How to make 1 million dollars (as a musician) [ AN's Bass Lessons #28 ]

Support me on Patreon!

Background music:

Village Voice Article w/ Linda Oh

Noisey Vice on Musicians' Day Gigs

That musical I was working on from the end of the video

Peace,

Adam

[Stephen_Lafferty]

2:05 "PRACTICE, FOR F***'S SAKE, PRACTICE!"

so much THIS for the above comment!

[BenLevin]

Very practical. From what I understand, touring can become profitable without having to be as big as Radiohead, but it takes a lot of touring at a loss before that can happen. Good point on the "finding what you can deal with" in reference to teaching, GB, or day job work!

[thekylegreene]

i toured for years and was absolutely blown away when i realized i was happier working at a relatively low-stress office job and focusing on creating music. ...the ups and downs of the sideman, teaching, touring, studio combo left me feeling despondent and i couldn't afford to keep up my gear. this video is spot on (as is typical for adam's stuff!)

[RCAvhstape]

What is this "money" thing you speak of? Can I trade it for food?

[manuel]

How does the lydian augmented scale fit into this?

[Mezurashii]

So basically the key is to work your ass off working jobs you have a huge chance of disliking.
Sounds universal, not only applicable to musicians.

[Baton]

Haikus go like this:
Five, seven then five again.
(Punchline optional)

[uris]

Thank you so much for this episode.

I am a software engineer working remotely for a consultancy. I never had any music education even though music has always been a central part of my life. About 10 months ago I decided to learn to play a musical instrument. I live in a small town that has an even smaller music school with two teachers. My main musical taste is in punk and post punk bands like Joy Division and Bauahuas and I wanted to learn to play the bass, but the school doesn't have a bass teacher, so I settled for learning classical guitar. They also give you the option of learning music theory and although at first glance I wasn't interested, I have grown to love it. My reasoning was that I already have a very "brainy" day job that requires that I learn new things almost every week, why would I burden myself with music theory? I'm glad I was wrong, because it has expanded my musical taste. It is like in vampire movies, when someone gets turned they now are able to see, hear and smell things at an amplified level. I can now hear (and imagine) things in songs that I wasn't paying attention to before.

A few months ago I started getting the itch to become a "professional musician" and perform. But that was quickly put aside, there is no way a 40 year old man (just learning to play the guitar) will make as good a living in music as I'm currently making in software engineering. But I do plan to perform at local pubs (once I have enough songs in my reportoire). I'll never be a "true musician", but performing will make me re-live those teenager years in my room playing the air guitar and imagining I'm Peter Murphy in a cramped bar in England.

[ampthebassplayer]

How to make money as a musician? Diversify! No musician I know makes their living doing any one thing. It takes several revenue streams to make it work.

[peterharrison]

Adam--good video, along with the one on what you don't learn in music school. Two suggestions:

1, Cruise ships.
2. Military bands.

The first I never did, but I have a good friend down here in AL who spent his thirties playing on them. It was very steady. Of course, it's also a life and lifestyle. Not really a gig for a married person, unless you and your wife (or husband) are in the same band. You're also at sea for a series of one- or two-week cruises for 4 to 6 months, so maintaining your contacts in town can be hard. Most of the guys and gals who do this are young and single, they do it for a couple of years, build up some chops and repertoire, and stop taking contracts. It's not perfect, but it's a living.

The second I did do--for 27 years, 6 in the Army and 21 in the USAF. I retired about 8 1/2 years ago as a Master Sergeant (E-7) and have a pension, benefits, and some money tax-free since I was determined to be 40 % disabled by the Veterans Administration. I played piano and keys in all sorts of groups, wrote charts, did some instruction with the junior troops, and took on more and more leadership duties as my career progressed and I put on more rank. Some of the AF musicians I played with were great, and most were very good. Was it fantastic every day? No. It was a job, some days good, some bad, and a lot in between. (It's called having a career with responsibilities.) But...over the long haul I loved it. And I'm a much better musician for it. I work as many gigs as I can in Huntsville, AL, and although I'm not rich, I could duct tape a remote to one hand, put a beer in the other and watch sports on TV and never have to work again for the rest of my life. Yes, it's much cheaper here in H'ville than NYC, but I grew up in Long Island, so I know that.

