TuneFund Blog

Earlier this week Bonnie Hayes, a fantastic player and song writer from the Bay Area who had some success in the 80′s and continues to play, record and teach today, sent Bob Lefsetz the letter below in response to a post Bob wrote about how the current income divide has crushed the music business. In the letter Bonnie talks about how hard it is for musicians to make ends meet in today’s difficult economic times. The letter set off a huge debate within the Lefsetz community with people arguing that musician’s need to suck it up and just do whatever it takes to live the dream and people who sympathized with Bonnie’s point that it is nearly impossible to make a living as a musician today.

I’m publishing Bob’s original post titled Income Inequality Killed the Music Business and Bonnie’s response below as well as all of the responses that Bonnie’s email triggered and that Bob published in subsequent emails to his newsletter list.

Two of the bigger themes that emerged from the debate below are: 1. Does the current economic climate and the digital democratization of the music business make it nearly impossible to put food on the table with the earnings from a career in music? 2. Does a music education at a school like Berklee (where Bonnie teaches) pay off or it is a waste of time and money?

As far as I’m concerned: 1. If you are an artist and have the calling to make art then you’ll figure out how to make that happen regardless of the hardships involved. Regarding Berklee; I have no idea if you’re better off or not attending a school like this. I went to a two year community college and I have had a pretty good career without an MBA. If you are willing to put in the work, listen first then speak, be able to recognize opportunities when they arise, you’ll do okay.

There is A LOT to learn from reading the responses, lots of tips, ideas, inspiration, truth/bullshit, reality. This is a MEGA POST so be forewarned but the content of these emails is worth at least a couple of classes at Berklee and certainly worth the time it will take you to read them all and I hope whoever does read this consolidation of these posts comments here as well.

A big THANK YOU to Bob Lefsetz for publishing his newsletter and providing a reality check for people who choose to pursue a career in music.

Bob’s original post about the income divide:

There’s great music today, there is in every period, but why were the sixties and seventies such a fertile era, why did we get not only the Beatles and the Stones, but the entire British Invasion, the San Francisco Sound and the great acts of FM radio?

You’ve got to start in the U.K. Every famous musician of the sixties said they performed to avoid a life of drudgery, in the factory. They didn’t think it was forever, playing music, but it was a great respite from the inevitable. They struggled to succeed for as long as they could. And when the Beatles broke through, all hell broke loose.

Sure, the Beatles’ music was great. But when America saw the Fab Four on “Ed Sullivan”, suddenly everybody wanted to be them. Their performance inspired an entire country to pick up guitars, to play drums, to be just like them.

And what did they want?

The joy of playing music.

The sex.

And the money.

Today people listen to the radio and watch “American Idol”, but a whole swath of the public has no desire to imitate these performers. Because they just don’t make enough money. In other words, only those with dim futures, with few advantages, slog it out in music.

Oh, of course that’s a generalization. But if you lived through the sixties, you know that back then everybody had a band. Today you might sing karaoke, but very few have the life of a professional musician in their sights. Because not only are the odds long, when you make it, it doesn’t pay enough.

They say MTV saved the music business. One could argue quite strongly it killed it. As for the excoriated disco that killed rock… We now know that corporate rock deserved to die and that it’s disco that survives. Yes, all the beats of EDM started in disco. Disco was made by a marginalized group who lived to party every day. And punk and new wave were experimental and vital sub-genres of rock that rebelled against what came before. But everyone in the game knew you could get rich if you had a hit. Even Johnny Rotten.

Now you just can’t get that rich playing music. Which is why Bono is a partner in a venture capital firm. Can you imagine that back in the sixties, our musical heroes becoming bankers? Impossible!

So Reagan lowers the tax rates in the eighties and suddenly incomes start to diverge. And the record execs don’t want to be on the wrong side of the divide. They no longer care about music, they just want money. The acts are disposable. It devolves into formula by the nineties. And by time MTV stops playing music, at the advent of the twenty first century, after the executives have wrung all the cash out of both new acts and old, via overpriced CDs, the scene was dead.

And I don’t know when it’s going to come back.

The acts have no soul, no backbone anymore. The first thing they want to do is sell out to the Fortune 500, do endorsement deals. You see they want the money. And their handlers are imploring them to do this, because they want their commission. Everybody’s chasing an ever-shrinking piece of the pie. And anybody who is smart is staying out. What did David Geffen say last week, “I’d kill myself if I got into the music industry now.”? As for the consumer, he’s screwed incessantly. Wall Street rolled up the concert business and ticket prices went through the roof. And very few acts want to go to paperless and keep prices low, because they too want the cash, they too want to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. They’re chasing the bankers, who make millions year in and year out. Very few musicians do, but that doesn’t mean they don’t try.

Sure, banking is boring, but tech is not. Which is why a huge swath of the youth make apps, are entrepreneurs, they want to be in control of their own destiny and make a fortune, the sky’s the limit in tech. But there’s a definite ceiling in music.

And the radio stations were rolled up, hell, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners took Clear Channel private and squeezed out billions, despite the company being in extreme debt, and now stations have innumerable commercials and they all sound the same. And they’ll only play what’s on the major labels. Who won’t sign something left field without instant radio play, they don’t want to take that chance, there’s too much money involved.

The rich are getting richer and the musicians are being left out. And yes, piracy contributes to income deprivation, but it’s more complicated than that. Adele sold ten million albums in America and she doesn’t do any endorsements. Her music is perceived to be honest and from the heart. That’s a role model for you. But no one’s following in her footsteps. No one is taking a risk. Then again, you can’t manufacture Adele on an assembly line, you can just recognize genius and nurture it. But that’s no longer the job of the music industry.

The fact that so many are so wealthy is putting a huge dent in our cultural institutions. Sure, there were scalpers in the sixties and seventies, but no one paid ten or twenty times face value, because no one had that kind of cash. You could get a good ticket back then. It’s almost impossible today.

And the first thing a musician asks is “How do I get paid?” That’s the culture we’ve developed. Paying your dues, doing it because you love it, very few are willing to play that game for decades. Furthermore, most people didn’t make it in the sixties and seventies either. But they didn’t complain ad infinitum about not being rich, they just played bars, got drunk, got laid and eventually gave up or were satisfied being journeymen.

Our whole country is asking why it can’t be rich. What do the Republicans say, they’re the party of the rich and the soon to be rich? Not everybody can be rich. But this mentality has people perpetuating income inequality, believing that one day, when they’re wealthy, they want taxes to be low, and has the lower classes fighting for scraps, that’s what reality TV is all about.

We won’t have another heyday for music until we’re all in it together, until income gaps decline. Hell, there haven’t even been any protest songs since the economic collapse and ten years of war. No one is speaking truth, they’re just speaking money, and it hurts us all.

Bonnie’s original email from JULY 30th:

Bob:

This is Bonnie Hayes, a songwriter and musician from the SF Bay. You and I have exchanged email before. Always enjoy your posts!

I’ve been teaching at the Berklee College of Music all summer, in their regular 12 week college program, including several advanced classes of students who are about to graduate. Many of these kids come to see me in my office and ask, “How can I make some money?”

But they’re not asking because they’re greedy and want to be rock stars. They’re asking because they can’t figure out how to live at all. There’s no way to live in the cracks like musicians, and all artists, once could. In Boston, in SF, in NYC even the crap apartments are insanely expensive. Owning a car in the city is impossible; and how are you going to get to those famous $25 gigs in podunk without wheels to move your gear? There is nowhere to rehearse,and no time to sit around concocting dreams with your pals when you’re holding down two jobs. Just staying alive is a full time job, even when your job pays well.

Yeah, yeah—I lived in a 6th floor walkup in NYC and trundled my fender rhodes and gynormous amp up and down the stairs, then watched the cabbie ditch when he saw me with my stuff waiting in the snow. But when I wanted to start a band, make a record and play my own songs in nightclubs, I went back home where you could still rent an apartment for peanuts, and where it was still possible to drive a car to a gig without getting towed and impounded. Now, a 2 bedroom apartment in SF costs twice my house payment. I was lucky, and I’m still lucky. How much luck is left for them?

I don’t see many kids who want to be rock stars. They want to be songwriters, guitarists, producers (in the sense that daniel lanois or t. bone burnett are producer—creating gorgeous, original worlds of sound for the listener to get lost in).  Some of them are more pragmatic and proactive than others, but they all love music, like mad. They just see very little chance of ever making even a living wage from it. I advise them to develop multiple income streams and to try to build a teaching practice to fall back on, to get their music out there, use licensing opportunities,  network and create community. Life is a schlepp whether you run a corporation or work at starbucks—you might as well work hard for a dream. But a dream with no chance of coming true? That’s beyond a schlepp, and for many talented people, it comes to seem like a waste of time.

There’s no separation between what’s going on in the political/economic world and what’s going on with music or art, popular or not. We’ve created a culture that turns creatives into pampered lap dogs or ants working shit jobs to do their life calling their spare time. Why are we surprised when kids want to know about making money? It’s the dream we bought for them when we started prioritizing money over people; and the only dream they can afford.

THE RESPONSES
JULY 31st EMAIL 

I’m a longtime reader and big fan of your rants and raves. I am a singer-writer, and I just moved back to Boston from DC. I really don’t get all the friggin whining. I’m 24 years old and as close to broke as is possible. I have a shitty car and a crappy apartment which I paid for through hard work, outside the music business. Before I moved to Boston, I was working in a kitchen as a sous chef 65-80 hours a week, saving money. Now I’m working only a few days a week bartending and doing occasional catering.

The only reason I can afford to drive my car to NYC and Portland, Maine for gigs is because I worked my ass off at a decent job and saved. To all the people crying bout how they can’t afford this and that: shut the hell up. No one is gonna pay you to do this, nor is anyone asking you to do it. Get a job that pays well, and when your done working start practicing. How many of these whiners do I see out at the bars spending the money they don’t have.
The reality is that a lot of these kids are relying on Mom and Dad for there rock and roll budget. But Mom and Dad’s pockets only go so deep.

You gotta save, and unfortunately that means taking time away from music. Well, get over it. Les Claypool worked as a carpenter until Primus got their break. Grueling labor, but it pays 15-20/hr. I guess it’s really unfortunate that coffee shops only pay minimum wage, otherwise we’d all be able to tour the East Coast on a whim.

You wanna be a musician? You gotta have a car, you gotta have a practice space, and you gotta have money. End of story. So find 8 friends, rent a house outside the city, and set up shop in the basement. And also stop fucking whining.

Patrick Donovan Mulroy

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Sorry, but I call bullshit on this. Most kids today are lazy plain and simple. We, as a society, have a serious problem. It is called a warped as hell sense of entitlement. They can’t figure it out because they are willing to figure it out. Work a shit job 8-10 hours a day. Practice 6-8 hours a day. Go to sleep. Repeat…again and again until you find that you aren’t failing anymore. This shit makes me almost as crazy as how NBC has turned the Olympics into an continuous episodes of American Idol.

Marty Winsch

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Thanks for posting this.

There’s an awful lot of rhetoric out there these days about musicians needing to work harder or get off their “high horses”.  But this email captures rather simple truth… most would be happy to table the rockstar dreams in order to create a viable way continue making music while living a reasonable lifestyle.  You’ve written on occasion about foregoing families and relationships and sactificing for the sake of music.

I see the broader truth within your argument— but Bob, we’re singers, guitar players, pianists,  DJs, and drummers— not catholic priests.

Adit Rao

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I’m a Berklee grad and benefitted from that education. I have made a good living as a player and now as a manager.  Bonnie speaks of a new and cruel reality. The irony is that a 4 year education at Berklee now costs 200K all in. Tuition alone is up 1700 % since I attended. That’s hard to justify by the average young musician and his family.

Music used to mean something…used to be worth something to people. Now it’s there for the taking and our free music marketplace has rendered it worthless to society…background noise.  As a result many smart and creative people are choosing other vocations. Sad.

Mark Jones

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Bonnie is so right.  We are in the era where in order to be a young musician you need another source of income.  The possibilities of being able to make a living playing or writing music were always remote.  Now it is nearly impossible.

James Del Balzo

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Great letter–and it’s been a decade since I’ve heard “Shelly’s Boyfriend”!! This made my day. So glad Bonnie is doing well! That first record is, as the Allmusic review suggests, a long forgotten gem.

John Dlugosz

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Boston’s always been expensive. When I was at Berklee 15 years ago I played in a cover band and made insane money for a college kid and worked on NY original band at the same time.

Point is if you want it badly enough.

Dan Millen

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Hear, hear. The saddest part is that many of the MOST talented give up, and we’ll never be exposed to their talents. Yet the dregs continued, and we are often assaulted by a barrage of their mediocrity, just because their daddy has money. (think Lana Delray, or Jimmy Iovine giving an imprint deal to the Maloof brothers)

Give me an “Amen.”

Terry Rindal

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Bravo, Bonnie!  She has eloquently asked the questions that a lot of us have been afraid to ask.  It’s a frightening possibility – no musicians, no music, no art.  I guess the best thing to do at this point is move to a country like Demark where artists are welcomed and supported, where the average person can find an affordable place to live, where healthcare is not an issue (not sure about non-citizens on that end).  Yes, the taxes are high, but guess what?  It’s worth it to have a populace that’s thriving and living and safe and happy throughout all professions, not just the banking industry.  America is killing off yet another one if its greatest natural resources…its artists.   And nobody but the artistic community seems to give a damn.

Halley DeVestern

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There’s two more people Bonnie left out who also share in the angst of those young musicians….the parents who fork over the $$$$ to send their kids to Berklee.  It is a $200K roll of the dice when you tell your son or daughter yeah you can go.  I agree with Bonnie most of the folks just want to pursue music with a passion but as a parent, you really have to think if your kid will ever make a living doing what they love to do.  It is a tough question for the musician/student and parents!

Bill Cunningham

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It’s cheaper to make music than ever. It’s also easier to complain than ever. Work 9-5 and make music at night, if you want it that bad then you gotta grind for it. Please forward this to Bonnie.

Best

Simon Dolsten
Syracuse University

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From Building bands in the Digital Age: “IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT AT HOME, YOU CAN’T MAKE IT ANYWHERE. IF YOU CAN MAKE IT AT HOME, YOU CAN MAKE IT EVERYWHERE. BECOME THE DOMINANT MUSICAL FORCE WITHIN A 100 MILE RADIUS OF YOUR HOME AND THE WORLD WILL COME TO YOUR DOOR. ” HARTMANN

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The irony?  Even those kids going to Berklee, learning to spit out charts and pitch like a computer can be totally useless.  I had a Berklee vocal major, fresh out, sing on a track for a TV show.  She was in pitch, had her nice vibrato, but her timing was A JOKE.  I couldn’t believe it.  How could a vocal major not sing in time?

Either you have it, or you don’t.  You can’t learn it, you can’t hope to learn it, you can only try. Too many people try and think they can because of the ease of technology.  96% of all Indie artists are a waste of space, but all think they are rockstars because they can pucker their lips in front of an iphone or make a photo look like a faded pic from 1970 for their album cover.  And then you have people like 17 year old Jared Dylan who writes songs like the best of the best, and can sing without the T-Pain treatment.  Born with it.  If you have to flaunt it with stupid costumes, or blowing bubbles at some industry function, just fall on a knife and get it over with.  It will save much more money and resources.

Eric Alexandrakis

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Thank you Bonnie! You so accurately captured our everyday reality, regardless of age or experience! Our culture has descended into a mindset where the creative deserves little, to no compensation, unless, or until, they have an unlimited budget to promote their work,or strike that magical moment of viral discovery via Youtube! For the rest of us diligently pursuing excellence in our craft, it’s a daily choice between the power bill, eating, & gas to get to a gig that rarely helps put a dent in the ability to pay for any one of the three! Unless the fortune of the gods strikes, multiple income streams are required today for mere subsistence level living!

There’s a lot of days you just feel like hittin’ the freeway on ramp with a sign like the woman raisin’ money for her boob job! She accomplished her goal after less than 2 weeks effort! Not sure what to put on my sign though! If I say anything about being a musician,they’ll just stop & ask for a free CD!

Lucy Hammond

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I can completely relate to this email Bob. Thanks for forwarding.

A.J. Steel

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Amazing email…very well put.

Cliff Rigano

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This is where the DJ culture has upended the system. They can make some serious bucks, all by their lonesome, with virtually no gear to haul around. But hell, now there are 3 million DJ’s…. sigh.

Felix Brenner

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100% agreement with Bonnie.. Bob you don’t half knock people down on the way up!

Cheers mate

Lawrence Bray

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Good email Bob.  I wondered what happened to her. I used to go see her perform at a club on Haight Street near where Ameoba records is now. She was a very talented rocker and easy on the eyes.  I’m surprised she didn’t hit it big.  Maybe if The Voice, or american Idol was around in those days she would have hit it?  earning a living as an actor is just as hard as a muscian.

best, alan segal san diego

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How true that is.  I left Detroit for SF in the mid 70s with my guitar and $50.  Got a job for 4hrs in the morning, had a room and what I needed to survive and  could get involved in anything I wanted to without consideration of $.   Doesn’t seem possible today

Gary D. Strauss

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BONNIE HAYES & THE WILD COMBO!

Pop masters…”Shelley’s Boyfriend” is as good as any pop song every recorded, better than 99.9%.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR1fD4DyGzk

Dave Dederer

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Bravo to Bonnie!

Carl Scott

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In response to the email of the day. I don’t think what the writer suggests to her students in terms of developing multiple income streams is viable or fair advice. Yes, having multiple income streams is a good thing, but I can tell you first hand that to live in a place like SF (or the greater Bay Area for that matter), you will need several income streams. And if they are the level of income as teaching music, you are setting yourself up for a life of squalor, turning your passion into a “job”, and not leaving yourself any time or energy for the creative process in your life. You’ll have plenty to write about, I’ll give you that… just no time or energy to write it.

I feel there is a new breed of musician emerging out of the South Bay that has figured out how to enjoy their music to the fullest, yet still afford a decent life. These are middle-aged professionals that are just as passionate about music as the young twenty-something seeking advice in the email below. The revelation that they have had is that you will not be able to live a comfortable life relying on income from your music. There, I said it… the 800lb gorilla is out. I’ll say it again: You will not be able to live a comfortable life relying on income from your music.

This is neither a good thing or a bad thing, just a statement of fact. Are there those that live off of their music? Sure. Are their those that become professional baseball players and make millions? Sure. What are the chances that YOU will be one of them, especially since the cards are stacked against you? SLIM TO NONE. So why not accept it? This is not accepting defeat, it is pulling your head out of the sand and getting past the denial phase. Get a job that makes enough money for you to live comfortably, with enough job security that you can sleep at night. Then, consider your music a serious hobby. You can allow yourself enough time to write, be in a band, play live, produce and market your own music on your own terms and not have to answer to anybody except yourself! You will enjoy music tenfold!

… Unless…. of course…. you want to be a rock star millionaire.

Mark Jacobs

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Bonnie (and old and dear friend…) nailed it.

When I first went on the road playing guitar professionally with Canadians “Ian and Sylvia” (Felix Pappalardi on bass…) in 1965, I was making $125.00 a week with all expenses on the road covered.   I had half of an old duplex in Cambridge (Mitch and Louise Greenhill had the other half) and my rent was $65.00 a month…and I had a roommate covering half of it.  So my rent was $32.50 a month…yes, 6% of my gross income for a funky but decent place all of half a mile from Harvard Square with nearby neighbors like Taj Mahal, Richard and Mimi Farina, Tom Rush, guys who became the Younbloods, the Kweskin band, etc.   So of course I could afford to be a musician…then…  In ’66 I moved to a small loft in what’s now called NoHo in  New York…13 Bleeker St.   The rent went to $75.00.   Didn’t own a car…didn’t need one.   Utilities were practically nothing since Con Ed couldn’t get into the building to read meters and just sent us an estimated…based on what appeared to be barely post WWII costs.   Schlepped gear on the subway or just played near by and rolled the amps from the practice room (rented by the Lovin’ Spoonful and loaned to us since our bass player was Steve Boone’s brother) to the Cafe Au Go Go.   Ate on the cheap at home or somebody’s girlfriend or wife always seemed to be waitressing.   Lived on practically nothing and played music all the time…

Even moving to Marin was cheap in ’68…a cabin for $50.00 a month in Pt. Reyes.  Of course then I had to have a car…which cost all of $200.00 for a powder puff Studebaker Lark.

That life is as gone as the ’20s in Paris…

And now my band from the New York days ( Autosalvage) is about to be profiled on Terry Gross’ “Fresh Air” in a piece by Ed Ward.   What goes around, and all that…and I’m still living in a warehouse…and it’s kind of nice.

Rick Turner

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Hey Bob,

Jimmie Linville here, a songwriter and musician from Madison, WI (recently relocated to Nashville, TN), and this last email struck a chord with me (a minor chord, if you will).

I am not writing to remand what Bonnie has stated, and I think she did address some problems with music well (I especially liked her last paragraph), but I think it’s important to address another viewpoint, one which I think is vastly underrepresented. That is, the viewpoint of the typically silent musicians/producers/songwriters who do what they love for a living, relatively independently, and relatively EASILY. I don’t think Bonnie is wrong, but I think she is missing the biggest problem that exists for these musicians: poor judgement.

This problem has nothing to do with income inequality or politics or getting rich or any of that. This has to do with prioritizing, and compulsively making good choices.

Why are these musicians trying to live in SF? Boston? NYC? starting out, big cities are a poor choice. they should live in small cities, where they can cut their chops in private, and where it also happens to be inexpensive to live. $300 a room per month here in East Nashville, no shit. You can make that playing ONE night in tiny bar town, USA, and you can keep your monthly cost of living below $700. You don’t need a day job, you need time. A day job will pay for the clothes you need to look good at your day job.

the “I need to be where the action is” line doesn’t hold water either. Plenty of action here in Nashville. and street parking is free. The houses are big enough to rehearse and if you learn to cook, you don’t have to eat out every meal. Have these musicians heard of potatoes? It’s not just Nashville though – there are plenty “small ponds” out there too, where you can actually make money in your hometown.

And I’m sorry, but if you’re actually booking $25 shows in “podunk,” you’re an idiot. i book all my own shows, and there are thousands of venues all over the US run by amazing people who respect good musicians enough to pay them at least $200 for a show. sure, maybe you can’t get paid in Nashville or NY, but that’s just supply and demand.

not enough money? downsize your band. still not enough? stop buying clothes, booze, whatever: if you can’t afford to live as a musician, you’re doing it wrong. and buying a car has never been easier. We bought two ugly vans on craigslist in the last 4 years for $500 and $800 respectively, and I’m currently riding in one. It seems to be working just fine.

A little guidance helps, and Bonnie’s advice about income streams and community is spot on. And I’m always happy to share first hand knowlege of how I make it work; I just think a lot of the musicians who are asking would be doing it compulsively if they were meant to.

Bonnie asks: “I was lucky, and I’m still lucky. How much luck is left for them?” The answer is none, and that’s fine. Why do we need luck? If you are a real artist, the journey is the reward. Music on the independent level is not cut out for lucksacks, fame seekers, wannabes, or fakes. People only want real artists. If you’re not, well…natural selection. The money will come if it will, and you will pay your rent or you won’t.

I hate talking about the money though – it’s seriously the LEAST important thing. It draws away from the art, which is 99.9% of it. Any real artist knows the joy is in the creation, the performing, and mostly, the voice you’re given as a musician. Not the cash. I would burn a million dollars if it meant I could say what I want about money for 1 minute on national TV. But it doesn’t work like that.

Unless you’re a songwriter – then maybe you can write a song about it and boom – if it’s good, maybe you could change the world. That’s enough to make a living.

Jimmie
www.datlband.com

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While I respect Bonnie, and her work, the sample that she’s taking from here is a bit off target.

She’s hearing from kids that are paying thousands to go to a music school that’s trying to tell them what to do and how to do it in an industry that’s in complete and total flux, who’s physical wares are teetering on decommodification. I’ve worked at a fairly well known music school in NYC (as well as attending one), and I’ll tell you something, music education is not too dissimilar to western medicine.

There’s no money in a cure, there’s money in a disease.

As long as places like Berklee tout New Business seminars, shiny degrees, and perpetuates the idea that with enough talent, or information you’ll be fine, Bonnie is going to be hearing a lot of the same for years (until perhaps the school hits the skids).

Look, you can still live in NYC for peanuts. You can’t live somewhere that’s cool, safe, or convenient, but you sure as shit can live in NYC and thrive, however you will not learn that in any school.  I will pretty much guarantee you that any kid who can afford that school probably doesn’t want to move to brownsville, or the bronx, or anywhere that it would take to get the rent to afford to try to make it here. I’ve carried my cymbal bag, snare and pedal through every borough of this city, on every subway.

Yeah, it sucks, but you do it.

I tell all of my students who are serious about being touring, professional musicians to learn how to tend bar, teach their instrument, or some of skilled trade that they can pick up whenever they come home from tour (and that people are always looking to hire). Some of them make it, a lot of them get fragged the fuck out. Others have trust funds. That’s darwinism, sometimes “fair” sometimes not but that’s that.

The other side of it is that with technology you can start your career from your podunk town and then hit the road. While gas is expensive, DIY touring is in one of the best places it’s ever been between GPS and being able to Priceline every hotel on your way.

I’ve been lucky enough to work (gainfully) for the past 10 years touring, playing sessions and teaching and continue to do so.

I see and know a lot of young musicians, and many come to me for advice. These aren’t people who want to be Rock Stars. They want to live their dream, and many of them understand that being a “Rock Star” is not the end all be all. Being able to create your art, and turn it into a craft and career (or close to one) is enough.

I think it’s apparent to them that the industry that created Rock Stars is almost completely dead, and killed most of those stars along the way.

Gaetano Licata

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I have a bit of a different take on the below email. I run a successful music school for kids here in Socal that I started on my own, built from the ground up with very little help from parents/relatives (I was able to allocate some “college money” from my grandma to buy some starting out gear and my mother dedicated the spare bedroom in her two bedroom apartment for me to begin teaching students out of until the landlord put a stop to that a year later). I did end up getting a small loan from a friend’s grandma two years in to help me secure a legit location, for which I’m eternally grateful. Along the way, there have been some incredibly generous clients who’ve helped out with gear purchases, concert costs etc. I am also one of the geniuses who took on $40k in debt to spend a year at Musicians Institute in Hollywood chasing a mirage of rockstardom or making $5k a week touring for (insert pop star).

I put all this detail first because I don’t want to give the perspective of never having help. Everyone successful gets help in some form along the way. Be it luck or otherwise. But these college educated musicians just don’t get it. They’ve had so much smoke blown up their asses from their professors that they almost always have a massive sense of entitlement. They’re rarely willing to commit to doing real work as a musician. My school offers an opportunity of working part time hours and making (albeit low end) full time income, so you can spend the rest of your week chasing whatever musical pipe dream you think still exists, playing jazz gigs, practicing, or watching videos on TED. And you would not believe how much the staff bitches about teaching more than 15 hours a week (over 3 days no less), putting in a few extra hours prepping for serious students, and doing higher paid work performing at our concerts. It drives me nuts! And to top it off, when I have an opening for a teaching position I spend unending hours convincing LA musicians that it makes sense to take a job with a 45min commute 3 days a week when I have $2k/month starting income waiting for them.

I wish more of these music students would get your emails so they could get a reality check. The “pro-musicians” sob story is one that I’ve just become immune to. They don’t want to work. And even when they do, they are always finding ways to breeze through teaching an art form that are so supposedly passionate about. When I hire performers, they look for every possible way to gloss over learning the actual parts on a recording, thinking they’re good enough to just BS it. If a 9-year old doesn’t want to commit 20 hours a week practicing, they check out and bitch that the student isn’t serious instead of appreciating the income, the commitment to a child’s development from the parents and the student’s good behavior and attention for 30 minutes.

Every failure in life has a laundry list of excuses on why something didn’t work. It doesn’t benefit me to say this, but if you’re a somewhat competent musician, with enough people skills to carry on a 15 minute phone conversation with a parent, and enough brain power to put together a 30 minute lesson, there is a world of income out there to be made in the industry of “parents finding shit to keep their 7-14 year old kids busy”. And you no what, no matter where you went to school, no matter what your artistic standards are, you’re not too good to impart music into the life of a kid or an adult looking for a hobby.

If you’ve failed to earn an income as a musician, you were never meant to earn it anyway.

Thanks for all the insight.

Ryan Van Tuyl

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Reading Bonnie’s mail was very interesting since I almost sent my son Jacob to Berkee.  While he was in his audition, Berklee brought out various students both past and present to play so the parents could see  what this school had to offer for $60.000.00 per year. The first was a recent graduate who played a few songs acoustically and talked about his experience as a “songwriting major.”  He clearly loved his experience at Berklee and boasted about working with people who “wrote with Allison Krause.”  After he played he took questions. After a few parents asked the customary and worthless “have you been signed?”, I asked him if he was supporting himself playing music?  He said he was getting a few good gigs here and there. I asked the same question again. He said that he was living with his parents trying to make a go of it. I asked a “go of what?”. He really had no answer and clearly had no idea what he was going to do. I asked him if both he and his parents thought the investment of $250,000.00 was worth it? He said “yeah because I got to work with incredible people and took a mastering class with a very famous person who could maybe help him.” Huh?

The school was getting irritated with my questions and asked me to a private meeting since they really wanted Jacob to attend.  I then talked to the administration of the school and asked all of them the same questions. What is my son going to do once he leaves here as a songwriting major? Believe it or not….they could not give me a cohesive answer. They talked about John Mayer quite a bit and I asked them to give me some other recent examples of their success……they told me “not too much success lately but quite a bit in the past.”  I told them the music world has changed a lot since John left and how are their students succeeding now? They did tell me that they had some good success with students who majored in technical areas like engineering. I finally asked them how many students start here and graduate and the answer was less than 35%.

My son also applied to the Frost School of Music in Miami and it was basically the same thing there. I will admit that Miami put a little more emphasis on the reading, writing and arithmetic gig, but again I felt that so many kids go to these “contemporary music schools” and come away with very little for the exorbitant cost. I thought to myself that I could probably hire frickin Neil Young to write with my kid for less than $250,000.00. And after much thought, darn it, that is what I did. Not with Neil but with another fantastic songwriter (from Woodstock) who is older, mature, wrote some famous songs, is a great person and would be a fantastic mentor for Jacob. After many phone calls and sending him a lot of Jacob’s songs, he agreed to meet with us. We went to Woodstock, had a great meeting and he agreed to work with Jacob. He taught my son so much about writing, the process, the business, his experiences and everything that he did right…and wrong.  Jacob had a blast spending time with this writer and a wonderful experience spending time in Woodstock. The songs that they wrote together are incredible. The rest of his story is yet to be written, but he now has a manager from Nashville and hopefully you will be hearing some of this music in the near future.

Just like the music business today, I think the old way of thinking (mostly Berklee but the others as well)  in regards to contemporary music education does not work anymore. I believe that parents are just so thrilled that their kid passes the audition and gets into prestigious schools like Berklee, Frost or USC that they turn them over to the school, hope for the best and are sure their kid is the next John Mayer. Not likely.

Regards,

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Bob, if you decide to print this please do not print my last name, location or phone number since I do not want to be piss off Berklee any more than I already have. Thanks

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Bob,

We need to be very very careful here not to confuse the natural mutually dependent evolution of music styles and tech, with the idea that there something unusually unfair about this era. In other words, is this a real issue or a bunch of old farts bemoaning change. Which is it? I don’t know but I will tell you that I know a number of young DJs making real money who are not stars and likely never will be. They just might be the modern version of musicians living in the cracks.

This sounds a bit like string and horn players complaining about overdubbing and rock putting them out of business. Or sax players complaining about guitars. Drummers fearing the drum machine, etc. And, tell me –  when has a Berkley grad EVER been able to make money from their instrument  if they didn’t  end up either a teacher or rock star?

Nobody has an inalienable right to make a living with their instrument or copyrights. What they should have is an inalienable right to their fair share of the economic pie if

a. Lots of people like what they do

and

b. Revenue is created – authorized or not

If there is no audience, and no one making money from their talent (including pirates), then by definition it’s a hobby.

(a publisher)

AUGUST 1 EMAIL

From: Chris Frantz

Regarding Bonnie Hayes’ email, allow me to quote Kurt Vonnegut:

“If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts.

I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.

Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem.

Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward.

You will have created something.”

“A Man Without a Country”, 2005

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The responses to Bonnie’s email seem pretty equally split between those who sympathize with the plight of struggling musicians, and those demanding they “stop whining” and pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

This division doesn’t surprise me one bit because these arguments simply echo our endless national argument where one side questions what kind of world will be left for our posterity and the other side yells about how hard they’ve worked, accuses everyone else of an entitlement complex, and demands they work harder and shut up.

But the arguments are no different, in this case, because the music industry is no different than every other industry in present day America: Less money in the coffers, more competition for the work, and no one can keep up with how technology is constantly changing all the rules. meanwhile, the fat cats suck the remaining profitability off the top and leave everyone else squabbling with one another over the scraps from their tables.

This is a working class issue, not just a musicians issue. And it’s THE issue of our time.

But to all the sanctimonious writers warning everyone to quit complaining, I have a warning too: You may be scraping by on thrift and luck now, but you’re not above the rest of your colleagues. In other words, it can happen to you too. And fundamental economic problems like this won’t go away just because you convinced yourself that others misfortunes are merely a result of laziness.

Here’s a news flash: everyone’s working hard.

We’re all in this together.

Jessica Bonanno

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The Beatles didn’t waste their time & money on going to Berklee (or
any other music college) but instead played 7 days a week in crappy
smoke filled basement clubs for years.

B. Dutch Seyfarth

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Bruce Cockburn left Berklee after one term. jes sayin

a mea culpaws post

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I have to take issue with some of these email bashing this current generation of kids. I’m the technical manager for Interscope Studios and own Threshold Sound and Spin Move Records.
I employ and have employed young people for many years. I can tell you that this generation is hard working, considerate, passionate, and smart. The kids are all right in my world.

Peter A. Barker

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You don’t have to move to NY or SF or Boston to make it. The guys in Rilo Kiley moved from LA to Omaha & started out on Saddle Creek, with Bright Eyes. And that scene in turn launched the Felice Brothers. And they might not be the biggest bands on earth, but all of those guys, & others, are making a living, & they’re doing it their way &, in some cases, making some incredible music. Thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to create your own “Laurel Canyon” anywhere in the country, you just have to find the right people & be willing to uproot yourself. That’s how SF became SF in the 60′s. No one moved out there because that’s where you “make it.” It’s not where the industry was.

It’s completely backwards… the industry should be pounding on the door of the artists, not the other way around. But most artists lack the confidence (or maybe it’s the talent) to strike out on their own.

Jon Cole

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Bob,

I honestly think that musicians should never complain.
If you go to work and people clap you’re fucking lucky.

Do covers gigs and get paid. Do functions, private parties and don’t be a fucking snob about it.

Watch the episode of Louie where he meets Joan Rivers and she gives him a lecture about bitching and quitting.

Nick Hershman
London, UK

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when music is a calling, rent doesn’t matter.
the shifting plates of business hardly matters,
not owning a car isn’t even an issue…..food is boring…
you happily survive by your WITS…

to misquote jackson browne:

“when you know that you’ve a real reason somewhere, suddenly everything else is so much easier to bear”

mary cigarettes

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Bonnie I would tell those kids being a musician has always been a Feast or Famine gig. From the guys who jammed for kings of old to the cowboys rockin the honky-tonk, to the kid playing his local coffee shop it has never been about $. You play because you have too, it’s part of you. If you stop playing you will seise to exist .
$ is a fringe benefit an if your lucky one day you’ll be called to the Feast but odds are you will live a life of shitty jobs an famine.
You want to be a musician suck it up and roll the dice!

Kurt Ozdaglar

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Who wouldn’t rather be a musician, or an artist, an actor, or a sports star? From the outside, these look like magical career choices, but it totally ignores the laws of supply and demand. If everyone wanted to make music, very few could make a living doing it. Nobody is owed a living in an overcrowded field. Get over it.

My older son is a pretty good musician. When he was a lot younger, I told him that he could either try to make a living in music, or he could choose a different career and love making music. Fortunately, he became a teacher and he still loves making mucic on the side.

Frank Wood

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What is Berklee good at?

Talking parents into believing that their kids will have a money making career if they just plunk down their $200K.

That’s called marketing not music.

I’ve been a composer in NYC for 25 years and I can’t tell you how many Berklee kids have sent me their god awful cookie cutter generic derivative demos.

Of course there are a few exceptions. But those with true talent/drive would have done well anywhere.

Berklee is a scam. Not everyone is meant to be a musician.

Michael Montes

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I gotta tell you Bob, speaking only from my personal experience, having played with Berklee grads and Guitar Institute grads and the like, I made much far more interesting music with dudes who were self taught. The highly trained players were so stiff and utterly soulless (tho flashy) whereas the untrained weren’t reigned in by school rules.

$200Gs? Seriously? Bwahahaha!

Cheers,
Rick Saunders

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I only ever had one proper job in my life when I was 21 and I lasted 3 weeks…never had a regular wage since. I did nude modelling, bit part acting, worked as a relief roadsweeper, played any sort of music anywhere for forty quid and ate beans on toast for the best part of ten years….and then got a break.

Robin Millar

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We’re slowing killing off the entrepreneurial class in this country (Chick Fil A? Obamacare? You didn’t buld that!!!), kids are expecting easy street and insulation from reality. Reailty is as scary as it ever was.

My grandfather came here with shit in 1899 and couldn’t speak a syllable of English. He had to change his name from the unpronounceable Italian to even begin to fit in. He was good with his hands and got a job working on the building of the Westinghouse bridge in Pittsburgh, extremely dangerous work then…guys falling into concrete pilings and that’s all she wrote. No OSHA at all…

As a carpenter (no unions of course), he cut his fingers off with a circular saw. Kept on working.

Did he bitch that he wasn’t getting a job out of a musician’s mill?

No, he started his own company building houses and provided for my Nona, Mom and Uncle. That wasn’t easy street either.

This country needs people like my Grandfather, not whiny weenies in Berklee trying to do stuff in music somehow, but not sure what or where, but hey it’s great, check out my new jacket man, and look at these shoes…

If it doesn’t matter enough to you to do it for free, than what the fuck are you doing it for??????

It’s a trade school? I think these kids will eventually get it, and realize they were sold a bill of goods and maybe wasted a lot of time. Isn’t Bonnie part of the problem, just trying to save herself, much like Jon Corzine or any number of evil corporate guys?

Where are our Frank Zappas? They’re out there.

mvlang

P.S. Bob, you are concerned about Wall Street ripping the middle class off and selling lies…what about the musician mills?

It’s just as bad.

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To: Patrick Donovan Mulroy

Hey asshole ! There’s a fucking DEPRESSION going on. Over 8% unemployment for those who are still looking. Higher if you’re an African American or a VETERAN.

Consider your young, ignorant ass LUCKY. But you do know about minimum wage. That’s something.

I’m supposing you speak of “Mom and Dad” through experience. But I grew up without a dad. I’m sure there are those in YOUR generation who did, as well.

And Les Claypool couldn’t find a job as a carpenter at much more than minimum wage in this economy.

Besides…who the fuck is Primus ?

Scott Sechman

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Bob, what I’ve noticed is that an awful lot of musicians, artists and other creative types from New York have moved here to Philadelphia, mostly to Fishtown and Kensington. Rent is cheap, eating out is cheap, lots of craft beer, a large and supportive music community with great venues, and NYC is a $10 bus ride away. WXPN, our well-known and influential college station, is aggressive about breaking local talent.

