Finding good food is one of the most frustrating challenges that bands face while on the road. Indie bands My Brightest Diamond and Clare and the Reasons… are currently on a three month national tour (following their recent European tour) and write to us with
Continue Reading →A few things to remember when looking at becoming a cruise ship musician are the personal responsibilities you face each and every day of your contract pertaining to the drug and alcohol policies, extra duties and emergencies. Although I personally have no problem with this…
Continue Reading →Nationwide unemployment insurance first began in 1935 in response to the Great Depression. At that time 25% or more of the United State’s workforce was unemployed. The unemployment insurance program is jointly administered by the federal and state governments and funded by state and federal…
Continue Reading →How do you make a career out of playing music? This is one of the most common questions I get from the young, aspiring professional musicians I teach at L.A. Music Academy. It’s a difficult question to answer, because every pro musician has a unique…
Continue Reading →You probably have a good idea about what you’ll want to bring. Remember that living on a cruise ship is different than taking a vacation on a cruise ship, so take into account the fact that you’ll be there so long. You’ll need your passport…
Continue Reading →A few weeks ago, I had coffee with a friend of mine. She’s younger than me – she’ll be graduating from college in May and she’s wondering what to do with her life. She went on and on about this job or that job, dismissing…
Continue Reading →You’re out of the gate with your music career and now you are trying to get to “The Next Level”. You’ve established yourself in one circle or another and you’ve come to realize that you deserve more money, recognition, and better gigs than you are…
Continue Reading →There were two things in the news last month that really moved me. First, the talk of a looming second Great Depression and second, the death of Studs Terkel….
It was about 3 months ago that I came across a tattered copy of Terkel’s
Musician: (noun) a composer, conductor, or performer of music. – Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Perhaps a thorough definition of musician should begin with a snapshot of how the profession is defined by arts organizations and labor statistics. In 2008 the National Endowment for the Arts… released the
There are a lot of different ways to make a living as a modern musician, and it’s fair to say that most professional musicians make their living from not just one job, but from many different jobs. Diversifying your income streams is important to a…
Continue Reading →My mom had a cousin, Bob. On some holidays we’d go over to his house, where I spent a lot of time playing foosball with the other kids in the basement. One year I remember him saying something about “multiple streams of income” and for…
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