JUMPING DARKNESS PARADE: EYAL ON THE FINANCIAL REALITIES OF A LIFE IN METAL
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 4:30pm by Eyal Levi
Those of you out there who are in bands that haven’t made it yet. I have a question for ya. Do you know why you want to do this? Have you really thought it out? There’s a reason I’m asking. I’m pretty easy to reach. I make myself very available online. I’m always into talking to fans, non-fans, whatever, I’m into conversation. Something that always comes up when people are asking me questions is how much money I make from DAATH. First of all, I’m not going to tell you how much money I make from anything. But I’ll say this: DAATH isn’t my only source of income, but all my income comes from music.
What people are trying to find out is if I make a lot of money at this, if I still have to have a day job, etc., etc., etc. No, I don’t make a lot of money at it. There isn’t much money to be made in metal. Most people in bands you listen to have jobs on the side. Whether they’re in music or not is a different story. Most people in metal bands cannot make all their ends meet from metal alone.
The way I get asked these questions cracks me up. Some dude who has a band that plays once a month having a stress attack about the idea of signing to a major label because he might have to leave his 60k a year job to tour. Usually the people’s questions are about completely unrealistic scenarios. I get asked if we get health benefits from the labels. I get asked if it’s true that we can bang a new girl in every city. I get asked all the above. Very rarely do I get asked about how to generate multiple streams of income from various musical and music-related sources in order to put together an actual living from music.
Dudes and dudettes – it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to make a living playing heavy music. Let alone get rich from it. That’s like winning the lottery. To be in a band the size of Slipknot is the equivalent of winning the big game lotto. Don’t count on it. If you do, you’re an idiot. You need to be in this for the long haul because you LOVE making music and there’s nothing else you can bring yourself to do with your time on Earth. If that’s you, then you need to figure out how to make cash from it without sacrificing your soul. It’s tough to do, but any other motivation for being in this will lead you down some pretty shitty financial and mental paths. Either burnout, has-been, dead, or pathetically depressed. Not good endings to this path.
Your love for music needs to be the guiding light, because you will be shat on and have to jump through over hurdles for it than you can ever imagine. If that love isn’t quite strong enough, you won’t last. Money can’t be your driving force, because if it is, then years of going broke will drive you to a real job. Pussy can’t be it… I mean, you can get laid at metal shows being in a metal band, but its not like you don’t have to work for it. Unless your band is big, the pussy is not throwing itself at you, and if you have no game you have no game. You’re not going to get that much more pussy that you normally would.
So get your head out of the clouds and realize that this is a profession for those who are unlucky enough to be in love with it. And those who have that bug need to figure out the difficult task of how to make it work for them financially.
-EL
Your chances of getting pussy and cash will increase exponentially if you visit Daath on MySpace.
I love this column, it’s always really insightful. I am in an unsigned metal band that has been playing for about 9 years now, and any money we get from shows is put back into the band (studio rent, equipment, beer, etc). My dream is to have tons of people know about and love my music, and I would do it for free if I had the chance (well, maybe buy me a beer!).
Been trying to tell one of our band members this for as long as we’ve been doing this…he thinks if we get signed aka “big” that we will be riding in limos with people standing in lines for days to fill up the stadiums we will sell out. This will be required reading for him at our next band meeting. Thanks for the insight.
Show your band guys this too:
http://www.metalsucks.net/2009/10/01/tiberian-vocalizations-cormorants-arthur-von-nagel-gives-you-the-anatomy-of-a-record-contract/
definitely required reading as welll
Well stated good sir.
Dude I hate to say it but your advice, if followed, is pretty much a guarantee that people who play music will stay broke.
I love music too and have my entire life but have worked in many ways to create a happy sustainable existence for myself with other methods.
The way I see it, if you are going to put all your eggs in that basket, why is it such a sin to do it for money? I mean if being broke is your lifelong dream you don’t have to be in a band to achieve that end.