Honestly, I think some people are just in love with the idea of Living In New York. It’s like living in a movie, and they think if they stay there, it’ll all have a happy ending. At $1800 a month for a tiny place in Brooklyn, good luck with that.

Susan Madrak

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A drummer friend and I were frustrated with all these issues being discussed and decided to do something about it. We’ve been in bands for a few years, played bars, decent venues, small festivals, etc. But definitely no $ or major recognition.

So over the last year we’ve been dragging an upright piano and drum kit all around the Bay Area. We started playing on the streets for free, in winter, (with hand warmers!) and it has led to all kinds of gigs. We still play on the street often, but those initial gigs led to private parties, MLB baseball games, NPR recognition, and actual paid gigs. Our drummer quit his job a few months ago and has subsisted on playing gigs ever since. Granted, he does have some loans and grants for music school, but he makes more money playing music than in his previous jobs. His classmates can’t believe how many gigs he plays. But they weren’t handed to us. If you put yourself out there you never know what can happen.

http://music.clangnbang.com/

-Kirby Lee Hammel

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Bitch, bitch, bitch. I, like a thousand other working musicians who didn’t have the support (financially or otherwise) to attend a school like Berklee, fund my lifestyle and original music the same way anyone with any ounce of talent or self-preservation does: i play in a cover band. Get the fuck over yourself and take responsibility for your life beyond your creative career. We all make sacrifices. Do you really think i want to play Brown Eyed Girl 3x a week? Hell no… But it’s good practice and great money, and anyone can do it. I’m the Starbucks barista of the music industry-so what? I’m doing what i love, albeit with other people’s music. If you’re an aspiring painter, paint a house. If you’re an aspiring architect, tuckpoint a building. It can only improve your skill set. Work for a living; it’s really not that bad if you leave your ego at the door.

Ellie Maybe

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Bob, I love your blog and read it regularly. I would like to throw in my 45 cents. I have been married for 16 years, I have 3 kids that are not starving nor are they deprived of daddy time. My wife is satisfied and I pay my mortgage. I also happen to play and teach music full time without a degree and I am the sole bread winner in my family. I have known since I was 15 that the only thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life is drum. I decided 20 years ago to throw everything I had into one basket and practice my ass off so when the day came for me to get a gig, I would know what to do. The day I stopped playing video games was the day I started drumming. The only way I know to make it work is to keep practicing and keep hustling. The only thing that comes before drumming is my family. I keep them first and then spend the rest of my time working up gigs, practicing, teaching, and treating the people I work for/with like they are precious. You have to be a good person to make it work on the local scale, if you are a jerk, nobody calls. I know it is scary and daunting to think about trying to make it in this day and age, but it can be done. It is all about priorities and hard work.

Brandon Graves

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Bonnie’s letter was a great conversation starter.

To those who don’t think the situation is radically different than it was 25 years ago, to the detriment or our collective talent pool, I can only wonder if you have really looked at the numbers or actually talked with young musicians. Or, if you are a young musician, I wish you luck.

Most of us didn’t learn half as much from school as we did from Little Richard. Where will the next Little Richard come from?

European orchestral music was largely payed for by kings. In the 20th century that role was played by labels etc. What’s next? Nothing? Maybe music will go back to the essentially amateur pursuit it was before the 20th century. Maybe that’s ok but it is and is going to be a major change affecting every once-marketable art.

Bruno Coon

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There is more opportunity now than there has ever been. More music genres. More clubs. More radio stations, terrestrial and internet… hell, you can make your own radio station, or stations, and post your own videos on a plethora of platforms. Volumes more content is being created than ever before! There was once only THREE TV channels… NOW, the demand for professional content to fill the tens of thousands of hours of television programming for the hundreds of channels is huge! And now for the first time in history…. EVERYONE has unlimited access to the public, to the world… from their bedroom. The tools to create content are nearly FREE! Charlie Chaplin became a legend using a fixed-lens hand-cranked camera… no sound. An HD camera at Best Buy is $250. Most of those incredible Motown hits from the 60s were recorded in a house on 4-track tape, now a digital recording studio comes with every Apple computer, along with your very own digital movie software. I can go on and on with the advantages this generation has… I would give anything to be 19 right now.

If you can’t make success happen , you have no one to blame but yourself.

Frank A. Gagliano

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I read nearly every lefsetz email, but somehow missed Bonnie’s.

Berklee grad, 1990 here. Damn proud of it. I worked my ass off while I was there. Incredible teaching staff. I wrote scores, played in jazz and rock combos, and practiced 6 to 8 hours every fricken day for 3 solid years. I finished early.

Amazing how much Berklee costs now. I had a partial scholarship, enough to make it possible to go. My parents could only help with boston living expenses, so I took student loans for the rest. Which, btw, at the end of my college career totaled a mere $12,000. I had them paid off in no time.

had a part time job too. Figured I’d rest when I was dead.

Upon graduation, i went into the world with not a shred of “placement help” from Berklee. I didn’t need it. I was going to kick the world’s ass on my own.

and I did.

But it took me working 10-14 hours a day, every day for the past 22 years. If I thought my schedule at Berklee was tough, that was cake compared to trying to break into the “real world” of music. I had no rich or famous relative inside the music biz to open doors… i was on my own.

I am most grateful to Berklee for my time there. Who I got to meet, the students I got to play with, the teachers I studied with, guest artists and concerts…

I use what I learned there every minute of every note I am a part of as a musician, producer, arranger or engineer.

if it bothers you how much Berklee costs, put together your own education and work your ass off.

You won’t have the “Berklee” paper on the wall, but I’ll let you in on a secret… people rarely hired me because of that paper. They hired me because i was 1. on time 2. highly skilled 3. not a pain in the ass to hang around with all day for weeks or months at a time.

That’s what I look for when I hire people now. If you’re late, i don’t care how talented you are… go away. If you can’t play or deliver the goods… go away. If you’re an egomaniac, drug addict, personify a massive insecurity complex, or have the mental capacity of a 15 year old… go away.

it’s amazing how many musicians and creative people can’t meet the above standards.

Be great. Work your ass off. Look for opportunities everywhere. Never stop learning new skills. Move if you have to.

Most important… have fun, and you will attract many, many people to your art and craft.

you may stumble into the career of your dreams in the process.

Joe Hand
producer, writer, musician
www.joehand.com

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Uhhhh. Get fucked and get a job. I live in Nashville and I know plenty of kids here that work their asses off.

Isn’t that called paying your dues?

Yeah it sucks to work and then try to be creative. However, because your busting your balls, your chops will get better and your songs will be smarter. I promise you. Now suck it up, bus your table, brew his coffee, and start kicking ass.

Jer Gregg

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Hey Bob,

I’m a musician from DC as well. This is advice is wrong. No musician wanting to be anything but a hobbyist should be playing in bars at all. I don’t know what its like in other places, but in DC payment for playing in bars hasn’t gone up since the 70s. There is a reason: NO ONE GIVES A SHIT. The bar owners don’t care and the audience doesn’t care. It’s standard practice for venues to forbid bands from playing anywhere else within 30 miles for a month in exchange for a gig. The reason for this is they know that no one but your friends are going to come. If bars could make money off of a house band, they would have house bands, not DJs, and you could build an audience. They can’t and you can’t so don’t do it. Don’t spend your money and muscle on shelping expensive equipment around or moving to LA. Spend that money on Pro Tools, a Mac and a camera. The internet is the only place where an unknown (without an uncle in the business or a million dollars) can get an audience at all. Make a video a week, think of it as your gig. Do covers and originals.

Most important of all, interact with your audience. Think of it like your talking to fans after a show. We are a really small band, 2000 subscribers and over 200,000 plays on YouTube, and we were able to raise over $8000, via Kickstarter, to make a record and none of that money came from Mom and Dad. Here is an example of a conversation with one of our fans from Australia. In a casual message on facebook we told her we couldn’t afford a new camera. She wrote this:

“Hard work deserves being rewarded. I have been very impressed with the effort you are putting into your career.

I am not rich, and I don’t intend to be. I am comfortable and if my ‘folly’ is giving you guys help every once in a while… I see as rewarding!

I don’t ever expect anything back long term out of you either. I see a life as ‘being full of stories’. Basically this money I am giving you entitles me to tell my grandkids about the really cool band that I helped buy a camera for at the start of their career:)”

She then gave us an additional $500 to buy a new camera. This fan was out there for us. She was in Australia. GO FIND YOUR FANS, THEY AREN’T IN A BAR!!!!

Here is our latest video, it’s a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” played only with stuff we found in our kitchen… sounds like The Neptunes. http://youtu.be/9dmuZmo8R4o

Tristan Shields

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These letters are a wealth of insight and information.

Quickly…
When I was 17 I got a gig playing w Genya Raven in NYC.
My dad (a butcher), knowing my passion wanted to send me to Berkley…
I was not the most intelligent teen, my answer was “dad, this is Rock & Roll.
I’m already playing w stars”.(a gig in central park was being talked about, promises of a European tour etc).
After we did all her pre-production she fired us and hired NY session guys to do the album. (my first dues paying experience)
My dad had watched my love affair w music & my guitar from age 5, never had to push me to practice…
He had little money but would get it if I wanted to go. I didn’t!
Ironically many years later while performing w legendary guitarist Dick Wagner, the Berklee grads were flooding NY and taking all the rock gigs in NY, while also doing all the session work, jingles, etc. while the rest of the NYC musicians were relegated to waiting tables, construction etc. Message here? I really don’t know!
I never left music, I am a fairly successful indy promoter in NY, not wealthy, just paying my bills. That road taken after I fought for and got my two daughters in my divorce, and had to get off the road.
A decision that I have never regretted for a minute.
One of my girls is now my partner.
So my shows have become the song I would have been writing.
The artists I book, the experience I create for my guests, is my song.
I try to balance the art of the fest, with trying to bring in enough money to go on.
Sometimes the gods are with you, sometimes not!
This year I had Levon Helm booked as one of the Friday night headliners, his passing was a sad day for the music world.
Then sunday we faced the largest lightening storm in the NE in years. I had to clear the fest. Promoters reading this know how that turned out for me.
But you go on.
And after two marriages, being broke and flush, thousands of concerts, and more incredible experiences than any one man should have, I’m happy just to continue my journey, and will never be comfortable in any other world.
jim faith

Producer,
Great S Bay Music Fest

Chairman,
LI Music Hall of Fame

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Hey Bob,

I know I’m late to respond to Bonnie’s email, but I wanted to chime in. I went to school for music, never really figured out how to make a living at it, got various day jobs to get by, including a few years at a record label, and finally decided to put all of my hard work into my own career and not somebody else’s. I don’t make a ton of money, but I’m living in Brooklyn and working all the time. I’m no rockstar, but if a rockstar called and needed me for a tour, I could get the job done.

Along the way, I started a website with another musician friend of mine. We wanted to focus on musician careers. We talked to our friends and colleagues about their careers, and while it’s tough, a lot of people are doing it. You’ve got to be an outstanding player, obviously, and music schools can help you with that. The rest, though, is all about learning professional behavior and experience. Be really good and don’t be an asshole.

Here’s one of our articles that explains how it’s possible to put together something that resembles a living as a musician:

http://www.musicianwages.com/how-to-actually-make-50000-a-year-as-a-musician/

As a side note, some Berklee students have actually told me that some of my articles are used in their classes, printed off the web and sold to them in photocopied packets! The irony.

- Cameron Mizell

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Interesting emails for sure.

The only thing, for me, that need be said is that being a musician is a calling. We are lucky to have one. Remember all the people along the way we meet who may not have one, who were distracted from their internal compass? Working hard is a given, luck is not. Life as a musician is not about the biz, it comes as a result of us, or other people helping – being impassioned about what they get from us – and those who can exploiting it/us. Music is still art. I naively still believe the old adage “do what you love and the money will follow.” The universe is very supportive. Remember each time you/we put out to the world that you wanted to do this or that and how doors that once never existed, appeared and some even opened?

Create, dedicate and live your life. Rumors of ways to ‘make it’ are just that.

Peace,

Joseph Parsons

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Hi Bob,

I’ve been reading your stuff for quite some time, and while I don’t always agree with your viewpoint I do appreciate you getting people thinking about the problems today’s musicians and the overall ‘biz’ face. That being said, I don’t see anything wrong with “working shit jobs to do their life calling their spare time” as Bonnie puts it. I come from the punk rock scene, where every guy has a day job. Believe it or not some even have good ones (I’m one of the lucky ones). I’ve known hundreds of punk rockers in hundreds of bands on every level, and with the exception of a handful (Green Day, NOFX, Blink-182, Bad Religion, Rise Against) it’s a given that after every tour they go back to their day jobs until the next tour comes around. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Nobody in the punk scene spends a lot of time bitching about it. If you’re really making music from the heart and for the right reasons, then it shouldn’t matter whether you’re a hobbyist or earning your living at music… the music itself is the reward. I came across a great old Tom Waits TV interview today and I think he said it best – “I don’t worry about achievement. I worry primarily about whether there are night clubs in heaven.”

