The Thrifty Musician

By Erika Lloyd

I’ve been living as a freelance musician in New York City for four years now. Because the cost of living here is so high, I do have to work outside of music to support myself. However, I’ve learned a lot of ways to keep my budget low, so that I have more time for what I love! These days I rarely work more than 15 hours a week outside of music, which gives me so much more time to practice, compose, rehearse, paint, promote, attend performances, and find various work as a singer. Some of my thrifty tips are simple. They’re just little decisions to make when creating a professional image, how to create a somewhat soundproofed rehearsal/recording space at home, and how to get cheap lessons and a self-education. The other budgeting issues are very “big picture,” offering savings in tens of thousands of dollars in higher education and money management.

A lot of my musician peers have serious problems with budgeting and debt, so serious that many of them have had to leave the world of music for other professions altogether. Don’t let that happen to you! I have a lot to offer you in the art of being frugal. Just think of me as the Suzie Orman of the music world…

Glamorous and Cheap

As a performer, looks matter. It’s sad, but true. However, you can look fabulous for practically nothing!

When shopping for clothes and accessories, head to your local Thrift Stores first. Then go to outlets, then off-price retailers like TJMaxx, and lastly to the clearance racks of local boutiques and department stores. Don’t forget about Ebay. Never pay full retail prices!
Cut and style your own hair or ask a careful and crafty/artistic friend to do it for you.
Do your own nails and makeup.
Find products that work double duty like lip/cheek stain, which is great lipstick and rouge, or Vaseline, which can be used for lip-gloss, eye makeup remover, and in a pinch- hair product.
You don’t have to pay for a gym membership and/or a nutrition program to be fit and healthy. Walking/jogging is free. Using your own body weight for strength training (push ups, pull ups, lunges) is free. You don’t need to pay for nutrition programs anymore. Sparkpeople.com is free and helped me to lose 25 lbs last year, I’m not kidding.
Take care of yourself! Sleep is FREE. Water is cheap. You can buy an apple and a banana for the price of that Cheetos snack pack. Don’t even get me started on people spending hundreds of dollars on cigarettes! A healthy musician will perform better, be able to accomplish more every day, and will save money on (very expensive) healthcare.
Need proof? The image used for this article includes a gorgeous vintage dress and necklace, bought at my local thrift store for a total of $20 and earrings purchased from the clearance bin at H&M for 99¢. (The photograph was taken for free by one of my best friends, in her living room, and was also used for the cover art and promotion of a recent album of mine.)

Soundproofing on a Budget

Rehearsal/recording spaces are expensive! If you have the space and equipment at home, with a little cheap soundproofing you can save tons of money. This in no way produces a 100% soundproof recording studio, but is sufficient for residential practicing.

Cover the entire room with thick carpet padding, available at Home Depot and Lowes.
Place pressboard where you are going to have your piano, drum-set, vibraphone, etc.
Cover that with carpet. IKEA is unbelievably cheap
Curtains are super easy to make and a heavy fabric will block quite a bit of sound.
Wall hangings and artwork (from the thrift store!) make a big difference.
If you are soundproofing a piano, focus on blocking the soundboard. Soundproofing foam at music stores is overpriced. Egg crate works just as well, as does cardboard and old blankets.
If you feel the need to buy soundproofing foam, place it strategically. Make sure to cover the backs of doors and the corners of the room where the ceiling meets the walls.
Also place furniture strategically. Which wall is adjacent to another apartment? Which wall is next to the stairwell? If you have bookshelves, put them on the wall adjacent to your neighbor’s and load those puppies up. Even if you don’t have enough books, fill them with those Rolling Stones and Guitar Worlds you’ve been holding on to.
And don’t be silly… don’t play before 10am or after 8pm.

An Inexpensive and Ongoing Education in Music

It is really important to constantly be improving your craft, challenging yourself, and getting constructive criticism from outside sources. Be that as it may, you don’t have to spend much to get a good ongoing education!

If weekly private lessons are too much for your budget, ask for monthly lessons and be your own teacher in between. I’ve said it in previous articles and I’ll say it again, buy a used or inexpensive recording device, record yourself practicing, listen, self correct, repeat. It is important to have an expert lead you in the right direction and give you answers you couldn’t find on your own, but it doesn’t have to be every week.
Work out a deal with another musician. She’ll give you guitar lessons if you give her voice lessons. Bada-bing bada-boom FREE.
The Internet is your friend. Cancel your cable. Sign up for internet-access-only. Between Hulu, Youtube, and all of the news sites you’re covered anyway. You can get a ton of free and totally legal sheet music online by the way. Check out The International Music Score Library Project. or look for aria translations and synopses at The Aria Database. You can find every lyric, tab sheet, and chord chart known to man just by googling the song title. Take advantage of the easily accessible videos of millions of performances and tutorials, and texts of millions of reviews, articles, and even treatises on performance practice. Seek it out. Self-education baby!

