But that's kind of demonstrably not true. Metal does sale, and it's not on the radio. And I'm sure you understand that things get played on the radio, not because they sell well, but because they bring a demographic to that station that will spend money and therefore are attractive to advertisers. I was taking all that into account.
BTW, I'll say it again, I couldn't care less if someone wants to play metal or marching band music. I care about the topic that began the thread. Namely, is it wise to persue music fulll-time? I stand by what I originally posted. You may get lucky with a metal band or alternative rock, (which I would never say has anything to do with being with a small record company or releasing albums independantly; that's Independant Music, not alternative rock), but you probably won't, and if you want longevity in the business it would be wise to cover all your bases. know everything there is to know about music, scales, harmony, chords, and be a good sight reader. Better yet, get a degree in music so you can at least teach at a high school level as a backup plan. Do all that and you're gonna get work. I only had a year of college and was self taught on guitar, but because I was gigging all over town playing jazz and jazz-rock fusion back in the early 80's, I still got to do some session work. This town ain't no music mecca and sessions here mean playing on jingles more than anything, but as long as you can read a chord chart and improvise the leads, you can get away with it sometimes. Depends on who hires you. I somehow got involved with some gospel rock/pop records back then too. I really don't know how it happened. I think I just played on a demo for some young guy in South County once, and he must have given my name to people because I did a lot of sessions in small studios that year. I even did a lot of small parts for free on independant projects for people because I didn't need the money really. It was easy work; I just had to come in and blow a lead here and there, and that was it. I had completely forgotten about that stuff (as has the rest of the world), but there was a guy by the name of Claud Crain(sp?) who used to be a gospel record collector/dealer, and he came out with a book that contained up to that point (about twnety years ago) every single gospel recording ever made, even home custom cassettes and stuff. I mean EVERYTHING. I got a call from a record buyer I used to know by the name of John Bradshaw who had just gotten the book, and he said my name was all over the place in it. I had no idea. Apparently a lot of those sessions (and many of them were just little demo sessions) I had played on ended up on records eventually and that sort of thing.
Got's to go. Working on my own book (of a different nature).