Comments on: Best and Worst Day Jobs for Musicians http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/ The Website for Working Musicians Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:18:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David J. Hahn http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3249 David J. Hahn Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:36:42 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3249 Hey John - Wow man, that's incredible. Thank you so much for writing. I'm really impressed with your resilience and positivity - it's not easy to make these kinds of huge life changes. I've shared your comment with another musician and we're both really taken with your perspective on the day job. It's really intriguing that you feel more focused when you sit down to music - heck, maybe we should get a day jobs! That sounds like a really positive outcome. I'm honored to have you as a reader. Please keep in touch. Dave Hey John –

Wow man, that’s incredible. Thank you so much for writing. I’m really impressed with your resilience and positivity – it’s not easy to make these kinds of huge life changes. I’ve shared your comment with another musician and we’re both really taken with your perspective on the day job. It’s really intriguing that you feel more focused when you sit down to music – heck, maybe we should get a day jobs! That sounds like a really positive outcome.

I’m honored to have you as a reader. Please keep in touch.

Dave

]]> By: Mace E. Staper-Aide http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3248 Mace E. Staper-Aide Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:42:23 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3248 David, Wow. I guess my thinking had become pretty rigid. It's funny. I usually get annoyed when crazy people use blogs and boards to vent and receive unsolicited counsel; and here I was spewing my guts out. Truth be told, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, insecure, and in need of an external perspective. Thank you very much for your nice comment. You genuinely helped me. I was at the end of my rope, so it seemed. I really needed a shot of reality couched in reasonable and dignified terms. Thank you for that. I think aspiring (unpaid) musicians tend to get treated in an undignified fashion. I can't imagine I'm alone in this observation. Since your kind-hearted response, a local marketing agency selected my music for a promotional video they were doing for a luxury car company. No money yet, but they were excited about my music, so I'm optimistic. Also, upon reading your response, I took a job as an unarmed gaurd at a local shopping center. I ride a bike around a parking lot for 6 hours a day, thereby killing two birds with one stone (I gained nearly 50 pounds since I stopped playing basketball and started sitting in a chair for 10+ hours a day). The transition from full to part-time musician has actually been beneficial. I now spend a greater amount of time planning what I will do once I get in front of the computer, and am thusly more efficient and focused. I could never have guessed this would be the case. Apparently, alot of my time as a full-time (unpaid) musician was spent spinning my wheels. My thinking had become so stagnate that I never would have forseen such a positive outcome. So, once again, thank you for your eloquent response to my comment. As you might have guessed from my short background, I don't have much of a social-safety-net (I come from a family of bat-shit-crazies). So, your blog and your response to my comment were exactly what I needed to hear at a very crucial point in my life. Your newly-dedicated reader, John P.S. The email I listed in this comment is my actual email address. Sorry about the first one. David,

Wow. I guess my thinking had become pretty rigid. It’s funny. I usually get annoyed when crazy people use blogs and boards to vent and receive unsolicited counsel; and here I was spewing my guts out. Truth be told, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, insecure, and in need of an external perspective. Thank you very much for your nice comment. You genuinely helped me. I was at the end of my rope, so it seemed. I really needed a shot of reality couched in reasonable and dignified terms. Thank you for that. I think aspiring (unpaid) musicians tend to get treated in an undignified fashion. I can’t imagine I’m alone in this observation.

Since your kind-hearted response, a local marketing agency selected my music for a promotional video they were doing for a luxury car company. No money yet, but they were excited about my music, so I’m optimistic. Also, upon reading your response, I took a job as an unarmed gaurd at a local shopping center. I ride a bike around a parking lot for 6 hours a day, thereby killing two birds with one stone (I gained nearly 50 pounds since I stopped playing basketball and started sitting in a chair for 10+ hours a day).

The transition from full to part-time musician has actually been beneficial. I now spend a greater amount of time planning what I will do once I get in front of the computer, and am thusly more efficient and focused. I could never have guessed this would be the case. Apparently, alot of my time as a full-time (unpaid) musician was spent spinning my wheels. My thinking had become so stagnate that I never would have forseen such a positive outcome.

So, once again, thank you for your eloquent response to my comment. As you might have guessed from my short background, I don’t have much of a social-safety-net (I come from a family of bat-shit-crazies). So, your blog and your response to my comment were exactly what I needed to hear at a very crucial point in my life.

Your newly-dedicated reader,

John

P.S. The email I listed in this comment is my actual email address. Sorry about the first one.

]]> By: David J. Hahn http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3197 David J. Hahn Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:34:34 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3197 Hey Mace - you've got a great story, man. Pro ball overseas? Sounds like you've had an interesting life. You've got a good thing going with your music too. Here's what I would say, though: you gotta think more long term. A music career is a marathon, not a sprint. And sometimes you have to stop for water if you're going to make it the whole way. You'll do your music a disservice if you live a life that creates a negative situation (ie, totally broke, stressed, not eating, etc.) in order to create your music. Put another way, music is not a punishment, so don't ruin your life in order to do it. Give a day job a chance. Everybody that has written for this site has had a crappy day job at some point. It's part of the life. And it's often not forever. Your a pro athlete, you've got the discipline to keep your eye on the prize. Don't be afraid of stopping for water. Hey Mace – you’ve got a great story, man. Pro ball overseas? Sounds like you’ve had an interesting life.

