Hi Folks!! Yes, it has been a while...I've been a bit burnt out. Mostly because of selling my house and moving in 2018, having sick dogs, trying to keep up with music & then getting little $ in return. Besides the move, I was constantly chasing the almighty $$$ with music. This post may be a bit um bitter so please bear with me. You know how annoying it is to write/produce a song, get it placed in what seems like something prominent that will finally launch you to a higher level, only to get like $60 bucks from said placement???? It is so deflating, like a punch in the stomach. I started to think, "What the hell I am doing? I gave up a 6 figure job for THIS??"
As musicians, we are taught to follow EVERY INCOME OPPORTUNITY when it comes to making money with music. And, I get it... the music business is hard and ever changing. We need to try and capitalize on every opportunity. But what if that angle starts to make you go a bit crazy, stressed, frustrated, always thinking about the ole' bank account and how long you will be able to keep going on this path????? What is "funny" is that everyone that was teaching us about multiple streams of income is NOW teaching us how to deal with burn out!! LOL. Burn out that seems to be caused by chasing every single angle in the music business to make money!! It's a lot of damned work! Anyhoo, the money chasing can cause you to lose your joy. Joy in something you had always wanted to do, (or thought you did.) Each guitar strum becomes a chore, each song you finish gets sent into the clouds only to be blown away by the wind and forgotten. Yeah I know (Write, Submit, Forget, Repeat)... But, have you ever felt that way?? Do you chalk it up to the "starving musician" mentality? (I hate that phrase by the way). The multiple streams of income paths were supposed to take us from starving musician to profiting musician, but I feel like it might be taking some of us to the "crazy musician" place. I found that I was making money, but also had lots of expenses, and this led to getting burned out by constantly chasing these multiple streams. Can I say EXHAUSTING?? I felt like there had to be a better way. Some of us can't afford a team to take care of certain tasks. Interns/volunteers could help but you really need to trust them to know the business. Then I came across this course/youtube video on how to make 50-60k by only working 25 hours a week. I was like WHAT??? What am I doing wrong then? How is this even possible? So I decided to watch. This video listed all the ways you can make money with music in only 25 hours a week: You could: Teach Music Play a certain number of PAYING gigs per week Sell a certain number of CD's License your music x hours a week (Magically) Collect all your royalties Create custom songs and there were more... Frankly, I was disappointed by this video and pretty much think it is a load of crap. The list to me was what I call FACE TIME. Those 25 hours were time you spent in front of people or actively playing, selling a product OR making music and networking etc. What the video didn't talk about was all the prep time it took for those money making ideas. If you have 10-20 music students- do you just magically show up and teach them with no lesson plan? Are you not learning new songs to teach them? Keep track of what they are doing? Bill the parents etc? Plan for recitals?? AND what if you HATE teaching music? I found that I really disliked it. There may have been only one or two kids that gave a crap out of the students I had. I felt pressure because it seemed like this was something that musicians were supposed to do, and that was mentally exhausting for me. So I stopped. Oh and what about licensing your music? HEY ladies and gents!! You can make x dollars by licensing your music a few hours a week!! STEP RIGHT UP!!! I know that you know.... but one does not magically get a song licensed. It takes hours of work for ONE SONG to be created and made ready to license! You have to create the music, metadata tag the music, get all the stems and appropriate files, network & PITCH the music over and over until it finds a home. If that home is a publisher or library, then you still have to wait to see if it is ever licensed. I still have many songs that have not ever been licensed even though they are signed to publishers or libraries. Other songs have taken two years to get licensed. Making music and pitching it does not a license guarantee! That is a lot of work and hours just event to get ONE song license. So add that to your "25 hours a week". Gigs as you know, take prep work to get the gigs (unless you pay a booker), practice, learn new songs, schelp all your gear, set up, tear down travel to location etc. One three hour gig can be 5 hours out of your day. So make sure that gig is paying you enough to make it worth it. But once again, there are hours involved in each gig, not just the playing time. So as I am watching this video, I was getting angrier and angrier because it is just not true. To make that much $ I work at least 40 hours a week plus and the other hours, I think about what I need to do! If it were that easy we would all be doing it! Now, I will say that if you do follow the income streams, year after year, hopefully the money will build on itself and you can start to see a reliable income stream without having to do a lot of the backend work. BUT I feel that following every single dollar that you could possibly make with music will lead to burnout and frustration. Not every one of us wants to do everything involved with music. For me, I have decided that my sanity, and my joy is worth much more than following every income stream. I quit teaching music. I play only certain gigs. Gigs I like, get paid for and will bring good tips. But even those I am cutting down on because I want to focus on playing my originals and also making music for Film & TV. Speaking of gigs.. something on the list was about selling a certain number of CD's per show... . Around here, almost NO ONE buys a CD at a show with covers. I find that people buy CD's and merch when you do specialty shows, focused on your originals, stories and perhaps fund raising. If you have tips for getting people to buy CD's at general cover music shows, lemme know... In this crazy world of music business, I think it benefits each musician to decide what they best like about music, what they do not like, and follow what is going to bring you the most joy. If you need to get a job, get a job. Some people say that you should get a job that takes your body and not your mind... but I find those don't pay very much and are not rewarding. For me, I dropped a lot of things, and got a job where I feel productive and accomplished. So much more than music seems to do for me these days. It gives me a reliable source of funds, and now I can focus on writing, and producing music, telling my stories, which is what I love anyway. It just wasn't worth my sanity and lack of joy to keep following every path to try and make a few bucks. So ask yourself... what do you most want to accomplish with music? What do you like, what don't you like? Start doing the music things that bring you joy, and nothing else. Look at high paying music gigs like weddings, funerals (yes funerals), speaking engagements and private parties. If you don't like gigging then focus on licensing music or writing custom songs. Or maybe focus on your own special show for a cause. That is what I am doing this spring. I want to tell the stories behind my music and raise money for the Pulmonary Hypertension foundation. My 7 year old niece has it and is on lifelong heart meds to stay alive. It affects the whole family. Her older sister is struggling quite a bit with the situation as well. So in doing this, I am trying to find meaning and bring me back to what brought me to singing and songwriting in the first place. I hope if you are suffering from similar feelings that you can take a step back and see what you want to do most with your music and focus on that. I will also say that it is ok to take a break and walk away for a while. When you decide to continue, music will be there for you. I wish you the best and would love to hear your thoughts! - Peace and Love- Michelle. If you are interested in my concert & learning more about Pulmonary Hypertension Go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/courageous-me-concert-stories-songs-tickets-85679691263
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AuthorMichelle Lockey is a multi-award winning singer-songwriter sharing the knowledge she has learned over the years writing for Film & TV. Like what you are reading? Please Sign up to receive a FREE Music Licensing checklist! 10 Steps to Sync Success
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