What is a sell out?

Contracted work?

Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and so many others did work for hire to please their benefactors. George Benson sang some pop songs in the 1970s. Michael Brecker played on Paul Simon songs, Kenny G made a zillion dollars playing sappy ballads (and he played some very good stuff with Lorber's Fusion).

If I hire an artist to paint a portrait of my wife, is the artist a sell out?

Is the person who loves and takes wildlife pictures but makes his/her living doing weddings a sell out?

Define sell out.

I don't believe in the term sell out.

Is playing what your audience wants to hear selling out? If that's the case, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra is a sell out.

I play "Cheeseburger", "Caroline", "Brown Eyed", "Yakety", "Mustang", and other pop songs and enjoy it. I also mix in more challenging songs for myself and love them too. I love my audience, they are like extended family to me.

I like putting on many musical hats. I can play some Rock, follow it with some Reggae, then some Salsa, then some Country, then some Jazz, then some Pop, then some Disco and get my head around each genre to put out the very specific expression that each style of music requires.

I love it all. When pick up one of my instruments and put the mic in front of my mouth, I go into that place where there is no space or time. I have a partnership with my duo-mate and we have a dialog with the audience. It's play time and it always ends too soon. And we play what the audience wants to hear. Are we selling out?

I could be happy conducting a symphony orchestra too or playing sax in a jazz band. But I don't think I could make a living doing that.

Eddie made a good point about hating what you are doing.

If you hate playing music, why do it? There are other jobs you can hate just as much and get sick leave, vacation pay, paid holidays, employer contributions to your social security, and perhaps even a pension. You can hate working in a factory, you can hate being a clerk in a retail store, you can hate installing cable TV connections. There are plenty of ways to hate your job that provide more than music does in the field of money and benefits.

I knew a guy who played excellent jazz guitar. Jazz is a small market here, so he played one day a week while he worked a day job that he hated for his father-in-law to pay the bills. Is that a sell out? I'd rather play "Free Bird".

I had an opportunity to meet Chet Atkins many years ago. He told me that he really would have loved to play jazz, but country made him a fine living. Was Chet a sell out?

Years ago I read an article in the trades about Nashville musicians, and the quote was, "Don't let the suits know you are secretly into jazz because they really believe in this stuff."

So I'll take Eddie's point seriously. If someone is playing music and hating it, I won't call him/her a sell-out, I'd call him/her stupid.

In my opinion, anyone who is playing music and enjoying it is not selling out, no matter how popular the music is or no matter how much money he/she is making doing it.

Of course YMMV.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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