Seems to me there ARE lots of artists who used money as their guiding light and are filthy rich. I mean you really have to ask yourself if it is more important to you to be spoken well of by half the people at the “1,293 Most Popular Blog In Uraguay” or to live well?
Personally I’d take the 60k a year job. You can still play and love music. If a label made it worth it to me to leave health insurance and stability they would have to give me 200k a year and otherwise I’d say go fuck themselves. Being in a band nobody listens to is like showing up to a party where nobody wants you.
Still you know I definitely respect you though Eyal. You know exactly what you want and are doing it regardless of how hard it is.
there are lots of artists who did it for money and made it rich. but those artist almost always have no artistic or musical integrity and make shit music.
I GUARANTEE Jimi Hendrix was motivated by money. No integrity? Personally I think this
bullshit where you are looked down on for doing it for money has only been around
in our younger generation.
Truth is we are a lot more arrogant then our predcessors and actually look down on people
who are trying to make a living. Ass backwards if you ask me.
hey man – I respect anyone who can pay their bills via music
And like I said somewhere else( can’t really remember) I have respect
for you personally and want to check out your band sometime soon(
shit if you love Opeth so much it might be pretty good) but at the same
time I’m not going to lick your ass 100 percent of the time like some
people here. If I agree then I will agree. Otherwise….well you know.
I’ve never asked anyone to lick my ass. Not into rim jobs.
I write this column because I enjoy doing it. The fact that I willingly put it up on the internet means that I’ve accepted that people will voice their opinions on it.
Disagree with me all you want. That’s what this is for. It doesn’t bother me and I don’t take it personally. Or agree with me, whatever, just voice your opinion.
If I feel like it, and have time, I’ll respond to your post and tell you my opinion.
And I love Opeth, but I don’t think we sound anything like them.
Well I wasn’t trying to say you WANTED people to lick your ass. Just
that regardless people seem to do that.
I also was not trying to say you were an Opeth rip-off. I just figured
if your tastes were similar to mine I might dig your band.
Shit I forgive bands that do that anyways. I love Earthsblood and the title
track is super-Opeth-esque. I don’t hold that against God
Forbid at all.
Think I’m gonna “partake” and head to Daath’s Myspace to see what
you dudes are all about.
Fuck the myspace, just steal our record. The best tracks aren’t even up on there.
If people lick my ass on here, or try to verbally kick my ass its totally their thing.
I just speak my mind.
And yeah, I def love Opeth.
I havn’t stolen a metal record in a long time. I’ll probably buy it
after I get the new BTBAM.
I’m not broke. I follow my own advice. I make my money from VARIOUS sources. Read my blog again. See that sentence about creating multiple streams of income from music? That’s how you do it.
I’m not broke. I follow my own advice. I make my money from VARIOUS sources. Read my blog again. See that sentence about creating multiple streams of income from music? That’s how you do it.
I’m not broke. I follow my own advice. I make my money from VARIOUS sources. Read my blog again. See that sentence about creating multiple streams of income from music? That’s how you do it.
I’m not broke. I follow my own advice. I make my money from VARIOUS sources. Read my blog again. See that sentence about creating multiple streams of income from music? That’s how you do it.
Sorry guys… I was having fun assuming different identities
Too much backstage boredom
“That’s how you do it.”
That is certainly A way to do it. What’s up with all the different names anyways?
I post with one other myself but that’s only because Facebook is blocked where
I post from a lot of the time.
I just wanted to see how easy it was to log in under different names and talk shit
Like I think a lot of people online do
Was just a test for fun
Colin – How do you do it? Do you work in music, specifically metal, and if so do you play and if so, does that pay your bills?
I pretty much thought that’s what you were getting at. Specifically
that was about me and my one other name DidgeryDo.
Number one I don’t talk shit. Ever. Talking shit is just purely about
trying to piss people off and often times it isn’t even the
troll’s real opinion. I give both positive and negative feedback when
I post. My negative replies are 100 percent based on whether
or not I think the original post merits positive or negative feedback.
