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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
OT: Dear Musicians: You’re Not Entitled To Succeed
OT: Dear Musicians: You’re Not Entitled To Succeed
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Komuso
589 posts
May 21, 2015
12:53 AM
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Dear Musicians: You’re Not Entitled To Succeed
Expectation management is a good thing, especially for musical freedom.
Music has so many uses in life that get ignored due to an overly large focus on "musical success" through fame.
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Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
HarpNinja - Learn Harmonica Faster
Bringing the Boogie to the Bitstream
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jbone
1954 posts
May 21, 2015
3:54 AM
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The guy does make some good points but I find my metrics have changed. Some years ago I realized I was probably past the age and durability where I could do anything like full time music. Bills to pay, people to satisfy, stuff to do. So I always kept a day job and music has been an avocation. The focus has been more on personal musical success, an effort to grow and become a better player, singer, songwriter, for its own sake and for the love of it.
Plan B for us is to sell the things which have kept us rooted in one place, pack the travel trailer, and hit the road in a couple of years. Do a sort of combination music tour, camping tour, fishing fest, sight see, and just be gypsies. Play where we can and see some country. Meet the people.
We both began for true, a bit late in life. I was mid 30's when I truly began the harp journey and singing and writing even later. Jolene was in her 50's when she brought a guitar home and began learning to play blues, sing, and later to write songs. My 20+ years and her 10+ years have given us some excellent memories just up to now and we look forward to more as we carry forward. Being as we were both a bit more grown when we began, I think we had better focus on what we wanted to do and how to get near that. Other hand we are forever a work in progress. There is much to learn and do, always.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbTwvU-EN1Q
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the_happy_honker
220 posts
May 21, 2015
4:21 AM
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"How can we lose when we're so sincere?!" - Charles Schulz
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Goldbrick
1011 posts
May 21, 2015
5:08 AM
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If you dont play music to soothe your own soul- at best it will be just another crappy job .
I may be wrong but I dont think many of us here are hitching our wagon to the " band" thing
As Dirty Harry said" a man has gotta know his limitations"
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Honkin On Bobo
1318 posts
May 21, 2015
6:02 AM
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Interesting blog. The only thing I'll add, at the risk of stating the obvious, is that when to call it quits, regarding trying to make it professionally, is a highly personal thing. There is no right or wrong answer here, or pat formula.
While the blogger's piece is full of great practical wisdom, pop/rock music history is full of examples of bands/artists who had no plan B, were not well received after the release of their first album or two but kept plugging away anyway, their passion being so strong. It was decidedly the antithesis of being practical.
Springsteen, Aerosmith are two that come to mind immediately. Both didn't start achieving real success until album 3. and both would have been dropped by their labels had those albums not been successful. John Fogerty was told his voice was awful and to give it up, by the guy running The Fillmore West when they were an opening act during a sound check. I'm sure there are many more similar stories.
So when do you call it quits? Who knows? It's your call and your call alone. Hat's off to those that keep plugging away...and props to those that keep it a serious hobby while doing something else to earn a living.
Last Edited by Honkin On Bobo on May 21, 2015 6:03 AM
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Komuso
590 posts
May 21, 2015
7:11 AM
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Definition of Hobby:
"an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure."
Is meditation a hobby?
Is physical exercise a hobby?
Is lifelong learning to keep your brain fit and active a hobby?
[insert here]
It would be great to move the conversation away from "professional musician" vs "Hobby horse musician".
It'd be great to live in a world where everyone could play music to some degree.
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Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
HarpNinja - Learn Harmonica Faster
Bringing the Boogie to the Bitstream
Last Edited by Komuso on May 21, 2015 7:26 AM
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Honkin On Bobo
1319 posts
May 21, 2015
8:41 AM
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Sorry man, I'll make a note to never again use the word, hobby, when talking about music.
Hey, my bad.
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barbequebob
2927 posts
May 21, 2015
12:07 PM
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I'm with Scojo on this one too and a big part of the music business is promotion and as a pro, this is something you've GOT to be doing 24/7. If you want to gig regularly, you HAVE to do your own promotion and since the mid 80's, it's been especially true and things from posters, folding tent cards, going to college radio stations not only to play (often times for no pay) and do interviews, and that's just the beginning and too many people think that once you've booked a gig, the job is done, which is so NOT TRUE at all. Music ain't just an art form because it is also a business as well and many musicians often fail miserably to leran the business side of music.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Komuso
591 posts
May 21, 2015
5:24 PM
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Yeah, sorry Bobo I have a real bug in my ass about that word Hobby. It's used so condescendingly sometimes by many people as a put down (not just for music..."Oh you do that for a hobby do you" *snicker*).
In my mind there's professional musicians (whose income stream comes from music related business) and the rest are just musicians of various degrees.
I don't mean they're amateur either, as that is almost as bad a put down as hobby. There's plenty of people who could (or used to) make a living professionally in music but choose to do something else as their main income gig.
Scientists, for example, have a very large % of high caliber musicians among their ranks.
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Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
HarpNinja - Learn Harmonica Faster
Bringing the Boogie to the Bitstream
Last Edited by Komuso on May 21, 2015 8:28 PM
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