One of the ultimate dreams of musicians — particularly, songwriters, composers and “artists” — is to make a living making music you love.  Not only you are “in” the music business, but you are one of the elite few who just do what you please.

It certainly sounds attractive to me.  No bosses to boss you around, no clients to please — just make the music that makes your heart sing, and get paid for doing it.

But there is a catch there, isn’t there?

Yes.  The catch is this: you can’t do it.  It’s not a theoretic impossibility, but realistically, no.  You need to be both extremely exceptionally talented, and equally exceptionally lucky.  So, no ma’am.  You can’t expect your life to be that exceptional.

The Impossibility of the Music Business

If I were to ask you, what does it take for a musician to succeed in the music business?  I’m sure there’ll be answers like:

• Be connected
• Promote yourself
• Be at the right place at the right time
• Write hit songs
• Create a buzz
• Have a great ‘image’
• Play as many gigs as possible
• Go on tour
• Be a virtuoso musician
• Possess a strong ego
• Develop a thick skin (’cause you’re gonna get lotsa rejections!)
• Make a great press kit
• Put together a killer web site
• Build fan base/e-mail list
• Record an amazing demo
• And many, many more!

Are you starting to get overwhelmed?  I am.  Establishing yourself in the music industry has become a litany of must-do items. There are so many things, and you have to do them all so well and so diligently, even if you don’t like it and it’s draining your energy (that means you don’t have what it takes to “make it”).  No wonder so many of us quit before making it.  We get burned out.

How to Make a Living Making Music You Love: a Simpler Plan

Let’s take a little step back and see if we can simplify our picture here.  To start, let’s be specific about our goal:

The Objective: To earn enough to sustain a comfortable lifestyle while creating, recording and performing music that you enjoy.

Now notice how I phrased the above objective.  I didn’t say “become established in the music industry,” “have an album go gold,” or “win American Idol.”

There are 2 things that are said there:

1. I need to make music I enjoy. This may include being a jingle writer, if that’s what I enjoy.  Or be a career songwriter, seldom performing and always having others record your songs.  Or I could be a recording artist belonging to a label.
2. I need to earn enough to sustain a comfortable lifestyle.  No limo or private jet necessary — or for that matter, no $100k home studio, $10k mini-grand piano or $3k Gibson Les Paul.  I just need enough to own and maintain decent and reliable tools of the trade, and live a comfortably so that I’m not worried sick about how to put the bread on the table.

I know I will be wax ecstatic if these two simple requirements are fulfilled.  No marquee name in the music business required.

Is this possible?  Or better put, is this version of music career more possible than what’s commonly referred as “making it?”

Yes.

And there are many out there who are doing exactly that.  Go ask my friend Marc Gunn.  He’s a Celtic folk musician and day-job-free since 2005. David Nevue is a solo pianist — started a web site in 95, sold 2 CDs the first year, and went full-time in 2001.  Or Your Favorite Enemies, a Canadian modern rock band that sold 30,000 copies of their EP independently in 6 months by doing a big ‘no-no’ — making MySpace their main site and working that system diligently.  NYC songwriter Jonathan Coulton spent a year releasing one new song a week for free, and is now traveling all over the world playing shows.  Christine Kane is thriving from her unique blend of being a performing songwriter and an inspirational life coach.

These people and others like them prove that not only is it possible to make a living making music you love, but it’s something you can count on achieving.  I’m not saying it will be easy or quick, but if you are focused, diligent, and willing to learn, there is a way.

Here at Self Sufficient Musician, I’m going to share what I’m learning.  I haven’t achieved my goal yet myself, but I feel that I am closer than ever and I’ve learned many lessons along the way.  Making a living from your music is running a business, and there are many resources out there available teaching us how to succeed as entrepreneurs.  Many don’t succeed, some do — that’s not just in the music business, it’s true everywhere.  I don’t believe we musicians have it harder than others.  Starting and succeeding as a business owner tends to have challenges.

I’ve been at this 15 years now, the fact that I haven’t made it means that there are probably lessons I still haven’t learned.  But many of them, I have, and that’s what I’ll share with you.

I still plan on succeeding.  I hope you do, too.

(Photo by Leah Pritchard)

[This post was edited for the SSM relaunch in April 2011]