bapu

daryl1968
personally, I do what I do to be creative and spread the love - art for art's sake I say.
 
 

Who is Art? Has he played on some of the songs we did or does he just listen to them?

Sorry, did I say Art? I meant arse.

Our local DJ"s take on the music industry today.

Rock Ramblings: Should music be free?

Morally, we’ve decided that stealing music is wrong, but our actions online tell a different story entirely. I once heard a musician described as “someone who loads $5,000 worth of gear into a $500 car to drive to a gig to make $50.” So why are we stealing from these noble professionals?
The introduction of the MP3 format opened a files-sharing floodgate. I recall spending upwards of $30 for a single CD in the late ’90s. Then suddenly, if you could hear it, you could steal it. Despite copyrighting safeguards, threats, and fines, the public continues to illegally download music because they can.
Does that mean that deep down we don’t believe that artists should be compensated for their work? Not at all, but consider this; when an artist paints a beautiful painting, do they get paid every time somebody enjoys it? Hardly! Typically the artist is long dead before their talents are appreciated, at which point a single painting sells for more money than the artist made in his entire lifetime.
So why then are we simultaneously angry that songwriters aren’t getting paid but we’re still unwilling to pay them? Perhaps the outrage stems from the fact that somebody is always making money from the music and we feel that more of it should go directly to the artist. Whether it’s an agent, a manager, a record company, a radio station or a streaming service, somebody is always willing to capitalize on a successful artist’s music. Music makes you feel. Feelings govern buying decisions. And we hate to see giant conglomerates and corporations succeeding on the backs of hard-working artists.
The reality is, the job of “musician” isn’t a high paying one. It’s really more of a crapshoot than a job. If you are lucky enough to succeed, it usually means someone else will make a lot of money on your music. You have to do it because you love it. It’s an industry destined to weed out the people who are in it for the wrong reasons.
Layne Mitchell is on the air 11 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays on Rock 105.3 FM and http://www.rock1053.ca.

I don't like to get into "debates" as much as I once did. It usually focuses on a problem but the problem is never solved. Like everyone else I have an opinion and like everyone else I doubt my opinion is going to steer the ship..know what I mean?
 
Aside from any candy in the sky dreams or plans that only work in ones imagination, there are the factual concrete things proven to have worked coupled with predictable human tendencies and the things that are working right now.
This is all we have really and the resulting decision is really simple in my mind. Hatch an idea that from every angle has at least some valid potential. As they say," To have tried in vain is better than never to have tried". If anything failure tells you that you need another tack...every minute spent being frustrated over failure is a minute that could be spent designing a new plan...which may or may not include music as a main income. 
 
Embracing a compromise is better than following a dead end.
 
 

Schafe
 I once heard a musician described as “someone who loads $5,000 worth of gear into a $500 car to drive to a gig to make $50.” 

Should be the definition in the dictionary.
 
Given that, in 2015 a songwriter is someone who buys a $3,000+ home recording set-up, and spends $30 a month on a website/internet promotions in order to make .00003 cents per stream.
 
Everybody know, or should know, that there is no money in this. So, why do we do it anyway? The love of expression, which I can argue is more valuable than money, at the end of the day/week/life.
 
Unless, of course, you are the 1 player out of 10 million that make it to the NBA. Unless you are young, more marketable than talented, and do what you are told. Then different logic applies.
 
I wonder if any of this is helping the OP?
 
cheers,
-Tom

Oh to be Justin Bieber....  NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   LMAO

Is funny you should mention that name... I only caught a short clip of him in a video about lip synching showing him yacking his guts out on stage in the middle of a concert (that people paid real money for). Very sad to see such a thing, but his "character" is forever set in stone for me.

I think a big problem is also the fact that composers and musicians are giving their music away, which is also devaluing music and the music industry. While I do not sell or make money from my music, I will not give it away for free. I also don't go to work for 40hrs per week for free. I strongly believe that my time and energy are worth something, actually quite a bit. I'm sure that if we really wanted to make money from music we would find a away to do it. Yes, more and more people are creating new music, but there is also an increased need for music. I feel it's all about finding your market. The main thing is that whatever you are doing, love it and enjoy doing it.

Everything changes, and if you can't change with it or adapt to it you will not succeed in it. This is true in every business, not just the music business.
 
I'm in the security installation & servicing business. Been here 23 years. When I first started, I could sell a good system at a reasonable price and make a nice profit. Along came the mass marketers and started giving the systems away to get the monthly monitoring income. I either had to play the game by their rules or find a way around their rules to survive. I moved my focus to the commercial markets where they were not giving away the free systems.
 
In the music business.... it's very similar. Free or cheap music is available a-la-cart from many online retailers and also streaming. The royalties to the musicians and writers is a meager tip of the hat for all it amounts to. A millions streaming plays might net you a couple hundred bucks? What's up with that?
 
The so called big artists have to rely on concert ticket sales and merchandising at the concerts.  Getting into that level of the business is extremely hard. However, local musicians who are willing to do the hard work and not give up, can build a local following and make a decent living playing the clubs and selling their CD's and other merchandise to their fans at the events and clubs they play.
 
Pompalmoose is one band that I can think of who has done this quite successfully up to this point. 
 
It's a full time job though. And requires hard work and dedication..... you have to be writing, recording, producing, booking, marketing, selling, performing, traveling, keeping the website updated, and so many more things, and doing them all well, and at the same time.
 
While times and circumstances have changed, working hard to achieve something has not. Garth Brooks, Dave Mason, Bruce Springsteen and so many others didn't get where they are by complaining about how bad things were in the business and how they might get screwed.... they went out and played the cheap gigs, the free gigs, the sucky gigs, and knocked on door after door after door, until someone somewhere finally agreed to listen..... and the rest, as they say,  is history.  I'll bet they learned lots of marketing skills, how to negotiate better rates, and how to merchandise along the way.
 
Go and carve out your piece of the pie.

Thanks all for the posts. G. Hacker makes a good point!