Higher Education in Music, What is it Worth to You?

On a larger scale, an education in music is a risky investment. Sadly, a degree in music doesn’t mean much these days (Or did it ever? Not so sure.) So be smart! *This isn’t just for future freshmen. Because of the bad job market, I know a lot of musicians heading back for Masters degrees and Doctoral work- this concept applies to you too.

Let’s say you were accepted to a big name, out of state conservatory and a local city college’s music department. Kudos on being accepted to that big name school! Really, that’s fantastic. But, is it worth it in the end?

Is it worth $80,000 in student loan debt?

There’s no way a fixed federal loan is going to cover all of that. You’re going to have to take out private loans, which might not even be at a fixed interest rate (very risky in today’s economy.) This is just a rough estimate, but that means you will probably be paying a 5%+ interest rate on that private loan. Plus interest on whatever federal loans will cover. Do the math. You are going to be paying $3,000+ in interest alone… every year… just in interest… MONEY OUT THE WINDOW.

So, your student loan payments are going to be at least $500 a month minimum until you are elderly. That equals 5 more catering shifts a month or 50 hours of crappy temp office work… when you could have been rehearsing, writing, performing, promoting, etc.

That $3,000 you paid in interest that year could have bought a kick-ass new computer, set of fantastic speakers, mixer, mics, the gas money for a tour… or a brand new Stradivarius trumpet, and a ton of private lessons with your trumpet idol. Whatever line of music you’re in, it doesn’t matter.

I’m talking tens of thousands of dollars here.

Apply for scholarships and grants, ask for help from your family, seek out work-study programs, but if that doesn’t pan out, think long and hard about that local state or city college’s music program. Being a big fish in a small pond can be a great thing. If you think outside of the box (ask to study with a teacher of your choice instead of faculty, attend concerts and shows outside of school requirements, perform outside of school, expand on your education) you could get a lot and pay a lot less for it. For instance, Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, a city college, is only $4,000 a year! Hmmmm… $80,000… $16,000… $80,000… $16,000…

I’m not saying that attending your top choice in schools isn’t worth a lot to you. To some people, the level of education and opportunity is worth the debt. What I am saying is that the financial aspect of this decision can’t be left out of the equation. You have to be realistic, sit down with a calculator, and figure out if you’ll be able to afford all of this debt and accrued interest when you are trying to get a career started after graduation. Figure out what it will be costing you every month and how you are going to be paying for it. Is it really worth all of those hours of labor and years of financial struggle?

Living Within Your Means

Make the money first. Then spend it. Not the other way around. Do you see what our Debt Culture has done to this country? There are huge problems with; people buying things they will never be able to afford, international borrowing with other countries (ignoring human rights violations up to wazoo) because we have no other choice, foreclosures, bankruptcy, credit-default swaps, mortgage backed securities, the commodities bubble, ewe yuck yuck! What a mess. We’re borrowing too much. Others of us are jumping on that and taking advantage of it, all the while borrowing too much themselves.

Don’t think that because you’re creative and living outside of a 9 to 5 world, that this national problem doesn’t include you. Put away that credit card. Only use it in an emergency, or use it just to have a credit rating and pay it off in full every month. I know I know having debt helps your “rating.” Hmmm, I wonder who created and is funding most of these rating sites… the credit card companies! Having debt only improves your score a teeny tiny bit, it’s not worth it. People who pay off their entire balances every time still have great credit scores.

So, okay I’m being harsh. Not all lenders are the devil and some credit practices are positive. Paying off your new fabulous harp in an installment plan, okay that’s a sound investment (pun intended.) I’ll buy it. But, putting a night of heavy drinking on your credit card because the people you’re out with might get you gigs, NO. Dumb dumb dumb. I don’t care that you can, “Write it off as a business deduction at tax time.” The credit card’s 15% interest you’re spending is way more than the write-off you’d get back. Social networking, equipment you want but don’t need, concert going, and expensive travel are all things that are helpful to your career, yes, but not needed right at the very second you want them. So, save up, allocate, budget, and spend that hard earned cash on the non-necessities when you have it. Don’t throw interest money out the window on things you don’t need.

Most of my musician friends are up to their eyeballs in debt. And if reading this, probably thinking, “Too late. Where were you with this advice 5 years ago? Alright, Little Miss Bossy Pants, what do I do now? I went to that expensive school and paid for tons of stuff with my credit card.”

What I am about to say, is going to sting a little.

