Pretty broad topic I’ve decided to tackle. After all, the music industry covers so many smaller industries. For example, there is music for movie scores, TV shows, TV commercials, Broadway, meditation products, and the list goes on and on and on. And each individual sub industry has its own little quirks not to mention particular skills that have to be mastered.
On the plus side, and this is a HUGE plus, the opportunities are virtually unlimited. So what if you’re not into writing pop tunes for female artists between the ages of 18 and 25? That’s just a very small sub section of one sub industry.
So what you need to do, if you’re going to give yourself the best chance of being successful, is focus on one specific part of one specific sub industry. Learn everything you can about that part, not just on the music side but on the business side as well. The more you understand about how a particular industry is run, the more likely you’ll be able to break into it if for no other reason than when you speak to somebody in that industry, you’ll actually sound like you know what you’re talking about. That is going to impress somebody.
There is another plus to the industry being so huge. That means there is a lot of money to be made. A lot of people are afraid of getting into industries that are so large. But the truth is, they should embrace it as the pie is so large, even a small piece of it can lead to an amazing yearly income.
But everything isn’t all roses when it comes to creating music. There are downsides to this main industry regardless of which sub industry you get into. Some sub industries have more downsides than others. Some just have different downsides. If you’re looking for perfect, it doesn’t exist.
If I had to name the one thing that kills just about any industry, regardless of what it is, it’s greed and politics. Which one do you want me to tackle first? They’re both poison? I know. Let’s do this alphabetically.
Greed.
There is an old saying that people get wrong almost all the time. The saying that people think is correct is this one.
“Money is the root of all evil.”
This is wrong. The actual saying is this one.
“The love of money is the root of all evil.”
We get into trouble dealing with anything to do with money because we as a race tend to value it over everything else. I’m not talking about those of us who just want a place to live and food on the table so we don’t starve and freeze to death. I’m talking about those who will do anything for money in order to live some life style that we’ve been conditioned to believe we have to have in order to be happy.
I spend about $10 a week on myself. My wife gets the food and pays the taxes so we can keep our humble home. I think the last time we went anywhere was on our 25th anniversary 5 years ago.
Point is, we don’t need much. Which is a good thing because my income is close to nothing since moving into the music business.
I digress.
Because of this greed, the corporations, or the ones who hire us or make it so that we can actually do our music for a living, care about one thing and one thing only…how much money they make. And to that end, they don’t care what kind of product they put out. If it sells, they’ll sell it. So that will often times mean that they’ll dictate to the artist what they want that artist to put out. This isn’t open for debate with many labels. So you end up more of an assembly line worker than a musician simply because you’re not really doing what you love. You’re making a buck by making the record label a buck.
And that’s not even the ugliest part of greed in the industry, whatever industry you’re in. The ugliest part comes from all the selling out that companies will do such as catering to a demographic that spends the most money regardless of how low they have to go in order to attract that demographic. That doesn’t just cover the music itself. It also covers promotional campaigns. Have you seen some of the advertisements on TV these days? 40 years ago they would have gotten an “R” rating if they were a movie. Anything goes today. The other night I was watching a show on a non pay station that used the “S” word twice. I’m not talking HBO or Showtime here folks. I’m talking a station that any kid can turn on regardless of the age.
But I digress again.
Point is, nothing is off the table. And the artist who is willing to wallow in the mud the lowest is the artist who, more often than not, is going to get the gig. If you’re one of those ones who sticks to his principles no matter what, you’re making it much harder on yourself.
Even I am selling out to a degree. I stumbled onto a market that is in need of dance mixes. To this end, I am putting together a massive dance mix package. It’s not because dance music is my favorite kind of music to write and produce. It’s not. But right now, it will give me the best chance at making a few bucks. Granted, I’m not wallowing in the mud too deep, but still, I’m compromising my principles to some degree. If I wasn’t, I’d be still trying to make it doing orchestral scores.
Let’s be straight here. The symphony and piano concerto that I wrote aren’t going to land me on the cover of CMJ New Music Monthly. If I want to actually make money with my music, I have a better chance doing that if I give some group of consumers what they want instead of just doing what I want.
Having said all that, I still love this business and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m not sure what that says about me.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim