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Post by roly on Mar 20, 2024 0:53:35 GMT -5
I figure I have about five years total working day jobs.
Up side is I have almost always been paid to have fun.
Down side is, other than owning half a house and lots of audio gear, I have nothing.
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argo
Wholenote
Posts: 402
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Post by argo on Mar 20, 2024 4:47:04 GMT -5
In another life and 10 years in the 70's I did. I was a great guitar player but made bad decisions. After quite a few ups and downs, all I had to show for that decade was 2 guitars an Amp and a trash bag full of clothes.
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Post by ninworks on Mar 20, 2024 5:51:09 GMT -5
I figure I have about five years total working day jobs. Up side is I have almost always been paid to have fun. Down side is, other than owning half a house and lots of audio gear, I have nothing. My history is just the opposite. I had about 5 years in my 20's where i was a full-time musician. Then I went back to a day job and did music on the side for decades. Even had my own sound company for awhile with a huge PA system. If I would have been anywhere other than Phoenix I would have probably kept doing it, but the music industry there was, and probably still is, ridiculously small for a city of that size. 6 million people in the Phoenix area and the music industry is dismal. Over the years I was a guitarist or bass player or keyboard player or singer in some bands, a live sound tech, and a studio musician and engineer. When I was working the pay was pretty good but staying busy all the time was inconsistent. I got a good paying day job and did music on the side. Between the two I made good money but burned out in my mid 40's. Now I'm retired and do music for fun and am having the time of my life. I don't gig anymore but I still play almost every day for at least an hour and usually more. I just can't stop trying to improve my guitar playing and studio engineering abilities for no other reason than I love to do it. |
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Mar 20, 2024 7:36:31 GMT -5
I always had a day job, but made pretty good weekend money for about 10 years in the 90s. A band mate who also had a day job invested his money and eventually bought a house. All I have to show for my efforts are remnant samples of musical gear that got traded, sold and reinvested into more musical frivolity.
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Post by rickyguitar on Mar 20, 2024 11:59:57 GMT -5
Music was 1st and foremost for about 11 years. I got a straight job with a company that owned 2 recording studios, 2 sound shops, management Co, graphics Co, and stuff. Very helpful, if I needed off for a gig no problem, discounts on equipment and studio time etc. Had a partner that I had great faith in, till he got real flaky. Ended up working a variety of straight jobs and investing in real estate. Retired now with 2 houses (1 too many), couple cars, equipment, bedroom studio, modest income.
Could have done better, or worse. Meh.
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Post by Laker on Mar 20, 2024 14:30:40 GMT -5
I did the full time music thing when I got out of the army playing six to seven nights a week and touring with bluesman Bryan Lee, but with the first marriage I became a part time musician playing two to three nights a week fifty-two weeks a year and still gigged with Bryan (off and on) for another ten years. There were times in the years since when I was playing five nights a week covering a six state area and still working my day job (retired as a quality assurance manager working company divisions in two states) where I went to work at the day job with zero hours of sleep at least once a week.
Now that I’m chronologically moving on towards eighty years old the music is, once again, my main activity but I’m only playing in the “pit band” for an annual fund raiser for a charity and an occasional gig when someone needs me to fill in.
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Post by roly on Mar 21, 2024 7:09:05 GMT -5
Seems like things are good Mr Laker.
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Post by LeftyMeister on Mar 21, 2024 15:22:05 GMT -5
I've been playing in bands since my early 20's but rarely got paid for it. Most of the bands were on church worship teams or side bands for fun. For awhile in my 30's and 40's, I was a 'hired gun' for other bands in the area who needed a lead guitar player, but I did it mostly for fun. I led a band throughout my 30's that played out at conventions and colleges. What little money we made, we put back into the equipment.
I quit playing on a worship team about a year ago when I decided to get remarried and relocate. With the busyness of the new life, and turning 65 this year, I don't know I'll ever join another band.
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mikem
Wholenote
Musician soundman musician soundman
Posts: 231
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Post by mikem on Mar 22, 2024 13:56:28 GMT -5
I can actually say that I have always worked in the music industry in various aspects: Upon graduating college I was a public-school music teacher until retirement. While teaching school, I had a schedule of weekly private lessons and gigged/performed almost every weekend, and played some pro shows: Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Temps/Tops, Aretha Franklin, etc. that toured through my area.
These days I teach music (as adjunct faculty) at a local University, perform in a professional (Union) orchestra, contract/play in a quartet that gigs mansion weddings, and still do some lessons. **I also run a small/local sound company providing sound/tech for local live performances.**
I guess that makes me a full time (semi-full-time?) muso.
Looking back: Would I do it all again? Absolutely
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Ragpicker
Wholenote
I'm playing it in a different key
Posts: 336
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Post by Ragpicker on Mar 22, 2024 20:22:04 GMT -5
I was busy busy during high school and then about 20 years in Chicago area. I decided that it was no business for me. Continued to have fun and did a few bands after that but nothing serious. I was contemporaries with the guys in Ides Of March , Cryan Shames , Buckinghams.
Opened for Ted Nugent at 66 World Teenage Show in Chicago.
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Post by HeavyDuty on Mar 25, 2024 7:59:17 GMT -5
The first person I think of is @jimmysee…
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Mar 26, 2024 20:16:01 GMT -5
If the musical INSTRUMENT industry counts, then I'm part of that. First music store job was 2002, and I've worked for a couple manufacturers and done repairs all over.
I'll switch out at some point. Maybe to another manufacturer, but there are few that I trust as employers. I'm in a weird place where I see a lot of jobs where I 100% can do everything because the MI/guitar version is ten times more complicated, but HR tends not to bite if it is an industry they're not familiar with. Rarely I can find some manager who knows guitars and gets what my skills are, but it isn't often.
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Post by roly on Mar 28, 2024 3:45:58 GMT -5
April 21 is my last payed day as a tech.
Basically, fifty years being paid to have fun.
My equity outweighs my debt, no problem there.
The issue is.....is it worth waking up?
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Post by Leftee on Mar 28, 2024 7:09:43 GMT -5
It’s always worth waking up.
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Post by ninworks on Mar 28, 2024 9:24:15 GMT -5
Waking up?? You mean you got sleep everyday?
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Post by Leftee on Mar 28, 2024 9:27:38 GMT -5
You've GOT to line up something to do - every day, or nearly every day.
I see a lot of folks even start volunteering. Often not full-time, but a day or two a week. I will do more of this once I retire.
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Post by rickyguitar on Mar 28, 2024 10:23:12 GMT -5
^ my mom and dad (retired army) volunteered on post 1 say a week. She on pharmacy he in garden shop for years before they passed.
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Post by Leftee on Mar 28, 2024 19:19:47 GMT -5
You don’t have to find some sort of volunteer organization, either. Lots of places accept volunteers. Be creative.
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