Ladies and Gentleman, Pessimists and Optimists, Rack Gear and the People who hate the truth he posts.. I would like to introduce you too: This article

Musicians' Income Can Still Be Huge -- With The Right Brand, Team

It's pretty much like before, branding. Only difference is that the artist no longer has the burden of writing songs or be able to sing in tune. Just need the looks.

Proof you don't understand the meaning of music.


Sell products, live and breath music...


****ing decadent sack of moribund money grubbers the lot of you.

The examples cited in that article are all people who have become hugely famous first and then landed lucrative deals with major brands.

Not sure it has much relevance to the plight of the majority of musicians who are struggling to earn a living.

The article states FAC claim the average earnings for music in America is $34,000 per year. the average wage in America (in a time of severe depression) is $26,000. So on average American musicians are doing a bit better than average, while being on the road away from family, and in a career that very rarely lasts longer than 10 to 20 years.
If you're making a bit more than average for ten years, how do you pay for the rest of your life?

You don't get too...

You're just a stinky muso... No food for you.


Look, I've calculated everything, here it is on this sheet of paper.

I get millions and millions and yachts and fine dining... You get to perform like a monkey for millions of people and then when you're broken you get to sponge off your mum.


**** you. I'm hungry and angry... Look for me outside your window with a pitchfork, stare at me... Someone's coming in the backdoor with a taser and ropes... We're going to have a BBQ!

Yeah, as a HuffPo subscriber I saw that when it came out. I believe that if you look through the comments you can probably find a post or two of mine.

Sure, if you're one of the 1% of the 1% of top selling pop and commercial hip-hop celebrities you can still bring in a pile, although, as I've discussed elsewhere, it really isn't anywhere near as big as the hype machine would have you believe.

It's not bad though.

However, for the regular working musician - the kind who can entertain a crowd but isn't a glam monster, the situation is not nearly so rosy, which is why there has been a 45.3% decrease in employed musicians over the past 10 years according to the US Department of Labor.

The article is a fluff piece.

Don't believe the hype.

Of course the US labor stats are statistically skewed to make things look better than they really are.

If you're not official registered as looking for a job they don't consider you unemployed.

Which means that most of the unemployed musicians I know aren't considered "unemployed".....

Why are those stats skewed? Who is trying to sell what by manipulating the maths?

A government is selling it's position...


Well governments are no longer made up of people, they are made up of corporations...

No collection of pieces of paper has ever had a moral conscience.

The article has zip to do with the plight of 99.9% of working musicians. And the average yearly income figure likely includes the thousands of degreed, union musicians working in symphonies, opera companies, universities, etc... who are drawing a monthy salary with benefits and enjoy a decent level of job security, even a funded retirement.

Someone just needed to write an article about the music biz to fill 5 inches.

WOW...

They said TEAM. Try finding four others to build a team with...HAHHA I guess if you have 100k people will want to join your team.

Rich people are the only ones who have a shot in hell of doing anything.... With 500k I could make my grandma a pop star.. heh

LOL.. I understand the meaning of music.. thank you very much.

Sorry the thread is too serious a discussion for you

When I was about 10, my dad told me to not be manipulated or fooled by mass media crap. That advice has served me well through my life.

bad justification of lazyness. the ones who are REALLY STRUGGLING are those, who have reached those lucrative deals by hardworking and lots of ups&downs. other ones are just sitting and whining about how cruel is this world. ridiculous. period.

If I called you an elitist scumbag in public would you sue me?

Take a look at The Beatles trademark registration at the USPTO. The first product listed on their trademark list is 'commemorative spoons'.

It's always been about ancillary merchandising.

lookied like the 34K was gross ..not net

With this one sentence , the authors are basically admiting that the bulk of their own article is pure bullshit

Yet you keep talking about it and if anyone ever prints it out and gets a library to "own" it there's a good chance it's down in history...


Lameness incorporated.

That's so true. It's like a giant "NEVER MIND."

Duplicate post. Ooops

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...which is MOST musicians...

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Indeed.

If you go back to those early TV shows - it was win a Paul McCartney hairbrush on Ed Sullivan...

What's your name? Suzy? You're 17 years old? Did you know you can win a Paul McCartney HAIRBRUSH???

...yeesh...

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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This is TOTAL bullshit.

Despite this incredibly low salary - most musicians don't even make CLOSE to this amount of money!

Are you KIDDING?

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It probably really is the (mathematically) average income. A handful of ultra rich pop stars averaged with an army of poverty level players with some number in the middle making enough to survive.

Average income doesn't mean that's what the average musician makes, if you get my point.

The word "average" can mean different things in different contexts.

I have the utmost respect for people who have worked hard to achieve success and I'm not whining about anything, thanks. I was merely pointing out that the title of this thread is completely disingenous.

The article provides no "Proof there is still a ton of money in MUSIC right now", it proves only that stars with a high profile and a marketable image can earn a lot of money from endorsements etc.

It doesn't represent the problems faced by the majority, as Jean Cook, the program director at the Future of Music Coalition, states in the article:

"Anybody who's able to leverage their brand and get income from it is probably doing fairly well, most people are not in a position to leverage their brand... Musicians are poor... There are successful musicians -- but the vast majority of people aren't that."

The statistics likely only include musicians who report their income. This would be largely orchestra players who make 40k to 50k annual with benefits, players who do the big city country club casuals for $400 to $500 a person 3 nights a week, etc...

When you average these groups in with what huge celebs make, I'm surprised it's that low.

Players doing small cover clubs or writing music would not even be included because most don't report income. If they could be accurately included, the average might drop below $12k annual. I know very few gigging musicians who make over $1k a month playing music.

It's bad statistics work.

sure if your lady gaga or edelle... but what we're talking about is the end of the middle class working professional musician...

over 45% less...

If the Internet is working for Musicians, Why aren’t more Musicians Working Professionally? | The Trichordist

Bad in a good way for them; they got paid for the work ....


Three kinds of liars in the world...

1.) liars

2.) DAM liars

3.) Statistician's


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