From: mjs@fc.hp.com (Marc Sabatella)
Subject: Re: Where does a remixer/producer go to school in New York?
Reply-To: marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.4 PL6]
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 18:37:48 GMT

WARNING - actual figures follow.  Not for the monetarily squeamish.

Greg Skinner (gds@york.cs.ucla.edu) wrote:
 
: Speaking as one of those "quiet desperate" people in a "cushy job"
: (well, not really cushy, but it pays decently, and it's not too
: stressful), I'd have to say that for me to leave a job with a regular
: salary and pursue music full time I would have to either be absolutely
: convinced I could make a decent regular salary at it, or that I
: couldn't see myself doing anything else.

You've brought up this subject before as well, and I was surprised it didn't
get more response than it did.  I've been growing increasingly dissatisfied
with my "cushy" job, viewing it mainly as throwing away 8 hours a day that
could be spent working towards my personal and musical goals in life.  I've
begun to think that I'd be happier trying to pursue music full time, or at
least find a job that allowed me to feel more connected to the music - even
something like salesman at a music store.

Due to a bit of company reorganization recently, I find myself faced with this
decision right now - a potential to leave HP with a relatively large severance
package.  It has all happened so fast, however, that I was not really prepared
to take the plunge, so as things stand, I will probably be staying here in my
"cushy" job - actually, in a slightly different "cushy" job within the company,
as a result of the reorganization.

But I have been shocked into taking some steps now so that I can reasonably opt
out if faced with the same situation in the future.  As a student, I used to
live on ~$15,000 a year, and that was in the Bay Area.  I am fairly certain I
could do that here as well, especially since the cost of living is so much
less.  I've gone over my records for this year, and find that I spend an
average of $2200 a month right now, and I've broken all of that down into
categories except the $400 or so I spend in cash, most of which probably goes
for food, drink, and entertainment.  Most of the areas where I spend my money
now are clearly being overspent - I could easily spend half of what I am paying
right now for housing, for example, and I could probably cut down to a quarter
of what I currently spent on CD's, sporting goods, and so forth.  My budget for
actual music expenses - equipment and so forth, would probably need to reamin
relatively constant.  All told, I am almost certain that I could live fairly
comfortably on a budget of only half of what I currently spend - in other
words, $1100/month, or about $15,000/year before taxes.  This, of course,
assumes no serious medical problems, car trouble, and so on.  So I'll throw in
another, say, $2000/year for that.

OK, so how do I earn $17,000/year as a professional musician?  Currently, I am
on a pace to earn ~$3500 this year just from playing an average of 2-3 gigs a
week.  Of that, exactly $50 came from gigs I actively solicited.  Not to
encourage all of you to move to Northern Colorado or anything, but this has got
to be the easiest place in the world to find gigs, although most don't pay very
well (you're lucky to make $50 for a 3-4 hour gig).  I am pretty certain that I
could double my current performance income by being more proactive in
soliciting gigs - I have barely even begun to scratch at the Denver and Boulder
scene.  So there's $7000.  Now, say I take on 10 students at $10/week each.
There's another $5000/year.  It seems all I have to do to supplement this is to
work half time at minimum wage to make up the other $5000.  I'm pretty sure I
could handle that.

Now, most of these figures are ballpark guesstimates; I could easily be off
both in terms of how much I could make, or how much I'd need to make.  To
further pick numbers out of hats, let's say I'm off (the wrong way) by
$5000/year on both counts - I come up short $10,000 a year.  So I'll want to
give myself that much cushion for each year I try the experiment.

With all that information in hand, here's my plan.  First, I buy a small house,
one that lets me rent out a portion of it.  There are several here in town with
basement apartments.  At current prices and rates, my mortgage would be $600-
$650/month.  The basement would rent out for $350-$450.  If I then took on a
roomate in the main portion of the house, my monthly cost is then below $200,
which is where I need it to be.  Next, I start saving like crazy.  Actually,
I had already started a year ago, thinking in terms of retirement.  Given what
I already have saved, my current saving and investment rates, and the expected
growth of my investments, I can have $50,000 saved within a couple of years.
And if HP offers one of these spiffy "Voluntary Severance Initiative" (VSI)
plans again, it would be worth another $30,000 to me.

The bottom line will be, in two or three years I'll be in a position to try
the music career if I want, and should have enough cushion to let the
experiment run for five years.  If I happen to get a chance to take the VSI
package, this could easily be 10 years.  If at the end of that time I still
find I'm not breaking even, I hope the economy is in good enough shape to let
me reenter the "real" job force, probably at a lower position than I am in
right now, but reasonably "cushy".

This plan does, I might point out, hinge on my being able to buy a house, and
to save $50,000 within a couple of years - both of which would be very
difficult had I not originally opted for the software career.  All, my ability
to reduce my spending on luxuries is mainly possible because I've already
accumulated most of my "toys".  So at this point, I'm not really second
guessing my original decision to major in math/CS rather than music, and treat
music only as a hobby.  I look on that as an experiment that has yielded a lot
of benefits for me, but may ultimately fail.

--
Marc Sabatella
marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com
--
Amendment 2 Is Legalized Discrimination - Shame On You, Colorado
--
"Neither the State of Colorado ... nor any of its municipalities ... shall ...
 enforce any ... ordinance ... whereby homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual
 orientation ... shall ... be the basis of ... any ... claim of discrimination"
--
All opinions expressed herein are my personal ones
and do not necessarily reflect those of HP or anyone else.
From: spatel@hpcuhe.cup.hp.com (S Patel)
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 17:17:21 GMT
Subject: FOR SALE: Mixers, sequencer for PCs
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino