Successful Musician?

To be successful?! True success is contentment, along with a close-knit family, great friends and being proud of achievements!

Having said that....

Success?! Being famous and wealthy can have it's drawbacks such as.... what seems to be impossible demands, expectations by fans, management and the media treating you like public property, having to be very careful of where you go, what you say... one little slip up, little misunderstanding and the paparazzies will make a mountainous story out of it on the front page!! John Lennon knew that all too well. The other issue is being in fear, therefor requiring security to constantly watch not only you but also your family.

I have a love n hate for the music biz! One of the reasons why the Beatles broke up is because of fear of being killed, during their concerts a few idiots would let of a firecracker and the guys (Paul, George, Ringo) would immediately look to see if John got shot! After John's famous press statement the Beatles later decided to stop touring and soon after Brian (Eppy) Epstein died (I suspect he committed suicide) because he suffered from severe depression and his disappointment when the Beatles wanted to take more control of their direction! Yoko is not the only cause for the Beatles breakup (she may have played a small part, there was one opportunity for the Beatles to reunite but that got squashed because John decided to go back to be with Yoko), the real reason for the Beatles breakup is because of several reasons including disagreements in directions, management decisions often stalemated, also George and Ringo wanted more input in writing, George did his own greatly successful album! I have a friend who knew the Beatles since before the Beatles final lineup (long before Ringo joined), my friend was the Beatles early manager (later became a promoter and author). Eppy is a genius when it comes to business making money and he was wealthy enough to offer the Beatles new music gear, clothes and later God knows whatever else... still a mystery as to what else Eppy offered in regards to that boating trip with John.

The Beatles certainly had great success but along with that success was great disappointment. Paul and Ringo probably handled it better! George disliked the commercial aspects, John being the rebellion whilst also being a sensitive guy which I can understand since losing his mom and then his own son thinking John was not a good father yet eventually they rekindle that situation. His own son knows how impossibly demanding and stressful the music biz can be (his first rec contract soon wised him up).

A band is like a marriage and when that marriage becomes famous you also have to handle all sorts of conflicting issues along with additional issues of being under the scrutinized spotlight of the the media and the stress of having to continue coming up with yet again more goods all this whilst being extremely busy and all the other issues I already explained! Thus trying to find time for family! Being famous can cause more woes than good and in that regard I consider being in that situation as... very depressing, very stressful and it can lead to suicide or having one step in the grave. It's very, very difficult to be truly successful in the music biz.

I just finished a reading book about early Greek culture.

After a long analysis of the Odyssey the author pointed out that when it's all over it turns out the story was about how important it is to most humans to have a home, friends and family, and sense of place. So 2500 years ago that's what success meant... I think, as has been suggested by the previous posts, it's still true today.

:-)

For me a successful musician is one who has had his/her music heard (as in really listened to) by someone ELSE...(outside their immediate environment).

In my youth (a LONG time ago) I confused being a successful musician with being a professional musician. Since I'm well past the point of thinking I can make a profession out of it, I've had to revise my notion. My current philosophy is much like No How's. I think of myself as a successful musician because 1.) I make music I like that is appreciated by others, and 2.) I'm pretty happy doing it. Since making money at it is no longer a consideration, that #2 is easier to achieve
Mark

ORIGINAL: Nate


IMO success is when you've set out goals and achieved them.

Spot on!I totally agree with this so the question "what does a sucesfull musician mean to you?" is really translated into :

"what goals does a musician set to himself-herself according to you?"


With that in mind,i guess succesfull is the musician that manages not only to express himself through his creations BUT also this expression,this "transmition" if you will,is able to be received by AT LEAST one other person.Actually Im not sure if that indeed IS the goal every musician sets to himself but I believe this SHOULD be the case.In other words thats a sucessfull musician TO ME

Also agree that we must not confuse the terms "sucessfull musician" with "professional musician" And as I already mentioned they do not need to be bonded - only if the beholder believes that profits and publicity are sucess in other words only if the beholder has set a goal to make money and have fame!

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213

There are players that I see every now and again, with this band or that artist and I think 'yeah, you're still doing it' A lot of these people are keyboard players - Spencer Cozens, Foster Patterson, Andy Giddings, Guy Fletcher..you'll probably have to Google 'em, but they're always working, cropping up on the end credits of a TV show, or backing a 'big name', unobtrusively.

That's a weird phenomenon, especially with regard to super rockstars who quietly slip into the world of tv & film, or even less conspicuously on backing tracks of other bands' songs. I'm thinking of people like John Paul Jones who, after Zeppelin, started doing orchestral arrangements. You'd never see his name unless you dig deep into the liner notes.

Another one is Trevor Rabin who, after getting ousted from Yes, seemed to fall off the edge of the world. But just the other day I saw some recent Schwartzennegger film and happened to notice the credits... sure enough there's Trev.

I'd love to interview these people and ask point blank, is their new direction as fulfilling as being a skintight-pants-wearing rock star with 15 groupies waiting backstage? Do you think I'd get an honest answer?

Yes, Groupies....Groupies, Yes,
there's a sign of success.

can you do a babe-count?

I think Nate nailed it pretty much. I also think the definition is different depending on your age. Like Nate, mine has changed over the years. In my teens, it was chicks. In my 20's, it was big gigs and no day job. In my early 30's it was a really good band, with steady gigs and no hassles. Things changed in my mid 30's, with marriage and children responsibilities. Now I measure my success by how good my recordings sound to me.

And to answer the question about the group Yes, and did they have groupies. The answer is a definite yes! I actually met some of them. Nicest bunch of guys you would ever want to meet, and excellent chess players as well.

Randy

Erm...uhh...James, is that you with Mr. Howe?


Randy

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213

Nah. I'm rubbish at chess. I'd be afraid he'd take my bishop..

Probably not, James. But he might make your white queen run so fast..........