Originally Posted By: eddie1261
<...snip...>

Also remember that "money" is relative. $1000 means something very different to a millionaire than it doe to a guy living in a refrigerator box on the street. <...>


Truer words have never been spoken.

In the late 1960s I was making $400/week doing two 45 minute sets on two days as an opening act for the majors. That was a lot of money back them (4 times as much as a plumber).

To me that was riches. I talked to the leader of the Association backstage and he was making $2,000 per show. We never got there.

In my experiment in being "normal" I was a Field Engineer for a Cable TV manufacturer. It paid well, I basically worked 3 days a week (Monday and Friday were travel days but I could take the red-eye out on Monday and the red-eye back on Thursday so I could still gig on the weekends).

If I stayed there I would have made a lot more money than I made as a full-time musician which I've done for most of my life so far. But they did me a favor when they laid off everybody who had less than 15 years and I had almost 5.

I realized 2 things (1) being normal is over-rated (2) I'm happier making less money but enjoying my life a lot more by gigging for a living.

I'm not rich and don't buy as many possessions as many other people do, but I find I prefer experiences to possessions. So it works for me. I've traveled the world, bought new cars but drove them a few hundred miles until the became undependable, don't wear jewelry, but feel I am one of the luckiest people I know.

I get up in the morning, and if it's a gig day, it's the brightest day of the week and I can't wait to get to work. And we have plenty of gig days. Tonight is the fourth one this week.

People on the gigs ask me if I have a CD for sale. Since my home is not acoustically great for recording, I would have to rent time at a commercial studio. That would cost me a lot of money. And how many will I sell? My fans are a limited market, and once they have the CD, there is no need to buy another. So I doubt I would cover my expenses.

Live music is gone immediately, and then they need another dose.

I've was a 'sax for hire' at a local studio for a long time. It's no longer there thanks to home recording gig. But when I was doing it, I played on self-produced CDs in the smooth jazz, country and pop genres. None of them have gone viral and none of them are stars. The competition is fierce and getting noticed is very difficult.

In the few months of Summer when the gigging is slow, I make new BiaB aftermarket products in my spare time. I sell multiple copies of them because my 'audience' is global. And the work with BiaB helps me make better backing tracks for my duo (I don't buy them, but do my own). http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html -- I play drums, sax, guitar, bass, wind synth, flute, and keyboard synth, took arranging in school, and both BiaB and my backing tracks help me improve my arranging chops.

But for me the biggest demand is playing live, and that's great because playing live in front of an audience is the most fun I can have with my clothes on.

Of course YMMV.

And although I am of retirement age now, I have no plans of retiring. As long as I can fog a mirror and get gigs, I'll be gigging. And I have an early gig today, so I better quit 'yakking' here.

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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