How to Survive and Succeed as a Musician

Joy A Simons Brown

Description

Using the resources and the information available, the modern-day musician can take greater responsibility for his musical expression and be happy with his life.
‘How to Survive as a musician’ looks at musicians over the ages, how they are perceived and how the world responds to them. It discusses the impact of business on their existence and, from a personal viewpoint, shares many of the questions that arise along the journey. It highlights the challenges to the value of the musician’s creativity and the quality of his output as artificial intelligence attempts to drive people’s choices. This easy-to read handbook looks at the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which impacted musicians in a huge way and identifies the lessons that ought to have been learned from the experience. Finally, it looks at new opportunities, and recommends paths of thought, attitude and action the musician could take to improve the quality of his life, and prepare him for future change, so that he can survive and prosper.

Sujets

• Music publisher
• Self-help

Informations

• Publié par: Balboa Press
• Date de parution: 21 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798765233597
• Langue: English

Extrait

How to Survive and Succeed as a Musician
 
REFLECTIONS ON THE JOURNEY IN A WORLD OF BUSINESS
 
 
 
 
JOY A SIMONS BROWN
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Joy A Simons Brown.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
Balboa Press
A Division of Hay House
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.balboapress.com
844-682-1282
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Website
 
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3358-0 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3357-3 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3359-7 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022915592
 
Balboa Press rev. date: 09/15/2022
This book is dedicated to all my band members and musical supporters Cliff, Warren, Andrew, Nick, Kerri-Ann and Billy, who have helped me work through many of the issues discussed in this work.
Editor’s note (Bookbaby)
A handbook for all musicians the world over, this book mirrors everything a musician struggles with in this ever-changing world. From their self-image to their image in the world’s eyes, from self-care to meeting all the challenges they face head on, this manuscript tells it all. The author’s suggestions for survival of a musician toward the end of the book are priceless takeaways that all the existing and prospective musicians can keep in mind.
Contents
Introduction
1The Value Of The Musician In The Days Of Yore
2Welcome To The World Of Business
3How They See Us…..Our Work Is Play
4How We See Ourselves … To Work Is To Play
5The Documentation Of Sound
6The Coming Of The DAW, PC And Keyboard
7The Internet
8What Does The World Offer The Musician?
9The Changing Musician … Who Must He Become?
10Self-Care—The Priority
11Once Upon A Time, Everything Changed
12Lessons From The Lockdown
13Getting And Staying Grounded-Discovering the power that propels us
14A Search For Opportunities
15Arm Yourself With Knowledge
16Forward March-the intention to survive and prosper
Suggested resources
Introduction
T here is a reason why you picked up this book or clicked on this title. It is likely that your interest lies in the life of a musician, the survival of a musician, or the relationship between music and business.
You might be interested in this book if:
• You are involved in a career in music
• You have studied music and are ready to start a career in this field
• You are involved in music as a hobby and want to improve your skills
• As a parent you are not sure if your music-loving children should choose music as a career
• You hire musicians for projects or performances
• You have always found the life of a musician mysterious
Who is a musician? In the past, music was only delivered by someone who was trained in the craft and who shared his musical expression with others. Today, there are many people who are associated with the music industry and might be referred to as musicians; they could be the following:
Producers
Publishers
Engineers
Managers
Booking agents
Publicists
Composers
Arrangers
Disc jockeys
Session musicians
Music teachers
Church accompanists
Instrumentalists
Vocalists
On the one hand, when someone asks, “What do you do?” and your reply is “I am a musician,” then they wonder to which famous face you are connected if you are not a famous face yourself. On the other hand, they might think of you as one of the above, depending on their own exposure to the production of music and their perception.
For the purposes of this book, a “musician” will be recognized as one who has honed the craft of playing an instrument, composing, arranging music, directing musical performances, or singing.
The discussions include observations and experiences of musicians and persons who are involved in the creation and delivery of music in some small or big way.
Although this book mentions many features about music and how it relates to business, it neither seeks to explain details nor summarize what is now known as “music business.” There are volumes of books and websites that contain information about music business, which include the statistics and rules of how to operate in that space. Rather, this discussion is more about the survival of a musician and the challenges he faces. It starts out with a historical account of the role of a musician in the society, his love and pursuit of his craft, and then traces the changes as those who are business minded along with technological advances identified this creative output as a lucrative prospect.
There have been many changes over time, which brought revelations, not just to musicians but also to every living person. This discussion speaks basically about surviving financially, which seems to be the biggest challenge, but it also makes mention of emotional, social, vocational, physical, and relational survival that are basic to a man for a wholesome life and of the foundation that supports them all. The world is made up of male and female musicians, but for simplicity, all discussions, which use masculine pronouns and nouns also apply to those that are feminine.
There is no doubt that some musicians have made it big and could say they have had a successful, fulfilling life. There are others though, in much larger numbers, who have struggled for years, doing everything they thought was right. They don’t see themselves doing anything else, and while they hope for something great to happen, they remain in an unpredictable existence for years on end.
My reason for writing this book is wrapped in some aspects of my life story, some observations, and some questions that continue to come to light in my musical adventure. Some projects have worked out to my satisfaction, some are still in progress with challenges, and some seemed to be the result of not-so-good judgment. I continue to learn from them all. As I write, I represent several of my colleagues who ask the same questions over and over and who are seeking a better life. We live in hope because we are doing what we love.
After university, followed by teaching math at high school, I did business for several years. I was employed in an insurance company as an actuarial assistant, and then I went on to manage staff in the administration of retirement schemes. I worked with trustees, setting up these schemes, preparing annual valuations, and calculating benefits. I was also involved in negotiating employee benefits, immediate and deferred, so I have always been concerned about compensation, the value of services, and labor issues.
I enjoyed my years in business, but there was a musician in me, who was pushing and prodding until I left my corporate life and decided to live my dream of working in music, full time. The gigs outside of office hours were just not enough for me, and my music colleagues seemed to be happy and fulfilled doing what they loved.
After a short while into the new way of life, I began to feel that the change had delivered a shock to my whole system. It was a new way of thinking and living, and the differences were stark. I found myself working with people in operations that were very different from what I was used to. The gig economy and the corporate economy are different. The individual desires in these two worlds are different, although there are basic needs that are the same for all human beings. The definition of success or contentment is different, but I had decided that since a music career was always my dream, there would be no turning back.
I am writing from my own experience, with contributions from people in the field of music. I am grateful for all who were kind enough to share their stories and views. The survival of a musician has always been a concern for the musician himself and, in many cases, for those who care about him. It is clear that this will remain a concern even several years after I have left this planet. I hope, though, that this book will raise the awareness for all readers, generate discussion, and inspire all musicians to understand that while they are doing a job to fulfill a dream, they are working with other systems. Even more profound is the knowing that they are responding to a call to be a channel of good from a source which is much higher than themselves.
Before we can come up with any tips on how to survive as musicians, let us first look back at the role of musicians