Could i make a living as a musician?

Question

ok!

lets say for eample: i make a myspace the band earns 23,000 fans, make an album sells 75,000(luckly) get a tour bus and play for about 1000 people each show....can i make a living with that?

(its a really really hard thing to do, but im willing on doing it)

Answer 1

You could totally make a living if all those things happened.  But that's not how it happens.  I make a good living as a musician, but it's a lot of work. You can do well without all that stuff.

Answer 2

It's totally possible. That's actually what I want to do. You just have to know how to roll with the punches. It depends on what kind of music you're looking at doing. It's unfortunate that a lot of crappy bands make it huge by whining about their lives or about their exes or whatever, and the bands that are actually talented and refreshing generally don't do as well because they aren't what the public wants to hear. Know how your local scene works and see how that goes. If you wanna play jazz in a city known for its rap scene, you're not really gonna be recognized. And also find people that are as devoted to the band as you are. That may be the hardest part. But in the end, I say stick to your dream, man. If you have to go solo and be a one man show, go for it.  

Answer 3

are you any good........

do you sing........

do you write.........

can you play clubs........

are you creative.........

do you have a vision for the future........

what about talent and class........

what about instuments what do you play...........

what about discipline.......can you say no to temptation........

is your voice unique, dylan--stewart--seiger--joplin--

do you have any inhabitions

how bad do you want it........

is my space the only place where you are going to promote yourself

what about nyc, nashville

can you stick to a plan

do you have an advisor

do your really want it?

Answer 4

23000 fans buying three albums a piece...   ambitious.

What you are proposing isn't going to be enough to pay your business related expenses let along your personal expenses.    This is supposing that you have a band of 4 people to pay.  

If you are able to sell 75000 cd's.... you will get between $1.25 and 50 cents a piece once everyone gets a piece.    

A thousand person gig will likely pay between $500 and $7000 depending your popularity.   Most performance spaces at the club level top out at 500 person capacity.   There's a few performance spaces in the 1000 to 2000 seat... in fact very few.   Festivals pay the same rates as the clubs whether you have an audience of 5000 or 35,000.  

This is how musicians make money:

1.  Album / song sales

2. Royalties  (this assumes you wrote the song -- there are some arrangements if you arranged a cover -- but not always)

3. Performances -- clubs and festivals.  Some small theatres.

What do musicians spend money on:

1. gear --

2. studio time

3. practice space

4. demo recordings

5. producer fees

6. mastering fees

7. album production fees

8. stage production fees

9. booking agent fees

10. tour manager fees (this is optional)

11. record company fees

12. gas for the vehicle

13. travel (seldom does a venue pay for travel)

14. vehicle maintenance (if you own)

15. vehicle leasing (if you lease)

It just goes on and on and on.   The thing is to get your name and your music out there as much as you can as cheaply as you can.  A career in music is not for the passive.  You need to perform as much as you can, where ever you can with whomever you can.  I have friends who spent years of their lives in the back of beat up vans, until they could cough up enough collective money for nicer and larger used vans, while selling more cd units than you mentioned above.  In the music biz, you're small potatoes selling anything less than 500,000 units.  

If your heart is into being a musician then do it.  Perform as much as possible.  Keep your expenses as minimal as possible.  Accept help from your friends.   Make a lot of friends.  Be loyal to your friends, and take joy in what you do.   You'll find the more you work the more you work.   My space pages and stuff like that is just one tiny bit of getting your name out there.  It doesn't sell cds or songs.  It doesn't get people out to your gigs.  YOU and your music does that.  

Good luck