Also the alternate name has nothing to do with talking shit as I
alrleady explained above. It is because Facebook is blocked where
I work. Everyone knows how easy it is to obtain an IP adress so I
don’t have any illusions about gaining annonymity from changing
my name. You presume way too much.
Oh yeah. Fuck Pantera.
I actually wasn’t calling you out specifically, I had no idea you did that
I was just having fun with it bored out of my mind backstage
but I guess you just proved my point that people log in under different identities
Suuuuuuuurrrrre.
I think it’s a lot more likely you are trying to make me feel like a
dummy for “revealing” myself when really you “never knew” it
was me, but I don’t care either way since I was never
trying to conceal myself in the first place.
How would I know it was you?
LoL dude – I’m not an administrator on this site, just a contributor – I can’t check people’s IP addresses
C’mon
LOL OK OK. But one more thing. What specific instance made you think
about alternate account posters if it wasn’t me?
PS You don’t need to be an admin to find IP’s. I was assuming you
knew that.
The first time I ever really thought about people logging in under different identities was when I figured out that some of our ex members were doing that on Blabbermouth and talking shit because they were saying things that only people from our inner circle could know.
I’ve had it on my mind since then.
But I wasn’t thinking of you in specific.
If I did, I promise, I would’ve said it.
And I don’t know much about the nitty gritty of the internet world like IP addresses and stuff.
So eyal, I have a question. I fucking love DAATH, and since reading your blog i’ve REALLY come to respect you even more. What other streams of income do you get out of music? I’m aspiring to be in a touring band, and I’ve faced the reality that I won’t make much money, and I really don’t care. I’ve always said, as long as I have a roof over my head and a guitar and amp to write some sweet licks on, i’ll be fine. But it seems like the chances of even getting THAT much playing music are slim in such an economic downturn.
What other sources do you have to siphon from for music? Are you a session musician? Do you give lessons? Should I go to university if i get the chance and work on music while i’m working on getting a degree?
Haha, it seems like I’m asking you to tell me how to live my life with that last question, doesn’t it? Oh well, I’d love to get any advice on alternate ways to sustain yourself financially while in a touring band.
Thanks man,
Keep slaying!
Hahaha at “earning at living” making metal. Out of the tens of thousands of metal groups in the world, I’d be shocked to find out that even half of 1% of them can live purely from the money generated by their band. Maybe if they still live with their parents. The rest of us have bills to pay.
I haven’t broken you in yet. Perhaps I should.
I want to make Metal so I can be happy with what I’m doing with my life. Creating art that gets down in the fucking soul so that you can have a good time in this life we got. To pay the bills you get a regular dildo job and at the same to do the freelance work with your art and meet girls along the way to keep me going. I want to achieve my goals but even if I don’t make it I don’t care as long as I keep trying tillI I die and i will die happy.
After 10 years as a band, we finally got our first royalty check: $35. I’m glad I have the balance of being in a stable career and using the band for enjoyment, not employment.
I remember one of the guys from Slipknot was asked what he did on their times off from touring, and he answered, “I paint houses, straight up.” Not sure if he needs to or not, but you figure 15% of record royalties divided among 9 guys still can’t go very far.
Corey Taylor’s first royalty check for Slipknot was for $1.63. He never cashed it – it’s hanging on his office wall, framed. Clown has stated for the record that not even a band of Slipknot’s stature makes fuck-all off of album sales, that what money they make comes mostly from ticketing and merchandising. Say whatever you want about that band (and if you’re me, a huge fan and hugely disappointed by *All Hope Is Gone,” you’ll feel entitled to say much), they gave people back their hope that metal could be big again… Perhaps they were wrong for that…
And it’s Chris that you were talking about, painting houses between album cycles. I don’t know if he still does or not, but Brent Hinds reportedly did the same for his family’s business.
It’s a fact that 1 in 75647384 metal chicks are actually bang-able, so I hope nobody’s doing it for the nammy.
