do. Or who talk a big game but are perfectly fine with living a rock star fantasy on a tiny stage.
Besides that they're the venues who will try to rob you, you have to have balls of steel, to beat up a manager with facts to get paid a fair wage. Bars can afford to pay but refuse to because every dollar they can cheat you out of goes to them. You need to write a bullet proof contract with a reasonable and fair price and make them sign it before you play.
Most smart venues will have no problem if your contract is reasonable. And the final tip I'll tell you is to know when to quit. You are gonna face ruin alot you need to know when to recognise you failed stop analyse down to the finest detail why you failed and fix your mistakes, and try again. Do not burn bridges with your family, you will need them to bail you out.
If they want you to go to college go register and focus on getting good grades.
I'm studying engineering and I'm giving to pay my bills so you can do both if you try.
If you go the band route it can be easier if your all on the same page. If not you tie your faith and very survival to people who may not take it as serious as you do. Or who talk a big game but are perfectly fine with living a rock star fantasy on a tiny stage.
Besides that they're the venues who will try to rob you, you have to have balls of steel, to beat up a manager with facts to get paid a fair wage. Bars can afford to pay but refuse to because every dollar they can cheat you out of goes to them. You need to write a bullet proof contract with a reasonable and fair price and make them sign it before you play.
Most smart venues will have no problem if your contract is reasonable. And the final tip I'll tell you is to know when to quit. You are gonna face ruin alot you need to know when to recognise you failed stop analyse down to the finest detail why you failed and fix your mistakes, and try again. Do not burn bridges with your family, you will need them to bail you out.
If they want you to go to college go register and focus on getting good grades.
I'm studying engineering and I'm giving to pay my bills so you can do both if you try.
Final final,
Learn how to spot bs. Anyone who starts off telling you how awesome they are, and about how much they like you and how much things they are gonna do for you is full of crap.
This is how you spot bs. Like sun tsu said in the art of war, people always look out for their own self interests first and foremost. If they tell you about the money they make the famous people they know or the connections they have unsolicited its because they are trying to create value in your mind. If they then tell you that they will give you a bunch of stuff or help without asking for anything they are trying to exploit you.
Networking works by making connections that lead to mutually beneficial experiences. So if someone offers out somethingsomething they want something in return.
Don't let them lead you on. One of the popular rackets in my area is venue owners that will try to book you on stage, then they will give you a contract like full cover after the first 200.00 is made. Knowing full well that a new artist and band can't pull enough to make a contract like that worthwhile. If its a 5.00 cover you'll have to pull 40 people to the venue before you start to get paid. That's highly improbable, especially when cover charges are a deterrant for most people.
So basically they would have gotten you and your band to work for weeks promoting a show to get people out. Then load in work for 1-4 hrs depending on the set length, then stick around only to not get paid because 'yo didn't pull enough.
Or they will offer you 10 percent of bar sales without showing you paper work to back it, or try to get smart and say that the 10% only applied to when you were on stage not total nightly gross sales.
If you pull 50 people and they have a drink tab of 30.00 average that's at least 1500 you made that bar 10% is 150.00 that's chump change for a bar. So don't let them scam you.
Or they'll ask you to load in at 4 and stay till 3 am to get pid. The time from load in to when you get home is work related time. You need to divide your compensation by the total time to see how much you are actually making. And do all these calculatins before agreeing to play. This is how you prevent venues from ripping you off.
Learn how to spot bs. Anyone who starts off telling you how awesome they are, and about how much they like you and how much things they are gonna do for you is full of crap.
This is how you spot bs. Like sun tsu said in the art of war, people always look out for their own self interests first and foremost. If they tell you about the money they make the famous people they know or the connections they have unsolicited its because they are trying to create value in your mind. If they then tell you that they will give you a bunch of stuff or help without asking for anything they are trying to exploit you.
Networking works by making connections that lead to mutually beneficial experiences. So if someone offers out somethingsomething they want something in return.
Don't let them lead you on. One of the popular rackets in my area is venue owners that will try to book you on stage, then they will give you a contract like full cover after the first 200.00 is made. Knowing full well that a new artist and band can't pull enough to make a contract like that worthwhile. If its a 5.00 cover you'll have to pull 40 people to the venue before you start to get paid. That's highly improbable, especially when cover charges are a deterrant for most people.
So basically they would have gotten you and your band to work for weeks promoting a show to get people out. Then load in work for 1-4 hrs depending on the set length, then stick around only to not get paid because 'yo didn't pull enough.
Or they will offer you 10 percent of bar sales without showing you paper work to back it, or try to get smart and say that the 10% only applied to when you were on stage not total nightly gross sales.
If you pull 50 people and they have a drink tab of 30.00 average that's at least 1500 you made that bar 10% is 150.00 that's chump change for a bar. So don't let them scam you.
Or they'll ask you to load in at 4 and stay till 3 am to get pid. The time from load in to when you get home is work related time. You need to divide your compensation by the total time to see how much you are actually making. And do all these calculatins before agreeing to play. This is how you prevent venues from ripping you off.
And don't let me get started on other rackets like battle of the bands and open mics.