The guys in my band Margate and I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the subject, and we have a song called “Rock ‘n Roll Reserve” which puts the modern day hobbyist musician in terms of being in the reserves – being called up for 8 days a month into weekend tours of active duty. The song has been a moderate hit in the world of punk rock, even currently getting some occasional spins on KROQ in LA, and oddly enough brought us to the attention of the small label we’re now signed to. Since we got signed we made our first record we didn’t have to pay for ourselves, toured Europe for a few weeks with NOFX, Less Than Jake and more… and kept our day jobs. Sure, we could all move in to one fleabag apartment and try to scrape by doing some teaching or odd jobs on the side, but we’re in our mid 30′s now and that’s not the type of life any of us want at this age. And what’s the point? Being a moderately successful musician and having a regular job are not mutually exclusive ideas.

One last note – I’ve known a lot of musicians who have turned to the cover band route to make a living making music. Many of them are successful, and I’m sure they’re enjoying their day jobs more than the average barista or roofer. But for most as the years go by I can see their passion for music fade as playing their instrument just becomes what they do for a living rather than something they live to do.

Here’s our DIY music video for the “Rock ‘n Roll Reserve” tune… we made it for a few hundred bucks (which were left over from a kickstarter campaign we did for our previous EP, but that’s another story) with some friends and had a great time doing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BQwElpozWo

The lyrics are below in case you want to check them out – they go by pretty quick. Thanks as always for raising a good debate.

Cheers,
Doug Mitchell & Margate

“Rock ‘N Roll Reserve”
Lyrics by Alex Helbig
Music by Margate

We’re in the Rock ‘n Roll Reserve
Eight days a month is what I serve
No longer living for that dream, now I’m doing it just for me!
We’re In The Rock ‘n Roll Reserve!

I remember way back when, the dream was to get signed and then…
Become a band that changed the world
Toured the land and slept with all the girls
And topped all the charts and wrote all the songs that made the whole world sing but…

Life catches up with dreams fifteen years on down the line
Now working a job forty hours a week, trying to feel like I’m not doing time

This whole industry is upside down, trying to find a solid ground
A house, a wife and my bones ache
Believing that it’s never too late
To pick up a guitar! To travel near and far!
And put the Rock in the Rock ‘n Roll Reserve!
Eight days a month is what I serve
No longer living for that dream, now I’m doing it just for me!
We’re In the Rock ‘n Roll Reserve!

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Bob,

It’s very interesting to me to hear people knock a school like Berklee. Why not knock USC or UCLA, or any other school known for being great, and also has that expensive price tag? Are they saying that every med student, football player or hell, even accountant leaving another school pays off their tuition in any reasonable amount of time? We all inherently treat college loans like a mortgage at this point. If you borrowed large sums of money to go to college, it doesn’t go away quickly. How quickly depends on the student, whether or not they have that “entitled mentality” I hear people say so often. Some “entitled” students apply the hell out of themselves…

Berklee is my alma-mater and I’m happy to say so, even if I don’t use it when introducing myself around town. It was a school run by musicians – sometimes that was great, sometimes it was laughable – and as a student, you had the opportunity to spend time with teachers who had spent a life around music. Some of them had great success, others had no success. Some had wild stories, others “ground-it-out”. Some were even classically trained and laughed at the idea of becoming a rockstar. Most were still working outside of Berklee.

You also met other students, who (unless your ego got in the way) are the musicians that you would/should pursue your career with over the next decade or two. I can’t tell you how many other students I still talk to today. If you don’t take advantage of the student/teacher resources while you are there, you missed the boat. It’s a place to learn and network.

Also, a 35% graduation rate is fitting for a school like this. The turnover rate in the dorms was quick. Many would come in thinking it was going to be a 24/7 rockstar party and would soon realize it wasn’t just about banging on a guitar in a garage with others, while a cigarette was stuffed between your strings. Then they would be confronted with those not-at-all-rockstar stories of a gazillion hours practicing, getting signed and shelved, of having to give away your music until you had enough leverage, etc. and then they would just leave – mid-semester even. Of course there were some who were there because mommy and daddy paid for it, but for those who actually wanted to learn this was the perfect environment in which to do it. And one that you have to pay for. Who would you want to surround yourself with when you are learning?

And if you really do want to go there, practice enough to get damn scholarship. They offer those, you know.

Brad Crowell
www.amillionpiecesmusic.com

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I loved this email. If I look at all the successes in technology over the past few decades they didn’t occur at Xerox PARC or Bell Labs. They occurred at Harvard and most importantly Stanford (http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html)

Why don’t these kid have the opportunity to do this stuff at college? Why don’t they spend 6 months writing and recording, with mentors and professors, and have Berkley issue a best of Berkeley compilation. Why don’t Universities put out a tour of student bands? At least at the end of 4 years these kids will know whether they should ditch the instrument or not.

Great stuff used to happen at corporations. Now it happens at University because corporations can’t lose money on something that might take 6 months. Incubation occurs in the University not at Xerox. Why not do the same for music. Berkley can even keep 20% of all furture artist revenues and publishing. There is no nuturing time. We have rapidly growing chicken and force feed cows and astro turf. Most people said a band wasn’t a band until its 3rd album. If the “industry” won’t nuture and let artist’s develop, Berkely should.

Todd Lewis

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Hi, Bob…

Writing to you from my work email address, as I don’t have the patience for long diatribes via my thumbs on the smartphone.

I’m surprised to find myself a little annoyed at the “stop whining and get a job” contingent that came out of the woodwork when you published Bonnie’s email.

I work, have been working a day job of some sort for most of my professional career, and I’ve got something to pass along to those folks:

YOU ARE MISSING OPPORTUNITIES.

I’ve been a “professional” musician for most of the 20 or so years that I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area – mostly as a sideman/session and touring musician, but I don’t see my plight as being that different from a songwriter/performing artist, where working a day job is concerned. It’s a perpetual balancing act to try and put in the necessary hours to make sure your rent is paid and to maintain a presence in your musical community…and I’m here to tell you firsthand:

If you’re working during the day, YOU ARE MISSING OPPORTUNITIES.

Sessions happen during the day. Writing appointments happen during the day. Meetings…phone calls…contact with booking agents, with tour managers, with other people who make things happen in this business (even on the lowest rungs of the food chain, where most of us reside) happen – yes, during the day. And if you’re working during the day, YOU ARE MISSING OPPORTUNITIES.

I’ve lost count of the gigs I haven’t gotten, of the sessions I wasn’t able to do, of the tours I haven’t been able to accept because of complications around a day job. And, after a while, you will find that people’s perception of you will shift…maybe gradually, maybe less so. But you’ll become, as I have, somewhat distanced from your community. Taken less seriously, and perhaps even dismissed, because people will either think that your commitment to your craft is lacking, or that you’re just not in it for the long haul.

Maybe the “buck up and get a job” crowd sees this, maybe they don’t – but it’s a fact, it’s reality, and you dismiss it at your peril.

I’m not complaining about my lot in life – I’m generally well-respected by my peers, I get to work a lot, and I’ve gotten to collaborate and play alongside some of my heroes. I’ve had a good run. But I have a lot of respect for people who’ve managed to find ways to keep their bills paid and do this without the distraction of a day gig. Sadly, they’re fewer and farther between…which, if I remember correctly, was Bonnie’s original point.

Keep up the good fight, Bob.

Tom Hampton
Philadelphia, PA

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It is disheartening to think about this, yet we are left to reflect on the fact that Van Gogh could not earn a living wage as an artist, Charles Ives, the great and innovative classical composer, for many years ran one of the most successful New York Life insurance agencies in the country…in the 20′s and 30′s. JJ Johnson, legendary world-famous jazz trombonist, worked for the post office for most of his adult life while also working, performing and recording as a world-class jazz artist. The incredible jazz singer Sheila Jordan, who recorded the seminal record Portraits of Sheila in 1960, kept her day gig in New York City as an executive assistant until into her early 60′s. Our colleges and universities and art schools have always been full of remarkable artists (think dance, pottery, painting, theater arts, writers…not just music) who have found rewards in sharing the knowledge of their respective art while also finding what was difficult to find solely as an artist…enough money to earn a good living. At Berklee specifically there was the great clarinetist/saxophonist John LaPorta, arranger Herb Pomeroy, saxophonist Charlie Mariano…in the 60′s and 70′s, and arguably for many years the world’s great jazz vibes player, Gary Burton, who is now or until recently, was President of Berklee. My good friend and well known modernist painter, the late Richard Merkin (illustrated for New Yorker, Vanity Fair, GQ…as well as having his work in the collections of many of the most famous museums in the country) taught at Rhode Island School of design for his entire professional life. Writer Henry Miller went to live in France. Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute, Miami, have all had faculties for many years that are comprised of players, conductors and composers from the country’s major symphonies. The music schools of Europe are and have been littered for decades with amazing musicians who have brought their skills and artistry to young minds in the environs of academia.

When I (we) was growing up our neighborhood and my friends dads, mostly, were auto mechanics, a home heating oil truck driver, a doctor who did house calls, a gas station operator who cleaned windshields and checked oil, a salesman (my dad), a school teacher…all economic spectrums in one neighborhood. Those days are and have been gone for many years. It is more expensive to live now, there is more disparity among economic classes, but many aspects of this argument are not new. If we distill this down we find that many artists, well-known or otherwise, have struggled for years to earn a living wage in societies (here and abroad) that did not look upon the arts in the same light as they viewed other aspects of capitalist society.

Feel free to share these thoughts.
Jimmy Masters

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Bob,

I always love reading your words. Very insightful and coming from your heart, seemingly with no agenda other than to make our world a better place. I thank you!

Re Ms Hayes letter,

A beautiful statement of a sad fact.

I have been a professional musician all my life and have done well. I grew up at a time when music was thriving and developed my craft mostly by learning from the older players I was blessed to work with. Recording, clubbing, playing in pit orchestras etc.

We all thought it would last forever but sequencers all but destroyed recording. Disc jockeys wiped out the jobbing scene (although they are suffering now because clients are just using their i-pods for their events), theatre work is diminishing because of tracks.

I see talented kids full of dreams coming out of music schools with nowhere to go. Recording is usually done on a freebie basis or on spec in a market that is saturated and defeated by free downloads.

Live gigs are either free, for peanuts, a portion of the door or just plain not paying.

It’s not just the music business. Outsourcing and robots replacing people have brought people to their knees. The financial system is so top heavy – and becoming more so – , and the environment is becoming so stressed that one wonders if there is any hope.

I wonder if the concept put forth by the Zeitgeist movement – resource economy, no need for money, etc – is something that people should start pondering. Science and mechanization could serve us better if the bottom line wasn’t based on obscene profiteering. Without the fearful wolf constantly at the door maybe creativity could blossom. Minds could grow. Life could be good. Potential could be realized without having to depend on support from some fat cat who only sees the dollar sign as a marker for success.

All the best to you and Ms Hayes.

Bill Bridges

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Hi Bob,

I started out writing songs and playing in garage bands in 1964 when I was 12 years old. I am now 60 years old, and 38 years later, I am finally having some success in music (not financially, though). I’ve put in at least 50,000 hours working on my songwriting (20 hrs/wk x 52 wks/yr x 48 yrs.)

I went to college for business, not music, so that I could get a job in the music business and get in a position to “sign” myself. I spent 4 years in college radio. I was at Woodstock, Fillmore East every weekend, coffee houses, blues clubs, etc.

After 100+ interviews with agents, managers, record labels, etc., I ended up in NJ at a “sounds a-like” mill – they had studio pros record note for note hits of the day and sold them on cassettes and 8-track. This was the armpit of the music business, but I was still paying my dues. I moved over to Sam Goody’s as a management trainee to learn the retail music business – buying product, selling, merchandising, etc.

After a year, I went to Hong Kong for 2 years, writing/producing for local Asian bands in a state of the art studio. I had a hit song on the radio, and was on a local songwriting TV show in 1976.

By the time I was 24, I was in LA writing songs for Screen Gems., Back in NYC, I took songwriting courses, lyric writing courses, piano lessons, arranging lessons, etc. I was having songs recorded as disco tracks. The dollars earned couldn’t pay my rent.

At 25, I got a sales job to support myself. I worked 10 hours a day, and spent every night and all weekends writing songs and recording demos in my $200/month studio apartment. I had no social life except for Sunday night song critique sessions with other songwriters.

At 35, I put music on hold to get married and raise a family. I still wrote late at night.

At 50, I became a piano tuner. Now 60, I tune for several top level recording studios in NYC. I am writing lyrics for beat tracks for some top producers, and have been in recording sessions for top acts, where as the oldest guy in the room, I was able to give input/advise/suggestions that were used in the final tracks, un-credited.

I’m “doing” music for the love of it. A track that I worked on (tuning the piano, co-producing) has just been released and is getting great reviews, radio play, streaming, etc. I’m not listed on the credits and I won’t get paid (except for tuning the piano,) but that’s okay – when I go to sleep at night, I am very, very happy.

Joe The Piano Tuner

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Hi Bob, thanks for sending these email replies through. I’ve been a professional musician for all of my working life, around 15 years to date.

But here’s the thing, the majority of my income in that time has derived from private instrumental tuition (guitar) with gigs, book sales (I have 3 books) and album sales the “icing on the cake.” These things are a bonus, a supplement to what you do, not the meat and potatoes. I recently bought my own home and I also have a family to support. So I’m not doing that bad, and in some ways I’m “successful” because I get to do what I love and at the end of the day, that’s a great and rare gift to have.