It’s a fact that .5 in 100,000,000,000 metal dudes are actually bang-able, so lucky for them we’re so accepting.
*bats eyelashes and smooches DD’s cheek to take away the sting*
Haha +1
Agreed. Crunkcore is where it’s at for hotties.
That’s your answer for everything.
Do you mean to tell me there’s anyone out there still laboring under the fallacious hope they might actually get rich playing metal?
Huh. Interesting.
To my mind, this begs more questions. But to whom should I address them: you, Dallas, or Arthur? This requires deliberation. I want everyone to feel useful.
That was as real as it gets folks. I’m no dick rider but the man has had some excellent points.
I’m into creating art in a lot of different mediums. For me, art is created solely for the sake of enlightening or entertaining others. If I ever had made a solitairy dime from anything I’ve created I honestly wouldn’t feel comfortable with it. A piece of music or a work of literature or a painting shouldn’t be created for the express purpose of making money. It goes without saying the art will suffer. If it’s made for money it’s going to be souless and have no lasting value. For something to have lasting effect it absolutely has to possess integrity, honesty and soul.
Art is beautiful but can be nauseating when it’s too pretentious. This holier then thou shit when it comes
to the most basic function of life, eating – making money is just rediculus. It’s possible to make the
most amazing sounds with a guitar and NOT view yourself in such a pious light. I love music but
lets not make it out to be more then it is.
Gimme a band that can fathom the beauty and complexity of art but simaltaneously aren’t as
proud as this guy and you have something I would like to listen to.
Wow, it isn’t pride at all. I think you missed my point. Maybe I didn’t say it right? Not to be pretentious in any way I just feel like art is a gift. Creating it, admiring it, appreciating it. This is only my opinion, but I feel like the things I’ve created aren’t coming from me to make me money. They’re expressions of the feelings inside of me that aren’t able to be verbalized. If any thing it’s about killing pride.
Well I really can’t disagree with any of that. +1
Oh shit this is the face of DigeryDo huh? Now I feel like an even bigger dolt for arguing with you before.
Yep itsa me! When I come here from Facebook it automatically
posts as the real me but when I’m at work Facebook is blocked.
Yep very true.
I discovered Daath through Metalsucks, and i must say getting you to write a column here was the coolest thing they could have done. thanks for finding time week in and out to write us a little bit of insight.
well said Eyal. I tell people this same exact shit all the time about doing something for the right reasons. It has to be your true passion and has to be from the heart and the soul. If it ain’t, the music is either gonna be shit or you just won’t last.
a real ass nigga
i wanna play music for the rest of my life not exactly metal, but close, im gonna finish school and got to college(hopefully) so yeah i know its gonna be hard
Having a band in a country with no (and I mean absolutely NO) labels, magazines, metal bars and shows happening once in 3 months you can tell me about love for music :)))
Many of you guys don’t realize how lucky you are living in the US or in Western Europe, having an opportunity to play shows every now and then by just putting some effort into it. Yep, of course the grass is greener on the other side, but when you have big problems with finding rehearsal space, virtually no adequate instruments (let alone good rigs or drums), with only one city to play in with about 200 people attending a show (at its best) and having to fuck around with Visas and shit just to go to a neighbor country for a gig, you can tell that there’s no grass at all here. It’s pure love for music, no matter if there are 10 people at your gig or 300 (been through both)…
You from my country by any chance?Kidding,but i totally see it your way apart from the whole Visa thing cause we can still sneak into Serbia as if we were still in the union with them
Are you from Macedonia or Monte-Negro?
I’m from Moldova
200 people at one show is a shit load dude! Average local show I’ve seen has about 50 to 100 if that.
And how frequently do you have shows in your area?
Eyal, now hat you have set things straight with this blog spot, how about next time you move on to the real interesting topic which is, as you said :
“how to generate multiple streams of income from various musical and music-related sources in order to put together an actual living from music”
By the way, i saw you guys live in Paris 2 days ago, and that was a great gig.
