Re:Musicians Wage War Against Evil Robots
by analog31 on Monday January 02, 2023 @10:11PM
(#34227081)
I'm one of those musicians, though my day job as a scientist has produced an ever increasing share of my income. I'm a double bassist, and I play mostly jazz.
Even full time musicians need multiple income streams. Teaching classical music to children is not a half bad occupation, but you have to enjoy it and live in a fairly affluent town. A violin teacher makes more per hour than I make playing gigs.
There are things that you can't do if you're not full time, such as traveling to perform. I'm pretty much limited to a 40 mile radius around my home.
Recording is possible of course, but I don't do it. It's not something that I really enjoy, and it's not easy or free even with modern tools. And getting paid for it is difficult. The musicians I know who actually make money from their recordings, sell CD's at their performances.
I think part of the situation with music is that we face competition from non musical forms of entertainment, that are extremely sophisticated. Perhaps at the top of the food chain is televised sports. It's very hard to put together a musical performance that's as exciting or entertaining as a major league sports broadcast.
What live musicians depend on is the audience that's actually interested in the experience of live music per se. And it's no longer the music of their youth. The jazz era is 100 years old. The majority of the jazz audience grew up listening to rock 'n' roll.
Even full time musicians need multiple income streams. Teaching classical music to children is not a half bad occupation, but you have to enjoy it and live in a fairly affluent town. A violin teacher makes more per hour than I make playing gigs.
There are things that you can't do if you're not full time, such as traveling to perform. I'm pretty much limited to a 40 mile radius around my home.
Recording is possible of course, but I don't do it. It's not something that I really enjoy, and it's not easy or free even with modern tools. And getting paid for it is difficult. The musicians I know who actually make money from their recordings, sell CD's at their performances.
I think part of the situation with music is that we face competition from non musical forms of entertainment, that are extremely sophisticated. Perhaps at the top of the food chain is televised sports. It's very hard to put together a musical performance that's as exciting or entertaining as a major league sports broadcast.
What live musicians depend on is the audience that's actually interested in the experience of live music per se. And it's no longer the music of their youth. The jazz era is 100 years old. The majority of the jazz audience grew up listening to rock 'n' roll.