Battle of the bands competitions are scams. Its a ploy to get a bunch o bands to sign up pay an entry fee bring alot of people then the winner isn't who plays the best but who networked with the judges the best before the competition. The only one who wins in a bob is the organizers they make a couple grand and pay out a few 100 bucks.
As for open miss its a similar racket but you can use it to your advantage. You play an open mic for 3 reasons only well 4
1. To get stage experience
2. To test material/ build a following
3. To secure a venue
4. To build networking connections
80% of this business is about meeting people and getting people to like you even if they may hate your music. And setting up opportunities that are mutually beneficial.
Also get a reverbnation page and an iPhone that thing will be your bè st friend as a starting musician
Battle of the bands competitions are scams. Its a ploy to get a bunch o bands to sign up pay an entry fee bring alot of people then the winner isn't who plays the best but who networked with the judges the best before the competition. The only one who wins in a bob is the organizers they make a couple grand and pay out a few 100 bucks.
As for open miss its a similar racket but you can use it to your advantage. You play an open mic for 3 reasons only well 4
1. To get stage experience
2. To test material/ build a following
3. To secure a venue
4. To build networking connections
80% of this business is about meeting people and getting people to like you even if they may hate your music. And setting up opportunities that are mutually beneficial.
Also get a reverbnation page and an iPhone that thing will be your bè st friend as a starting musician
I graduated at 16 myself. Got into school early and skipped a grade.
That was last June. I squandered a lot of time. I had a job teaching guitar but that only brought in about $180 USD a month.
I've done a lot of music, bands writing, classical guitar since then. I'm going to school in September for Stage Technology (lighting, sound, etc.) as well as building up a classical guitar repertoire to gig and make some money that way.
I've also worked with a start up business locally. They're a company that is providing a marketplace for nerdy stuff. I get to write about video games, attend video game tournaments, go to comic book shops to talk to public relations, create Facebook posts asking if Darth Vader or the Terminator would win in a fight, and go to orchestra events of famous video game and movie music. All as part of my job. I don't get paid much right now, because it's a start up business, but I get some money whenever enough comes in.
I wrote this: Link Removed
And this: Link Removed
And it's only a small portion of what I do. It may not be music, but it's something I am passionate about and love writing about and working with. I've also found that while I may not have a life-driving passion for marketing, sales, and PR, I am decent at it and enjoy it enough that I can find that middle ground for a good project.
Being an entrepreneur can be a very rewarding experience and very exciting. Even office jobs are not the boring "office jobs" they are made out to be when you are working on a dream you have and a project you love.
Look at Darkglass. Handmade distortion pedals and people everywhere (myself included) are just dying to get their hands on one. They started out small, had a good product, and found an effective marketing base.
Maybe it's a solo project. Find a studio. Get a part time job. Borrow money. Get your album recorded and physical copies pressed. Borrow/earn more money and promote it. Put it on Pandora. Put it on Grooveshark and Facebook and ReverbNation and YouTube. Buy 10,000 YouTube views to rank yourself higher in the algorithms and get organic views. Take out some paid ads to increase your viewerbase. Do some gigs, put your CDs at local music and coffee shops.
Maybe you decide you could become an audio engineer. These days, with an Axe Fx, an electronic drum kit with a decent trigger system (I like Steven Slate), a Sansamp, and a Macbook you can have a very strong recording system for less than $5,000 USD. You know what else you can do with those things? Take it on the go! Offer recording going directly to the band, in their own house. That's a trade and you'll have to develop skills, but if you've got the dream, do it.
That was last June. I squandered a lot of time. I had a job teaching guitar but that only brought in about $180 USD a month.
I've done a lot of music, bands writing, classical guitar since then. I'm going to school in September for Stage Technology (lighting, sound, etc.) as well as building up a classical guitar repertoire to gig and make some money that way.
I've also worked with a start up business locally. They're a company that is providing a marketplace for nerdy stuff. I get to write about video games, attend video game tournaments, go to comic book shops to talk to public relations, create Facebook posts asking if Darth Vader or the Terminator would win in a fight, and go to orchestra events of famous video game and movie music. All as part of my job. I don't get paid much right now, because it's a start up business, but I get some money whenever enough comes in.
I wrote this: Link Removed
And this: Link Removed
And it's only a small portion of what I do. It may not be music, but it's something I am passionate about and love writing about and working with. I've also found that while I may not have a life-driving passion for marketing, sales, and PR, I am decent at it and enjoy it enough that I can find that middle ground for a good project.
Being an entrepreneur can be a very rewarding experience and very exciting. Even office jobs are not the boring "office jobs" they are made out to be when you are working on a dream you have and a project you love.
Look at Darkglass. Handmade distortion pedals and people everywhere (myself included) are just dying to get their hands on one. They started out small, had a good product, and found an effective marketing base.
Maybe it's a solo project. Find a studio. Get a part time job. Borrow money. Get your album recorded and physical copies pressed. Borrow/earn more money and promote it. Put it on Pandora. Put it on Grooveshark and Facebook and ReverbNation and YouTube. Buy 10,000 YouTube views to rank yourself higher in the algorithms and get organic views. Take out some paid ads to increase your viewerbase. Do some gigs, put your CDs at local music and coffee shops.
