Not sure if any of you have seen this or not.  Follows a very talented young artist named Will Gray.  He probably will end up getting famous for making a movie about not making it in the recording industry....strange times.
 
Quite a good and entertaining documentary about the music "industry" today.
 
Lots of good discussion about DIY versus chasing a label deal.  It is available on Xfinity on demand, do not know where else.
 
You also get to see a lot of home studios....did not see Sonar in use though.
 
JR
 

I'm broke too.
 
I have a home studio.
 

auto_da_fe
He probably will end up getting famous for making a movie about not making it in the recording industry

 
Come to think of it, back in the day they used to say originality in your pitch might get you in the door.
 
 

bapu
I'm broke too.
 
I have a home studio with 144,932.60324 plug-ins.

 
Expanded. 
 

craigb

bapu
I'm broke too.
 
I have a home studio with 144,932.60324 plug-ins.

 
Expanded. 
 

You left out the uninstalled mono version count.

I think the asterisk in the title means broke, but would not be doing anything else.
 
I am indeed lucky as I do not rely on music to pay the bills, if I did I would be in debtors prison.  I would be making a documentary call Bankrupt* , Poor* , Impecunious* , Destitute* , Penniless* , Impoverished* , Insolvent* , Poverty-Stricken* , Homeless*.
 
JR
 

I thought the * was like the pucker you see when you're not the lead dog.
 

 

So when I hear please press the star key....It should really be the pucker key !
 
Interesting.

I was able to "On Demand' it on Comcast. Good documentary. I thought Will and his band were quite good for what they do. Thing is though, I probably will not be helping him make it because I doubt I would buy his CD. I just rarely buy any of the new music in the past 20-years. Just not enough of an attraction for it, even though it was good and I liked the guy.
 
I like Steve Ivory's (Music Journalist) comments about Kanye West stating that Kanye can't sing, and alluded to Autotune. He made the comment that youngster's today are looking up to guys like Kanye and wondering how can you make something in music when the guy you idolize is not really that good.
 
Personally, in today's music climate, your best bet is to learn your instrument chops really well and be a session/gig player, if you want to make a living at it. Everything else is a crap shoot. But dreams are what make great people/artists. Its a tough call. Heck. The Beatles devoted everything to their love of music. They could have easily fell into the pit of the unknowns.     

The really solid piece of advice I thought, is to surround yourself with a team that all believes in the same path.  No matter whether indie or big label or any other way of reaching an audience, you need to all be singing from the same song sheet.
 
(Once you are rich and famous you can all tear each other apart, but when you start out you should all be moving in the same direction.)
 
As for Will's band, if I went to a few of their shows I could become a fan  (building local buzz).   Of course I will never see them as they are not touring any more and I am in FL and they were in TN.
 
Finally, the other thing I gleaned, is that there is all this technology in the artists hands with the potential for producing professional results and reaching mass audiences, but managers and lawyers are still needed.  Even the best product does not sell itself, needs an industry weasel or two to grease the skids.
 
So build a great team with great music and great players, and then hire a weasel to handle the business.  ( I guess not much has really changed)