The basic point is that you do what you have to do to survive and thrive. One word about being in the military--it's the only gig you'll ever have that asks you to potentially give up your life, and that's something I always remind people of, if they're giving it serious consideration. But I wouldn't have traded my years in uniform for anything.

Keep the videos coming, you're doing good work.

Pete

[johnanthony]

Love it. One should love to play music but never expect to make a living from it. I listen to so many fantastic musicians (and I count Adam among them), but I know so few will ever make a career out of it. Back in the early 80s when I lived in NY the woman that lived next door was, back in the heyday, a featured singer touring the country with Big Bands like Glenn Millers Orchestra, by the time I met her all of that was cherished memories. She did produce a daughter that wrote a music column for the Village Voice, which is an accomplishment to be proud of! Adam, maybe you should add music critic to your list?

[pellelindbergh]

Dude, I have great respect for anyone that pursues their dream and gets through life doing what they love to do. You seem like an incredibly bright and insightful young man. No matter what you do in life, I think it's very important to be flexible, humble, give freely of yourself, watch for opportunities and establish meaningful relationships with people (networking.) Everyone goes through peaks and valleys. Be prepared to help people out when they hit their valleys and don't be too proud to ask for help when you find yourself in a valley of your own.

[jasonkline]

learned this lesson after leaving college without a music degree (lost financial aid).  To make money it was three factors like you said.  To work in music you had to 1)Play it 2)teach it  and/or 3)Sell it!   Ah, to attain the trifecta!  Got a job in a music store, and alternated the "sell" it with REAPAIR it.  It was a wonderful experience to apprentice with some great guys.  Some of my best memories were learning how to bring mangled brass instruments back from the dead, so to put them back in the hands of the next generation of up and coming band students.  The structure of the store gave you access to a stable of kids for private lessons.  BUT, with not enough time left at the end of busy days, the most important part: PLAYING it (for me) managed to fall by the wayside.  It doesn't happen like that for everyone, of course.  But I had saddled myself with a horn that it was hard to make money with.  These realities are SOOO important for aspiring musicians to learn, but the grim realities of supporting families, and other adult responsibilities often stifle a musician's creativity more than "just hustling" for the next side gig, and having to play the same set of 20 songs over and over again".  When the economy started collapsing in the early 2000's, I had to leave music altogether, forced into a DAY JOB that would pay the bills, as well as my student debt.  I applaud you for your cautionary glimpse into this, hoping that your viewers might realize more realistic expectations, but My experience is that the folks who can truly sustain themselves as FULL TIME musicians are in the stark minority, with the majority of music gigs held by folks who actually do OTHER work in their "day job".
Sad.

[Bazzlemedazzle]

A lot of people think music is an all or nothing thing. By having a non-musical day job I am free artistically to play whatever type of music my heart desires without worrying about whether or not other people like it and want to support it financially. I don't feel that I would be more artistically fulfilled by playing other people's music and other "hustle" type music jobs than I do now.

[MaksimSundukov]

I have a co-worker (full time) who is pro Jazz musician, he plays mostly as sideman, but for some big names out there. When he needs to tour he just takes vacations (PTO). And another one who is part-time DJ and one girl sings at weddings. So there's definitely something to this approach of having full-time non-musician job :-)

[bottlebrushgames]

Solid advice as always. I supplement my music with work as an audio engineer/music creator at an advertising firm. There’s a lot of potential for stable work and the knowledge you can gain around marketing in general is invaluable.

[tmswolfpackchoir]

As a music teacher who wants to make his own music, I found this really encouraging :) Thanks, Adam!

[Yourguitarworkshop]

2:05 I laughed really really really hard :-D (and as I teacher I can relate...)

[annamoan]

Thank you for your honesty, it's reassuring once in a while to be reminded that we're all on the same boat.

[giovannilondt]

Hi I'm Gio a guitarist from South Africa (I struggle with African rhythms)I have 2 kids and I'm a married 26 year old. I have a goal, and that's to do music everyday as much as I want, however I do find that it does not really pay the bills, so Im working on a plan to build a few passive incomes by means of different business, in hopes that it will allow me the time to financially take care of my family so that I can do the more important things like spend time with the family and then also my music it will also allow me to do music and not be concerned of whether or not it pays meaning I can take any gig I want.
I recently started seeing your videos and I really enjoy them keep it up buddy.