I’m sure some non-musical consumers of music (those consumers who don’t play any instruments themselves) who love music also feel the same way, but yeah, for those of us who do play one or two instruments ourselves and have a creative relationship with the art of music, there is a certain appreciation you have for music that is just so well produced. This is why you won’t find me watching channels such as Channel O, Trace and MTV Base. I have nothing against the “hustle” of the musicians whose music videos are often featured on those channels and on commercial radio stations, but for the most part it’s nothing but someone reciting lyrics over what are increasingly sounding like generic beats created on the computer.
Yes, thanks to the likes of software like Reason and Frooty Loops, a lot of “producers” who make music in their bedrooms have emerged and the music we’re made to listen to these days sure sounds like it!
That said however and in line with the topic and theme of this post, there are many different ways through which to make money out of music, but it takes a lot more than having a nose for business or even having some musical talent to carve out a successful music career.
Behind the scenes
Yes, the lead singer of a famous band often gets the most credit and is often the most recognisable face of the band, but that’s not the type of success you should be chasing if you want long-term success in the music business, especially not in this day and age when so called bubble-gum music seems to be the order of the day. That’s more like chasing fame instead of success – chasing your 15 minutes of fame at that.
If you are supremely talented and the camera loves you as much as your adoring millions of fans, then by all means, be at the heart of the music scene as a lead/solo singer, performer, etc., but just as much success can be attained in music working behind the scenes.
And there are so many avenues to pursue working behind the scenes, but make no mistake about it, it takes a lot of hard work to carve out a successful music career whichever avenue you pursue.
There are some behind-the-scenes music industry personnel whose sole job is to take care of the legal matters for example, which means they’d liaise with the likes of personal injury lawyers and other legal practitioners to coordinate legal considerations with the efforts of a figure such as a stage designer so that the appropriate indemnity terms and conditions can be worked into the terms associated with selling concert tickets. Then there are figures such as producers or backing vocal singers who earn lifetime royalties for music on which some of their work is featured.
Either way, finding success in the music business comes down to finding something within the industry you’re really good at and then working really hard at delivering some consistently good work at it.