In order to save thousands and thousands of dollars, paying off that debt HAS to be your first priority. Take every penny you would have spent on a vacation and pay off the debt currently costing you the most in interest (still paying off your other debt minimums of course.). Instead of going out to eat, cook at home, take the savings and dump it into your debt payments. Instead of going to music festivals and sports events, put that money into your debt. And don’t continually put money into a savings account yielding 1.5% interest instead of paying off debt that is costing you 15% interest. That doesn’t make any sense! You are losing money. Pay off the debt first. Not only will this save you serious dough, but will also make big financial endeavors like buying property, planning for retirement, or starting your own music related business a possibility. Those endeavors are not as far in the future as you may think.

A Few Last Words of Thrifty Wisdom

“Many hands make light work.” Help each other out. Share equipment with your friends. Share shows. Help each other with fund raising and promotion. Go in on rehearsal spaces together. Shoot, borrow each other’s recital dresses. Have potluck networking parties.

“Spend less. Work less. Live more.” Translation for musicians: Spend less. Work, income-only jobs you hate, less. Do what you love more.

I hope you got some good money-saving tips from this article. You CAN do what you love! You just have to make some sacrifices along the way, and take the time to do the math. Does anyone have any more thrifty tips to add? Comments are welcome!

About the author

Erika Lloyd is a freelance singer, living in New York City. She is most well known as the lead singer of Little Grey Girlfriend and also works as a choral, chamber ensemble, and event music singer. Check out her music on iTunes and visit her website.

All posts by Erika Lloyd | Forum Profile

I’ve recently started the Dave Ramsey ‘Total Money Makeover’ and couldn’t agree more with what you said. I had no idea how heavy my debt sat on my shoulders until it started to lift off, wow! Some extra thrifty tips: With a irregular income, I found it virtually impossible to pay down debt without a buffer of $1000 in savings – otherwise it’s too easy to dip into credit whenever something unexpected comes. I’ve also adopted a cash only policy. If I don’t have the cash for it, I don’t buy it! Thanks for your article!

Vashti
11/9/2009

I agree with absolutely everything you said in your “Glamourous and Cheap” section. I shop exclusively at thift stores (Salvation Army has the best deals!), yard sales, I do my own hair, and make my makeup last as long as possible.

I’ve always been like this, but now that I’m a college student living on my own and without a steady job, it’s really paying off! While a friend of mine is paying $150 every other month to get her hair highlighted, I’m doing mine at home for about $4 (if I have a coupon).

These tips you listed should be read by every freelance musician out there! Everyone should remember that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to look like a million dollars!

Michelle
11/9/2009

Thank you for the great tips. The interest that builds up on college debt is something I avoid thinking about most of the time. Better to pay off the debt as quickly as possible.

Elyse Louise
11/9/2009

Great tips Erika!! Thanks for sharing this.

Madalyn Sklar
11/9/2009

Thanks for a great article!

Jeremy
11/10/2009

Fantastic & well written article – one of the best I’ve read on here, well done…I’m going to check you out on itunes, purely down to this superb article, thanks!

Dan Forshaw
11/11/2009

“Make the money first. Then spend it.”

Ouch. But also what I’ve been saying to my band mates whenever the urge comes up to buy new equipment :-)

Cheers for frugal – but still stylish – musicians!

Endy Daniyanto
11/12/2009

I loved these tips and many of them I use frequently. I also do this, since I’m in school (and not for music, I gave that up years ago, I’m getting my doctorate in counseling)……if you borrow money for school, do not forget to pay off the interest on those loans straight away. I will use part of my refund to do exactly that, the rest to pay off cards that have much higher interest. I pay quarterly on Perkins loans so they won’t exist when I’m out of school too.

Also, if you can find real silk at the thrift store, it doesn’t matter what color or in what form, you can use that to polish your hair to a high sheen without spending the earth on product. Equally, if you do have a hairdresser who you’re friends with, if they go to one of those hair shows and they’ll let you go with, you can buy really excellent product at unbelievable prices…..quality shampoos, etc, for $2 a bottle.

And hang in there! Music is too important to let go of, no matter what else you’re doing. :)

Great site, thanks so much for taking the time to hand out these wonderful tips on living more responsibly!

Nita Hope
11/13/2009

Great Advice! I do agree with the point about living within your means. I will use your advice in my future spending.

Dana C.
11/16/2009

Lots of good advice! I especially thought the section on soundproofing your rehearsal space cost efficiently was interesting. I haven’t seen that discussed anywhere else before.

Chris J
11/16/2009

Great advice… Very practical… I’ve been seeking out ‘trade agreements’ with my musician and artist friends and it’s so surprising to me to find how much goodwill you can trade on within your network.

I’ll keep on reading!

Nicolé Sharpe
12/29/2009