| Speaking as a Starving Artist, I've noticed that part of the problem lies in artists trying to achieve success by aping corporate methods, which rarely work for an individual artist. I did that for awhile, and it got me absolutely nowhere. There's also this attitude (in the US, at least) that you're a failure if you're not instantly successful. Rare is the artist who takes the time to build a solid foundation of fans/patrons. You're going to eat a lot of ramen in those years, but the base you build will be solid enough to build a house on. It also helps to be unflaky. The article mentions artists as being elitists at least once, and that's an unfortunate stereotype. It's a stereotype you have to fight against in the minds of your fans, and you've got to fight it in yourself sometimes, too. I'm still poor--by standard American standards. However, I live in a 4-bedroom house with a bedroom all to myself as a studio. I have cable internet, A/C, two cars, and a couple different computers--one for working on and another which serves as a file server for the studio. It's slow and it's grueling, but it's making me a better, healthier person. Making your own bread (for example) is not only cheaper, it's better for you. And the stupid impulse purchases I made when I had a Day Job are no more. I sold off many of the things which were cluttering up my house just because I bought them on a whim. My credit cards are used only in emergencies, and are always paid up ASAP. I'm currently working on $650 worth of private commissions. Ten years ago, that meant that I'd be doing 12 projects at the same time. However, after taking the time to work up a rock-solid fanbase, I can happily say that the $650 is coming from only three different projects. Now, if that sort of thing could be a little more regular...but that's the preconceived notions talking again. It's a rollercoaster ride, but it sure beats all the years I spent answering the phones in my tech support Day Job. :) |
Amen. I'm just getting back into music as my next "career" move (touring musician/technomad starting 2010 :). This year has been spent getting the small stuff in place and slowly building a listener-base online and around town. Blogging, twittering, posting songs for feedback, playing open mic nights, joining song circles, networking. Mostly the type of stuff any real business person has to do to make their business succeed, and for artists it's no different.
I've been self-employed for 8 years now (time flies!), and I know over-night successes are fiction. It's a constant struggle to maintain or improve where you're at. Things are made to appear over-night when they took years getting to the point where the forward motion reached that level. I'm hoping to take the same approach to slowly building a music career, and I don't expect it to take just a few years. It will take as long as it takes, doing what it takes, but it's the only approach that works. It's great to hear of others doing the same thing too, right on! That's the main reason why I love HN as a community.
One story that stuck with me, cheesy as it was, was from a speaker I saw back in high school. He was talking about how you see a basketball star, or the math wiz in class, or your favourite band, and how it's easy to say "wow, that's magic!" as if they were just born with the natural aptitude and were instantly where they are today. He said that what's magic is what you don't see, Michael Jordan practicing every day for hours, the band rehearsing and playing small gigs for 10 years, the math wiz actually doing his homework. I always took that to mean we make our own magic happen when people aren't looking :)