Do you really want me to talk about that?
That’s different for everyone but I’ll be happy to if enough people want to hear about it
That would be really interesting to hear about, even from a pure informative point of view!
Yes, we REALLY WANT YOU TO TALK ABOUT THAT.
Yes, we REALLY WANT YOU TO TALK ABOUT THAT. No, I’m not kidding. I’m in a band and collectively we make about 70k a year from our day jobs, and we have no illusions that making with just our band alone is highly unlikely. I think you’d be doing the community a great favor by going into detail (as much as your personal privacy will allow) about your “alternate streams of income” especially if they do not involve things like partial participation in a family business (which I believe is fairly common).
here’s the secret to making money in metal~~ seriously.
get your CDL license and DRIVE THE TOUR BUS. You’ll possibly make up to 100k per year, have full benefits, retirement package, etc. Plus, if you work for a good company, there’s ways to make $$ over your regular pay~~ like if you drive over a certain amount of miles or have to make repairs to the bus yourself. Also, you get a paid hotel room every day, which means you’re the only one on tour who gets to shower every day.
added bonus~~ free band t-shirts
Usually the only thing you have to pay for is your own meals.
seriously, get your CDL.
Man you have to have that CDL a LOOOOONG time before you make anything
close to 100k a year. I have a friend who’s done it for years and he still
makes something like 13 bucks an hour.
Yeah tell us !
Yeah, we want to hear about that. People tend to think of the industry very generally, maybe you can help expand our minds.
Do tell us
OK Eyal so exactly when is enough people enough? I want to hear this to. I think there
is a 90 percent chance though that you are going to say you give guitar lessons. There
is really not a whole let else you can do.
The few friends i know who are 100% into music and have “various sources of income” do give instrument lessons, but also stuff like :
- writing/recording music/stuff for tv shows/documentaries/movies/whatever
- session musician for studio and/or live (best example is Kevin Talley, who records studio drums for a shitload of bands, and do a lot of fill-ins for touring bands)
- work for some labels (ex: Sven from Aborted is in charge of albums layout for Century Media artists IIRR)
- producing/recording/mixing bands
- being sales person in a guitar/music store at home, or even repairing instruments (or being a luthier)
- working as a booking agent (it can be for their own band’s booking agency btw)
-> those are the “music”-related jobs
I guess you can also do some kind of work that do not require you to be at the office during office hours, like webmarketing stuff for instance (account manager / Adwords stuff / webmaster / …)
Those are the ones that come to my mind, now i’m curious to hear what Eyal is doing to be financially ok.
Well it’s obviously something he does not want to share. That of
course makes me that much more curious.
I record bands in a studio I own
I do session work
I write music for artists
Cool.
I haven’t given guitar lessons since I was 16.
I fucking HATE teaching
héhé :)
Thanks for having given us some details by the way (for some reason i can’t reply your other post).
Wierd…. about the replying thing
I will write about this topic more
I have about zero patience when it comes to teaching myself. It seems
like when I have something down really good it is REALLY painful
to watch someone stumble around with it.
Emil, the other guitarist in DAATH is a teaching wiz
Before the band got signed he was reaching 60 students a week
Most tours we do he ends up giving lessons to guitarists on the tour
Somehow he has the patience and the skills to do it well
I can’t stand it
I would guess that the pleasure must be a long-term one that comes
from watching people get better and better and maybe even
someday knowing you created a legend.
Personally it drives me nuts too.
I’ve noticed that he especially digs serious students
He can handle beginners
But he’s mostly into dudes who are already capable that he can take to the next level
That’s pretty cool for him. Kind of like a martial arts mentor or something.
I’m just tooling around with a Hofner Colorama I bought from a friend
and learning to play. Dummy sold it to me for 1/4 for what it’s worth
but that’s fine by me :)
I’m teaching myself and have every intention of becoming a
virtuoso.