The simple facts are that as a local gigging performer, you simply can’t make enough coin to see you through the week, or the month. That’s just how it is. Sure, if you can land a gig with a national touring artist, your income can skyrocket although that begs the question – how are you going to pay the bills when the tour winds up?

I recently made the switch into tertiary education and I see so many kids with stars in their eyes. I always make a point of asking them “what’s the plan after you graduate from here – how are you going to make a living out of this?”

Most of them can’t think further than the coming assessment task but I ask the question all the same. I strongly emphasise the teaching gig to them and make a point of stressing how difficult the industry is, that there are no free meal tickets, you have to create your own opportunities, any way that you can. It’s really about being entrepreneurial in your work ethic, as much as it’s about being good at what you do.

Cheers -

Bill Palmer

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Hi Bob -

Thanks for passing along the Bonnie Hayes e-mail. I graduated from Berklee 10 years ago and was faced with these same issues and concerns as her current students. Everything changed in the late 90s and there we all were hoping to simply stay afloat, degrees in hand. We knew things were in a serious state of flux, but we didn’t exactly know just how bad it was.

The fact that the music industry was dying was the elephant in every Berklee classroom and recording studio and couldn’t be and wouldn’t be discussed by any of the staff. No one spoke of what was next after getting out of Berklee. We’d ask and all they told us were stories of when they got started in the 70s and how great it was to be alive and in the scene at the time. Fast forward 30 years and there we were, about to be released into a post-Napster, post-09/11, post home studio explosion world and yet there Berklee was, laughing all the way to the bank.

They have a dirty secret. They want 18 year old kids and parents to believe that they have the golden ticket. They want you to believe they are going to make your dreams come true. It’s all bull shit. I never had my dreams (my realistic dreams anyway) set on being the next Beatles, but I did want to be a steady working professional. They get into your heads and toy with your emotions and when you’re an 18 year old musician, that’s all the armor you wear.

The fact of the matter is that Berklee is doing quite well. They have built a new campus in Spain AND are constructing a new, state of the art facility on Massachusetts Avenue across the street from the old 150 building. Not bad considering how horrible the music industry is doing. It makes me sick to my stomach every day.

I never expected to be given anything once I completed my degree at Berklee. I wanted to get out into the world, work hard, work my way up the proverbial ladder, and find a way to do the things I love to do while being able to survive in the world, putting a meal on my table every night and a roof over my head.

I worked hard and have managed to put a career together, but no thanks to Berklee. I read books. I met people. I did jobs I felt were below me knowing that it was just what I had to do to cut it. Berklee didn’t help me and they aren’t helping their kids now either. Ask any of the business students what they think of the Music Business program. It should be called “History of Music Business”. If any of their staff had enough knowledge to teach kids how to work in the new music paradigm, don’t you think they’d be out there doing it and making a fortune? They’re not. They’re teaching kids about radio programmers and having them do projects to put a band on the road with $1,000,000. What is this, 1986?

The recording program is just as bad being perpetually 5 years behind the curve. Everything is old from the gear right on down to the way they teach kids about how it’s “really” done in the “biz”. Kids STILL repeatedly talk about how they learn more from reading books not associated with the program than they did in most of their classes. You should get something from an education that expensive and the kids just aren’t getting what they signed up for.

If I could tell current Berklee kids one thing or kids thinking about going I would say this: DON’T GO. Get out into the world and create and read and play and record and learn and do all the things you ever wanted to do because you have time on your side right now. You’re young. You’re hungry. You have a voice and you want it to be heard. You’re not going to be heard sitting in a dorm room at an overpriced 4 year music camp where the mission is to simply attract new income, not turn out real musicians. Not anymore at least, but that’s another discussion for another time. Berklee isn’t going to get you a job or get you paid. You as a young musician, you’re all about the desire and drive to make real, true music that speaks to a generation.

I’m 33 and still believe in song. I feel silly, but it’s in me. What can I say?

Please don’t publish my name if you want to post this.

Thanks for letting me vent Bob.

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Hey Bobby,

Love your stuff. Just thought I’d let you and your readers know that society is not just killing music it’s killing all art including mine. I’m a painter. There were times like Renaissance Italy and turn of the century France where geniuses like me could make a living. But now I have the same forces conspiring against me as musicians do.

The consumer has completely devalued what I do. It used to be that people looked at paintings. Now they just hang them up and just have them hanging there in the background while their ADD selves go about doing other things like play video games go on Pinterest. And they think my stuff should be free! The same evil technology that hurts musicians is KILLING me. They can just download and print ANYTHING off the internet. Or if they have a friend who has one of my paintings they can just make copies. Dear God! If they can shut down Napster why isn’t Shawn Kinko in jail!!!! And the technology has made it so that anybody can pick up a brush and paint. How is the consumer supposed to wade through all the garbage to find my masterpieces in one of those giant shows we book at the airport Holiday Inn?

I just can’t afford to do this anymore. Everything costs so much. Remember when TV was free and the home phone was just a couple of bucks? Now those corporations are gauging me for over $300 a month!! Do you know how many “Dogs Playing Poker” I have to sell to make that! I know I could give up cable and my unlimited data plan, but have you ever tried to go a month without watching “Lingo” on the Game Show Network or tried driving around without being able to read Blake Shelton’s latest tweet while you’re stuck in traffic? Van Gogh would have cut off his ear first! (too soon?)

All of the old opportunities for making a living are gone. Back in the day, the church would have commissioned me to do some work because they appreciated art and wanted to support it. I contacted the Vatican and they said they finished decorating 400 years ago. Now what do I do? There also used to be rich people who would be patrons and sponsor great artists. But I’ve called everyone from the last two PowerBall winners to Scott Borchetta and nobody is willing to pony up. Damn 1%!!!!!!

Yeah, I couldn’t agree more with Bonnie’s letter and your and everyone else’s take on these matters. I’ve had lots of advice like, “Use social media” “Paint because you love it” and “Take art lessons and practice because you suck” but I think I’m just going to give it up and maybe teach. And yet another genius will go unnoticed by the world….

Matthew O’Brien
Nashville

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When did the spelling of Berkley change?

Alberto Rivera

AUGUST 2ND EMAIL

I was not going to print any more e-mail on this subject, but I believe Bonnie Hayes is entitled to respond. And since I’m cluttering up your inbox, I’m including some more correspondence on the topic.

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From: Bonnie Hayes

To all the Berklee bashers: did it ever occur to you that maybe if you’d learned how to score a movie and write a string arrangement instead of dropping out of school to play shit gigs, right now you might be scoring movies and writing string arrangements instead of playing shit gigs? Nobody gave me sh*t; I make my living playing, writing, producing, teaching. But if I could go to Berklee today as a student today, I would. Maybe that makes me stupid, but I doubt it.

Sure: some Berklee kids are spoiled brats, some people should definitely give up on NYC and move to philly or nashville or austin or athens to start their bands and conquer their local markets. Some people should quit (and believe me, they will). duh.

It’s easy to miss the point when you’re stuck in your own little 30 second rant/loop, It’s not that musicians shouldn’t have to work, or get straight jobs, or live in basements, or ride around the country stuffed into vans, love it, live for it, fight for it. blah blah blah. all of which any real musician is delighted to do, whether they’re making money or not.

My points, again: one, accusing young musicians of only being in it for the money is a generalization and inaccurate, and secondly, the problem is socio-economic, not generational. Once upon a time, America offered more options for life possibilities for artists and others who don’t want to bow down to the money god. That’s all I’m sayin’….

And lastly, I’d observe that it’s sad how joyless some of these lifer musicians are, isn’t it? Really kind of making my point for me, in some ways.

Keep on posting, Bob—we are reading.
xobh

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The irony is y’all have made Bonnie Hayes a household word now.
btw Berklee is spelled thusly for the name of the founder’s son – Lee Berk

Al Kooper

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EVERYBODY PLEASE STOP SHITTING ON BERKLEE! The vast majority of the faculty and administration work hard to provide one of the best music educations you can get, and the majority of students work hard to succeed. I can’t stand these anecdotes I hear: “I worked with a Berklee graduate and it was all scales and trainin’ and no soul,” so now the WHOLE SCHOOL sucks, never mind that the “hundreds of cookie cutter demos” one of these gripers got from Berklee grads are certainly similar to hundreds of other cookie cutter demos. There are problems with the school as with any institute of higher learning, and it is expensive, but there are many, many benefits to going there: a clear, codified core curriculum, the availability of great connections within the industry via the faculty and guest artists and internship hookups, some of the best musicians in the world as your peers (present and future, meaning the people you meet and play with here can be your musical partners for life if you want), some of the greatest music faculty anywhere (Bonnie Hayes, and one of the great gurus of songwriting, Pat Pattison, among them, not even mentioning the hundreds of great faculty in other departments). Music school is not for everyone, and for some it is part of the path that leads one to other disciplines. And graduating from Berklee is no GUARANTEE that you’re going to be a great purveyor of music. Name ANY great teacher and you will find many great artists and professionals that learned from them and also many terrible ones. But I find that most of the negative comments here (it’s fun and easy to dogpile on Berklee) come from people who most likely haven’t spent any time here, or definitely not lately. It’s not perfect, and it’s not for everyone, but if you come here and work hard and seek out those faculty and students with whom you’re most compatible (again, like ANYPLACE, be it a music scene or institution of higher learning) it will be worth your time and money, and your artistry and potential earning power will improve.

-Mark Shilansky, Berklee Faculty

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Man it sucks to read so many people shitting on Berklee but come to think of it most of them are right. I was in the first class of “music business” graduates and the only thing at the time they were teaching was how to be a major label yes man.

I learned more about the music business from interning for Morphines manager Deb Klein, gigging in my three bands and working at Aerosmith’s old rock club than I did at Berklee.

If I had it all to do over again I would have dropped out of BERKLEE after two years and finished my degree at Northeastern or some other real business school. I was considering doing that but just stuck it out.

But in spite of all the Berklee pooping I will say one thing. When I got there I could play the guitar ok. When I left I could (and still can) play the fuck out of the guitar. And I’m not sure I would have applied myself without a few of the amazing teachers I had and kept me from being a one trick pony metal head, introduced me to Zappa, jam bands and folk singers and taught me the value of nuance and great songwriting. So I chose to go into business instead of playing but my command of music informs everything I do today and allows me to hang out with musicians on their terms (and my own of course) and offer developing acts real constructive criticism. I’m not sure I would have that if it weren’t for my Berklee years.

Oh, and as someone still living in Boston I am frequently invited to speak in entrepreneurship classes and booking clinics and I always tell it like it is. If you are REALLY GOOD AND REALLY MOTIVATED you will get breaks.

And conversely of course if you suck? Too bad.

Peace and Love!

Dan Millen

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I think it’s important not to overthink this. You do the best you can, and hope it’s enough. Sometimes it is…sometimes it isn’t.

But there’s a bigger picture. It’s only in the last century that music could be time-shifted, and was no longer the exclusive domain of live performance to relatively small groups of people. This change allowed some musicians to get very rich, but is anomalous compared to how music was done for millennia. All the arts have undergone a similar change from limited market to mass market: Plays became movies, paintings became reproducible, hardcover books became paperbacks, and paperbacks ended up on iPads.

I’d like to think that one reason why people aren’t buying as much music, going to as many movies, or buying as many books is that the arts have become sufficiently democratized that people are creating more than they are consuming – whether they’re putting their own movies on YouTube, writing blogs instead of buying books, or making music with a laptop and a guitar.

If I have a spare couple hours, I’m not going to put on headphones and listen to music. I’m going to make some

Craig Anderton

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The great Jazz drummer Dick Berk summed it all up:
“I’m making six bills a week: a 20 a 10 two fives and two ones” .
Regards to Bonnie Hayes.

Nic. tenBroek

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Hey Bob.
Love you.

I went to Berklee.
Everything your readers have said about it is true. Good and bad.
But ain’t that life, Bob?
Perception is reality.

I will say this- the anonymous graduate who had the shitty bitter attitude? He is not going anywhere. And the alum who spoke of gratitude and self-acceptance sure sounded happy. Isn’t that what we are talking about? Being happy? Not making it or fame or any guarantees of employment. “Does making music make you happy” is the question. My thought today as I looked at the photos of the tragic blackout in India, a year after my band returned from an all-expenses paid trip to play some festivals in Goa and Delhi (which is more of a shithole clusterfuck than the music biz) was this: why are so many of them smiling? Clearly they aren’t Americans.

Some facts:

You have never heard of me.
I have been signed. And dropped. 5 times. dreamworks, lava atlantic, lost highway, most recently uni republic.
I have toured the world.
I have been a nashville staff writer.
I have sold shoes.
I have waited tables.
I have written with some of my idols.
I have a dinky home studio.
I have had songs featured on too many tv shows and films to mention.
You have never heard of me.
I have had 2 songs stolen that sold millions.
I have had songs cut by Legends and and a bunch of pop no-hit wonders.
I play sessions on drums and guitar and bass and piano.
I sing jingles
I produce other artists.
You have never heard of me.
I am finishing up a killer album I wrote and recorded with my Rock and Roll Hall of Fame friend and bandmate – his first true rock record since 1983.
I write for anyone and everyone because I love writing.
I have lived in my car with my dog.
You have never heard of me.
I have gold and platinum records from other countries in a closet somewhere.
I went to Berklee.
They teach some of my songs in songwriting classes alongside Gillian Welch and John Mayer.
I learned things at Berklee I use daily, some of which have to do with music.

