Has anyone ever felt to the point of despair about music and the industry that you were really close to giving up?

If so, what got you out of the funk?

You always have to follow your dreams, and don't let anybody else's failure be your guide.

Nope. I don't write music for the industry but because it's what I do as a songwriter - I write songs. :)

^ +1. I don't, and never have thought about 'the industry'. I just write music.

What's music?

The Bapu is way too busy these days.

Maybe in a few weeks there will be time again for this thing called music.

Hi,
 
I did ... but not in music. Film and theater.
 
Film was too tough for me, and I could not get into USC, even though I had the recomendation from two of their professors, one of which I had at UCSB.
 
Theater I gave up because the folks in local theater were a bunch of washed out old coats hoping to get their 15 minutes of fame and fortune and they did not care for acting or theater or film, or anything else except their very own star appeal.
 
I wish I had the chance to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company or the National Theater, or even The Living Theater, or the one that I wanted to have fun with ... The ETC La Mamma Group ... but of all those folks, I only got a hello and thank you from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the rest was run by rich bastards that were on free handouts by the feds ... and they were not about to share a penny of it!
 
I had one other moment in music ... that the person in question chickend out on ... Peter Mark, of the Virginia Opera ... he taught a course at UCSB with us three directing majors in theater in it, the thought being that directing in opera would be a nice addon to our studies (I thought it was magnificent! but already knew that directing in Opera was a dead end!), and it was. On the final, we all did story boards for various things as a directing project and I did Tosca's 2nd act ... in FILM ... on a stage ... and it blew him away ... he said I solved all the hard issues that opera has in staging ... and I told him ... let's do it ... we would have to spend some time filming a few things and making sure that we knew how to project them and such ... and I did not miss a beat, from the first sound to the end of the Act 2 of the opera ... and if you don't believe me, you need to look at the score and find that solo violin in the aria, and understand what I did with those solo notes, that would have your audience crying ... (film would have the tear slowed or speeding and followed, until it hit the floor) ... which would add a magic moment to the aria.
 
It was too much for Peter Mark ... and besides he was more interested in making sure that his wife's opera got on stage in Virginia, than a a reimagined and designed opera on stage in a much more modern concept.
 
I learned this concept of using film in theater by seeing the ETC La Mamma do a play called ... "Carmilla" ... which was fabulous ... totally far out and off the wall beautiful and out of this world!
 
But it was the end for me, working with people that had no vision. I have been a writer and review of foreign/art films since ... because at least in there, the freedom, the love and the experiment is alive! Just like the music business, it's mostly dead because the only thing that most folks can do is ... local crap and the cheapest music possible!
 
It's not worth pushing anymore. If I get published and appreciated before I go, thank you and I love you all ... if I don't thank you and I love you all! I  don't want anything else, and to me the only glory needed and wanted is for the art ... not the fame, not the money and not the dream that you will make it famous!  You can't live life hoping that someone else allows you to live your dream ... so I decided to live my own dream ...
 
I've written over 500 film reviews. Over 100 music reviews. Have over 150 poems. Have 7 short sroties. Have 3 novels. And I'm happy with my inner vision and what I write and will never write for someone else, or their "ideas" ... it's all about the inner life of the clown or maniac or magician and his/her visions.
 
Thx. I'm not angry ... or disappointed. Visionaries are few adn far in between, and some of them get poisoned, and some get crucified for their ideas ... so I don't exactly feel left out on the pasture! And if it mattered to you, you would know between the lines, what the spirit inside here is all about! And the tagline is not an idea ... it's the truth that defines your art within you! IF you are interested!

To heck with the "Industry." 

As Hunter S. Thompson said: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money
trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

I always liked what Richard James aka "Aphex Twin" once said, which is that he only ever created music for his own pleasure, and that anyone else wanted to listen to it was just a bonus. I could never understand certain artists like Zappa, Fagan etc, who said that once an album was released they never listened to it again. Screw that! If I had made music as good as those two gentlemen I would be blasting it all the time, if only for the boost to my ego!

I have that attitude.  Now if I could only create music that "I" thought was good...  LOL.

Scott, Just taking a guess that it's not the "music" part that you're having difficulties with, but rather the business side of things. There are lots of facets to the business side. The business of performing, recording, management, distribution of recorded work, collection of funds, personality conflicts within the band, etc. Without knowing specifics, it's tough to give advice on a particular action to take to get through it. When I was actively pursuing music as a career, I was the band leader. I was the one who booked the gigs, owned the P.A., the truck to haul it in. I hired and fired the musicians, negotiated all the contracts with booking agents, etc. It got to be a grind for me, because it just didn't balance out with the joy of performing. When everything is going good, the other stuff isn't that big a deal and just seems like part of the game, When one or two issues start to snowball into major distractions, it can get to be a huge hassle, and that's when you start to doubt if it's really worth all the crap. Think back to why you started down this road, and try and find the joy. If you can't find the joy of doing the work, it might be time to try a different road. Randy