The Music Business Is Stupid, But...

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.  - Hunter S. Thompson

I’m going to go ahead and just say it.  The music business is stupid.  If my primary goal was to make money, the music business would probably be the last business I would go into.  Think about it. It’s over saturated and filled with a ton of competition, all trying to create a product that consumers, for the most part, aren’t even willing to pay for.  Let that sink in.  The industry is filled with millions of people all lining up, for the chance to give their product away.

The music business is an industry where artists are convinced, after they’ve given their product away for little or free, to then play gigs for nothing but “exposure”.  Exposure for what?  To promote our free music.  Awesome.  Sign me up.

The music business is a business, where even when we do discover a way to monetize our music (ie music licensing) we have to wait up to a year to collect royalties (which may or may not be fairly distributed) and most of the time we aren’t even notified that are music is being used when it’s being used, so we have no accurate way to budget or account for the money we’re earning, until after we’ve received our funds.

The music business is a business where of the money that is generated, only about 12 percent actual flows to the artists (the music creators).  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/music-artists-make-12-percent-from-music-sales-706746/

The music business is a business where only about 0.9% of artists ever actually attain mainstream, commercial success.

The music business is a business where if you do actually “succeed” and “make it” in the traditional sense, statistically the odds are you will likely die an entire 25 years before the general population.

The music business is an industry where you’re much more likely to suffer from fun things like mental illness and substance abuse than the general population.  According to a recent study, 73% of musicians report suffering from some type of mental illness.  https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8509490/mental-illness-independent-musicians-study-73-percent-record-union

Many studies have shown that musicians are much more likely than the general population to struggle with drugs and alcohol:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330618199_Musicians_and_Substance_Abuse

Ok, so now that I’ve thoroughly depressed you with the cold hard facts about the music business, let’s look at the bright side.  Thank God there is a bright side. And what exactly is the bright side in all of this?

Drum Roll Please…..

THE MUSIC!

So why in the hell are any of us still making music?  Why am I still making music? Are we all collectively insane?  Well, that is a distinct possibility.  Musicians are known as being a bit of a crazy breed (literally, see above).  But I think you probably already know the answer to why musicians keep making music, despite the difficulties we face in monetizing our “product”. I think you already know why, despite the vast array of challenges we face in making a living out of our passion, why musicians feel the need to continue fighting the good fight.  I think you and I both know, why despite everything working against us, and why even though the odds might not be on our side, why we have to keep making music.

Why?  Because music isn’t just something we’re doing to try and make a quick buck.  Music isn’t some sort of get-rich quick scheme we devised to cash in on the latest fad.  Music, if you’re anything at all like me, is more like a calling.  It’s something that you feel compelled to do on a deep soul level, in spite of what on the surface may look like a bleak and depressing industry.

For most musicians, we’re not doing this for money, first and foremost.  We’re doing this because we have to.  We’re doing this because if we didn’t make music, that voice in our head would nag and prod us until we simply had no choice but to pick up our guitar or go to the piano, or whatever our instrument of choice is, and allow ourselves to be a channel for the music that wants to flow through us.  That, or jump off a bridge. 

And here’s the thing.  Despite all the challenges and inevitable setbacks, when things are working, when you’re in the zone and writing and performing music from your heart, it’s magical.  There’s nothing quite else like it, that I know of.  If you’ve been there, you know it too. 
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Pursuing a career in music might not be the most logical or pragmatic endeavor.  But I think for most musicians, we’re not doing this because it’s a “logical”, or practical thing to do.  I’m sure we all realize there are easier and more conventional ways to make money.

Most musicians who go into the music business, especially the ones who keep going year after year, with no tangible form of commercial success, are doing this for one primary reason:  they love making music and couldn’t imagine a life where they weren’t able to make music.  I would even go as far as saying if you don’t feel that strongly about the music you make, if you don’t feel like you absolutely have to make music, you should probably quit and find something else more productive to do. Seriously.  It’s highly unlikely you’ll have the fortitude to carve out a meaningful career if you don’t feel this strongly about the music you make.

But here’s the thing.  If you really do have a pure, unrelenting drive to make music, you’ll figure out how to make money from it.  Even in our current musical economy. I truly believe that.  And I’m living proof that’s true, as our countless other artists I’ve worked with over the years, in licensing and beyond.  In over 20 years of making music, I’ve never once been without shelter, or without food.  Not even close.  Sure, I’ve had to take a few odd jobs here and there to pay the bills, especially when I was starting out. There’s no shame in that. But every year it’s gotten easier, and more lucrative.  Every year I get a little more in the flow and more and more opportunities show up.  And I’ve found that the more I embrace what it is I really feel called to do and trust that things will unfold smoothly, that’s exactly what happens.

There’s also a lot of positive news coming out about the music business in general as we head into 2020.  It’s not all doom and gloom. Things are improving. For example,  Global music revenues grew at the fastest rate in more than two decades last year, as the streaming revolution more than made up for the plummeting popularity of CDs.   

Rolling Stone recently declared we’ve reached a new “golden age” for up and coming artists, as more and more indie artists are succeeding on platforms like Spotify and there’s a been huge resurgence of indie acts playing small theatres and clubs.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/why-this-is-a-golden-age-for-new-artists-so-long-as-they-keep-their-ambitions-in-check-868875/

Success in music is about working hard, but it’s also about something much more than that.  It’s about getting to know yourself on a deep, spiritual level and going to places that most people don’t have access to and channeling that through your music.  When you’re able to do that, people will respond positively to your music and even if for some reason they don’t (they will eventually), the satisfaction you’ll get from accessing those parts of yourself will make it all worthwhile.  You’ll also develop a deep inner confidence that transcends things like worrying about money, the more you access the creative, expressive part of yourself.  I don’t worry about money anymore because I have faith in myself, the music I make, my ability to be resourceful and at the risk of sounding a little cheesy, life itself.

In a not so subtle way, the path of the professional musician is a spiritual path.  Regardless of what your religious beliefs are, your faith and inner resolve will be tested as a musician.  So, it’s best to have faith in something.  If nothing else, faith in yourself and your ability to rise to the challenge of being a musician, because being a professional musician is challenging in a variety of ways. 

But, that’s ok.  Confronting and overcoming challenges is what makes us stronger. The more you face and overcome the challenges on your path, the stronger and more resilient you’ll become.  As Bruce Lee, who was an artist in his own right, so eloquently stated:

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.