You have never heard of me.
And yet I am happy.

I “made it” many times.
Then again, I worked my ass off to get happy FIRST, then I got busy.
It never works the other way around.

Rob Giles

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Basically, anyone who wants to do something badly enough will gladly crawl through broken glass to be able to do it whether it’s getting laid or painting or selling houses or making music. And, anyone who has enough excuses to not do something will guarantee that they won’t do it.

This has no bearing on being ‘successful’, it just means that if you want to do something then do it and don’t bitch about how difficult it is. No one asked you to do it. And, by the way, being ‘successful’ is honestly measured by your own yardstick, no one else’s.

“Never retract, never retreat, never apologize. Just get the thing done and let them howl.”
Nellie McClung

Matt Wallace
Husband, Father, Carpenter, Writer, Record Producer, Gardener, etc.

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I’ve been following this very interesting conversation, and I’d like to add something from the perspective of a guy who started his professional music career at 18 in 1965. I applaud the young artists who said “quit whining” and “work as a dishwasher 80 hours a week, then practice…”but, the reality is — and I don’t care how young and energetic you are — you don’t have that much good energy to create after working a shit job for 60 or 80 hours a week. And by “create” I mean create work that stands out in the throng, work that will hold up and still sound relevant 50, 100 years from now. The Beatles worked hard — playing 10 hrs a night at the Star Cub in Hamburg. Bach and Mozart never washed dishes, but they worked damn hard. So I join Bonnie in lamenting the loss of a time when young musicians — such as I — could really spend their best energy at their craft, doing the thing they did best. I lived through that time, and I can tell you it was great!

Ted Myers

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Good to read 1 or 2 people that actually graduate Berklee. Anyone can get in period. It’s the real that make it through. Most who enroll expect the name of the school to carry their no talent bodies. They forget you need skill to survive. There’s a little school cross town called New England Conservatory. How many could do that audition? A name is a name. If you buy a Les Paul and Marshall half stack does that mean you are Page? Berklee is a mediocre school and the same rules apply. If you can’t play or write or bring it it does not matter at all. In the true professional music world Berklee is not on the list. Not dismissing the talented people that gained from the experience at all. Just making fun of those that think it can make you great because of its name.

Chris Apostle

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Pianist Dayramir Gonzalez. Current Berklee student. Cuban citizen – because of fucked up US laws it is ILLEGAL for him to get paid from doing gigs in the US. It doesn’t matter. His band is being paid thousands but he is playing Carnegie Hall in November for FREE. Here is video of him playing music that is more interesting, challenging and emotionally moving than 99% of the shit you listen to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6eUSLzFlbE

GREAT musicians overcome ALL obstacles.

Larry Robinson

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I think Bonnie stated pretty clearly that most of her students are not looking to get rich, just make ends meet and were willing to work for that. And I’m sure lots of them have crappy or part time jobs.

And to all those bashing Berklee, I have met a lot of grads and everyone of them have been excellent players and willing to play anywhere, anytime. The environment seems to be a nurturing collaborative one. It’s not for everyone and yes it is elitist purely because of expense. But then, so is Julliard. Some of the greatest musicians come out of those schools. And of course there are amazing musicians that are self taught, can’t read a lick of music and play by sense and passion and become great by hard work. It works both ways. Why some people find it necessary to bash one or the other really perplexes and amazes me. There is a lot of hate in some of these responses and it is really disappointing to see that.

There are lots of opportunities out there to make a living in the music biz, but besides not having labels to provide funds to develop, I think the biggest issue is the amount of competition out there. It is greater than it has ever been. Everyone has YouTube videos, websites, free downloads, cheap shows that anyone can afford. And you know what, a lot of it is good, some even great. Of course there is a lot of crap out there, which makes it even harder to be seen just by pure volume. In the 60′s and the There may have been a lot of musicians toiling away in their basements, but we never heard of them or their music unless they were our neighbour or our relative. Now, I can listen to some 14 year old shredder from Japan who makes videos in his bedroom and gets a million hits. This has NEVER been possible until now.

That’s what I tell every young artist that comes to see me for advice. And it is your message I quote the most. You have to be GREAT! This is probably one of the most globally competitive businesses in the world right now. If you aren’t GREAT, forget it or be content with playing in your local bar where most 70′s, we only ever heard what the industry decided for us was the best. people don’t know the difference between Pavarotti and Tiny Tim.

I think it is the sheer numbers of great competition out there today that is the biggest factor in being able to make a living in the music business. And by making a living I mean paying a mortgage, putting your kids through school and buying groceries. All those things that “regular people” aspire to. And if you can, count your lucky stars. You have to work hard for it, but there is a ton of luck involved.

Rob Oakie

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i know you are inundated, but as a composer who has been very busy for over. 20 i have always had high regard for berklee grads, they were just better prepared with the skill set needed for my line of work: serious programming chops, good ear, playing and orchestration chops, knowledge of film scoring asthetic.

however, today the market is flooded with them and grads from other schools. i think they are over promising career placement when there are very few slots.

i ran an ad in craigslist looking for a new person and got over 200 resumes, yah, alot of them songwriters who think that they can score, but then many many people with composition degrees and chops and studios and even that knew my same area of preference, some with abilities to play rachmaninoff piano concertos and had perfect pitch, for 15 dollars an hour.

but it’s all word. you cant lean what i do in school, you either have a facility for it or you dont. i did have a person with perfect pitch who played rachmaninoff and was a technical programming genius. but her personality held her back, and though she wrote good “music” she couldn’t score a scene to save her life. writing good “music” is not the same thing.

Willheim

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I always heard the best thing you can do r/e Berklee was drop out.

John Mayer did.

Eli Chastain
Nashville

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While I was in school, I was helping to mentor some kids who I saw had potential. I organized gigs on campus, funded equipment (amps, mics, cables, etc.) available for them to use, directed them to local venues, directed them how to advertise themselves, and poured every ounce of knowledge I had into them. All of this while being a gigging musician and a full time engineering student, mind you.

The one who showed the most potential was this girl, Natalie. Her voice would melt you. She decided to take a semester off (+ the summer) in order to pursue music. Now, that’s not enough time to do anything big, but it is enough time to get your foot in the door locally. Since then, she has taken more semesters off; effectively, she dropped out. What did she do with music? I don’t think she has played a single gig since before she dropped out, when I was organizing gigs on campus. I don’t even know if she has picked up her guitar lately. She works as a bank teller now.

Kids just don’t want to hear that it will be hard and that it will take work outside of their comfort zone. Without that, you’ve got nothing. Sure, some will do everything right and get the short end of the stick, but that’s part of the risk. If that’s you, just get back up and try everything differently.

Alex Brubaker

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I bet Bonnie gets fired from Berklee for this. She’s certainly screwed them out of future students, unintentionally I’m sure? Either way, she knows how to survive in the music business right? After all she teaches it to the kids.

Keith Walker

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re: the debate following Bonnie’s email: One thing that needs to be acknowledged is that there REALLY HAS BEEN an overwhelming drop in opportunities from, say, 30 years ago when almost every bar had bands, most running six-nighters. The audience is not out there anymore. There used to be THREE tiers for rock rooms and three for country rooms. Agents booking A bands , B bands and C bands. Some hotels had an A rock room and a B country room. Even shit holes had bands.

And in truth, a large percentage of full-time working musicians were kinda mediocre and sometimes just plain terrible. But almost anybody had the opportunity (which is now a privilege) to play music for a living.

But the real oportunity for the serious players was that they got to hone their craft playing night after night. And many were plucked out of the A rooms and put in bigger touring bands. There was a ladder to success that you could climb. The A and R guys were in the rooms. And you didn’t have to spend all your time promoting your gigs; the bars were already full of people who wanted – needed – live music, and the agents made all the calls. Musicians had the opportunity to spend your whole day practising.

But the reality is, whether or not the decline was spurred by greed and fear, the audience is not there anymore. Going to see a live band in a bar is not at the top of everyone’s list these days. By now they’ve seen and heard it all on TV and Youtube. They’ve seen and heard every amazing thing that humans can do. Not until music becomes a much more endangered species will the tide turn.

G. Pretty
Edmonton, Canada

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I think that Jessica Bonnano’s response was spot on. While everyone sits around and targets the art sector the rest of the country actually feels the same way. It’s bizarre to hear your friends who work in construction or in the Finicial sector talk the same way as you do. Even though they may not be struggling as much they are feeling the effects of a crippling economy. The fight to survive has always been here but in the past I don’t think it had an effect on as many people. There use to be a middle class and that has quickly vanished.

JULIAN TAYLOR

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Bonnie Hayes is a trooper, and if anyone has taken their lumps and liked it, it’s Bonnie…in fact, it’s her whole fam damily…her brothers, Chris and Kevin, are no strangers to hard work, long hours & low pay either.

Regarding the ‘feast or famine’ motif that’s been struck here: there was a time, back in the 80′s, when it was possible for an original rock band to make close to $1000 for a single 45 minute set, Thursday thru Saturday, night after night, week after week. It was at the Palms Cafe, on Polk Street in SF. Bonnie herself played there, with her band, the Punts. Her appearances there predate my tenure, so I’m not sure how much she pulled in, but a host of other acts, including Night Ranger, the Squares (feat. Joe Satriani), the Red Pencils (led by Grammy winner, Rick Nowels), Eye Protection (feat. Andy Prieboy, later of Wall of Voodoo), Tommy Tutone, Sylvester and His Hot Band, The Weather Girls and many, many more, always did very nearly that at each performance, and sometimes more. It was the Palms’ policy, you see, to give all monies collected for admission, the cover charge, to the bands.

If club owners today would wise up and, follow suit, i.e., give 100% of the door to bands, instead of screwing them mercilessly, more clubs could pay $1000 a night (or the 21st Century equivalent thereof), and not only might starving musicians be able to put at least a little cheese on that tuna fish, maybe more clubs would have the stand out, sterling kind of roster that the Palms Cafe still has, nearly 30 years after closing its doors….

Ray Staar

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Bob: The great jazz musician Sam Rivers said: “Just because something is true doesn’t necessarily mean that the opposite isn’t also true”. Both sides in this debate have valid points. In 1980 I moved to NYC with $200 in my pocket, got a rent free apartment for being a building super. I had no qualifications, the neighborhood was rough and they just needed someone right away. Most of my friends were able to make rent with a couple days of work a week (musical or otherwise.) It left a lot of time for making music and hanging out. Unlike the CT suburbs I grew up in, the bar scene in NY was full of wild, weird, and original music. That’s why I moved to the city.

Today I might choose otherwise, but it made a ton of sense then. Pointing out the distortions in our current economy is not whining. It’s also a fact that those chop building paying gigs that were available and plentiful to earlier generations (like the Beatles in Hamburg, or jazz musicians in the ’20s, ’30s, and 40′s) are gone. Good sounding piped in music killed a lot of those gigs a long time ago.

It’s never been easy being a musician, but just like the larger economy, it’s the working class that’s been hit the hardest, by technology and shrinking opportunity.

The flip side is, once you’ve acknowledged this, what are you going to do about it? Live music is still a transformative experience craved by many and the means of production are now in the hands of the artists. Rent is a problem, but I have faith in the eternal power of music. When you start saying the younger generation doesn’t get it, you’re officially an old fart. They don’t give a shit what you think, and right now there is some great music being made by some of these youngsters that you might never hear, but it’s not for lack of quality, passion and commitment.

P.S., I felt bad about passing up on going to Berklee for about five minutes, but touring on three continents with a great band cured me of that.

John Mulkerin

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Bonnie my father is a musician, went to Berkeley and worked as a professor of Jazz studies and performance at Michigan State. Growing up in Detroit we were very poor because this was before his teaching gig and we were living off his and my mothers musician earnings. It didn’t bother me that we really had nothing that our neighbors had whose parents all worked at the Car factories in Detroit. Because when I went down to that wonderland of a basement where I could see posters of P Funk, Kiss and Miles Davis and instruments of all sorts, I felt rich in creativity and inspiration. I know it is hard in the age to not want and desire what is being fed to us through the media, TV and through reality TV but it is important that we try to tune these images out.

In my 18years of being a professional musician I have accepted that I may become discouraged and I allow myself to be discouraged but I don’t allow myself to give up. As birds fly and migrate south for the winter, an artist creates because it is our nature, regardless if we earn money or not. Labour with Love and the benefits and financial rewards will come because staying true to your art is contributing to humanity. I can’t tell you how many artists have saved my life. Bonnie if your students want it bad enough they will succeed. You are doing an amazing job by giving them the tools and trying to understand how best to encourage them and prepare them for life after college. We all find our own way of how to earn a living in this crazy profession that have no guarantees. That is why it is so important what you Bob are doing. Thank you for your constant efforts and staying true to real art.

Sincerely,
Ife Sanchez Mora

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Several years ago I decided to take an MBA with the intent of applying my studies to the Music Business. I live in Canada, so the cost of tuition was only a few thousand. I had been playing in bands for several years and had long since accepted the new model of digital / web based distribution. I wanted to take an entrepreneurial approach to succeeding in music. I even had a professor mentor me through the process. Under the guise of a Masters thesis on behalf of the school’s centre for entrepreneurship, I interviewed everyone I could – promoters, musicians, labels, agents, producers and media – with the intent of trying to figure out how to succeed in the new music economy.

