From: kauff@neit.cgd.ucar.edu (Brian Kauffman)
Subject: Re: Tha Bizness.
Organization: NCAR, Boulder CO
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 23:03:43 GMT

>     = david@roth-music.com (David A. Roth) writes:
>>    = gds@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Greg Skinner) writes:
>> >  = fiedler@netcom.com (Dragon (David Fiedler)) writes:
>> >> = gds@york.cs.ucla.edu (Greg Skinner) writes:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >>Equally, you may be a struggling musician, thinking on the quiet
>> >>evenings about your friends in other professions, who are making
>> >>decent incomes.  I have a friend who is an aspiring actor who is going
>> >>through this.  He is thinking about going back to law school.

>> >Sorry, I consider this excessivley negative. Your friend might just be on
>> >the verge of becoming the next Tom Cruise or something. The world really
>> >doesn't need another lawyer, you know, but a good actor, musician, or
>> >other creative person can brighten millions of lives.

>                                                         No one knows
>a person better than they known themself and you couldn't possibly
>peer into another person's soul and suggest what is best for them.
>It sounds like you are projecting your fears about yourself on to others.

While I certainly don't know what's best for others, I also think it's
pretty clear *many* in the artist/music biz are fooling themselves.
That doesn't mean we should all drop out of the music biz, but we should
be realistic about our chances for "success" and "failure".
By all means, go for it, but do it with a reasonable assessment of the risks.

---------------
>>  There are millions of people trying
>> to become the next Tom Cruise, etc., and only a few positions of that
>> type open.  There are not that many positions open that would pay my
>> friend as much as I make, either. 

>Are you making millions of dollars in software?  Since Bill Gates
>is and he is successful than you must be a failure.  Of course, you
>are not but if someone goes into entertainment and is not making millions
>of dollars doesn't make them a failure either.  This comes back to your lack
>of understanding of exactly what types of work is out there in the
>entertainment field.  This would be like me talking to software programmers
>at a party and say that it must be tough out there because I don't
>se their picture on the cover of Byte or Newsweek.

So what is the reality of making a reasonable living in "entertainment"?
Does it *usually* involve creating your own art?  
Does it *usually* involve people listening to *your* music?
Does it *usually* involve people waiting in line just to see you?
Or something more along the lines of making jingles and performing other
people's music according to their specifications?
And is this why we all want to be musicians?

---------------
>If your friend is considering giving it up to do something else it's
>because he doesn't have the belief in himself and doesn't want it
>bad enough.  The people on their way in a journey who make it are
>the ones who were happy just to be out there doing what they love
>and a chance to do it and to continue doing it.

"Wanting it bad enough" doesn't make it so.  Certainly you can't succeed
if you don't try, but failure is always a risk you should understand.

---------------
>                                   When was the last time after a
>hard day you placed a cassette tape in your car of your favorite attorney
>speaking?  When was the last time anyone stood in line all night just
>to get tickets to see -- an attorney!

Is this the clarification of "understanding of exactly what types of work 
is out there in the entertainment field"?  Is this reality for a substantial 
number of musicians who "want it bad enough"?  People will go out and buy 
your tapes and wait in line all night just to see you?  I think not.

And if people aren't buying your tapes, or waiting in line to buy a ticket
to see you, just exactly what are you doing in the entertainment field?
Gigging in local clubs?  Writing jingles?  Reading charts as a session-person?
How about being a waiter?

Is being an minimally-employed entertainer and waiting on tables [or working
in a music store, or teaching, or writing jingles] for money better than 
being a full-time lawyer [or whatever] and a part-time entertainer?
I think this is the reality many are ultimately faced with.

The bottom line is: "wanting it bad enough" doesn't guarantee success,
there is always a chance of failure.  And in music, assuming your idea
of success is making a reasonable living by selling *your* music to
appreciative audiences, it's not unreasonable to perceive rate of failure
as being pretty high.

-Brian
Xref: sparky rec.music.makers:11666 rec.music.makers.guitar:1121