I just went to Daath’s Myspace and you and Emil are pretty sick. That’s
about the closest to a rimjob you will get frome me lol.
WTF is a Hofner Colorama?
If anyone is like a martial arts mentor on guitar it would be Emil.
Glad you dug the guitar playing!
German Guitar that was released relatively expensively in Europe
and now a more affordable guitar in America. I got it from a friend
who was had an Ibanez Gem so didn’t mind selling it for a hundred
bucks. I jumped on that deal.
http://www.stevesguitarsite.com/HofnerColorama.html
a good read as usual. Thanks E
I KNOW THE BUG YOU SPEAK OF. I HAVE BEEN BITTEN!
I would be very interested in reading something like that Eyal
easy answer for ya, eyal, cuz it aint about the money…….[ its about the coke. duh.]
i think that’s what makes the genre special and have such loyal fans. i like going to metal shows because you can see amazing world wide bands for like 30 bucks and its fun, you could never go to a country concert or rap concert for that price. its not about the money, its about the thrill of doing what you love to do and having a good time
Dude – you are sooooo sad. It’s not about the money or the music or the pussy. It’s about being the best at what you know how to do and hope you get famous enough to leave a mark on this world enough to teach it something. But, if I had a doubt that I would not someday get rich off it? I might try something else. This post is for losers that have given up. The reason you haven’t made it yet is cuz you havent in your heart and in your mind. I started this path cuz I already knew the outcome. For all of the peope reading this garbage, don’t give up – if you get signed by a major record label and need to go on tour – sacrifice everything including that piece of shit $60K a year job – what the hell you only live once right? You wanna go the rest of your life wondering? Fuck that – not me.
Lol – Another dude who didn’t get the post
Maybe I need to clarify my post
Be in this game because you LOVE music first and foremost
Be realistic enough to know that you may not make much money if you make original music, EVEN if you are in a signed band
Find multiple ways to bring in the money via music. Then you will be ok.
Unless if you make it to the point where your ONE project floats you financially. That’s VERY rare.
Those of you who don’t get my post, read it again:
Give up your jobs, sink everything into music, yes. But use your fucking brains when you do it.
WORD !
I never misunderstood your post man. It’s just I disagree with what I read as the main point.
You are saying that if you are in it for money you might as well quit. On one hand this comes
off as “My way is the only way.” I guess on the other hand maybe you are advising young
musicians about just how hard it is to make a living playing hard music these days and giving
them a pep talk to keep them playing.
Either way even in our current times there are MANY bands that DO make a living off their
band and approach it that way. There is nothing wrong with this. They use their
musicianship to provide a service they know will resonate with millions and simaltaneously
happen to reap massive benefits from this.
For the shit I go through for my job making the money I make, YES, I would LOVE to be
playing music AND making tons of money for it. Why in the fuck is that a bad thing? I love
music produced by purists as well as mainstream cash ins but the fact is that the purists’
stuff is generally playable only by myself. I won’t be playing “Heaviest Matter of the
Universe” by Gojira at my wedding.
Needless to say I respect your approach but reject it as the ONLY or even the BEST way.
Underground guys that play this purist angle and turn their noses up at the mainstream
come off as pretentious and bitter.
“Let me clarify my post”
Translation:
“Let me revise the meaning of my post so I’m not wrong anymore.”
“Those of you who don’t get my post, read it again:”
Translation:
“Those who saw the obvious problem with my original post look at this new one:”
Would it really kill you to just be like, “Hey I’m wrong.” I was liking your column originally
because you are a better writer then Dallas and seemed like less of a dick but
c’mon man.
C’mon what?
The point of the post is like I’ve said that its a tough world out there if you want to make money at metal.
You should be in it because you love it and understand that the financial side is very very tough unless if you are part of the very small percentage of bands that can float it.
You should find ways to make money that are supplemented by the band.
People should stop living in a pipe dream world. That way when they’ve been touring for a year and the money from the band isn’t enough to even pay their cell phone bills they don’t quit.