Then I hit the road and toured. I slept in a van with my bandmates, ate crap food, survived on very little. It was both romantic and shitty. I did this for three years, but unfortunately during that time my older brother – also a musician – got sick, his heart stopped and the fall-out was a massive brain injury that left him virtually incapacitated. So then I was left trying to tour, trying to help with my brother’s rehabilitation AND trying to make rent. My life imploded. After 3 years of trying to help in his recovery, with some success, my brother died. I was heart broken and somewhat relieved.

The fallout for me has been that music is, and always will be, an almost spiritual exploration. Trying to quantify or add value to the end product will change as technology and the general public’s patterns of consumption alter and shift. I think it’s an exciting time.

With respect to the struggling musicians of this era, I think the end goal should always be personal fullfillment: to write great songs, find a distinct and genuine sound and always, always try to capture the essence of that individual’s life experience. That is ultimately what my research during my BUSINESS DEGREE taught me. After all, marketing 101 is differentiation and how better to differentiate yourself from the pack then to write about your genuine experience. By following the path of fulfillment, I think a musician is MOST likely to be successful in the business arena, and if not, that individual will always have his/art to keep him warm at night….

Steve Reble

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Hey Bob

I’m a new subscriber enjoying a lot your letter. I’m also a Berklee student, well online student, I didn’t have the money to go there but I’m learning incredible stuff from my home.

I live in South America (no, we don’t live on trees) and I’m not going to bitch about my beloved third world country. In regards to Bonnie’s email I guess the two sides (pro/anti) are both right and wrong.

One thing my brothers in the U.S. must consider is that life there is still far better than life in underdevoloped countries. Think of this: according to your standard of living, the lowest level is to live in your car. Guess what: cars are insanely expensive around here….and still there are lots of us wanting to be creative. dreamers? stupid naive? who the fuck cares. we just do it.

I don’t care that every moron with a pc calls itself musician/producer/sound engineer; I don’t care the fact that all mediocre clowns can upload a zillion thrashy videos to youtube. ¿Music industry is dead? I certainly don’t care.
at the end, only the good stuff stand out.
the only thing I care about is giving the maximum I can give creating my music, which is what I love and do best. and no: I’m not rich.

And another thing, enrolling for this Masters in Berklee is the best desition I have made in recent times. If things go out well or not will be my exclusive responsability, not the college’, but I can assure my life is improving a lot because of the info/experience I’m getting.
That father who wrote about taking his 250k, and then went to an established songwriter to work with his son instead of paying Berklee’s tuiton, was very clever. Very forward thinking. There is not a formula to life and what works for some does not necessarily work for others.

We live in a very complicated world right now and things seem to be harder as we “evolve” (I think we’re really devolving) as species. Yes, life is more comfortable, funnier, faster, tastier… TO LESS AND LESS PEOPLE AND WORSE TO REST (THE MAJORITY) OF THE POPULATION. Fair? absolutely not, but this is how it is.

cheers
Juan Ospina

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I see quite a bit reverse snobbery there. I just managed to get into Indiana University School of Music after growing up in a little town in Tennessee outside of Nashville. I suppose some letter writers would have told me to “stay in Nashville”, i.e., think small. I did not. I studied with the phenomenal David Baker and others, my first encounter with energetic, super-talented people. I became a percussionist as well as a drummer. Plus I got an education. The skills I got enabled me to later work in NYC wearing several hats, thanks to my reading, practice habits, percussion playing, etc. My friends and I used to laugh because I would get complimented on my triangle playing at sessions before my drum tracks did. Note: that’s because I knew how to hit it — people noticed. I never would have had the skills and confidence to do lots of gigs over the years by staying put. These comments about living cheap and being in a band are not addressing the professional side of the business. If you want to take the gamble to be in that space (and you are not naturally gifted, many are) you’d better take some music lessons, with students better than you are. Everybody studies, including the stars. And everybody needs an edge.

However, an I.U. degree didn’t cost the equivalent of $200k in the 70s. Berklee started out as a place to teach kids high-level fundamentals by pros. They probably still do. The only issue is the money. The division of wealth in this country is growing at a blistering pace. Most Americans seem to be so brainwashed into thinking about how fantastic and glamorous everything is in their life (from football to Home Depot) that they just sleepwalk through it as they stare at the nearest TV. Most do not understand that their pensions have recently been stolen by Wall Street and thousands of retirees cannot survive on 1% interest rates. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place looks like Blade Runner within 50 years. Berklee’s fees are current US capitalism in action, i.e., Wall Street. They take what the accountants tell them they can get from “the brand”. The sleepwalkers think they are upper class if they pay exorbitant fees for something, whatever the quality.

Listen to Niall Ferguson’s 2012 Reith Lectures on the recent decline in the Rule of Law in our society for the food for thought on where this is heading. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith

Thanks for everything,
Robert Bond

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I still come down on the idea that you’ve got to be good and your music has got to be good. Build strong artist/fan relations, play lots of shows, put in your 10,000 hours and don’t worry about the money because if it’s good people will come to see your shows, buy your merch, and yes, even pay for digital downloads, CDs, and vinyl if you offer it — but only if you’re good.

Sure the Internet destroyed the old paradigm. I’m okay with that. It created avenues I never would have had. Theft and “piracy?” Give me a break! I don’t give a rodent’s behind about “intellectual property” in the sense of a state-granted monopoly on who can sell or buy my stuff. If some guy can figure out how to make money from my stuff and I can’t, power to him. As long as he’s not claiming to be me, have at it! IP doesn’t protect anyone against plagiarism. Protecting against plagiarism is, for the most part, a self-policing enterprise and works just fine without a need for IP laws. The fashion industry proves on a daily basis that you can make money without IP protection. Copying is NOT “theft”. “Theft” is when you deprive someone of something that is rightfully theirs and no musician has a right to actually make money from their music. They only have the right to try — and if they succeed — YAY! And “piracy” is when you board a boat, steal most everything on it and destroy stuff, so Internet “piracy” is a myth.

I would argue that in fact, the Internet/file-sharing/P2P paradigm hasn’t diminished the value of music as much as it has exposed the TRUE value of music. The copiers and “pirates” are simply showing WHICH music actually HAS value. It may be harder for the artist to make a buck, but at least it’s not lining the pockets of some old fart at CBS whose ONLY care is how much money he gets as he parasitically sucks away the blood, sweat & tears of the artists, most of which get lost in the shuffle anyway. I’d much rather live in a world of “pirates” who all make very little than a world of monopolistic control where all the losses are socialized and all the gains are privatized to the benefit of a few well-connected individuals. People seem to think that IP must be “correct” because some old men in powdered wigs scribbled it on a piece of parchment 200+ years ago.

If what was right about the old paradigm was that there were “gatekeepers” and promoters who vetted the really good music for the rest of us, then I don’t see why each and every one of us, individually, cannot be our own gatekeeper and promoter. If labels are mostly dead and “gatekeepers” are necessary, then maybe what the Internet needs are more sites that are better at finding and promoting the best stuff. I’ve seen a lot of excellent models come and go. We know this hangover is going to be harsh as we find new ways to operate in this new model, but I enjoy the Internet’s sweet-water aquifier of deep and connected wells. Sure, the walls are lined with a lot of crust and mud and useless crap, but that makes finding the jewels that much more pleasant.

Kurt Tischer

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To all those lambasting Berklee, do they realise most top artists here in the UK went to an Arts college of some description? Adele, Amy Winehouse, Imogen Heap, Leona Lewis, Jessie J, Kate Nash, The Kooks, The Feeling all went to BRIT School. Radiohead went to Tech Music School. Freddie Mercury, Pete Townshend, Art and Ronnie Wood, Ray Davies, David Bowie all went to Ealing Art School (now the London College of Music).

These guys studied! Seems to me in this day and age anything that gives you an edge above the rest is almost a necessity.

Steve Marcus
Ghosts of December

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There are definitely two sides to this coin. On one hand, you don’t deserve success, you have to earn it. On the other hand society does indeed seem to be moving towards a new feudalism, and it will be a return to the “patron of the arts model” from centuries ago.

No one is paying for art, they are downloading movies and music for free. There is no economic, or business model for profit off of music that still makes sense. Labels got out of the artist development game long ago, now it would be financial suicide. The cream will rise to the top as it always does but now it will be sponsored by the rich, and artists will be nothing more than show dogs for the bragging rights of the elite.

It is already happening. The new art patrons are the wealthy parents of teenage girls in Orange County who want their daughters to be rock stars. These parents are spending far more on their children in efforts to buy careers for their kids than a record label would ever dream of shelling out for the album for a highly seasoned but still unproven artist.

I am a musician, and as times are lean for us touring sidemen, this is where we have to go for work. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that labels are signing thirteen year olds to record deals almost exclusively. From their point of view, the labels have others investing millions into artist development for them. Why wouldn’t they put out a record that cost someone else a half a million dollars to make. Its a win win for them, low risk, they are essentially playing with house money. I have played and recorded for many of these trust fund kids. Some of them are actually talented, some not. I personally don’t charge them any more than I would charge a girl waiting tables to fund her dream. Maybe that’s wrong of me. I don’t know, but it sort of sickens me to see producers and musicians who can’t find work for real artists take advantage of a child’s dream just because they were lucky enough to be born into a rich family.

The Internet has changed everything, and as you always say, the old guard no matter how they try can not put the lightning back into the bottle.

Shane Soloski

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The point I was trying to make in my first note re. Bonnie…a point that seems to have been completely overlooked by practically everyone…was that the ratio of expenses to income has been completely tilted in the past 50 years. I was able to live decently paying a tiny percentage of my income for housing; medical insurance expenses were practically nothing…hell, I paid out of pocket for the hospital birth of my first son…while being a hardly working musician and part time craftsman. We could afford to be musicians then because basic expenses were so much lower…and I mean relative to today’s dollars. Using the consumer price index, my 13 Bleeker St. loft rent in 1968, which was $75.00 a month, would now be $485.00. Hah! No way… That place would now be at least $3,500.00 a month based on what I know is true of New York rents in 2012.

The real problem is that due to various bubbles…real estate, finance, and medical costs…the basic costs of just living suck up way more of anybody’s income now than was true 30 to 50 years ago when many of the artists posting here were starting out. Bernie, Wendy, Bonnie, Tom, and I started at a much easier time. Now add to that the sudden loss of what used to be known as THE income stream…songwriting royalties…and the ground rules of the game have been completely changed…for the worse.

And this bullshit meme about live gigs? Yeah, try touring these days and see where the money goes. Or try to get the kinds of gigs we used to be able to get…like a full week or two at the Cafe Au Go Go or the Mooncusser or the Village Gate or Gerde’s Folk City. The fact is that except for certain music hubs like Nashville, Austin, New York, Boston, or my town of Santa Cruz, gigs are really thin out there, and musicians are competing with sports, video games, and Netflix.

Does anybody think the Beatles would have been great if they’d not had steady gigs in Hamburg and Liverpool? There is nothing like playing five or six sets a night six nights a week for getting good. And that is gone…

This is not a golden age for pop music…

Rick Turner

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My story is probably semi-typical for a lot of folks.

I worked my way through college playing in bands. Clubs, parties, etc.

Got a manager. He booked us on weekends and we opened for folks like the Blues Project, Rascals, Smokey and the Miracles. It was great fun. We were sure we were gonna be stars.

Next, we got look-see’s and “do a demo” stuff from RCA and other labels.

Pass.

At some point, I realized an important thing: I was probably not good enough to do anything very special in the music biz.
It was a sobering revelation.
So I got married and had two kids (well, my wife did) and started a small ad agency. I had a decent time at that and made decent money, and played some clubs on weekends for fun. I still do today in my dotage.

In the 60s and 70s, we made $30-40 a man in clubs. Today, we make $60-90. Not much difference.

Do I regret not staying in music? Sometimes.

But…I made a decision.

I can’t blame anyone for that, and I applaud everyone who makes a living as a full time musician–I know several here in South Florida and it’s very tough.

But as a tangent, I liked various illicit substances back in the day, and I’m guessing I might not be here if I had really been successful. So it probably all works out.

Anyway, thanks for the interesting reading. I wish that everyone struggling here gets exactly what they want.

I did, I suppose.

Rik Shafer

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I’m so glad Bonnie Hayes has stuck with it. She’s impressive. When she’s not on the road, she’s teaching songwriting in the Bay area to up and coming artists. Her heartfelt letter to you hit truth all over the place. I had the opportunity to meet her and to hear her perform over a year ago at the Conclave in Minneapolis. Bonnie performed along with a new female artist the record company was showcasing. Bonnie sang back up (and I think she produced the album) for a young singer songwriter, (who was also a LAWYER). They wowed a room full of hardboiled broadcasters.

Valerie Geller

Before launching TuneFund I was the GM of Women’s Wear Daily, “the bible of the fashion industry”, so I’m familiar with a lot of fashion blogs. I also believe in taking good advice where you find it. This post on Independent Fashion Bloggers (http://heartifb.com/2012/05/07/should-you-quit-your-day-job-to-blog-infographic) is apt for any creative person who’s contemplating leaving their day job to pursue their personal vision or project – especially a career in music. Faith, Support, Vision and Drive. Definitely critical attributes. To this list I’d add stamina and humor. You’re bound to get burnt out at some point and you’re also bound to have epic and not so epic failures and when you do it helps if you can laugh at yourself, a little anyway.