Maybe you decide you could become an audio engineer. These days, with an Axe Fx, an electronic drum kit with a decent trigger system (I like Steven Slate), a Sansamp, and a Macbook you can have a very strong recording system for less than $5,000 USD. You know what else you can do with those things? Take it on the go! Offer recording going directly to the band, in their own house. That's a trade and you'll have to develop skills, but if you've got the dream, do it.
There's so much logical stuff here, that i'm going to stop posting in this thread a for while. Thanks for all the advice, tips, and so on. I'm going to keep reading this, but i've found in the past that if i try to reply to everything that i find helpful, it ends up with me writing a bunch of gibberish, And confusing myself. Thanks again for all your help.
Here's the flipside to this coin. If you turn out to NOT be the lucky 1 in 100,000 who does wind up making a decent living playing music you won't have a couch to sit on or a TV to watch, because everything you make will go toward buying your next pack of cheap noodles.
Not saying it's too late to start working toward becoming a full time pro player but at 15 you are already behind the curve if you are not already fully immersed in formal music training.
Last of all, at 15 you still have your head far enough up your azz to not be able to get a clear look at your future so rather than make long range decisions based strictly on your emotional wants, cover the practical bases and go to school for a profession and minor in music. If you have the skills to rise in the music biz it will happen, if you don't, even if it's something you hate you will at least have the means to buy a couch to sit on while you eat cheap noodles and watch TV.
You're not an idiot really, you're just hard headed. You're 15. The hormones are raging, the passion only operates on levels 1/10 or 10/10, you have a bass, a lot of time on you're hands, and not much else. In other words, I can see how you think you're born for this.
Now for the sucker punch. Bands rarely get signed for being original, and when they do, a lot of them get picked up by small labels with not a ton of money for promotion/necessities/recording....it all goes to touring.
There are reasons articles like this come out: http://www.metalsucks.net/2011/03/03/being-in-a-band-is-for-losers-scientific-proof/
Guys have done it and lost.
It's not that this article isn't a bit harsh; it is. But I thought once I was in a knockout band....yea, we were out, alright, and nobody cared.
In general a career doing something you don't exactly hate is better than nightshift at ______ where a lot of confused kids end up.
So don't vent too much at your rents; they clearly care about you.
As an actuary (professional statistician), I can appreciate that graph!
If you read Dave Mustaine's autobiography it pretty much bears out what that article says.
This. Having something pay the bills changes it entirely.
I play music when I can. I make money doing other things that I still enjoy. Find a common thread somewhere. What about music do you like ? The creativity? Find a job that allows you to be creative. Does it relax you because you focus on it? Find a job that requires you to focus. Do you like being around the music industry? Work in the industry somehow, but maybe not Playing music.
my 2 cents.
(context: 24 year old, past few years have reinforced the life lesson that everything is temporary)
I can only say : Finish school, look for parttime job to earn yourself some money and in the meanwhile, look at things that you might find interesting. I know you wrote music is all you care about, but give it a try. Just search the web or go out and make walk through the city. Maybe you'll get some inspiration 
Oh? Didn't really pay much attention. Mustaine is a poor example anyhow. He still is afforded opportunities to play.
True, but there was a lot of choas, death, etc. all around him. He was lucky and cleaned up before the drugs killed him.
Some people are just born with a horseshoe up their azz and he is one of those.
Yea well, history shows what rock music is made of.....
Anyhow, I was just trying to relay to the kid music is a great hobby just is rough as a profession.
Hell, I majored in music and have worked three auto industry jobs since college.
I understand. I guess it just struck me as having a lot of the examples in the article.
Also, it's the lucky ones that we hear about. It's all the lives the industry ruined that we don't hear about.
Yep, this should free you and comfort you, not terrify you. The fleeting nature of life and youth should light a fire under your ass!
I understand this sentiment entirely. I went through the same thing, and ended up going to community college and changing my major like 6 times, never really figuring out what I wanted to do. The life of a professional musician is the life of poverty for most, and I didn't know how comfortable I felt with that.
Looking back, at 29 with a steady job and a small family to take care of, I wish I could have picked a trade and stuck with it. My job is fine, but I don't necessarily care about it. And I wish I had more control and wasn't subjected to a lazy warehouse guy and a retired-in-the-mind boss. The fact of the matter is, though, when you are teenager you change your mind a lot and it's hard to nail down what you want to do.
I like your parents' idea of picking a trade. Not a job, a trade. Go to trade school and learn a skill to where YOU will control your job. Spend these high school years thinking of things you like to do. Do you like fixing stuff? Electrical? Landscaping? Whatever it is you can make a career out of it.
Now if nothing else tickles your fancy, you can always pursue your music full-time. As long as you're OK with being broke
I work a 7-4, my customers are tradesmen. It's a tradeoff. If you are a licensed contractor, you will make much more money than you would working for the man. You will also have control of your own time. But as you stated, no company benefits, paid holidays, etcetc...