You’ve got a good thing going with your music too. Here’s what I would say, though: you gotta think more long term. A music career is a marathon, not a sprint. And sometimes you have to stop for water if you’re going to make it the whole way. You’ll do your music a disservice if you live a life that creates a negative situation (ie, totally broke, stressed, not eating, etc.) in order to create your music. Put another way, music is not a punishment, so don’t ruin your life in order to do it.

Give a day job a chance. Everybody that has written for this site has had a crappy day job at some point. It’s part of the life. And it’s often not forever.

Your a pro athlete, you’ve got the discipline to keep your eye on the prize. Don’t be afraid of stopping for water.

]]> By: Mace E. Staper-Aide http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3195 Mace E. Staper-Aide Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:39:39 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3195 I'm a composer/producer (electronic musician) and former pro basketball player. I made a decent amount of money playing in Europe and Mexico, after I left college, and have been living off of it for the last four years while I taught myself how to compuse/produce music on my computer. Long story short, the money ran out and I'm 1/3 of the way through creating my first unique, authentic, and sufficiently original musical idea. I am now faced with an oppressive, mentally disorganizing, and depressing reality. In spite of the fact that the music I'm making requires my full-time attention and dedication (who doesn't feel this way at least a little bit?), I'm forced to jump into the job market. Of course, at this point I have a four year gap in my employment history (really, the last non-basketball job I had was in 1999), which will undoubtedly be interpreted as a purposeful failure to disclose unflattering employment experience on my part. But, that's not really what I'm wrestling with. I'm considering going into financial ruin, and further into the margins of society, in order to continue making music. Suffice it to say that I would do nearly anthing to continue creating music at the same pace and with the same frequency that I have been making it. I don't feel like I exist without it. I lose all since of time (mostly past and future) without it, and I feel aimless and completely empty. I feel it's only fair to mention that as an infant I was hidden under a table in an abandoned restaraunt every day by my nanny until I was old enough to open the door and walk out (only to be given to another nanny who would burn my feet on the stove when I cried). I'd love to hear from anyone who makes music compulsively and who becomes psychologically decompensated without it (anyone whose personality functioning depends on constant music-making). I’m a composer/producer (electronic musician) and former pro basketball player. I made a decent amount of money playing in Europe and Mexico, after I left college, and have been living off of it for the last four years while I taught myself how to compuse/produce music on my computer. Long story short, the money ran out and I’m 1/3 of the way through creating my first unique, authentic, and sufficiently original musical idea. I am now faced with an oppressive, mentally disorganizing, and depressing reality. In spite of the fact that the music I’m making requires my full-time attention and dedication (who doesn’t feel this way at least a little bit?), I’m forced to jump into the job market. Of course, at this point I have a four year gap in my employment history (really, the last non-basketball job I had was in 1999), which will undoubtedly be interpreted as a purposeful failure to disclose unflattering employment experience on my part. But, that’s not really what I’m wrestling with. I’m considering going into financial ruin, and further into the margins of society, in order to continue making music. Suffice it to say that I would do nearly anthing to continue creating music at the same pace and with the same frequency that I have been making it. I don’t feel like I exist without it. I lose all since of time (mostly past and future) without it, and I feel aimless and completely empty. I feel it’s only fair to mention that as an infant I was hidden under a table in an abandoned restaraunt every day by my nanny until I was old enough to open the door and walk out (only to be given to another nanny who would burn my feet on the stove when I cried). I’d love to hear from anyone who makes music compulsively and who becomes psychologically decompensated without it (anyone whose personality functioning depends on constant music-making).

]]> By: David J. Hahn http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3164 David J. Hahn Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:39:23 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3164 Nice site Mars Booth. I dig that design. Nice site Mars Booth. I dig that design.

]]> By: Mars Booth http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3148 Mars Booth Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:41:38 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3148 I'm a Part Time Rocker with a full time job. We've started a site on how to make it work. I’m a Part Time Rocker with a full time job. We’ve started a site on how to make it work.