AMEN
The people answering this oost are gonna eventually piss you off LOL. I get it. Dont quit your job unless you aint got anything to lose and you have that much love that you are willing to do anything for your love of music. You will make as much money at it as you want to work. Same as with the Lottery… you cant win if you dont play but if you play, it dont mean you are gonna win. You have to give blood to make it sometimes.
I have the love but I love paying my bills too. I love having a place to live and a duaghter to take care of. And I love my job. So… naything I make off of music is just exatra cash and it wont support its self unless I give up one of my loves and it aint gonna happen. Thanks for the post.
+1 to that. No Eyal we DO understand your post we just disagree.
I don’t think so
The point of my post is that its very hard to make money at metal
You should find multiple ways to make money at music if that’s your profession
The “rock star” dream is pretty much dead except for a very small percentage of bands.
I honestly don’t see how people are disagreeing with you Eyal. I mean. For fuck’s sakes, they’re calling you pretentious when you’re being realistic.
Pretty sad.
Anyways, I’m on your side, man. Keep fucking blazing it up
Once you record a good album, you need distro from a reputable label, who will require you to tour for most of a year, which would require you and your bandmates to decide whether to drop your stable job, sell your house, put the car on blocks, lose the gf/wife and give her full custody, donate your dog, etc, etc, etc. Touring in support of an album is not for sensible people with established lives. Once you get on track in life, you have to start letting things go and realize that its still fulfilling, and definitely not (accepting) failure, to write music for the love of it and keeping involved in metal. Failure is to sell of your gear and quit because you can’t make any money at it.
I really don’t think anyone should be getting dissed just because they did some long distance thinking. Most of you would say that if someone decided not to make it a career because they can’t live off of it that that person “doesn’t love music enough.” Maybe they really love making music as much as you do and would love to be in a touring band and have everyone enjoy the tunes they wrote….but maybe some have just given it some thought and decide what’s best for them and their future.
I’d love to do the same and I think it would be a hell of a time for the most part and I really DO love music a lot. What’s important to me is the rest of my life though. I’d like to have a healthy family some day and being in a band just isn’t the way to get it. Of course it sucks working “day jobs” but usually doing something you love never has money in it. As Eyal said, he has other sources of income and that works for him, but who knows how many reliable sources there are for everyone else out there. I’d rather not take the gamble of finding extra work just to live average (no offense on your lifestyle or income, Eyal).
Honestly, I don’t know what some people are thinking when they want to get “signed.” Some people think it will just come to them if they just stay living in the same small town they grew up in and playing shows only in few surrounding cities. Do they now realize how many bands are created daily?
Most of the bands nowadays are making the same music the band did the day before and they wonder why it’s not working. Put five awesome local musicians in a room and they could make more than a few Suicide Silence albums.
+1
For every Suicide Silence that does amazing financially there’s thousands of other bands who never will.
All I’m really thinking still is if you want to take the pragmatic stance tell people to get realistic
you would be telling them not to bother with music at all and get really good at math.
THAT’s realistic.
Ok – Statistically speaking, become a rock star in the classic sense of the word is not a realistic venture
But becoming a rock star is not what I’m talking about
I’m just talking about making a living off of music, metal in specific
And it is possible – but it has to come from various different streams of income UNLESS you are lucky enough to find one golden egg in your basket which floats your boat
And yes, the better you are at math in the game of music business, the better your chances are at making money
Very good post here. I think the people talking shit about the post have not been in a signed band or talked with a lot of other signed bands. The music business today is FUCKED UP. It always has been most likely, but it’s even worse today then ever before. Especially if you are a newer artist it is VERY VERY difficult.
That said if you have the need to make music then you do that, the business aspect becomes secondary. I would never rely on the music business for my security, health or well being, that would be tantamount to fucking suicide! I’ll continue writing, recording and playing shows as long as I am able and i’m thankful for the chance to do that.