Can You Really Make a Living in Music? (Prompt 6)

Savannah

Can you really make a living in music? The second edition of Angela Myles Beeching's "Beyond Talent: Creating A Successful Career in Music" explores the different ways in which a musician can succeed in music.

Beeching very clearly states at the beginning of the book, "...careers are developed over years, not hatched overnight." In fact, she even say s there is "substantial data [showing] that it takes 10,000 hours, or roughly ten years of study, work, and experience, to become an expert in any field." This is something that doesn't necessarily surprise musicians.

Even further, she claims that being a musician "involve far more than performing." There are many dimensions to the careers of musicians, typically doing multiple different jobs or projects rather than just one thing at a time. As Beeching wrote, "Only a fraction of the total number of musicians actually makes their living strictly as performers." Of the over 1,800 orchestras in the US, mst are volunteer or educational. 52 of professional American orchestras with the largest budget only have about 4,200 positions—in 2003 there were only 159 openings in these specific orchestras. Competitive performing jobs like these are actually only a small amount of available jobs for musicians. For proof, Beeching provides several ideas of different music related jobs.

Beeching page 340

Lady Gaga in the studio during filming of
her documentary, "Gaga: Five Foot Two"

While, according to Beeching's book, there are around 295,000 people that are in the "core music industries, which include performers, ensembles, those working for publishers and record labels, and those doing studio and radio work, music instrument manufacturing, and retail." However, an additional 899,000 people are in "peripheral music industries: those at music schools and recording companies, and those working as agents, promoters, and venue managers."

Essentially, the argument that Beeching sets up is that to be a successful musician you need to be able to be more than a musician. This is an entirely valid argument. There is only a certain amount of paying performance positions allotted in a season and the amount of those going into music far outnumbers the amount of opportunities available. 

Realistically, any musician would much prefer getting a non-performance job in a so-called "peripheral music industry" than in something else entirely. Non-performance jobs that are still in the music industry still utilize the skills of a musician and allows them to find creative fulfillment in their lives.

To answer the question, yes, you can make a living in music. It takes hard work, dedication, and traveling off the beaten path to make it possible. If you have the drive then go for it, work wherever you find creative fulfillment and strive to be the best that you can be at your craft.

From writing this post I realized the vastness of availability of jobs in the music industry. The book did a great job at illustrating just how many jobs are there in not only the "core" music industry but in the "peripheral" music industry as well. It really helps to reassure me that making a living in music is possible.