Burn Out & Overworked

How A Freelance Music Career Can Support Your Mental Wellness

Wow. This hit close to home. Especially looking at my short stint as a working musician in early 2000s.  The relentless need to work harder to prove something to all of the "naysayers" in my family.  There is so much of this article in me.

It also sound like some "burn outs" I have seen/ witnessed/ heard about in the Computer Incident Response field.  Especially those that work in a Security Operations Center or SOC.  As this role changes with work from home, some of these habits could be beneficial to those folks as well.

1,000 true fans is the goal

just got this link from a friend and just now starting to read through it, but it has some really interesting ideas and is definitely worth reading.

"1000 True Fans"

more to follow...........

update

       so the article presents a pretty compelling argument. I mean being able to count to 1000 is not that difficult. And three years is certainly not a long time to suffer and toil for one's art.  And certainly if you follow through on the initial math, that is a very modest but sustainable living even in this American Financial Mess we live in today.

1,000 true fans * $100/year their willing to spend = $100,000 per year.

Now let's not get into to many statistics, as I do consider myself a true fan of some artists, and i find it hard to believe that i spend around $100 a year on materials, works, pieces, etc. that they produce. THat being said i would agree that i spend at least $50 per year on multiple artists, and well, multiply that by $1,000 and you still have $50,000 per year. Either way the math is still compelling.

Spotify the new music pirate

I found quick a collection of articles on Spotify and other streaming services available for musicians to get their music heard.  They are all written from different artist views from small and independent artists. Some of them are very good and well worth the read. I will not say i agree with everything that is said, but certainly these are "food for thought"

article 1: Spotify From a Musician’s Perspective
article 2: Should Artists Have to Work a 2nd Job?
article 3: Release day economics
article 4: Zoe Keating On Spotify
article 5: Spotify should give indies a fair deal on royalties

Finally, here is a quote to make you go "ouch"!:

"I am very concerned about the apparent disrespect shown by many in our culture to those who pursue artistic endeavors, One recent survey showed a surprising number of Americans who believe that artists should have a second job to support themselves – as they should not expect to be paid for their art!  We must educate the public and eradicate these extremely destructive beliefs."  --  John Simson

Still worried about pirates

So as usual, I start the morning by checking me email. In it today, is an email from Janek with a new post on his blog. Naturally, i went there, and noticed rright off, that there was a link to a post John Mclaughlin wront on his blog.

Starting with the Mclaughlin blog, I began to dig into a morning of reading while sipping my coffee.While I can not say that I am shocked by the blog post, it certainly is upsetting to me. I think it might be a bit too narrow minded, and the murder analogy is a bit far fetched for me. I Still have my one question though, How come all this piracy stuff only came up now and do we still need to discuss it? I for one, have to admit that as a youngster i created many "mix" cassettes and gave them away to all sorts of people.Also, I think it is a stated fact that piracy is going on, and will not stop anytime soon.

I still think the recent advances in technology have dramatically freed artists to explore more, and I think the freedom gained back from the labels will help all musicians in the long run. Don't forget, we no longer have to wait for some A&R guy to OK us going to the studio, and making a record.

Will it take awhile for the changes to finish,.... sure.
Will there be a lot of pain while things change,......... sure.
In the long run will life, work, and creativity be improved for musicians,.........YES!

Sooooo......... murder analogies aside, I went back to Janek's blog, thinking that he would follow suite and rail against the "interent boogey-men" as well. I was very pleased that he did not go down this path.Nice post Janek!

The changes coming and affecting the music industry will forever change the cultural landscape that we all navigate. The cat is out of the bag, and there is no going back to the good 'ole days. I am amazed at people who want to bring back the good 'ole days. Do they really prefer one person or company ripping them off, instead of thousands, even if the dollar amounts are the same? At least now a days, it is the fans who actually listen to the music ripping you off instead of the greedy record industry.

Oh well.....more tirades later.

Plug-in round up, week 24

So there is a new installment of the plugin roundup and the music radar websites. Also this week, a great producer video, many articles on the Nirvana Nevermind album, and some old tales about Hendrix. Check it out.......

New VST plug-in round up

The latest round up from Computer Music

article