Maybe the wrong place to post this, but what the hell. Communication is communication. Wondering where you guys might weigh in on this.
 
I made a good living out of touring in the forgotten past. Paid the rent with my fingers and vocal chords. Girls and drugs were the tips. Even got subsidized by amp companies if we would use their mega blasters on stage. Was way cool until I destroyed my hearing. Even earplugs would not keep the rumble thru the floor from causing further hearing loss.
 
Went to studio work to not be battered but made less money. Hi wages per hour, but not many hours per week.
 
Did the struggle thing outside music to pay the bills. Good money at times in other fields, but music took a hit. Everything harmonic was put on the back stage, because pounding an aircraft rivet was what put (vegetarian) meat on the table. Flashes of creative inspiration that needed to be recorded, but you can't get to the recorder for several more hours because of being slaved to the production line.
 
Is there anyone out there who is actually making a sustained living on your music or engineering skills? If so, you are blessed. Or are we only a bunch of hobby dudes, showing up at some brain dead job 10 hours a day wishing we could be in the studio.
 
John
 
 

JohnKenn
Or are we only a bunch of hobby dudes, showing up at some brain dead job 10 hours a day wishing we could be in the studio.
 

This sounds exactly like me. Working a job I can't stand to feed a family of 5, all the while wishing I was earning a living doing something I have passion for, creating music.

Leadfoot,
 
Totally resonate with you. We got screwed in the system somewhere as far as the system not facilitating our inspired direction, or giving a damn unless our wrist is flexible enough to flip a burger on the production line.
 
Grandson is here with us again to eat us out of house and home for a couple weeks. Incredible kid. Discussed that only one out of  hundred, maybe one out of a thousand will get up in the morning with a hard on to get to work. Saw a beautiful interview with some chic with NASA space agency. How from the first breath in the waking state, she was in cold sweats to get to work. Sleep only kept her away short time from the glory of her purpose.  How blessed she was to find love in her craft, and get paid big dollars for it.
 
Never achieved that in my life. Kept the planes flying. Later kept an eye on the drugs being consumed by the aged and infirm. Could not find sustaining work to feed a family in the studio alone. Relegated inspirations and dreams to a receding "hobby" while going under the yoke for da man..
 
Really respect, and almost envy any of you who have kept afloat with music as the dream.
 
John

Brief answer...No...not making a decent living.  I live on $180 a month
Pension, and, if I'm lucky, 2 gigs a month at $100 bucks a crack for 10 hours of work
each time...so, yes, I'm a brain dead hobbyist...
And I wouldn't change it...

.Net Programmer by day, recording studio on off hours.  Now that we have decided to have the upstairs floors refinished, the studio became the go to spot to store all of the upstairs items...I am shut down .  I can still get to my computer and interface (for now), but I probably won't be able to soon.  Can't wait till this dry spell is over...Oh well, At least I can still write programs...sigh.
 
Missing my music!

What is this "making money from making music" you speak of?

bapu
What is this "making money from making music" you speak of?

It's the old "How to make a million bucks in the music industry. Start with 2 million".
 
Walt

I've got 3 or 4 friends making a living off music.  Only one can afford to own a home (in Toronto home costs are between Chicago and NYC rates).
They're all happy, love their lifestyles, and are FAR too busy to join these forums.
 
I'm not one of them.  I have a day job that funds my music and sailing passions.  My last album, distributed with no publicity, took 18 months to earn back the money I spent having it mixed and mastered.  You don't need to be a banker to know how that works out...
 

JohnKenn
 
Is there anyone out there who is actually making a sustained living on your music or engineering skills? If so, you are blessed. Or are we only a bunch of hobby dudes, showing up at some brain dead job 10 hours a day wishing we could be in the studio.
 

None of the above. I'm self employed doing work that I enjoy (most of the time), and also enjoying the luxury of recording my music at my own pace, as and when I want.
 
I don't have any desire to make my living from music, never have.

Never made anything more than beer money / expenses out of gigs back in the day and release sales only ever paid for the studio time/costs, but that's ok - I had a blast for a while and it never really cost me anything. Can't complain about that. I'm not sure I would want it to be my job that I depended on "to live" because once it becomes a job..............well, it has become a job. In an ideal world I would not need to work anywhere at all and then spend as much time as I wanted to playing wannabe producer with no expectation of reward and if I happened to make a bit along the way, then all well and good.
 
I'm nearly there. Except for the still having to work somewhere else bit.