Musicians Can Have Stable Careers Too!
The large majority of people in the world consider music to be completely luck-driven. Many consider any career in music to be the result of "big breaks" and "one-hit-wonders", and imagine "aspiring artists" to be starving musicians who play tunes on street corners. I myself was under a similar impression for a while, but then I decided to do some research. I came upon a very valuable book, The Music Business Handbook by David Baskerville, and realized something... The music business can be learned. And not only that, over 200 colleges can help you learn the business side of music, many offering music business degrees. The problem with the majority of music school students, or just musicians in general is that they spend so much time on learning music, that they never think about the business side of it! I recently read an article that surveyed graduates from Juilliard, who go through rigorous musical training and still end up unemployed. As you will read in the article I have linked to, you will see that music schools are debating whether to increase difficulty of admissions. (As if it's not rigorous enough already!) This is completely the wrong idea. The problem isn't that the musicians aren't talented enough, they just don't know where to go or what to do with their talent once they get out of school. Instead, as the article touches on (briefly, and towards the end) more music schools need to incorporate these valuable music business classes into their core curriculum. Even music schools as reputed as Juilliard need to change with the times and realize that being a good musician isn't necessarily enough to succeed in the music industry. What outdated music schools are doing is the equivalent of training accountants in advanced theoretical mathematics, but expecting them to find and help their own clients without any experience in the actual business of accounting-- it's just not practical. The stability of music: In this day and age, it's difficult to say what's stable and what's not. As we have seen from the current economic situation, anyone and everyone can be in danger or losing even the most "stable" jobs. Men and women who have worked steadily for over 15 years have been laid off without a second thought in order to cut costs-- the very same men and women who may have sacrificed their passion to follow "safe" path. What I can tell you is, there will always be a demand for music and for musicians. Music has withstood the test of time, and if you are great at what you do, there will always be a need for you. As a musician, you have a universal gift with which you can communicate with people all over the world. And more than that, I firmly believe that passion can create success more than anything. If you are truly driven to succeed in music, and it means the world to you, you will be able to channel that desire into hard work, and that hard work give you the success you always dreamed of. On the contrary, if you end up doing something you never really cared about, you will never live up to your potential, and you will never feel fulfilled. To simplify, music is only unstable if you don't know what you are doing, which I would think was a given. Apparently it's not, though, because thousands of very ignorant musicians decide to pursue careers in one of the most competitive industries every year and just "hope for the best." These days, there is no reason to remain ignorant about the business side of music, and you can easily learn it! I would recommend starting with the book I had recommended earlier (The Music Business Handbook by David Baskerville), and if possible, see if you can find a college which offers music business courses. There is over $20 billion floating around in the music industry. You should claim some for yourself. Just like any business, in music there are the multi-millionaires, and the people that get coffee for them. You can rise to the top with the proper preparation and research. Explore all the various options within music. You don't necessarily have to be a performer, you could be a copywriter, a manager, composer, recording engineer, an educator, or anything you can think of, really. But whatever you do, make sure you are ready to learn it inside and out, make sure that you know exactly how to succeed, and make sure you are willing to work like you have never worked before. And most importantly, make sure you are always following your passion. Even within music, some people are pushed into supposedly "more stable" aspects of the field, and lose sight of what they loved about music in the first place. Don't be one of them, or you will never make it. When you mix passion, desire to succeed, and amazing work ethic, "stability" is not even an issue. You create the stability for yourself, by naturally living above average. Remember: Thousands of people have created fortunes doing much crazier, much more "unstable" than playing music. If you are great at what you do, there will always be a place for you, so don't feel crazy for following your dreams.
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