]]> By: Teddy http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3002 Teddy Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:15:37 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3002 I totally agree with the whole Temp job thing. I'm currently at a temp agency that only really had me do Security work, but hey! It's great security work that I had done. There is nothing wrong with being a temp if you're skilled in a lot of things. In a way, it's like being a freelance musician. You get contracted through your agency to do something for a company that they don't have enough of at the moment, or you're filling in for someone for a little while. Either way, you get money. Personally, I believe that some seasonal jobs are good for musicians too. Let's do the math of someone who I knew up in Seattle who made a KILLING with part time jobs. Let's say that I did what he did. Here's how it would be: Let's start at minimum wage. In Oregon, it's $8.40/hr. If I had enough jobs to work 15 hours a day each day of the week, then $8.40 x (15 x 7) = $882/wk before taxes. That's really not that bad. That's $3,528/month. My friend did this for 6 months only doing a BUNCH of part time jobs and he lived at his mom's house. $21,168 is what he made for busting his butt 15 hours every single day for 6 months straight, then he quit all of those jobs (except for a couple) and went back to school. Think about it. Bust your butt for 6 months straight then live totally on your own and work 20 hours or less each week which would be more than enough to just basically be pocket money. Now, let's do the same math for my friend in Washington. It's $8.55/hr which isn't much more, but check out the final 6 month number: $21,546 Not much higher, but my point is that it's so worth it to just live off of your hard work for 6 months - 1 year. Also, if you work many part time jobs and just work til you make RIGHT under $600 for any one place and you don't have to pay federal income taxes on it! How nice is that? I totally agree with the whole Temp job thing. I’m currently at a temp agency that only really had me do Security work, but hey! It’s great security work that I had done. There is nothing wrong with being a temp if you’re skilled in a lot of things. In a way, it’s like being a freelance musician. You get contracted through your agency to do something for a company that they don’t have enough of at the moment, or you’re filling in for someone for a little while. Either way, you get money.

Personally, I believe that some seasonal jobs are good for musicians too. Let’s do the math of someone who I knew up in Seattle who made a KILLING with part time jobs. Let’s say that I did what he did. Here’s how it would be:

Let’s start at minimum wage. In Oregon, it’s $8.40/hr. If I had enough jobs to work 15 hours a day each day of the week, then $8.40 x (15 x 7) = $882/wk before taxes. That’s really not that bad. That’s $3,528/month. My friend did this for 6 months only doing a BUNCH of part time jobs and he lived at his mom’s house. $21,168 is what he made for busting his butt 15 hours every single day for 6 months straight, then he quit all of those jobs (except for a couple) and went back to school.

Think about it. Bust your butt for 6 months straight then live totally on your own and work 20 hours or less each week which would be more than enough to just basically be pocket money. Now, let’s do the same math for my friend in Washington. It’s $8.55/hr which isn’t much more, but check out the final 6 month number:

$21,546

Not much higher, but my point is that it’s so worth it to just live off of your hard work for 6 months – 1 year. Also, if you work many part time jobs and just work til you make RIGHT under $600 for any one place and you don’t have to pay federal income taxes on it! How nice is that?

]]> By: Teddy http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-3001 Teddy Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:06:21 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-3001 I totally agree with the whole Temp job thing. I'm currently at a temp agency that only really had me do Security work, but hey! It's great security work that I had done. There is nothing wrong with being a temp if you're skilled in a lot of things. In a way, it's like being a freelance musician. You get contracted through your agency to do something for a company that they don't have enough of at the moment, or you're filling in for someone for a little while. Either way, you get money. Personally, I believe that some seasonal jobs are good for musicians too. Let's do the math of someone who I knew up in Seattle who made a KILLING I totally agree with the whole Temp job thing. I’m currently at a temp agency that only really had me do Security work, but hey! It’s great security work that I had done. There is nothing wrong with being a temp if you’re skilled in a lot of things. In a way, it’s like being a freelance musician. You get contracted through your agency to do something for a company that they don’t have enough of at the moment, or you’re filling in for someone for a little while. Either way, you get money.

Personally, I believe that some seasonal jobs are good for musicians too. Let’s do the math of someone who I knew up in Seattle who made a KILLING

]]> By: bilco http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-2995 bilco Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:31:13 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-2995 Waiting tables does work if you can work mostly lunch shifts. Don't make the mistake of taking on weekend night shifts because the tips are better. I did and quit playing for a couple of years. Federal or State government jobs are pretty good day jobs for musicians. Pretty much limited to no more than 40 hours a week and you accrue leave that you can take for those gigs where you need to travel out of town. The paid holidays and insurance are nice too. Waiting tables does work if you can work mostly lunch shifts. Don’t make the mistake of taking on weekend night shifts because the tips are better. I did and quit playing for a couple of years.

Federal or State government jobs are pretty good day jobs for musicians. Pretty much limited to no more than 40 hours a week and you accrue leave that you can take for those gigs where you need to travel out of town. The paid holidays and insurance are nice too.

]]> By: Henri http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/best-and-worst-day-jobs-for-musicians/comment-page-1/#comment-2867 Henri Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:10:13 +0000 http://www.musicianwages.com/?p=2114#comment-2867 Hi I have found that a good job for a musician is to be a teaching assistant. The hours are normally from 9 am to 3 pm, and you can often get part time work. Some schools give you free lunch too. But, reflecting on earlier blog posts, it's all about how much risk you are prepared to take. In order to have time to practice, promote yourself etc, it's hard to hold down a 9-5 monday to friday job. Henri Hi

I have found that a good job for a musician is to be a teaching assistant. The hours are normally from 9 am to 3 pm, and you can often get part time work. Some schools give you free lunch too. But, reflecting on earlier blog posts, it’s all about how much risk you are prepared to take. In order to have time to practice, promote yourself etc, it’s hard to hold down a 9-5 monday to friday job.

Henri

]]>