I know that we’re probably going back to that “village musician” type, but then I often wonder what else are the things/jobs that these village musicians could DO, other than music?
and not least important question is also: HOW to be able to find out for the OTHER ‘money-making’ passion, other than the 100% Love of Music & being a musician?

If you or any musician here can share any insights on this one, I would be really glad & appreciate it so much. As I’m now 28 yrs old, and also still struggling in this Music .versus. Reality (money) dilemma/issue,..while my mind is constantly 100% filled with Music (compositions ideas, music parts arrangement ideas, etc) & really *nothing* else!

thank you!

if you need health insurance, pay for it out of your advance. what’s that advance for if not all your expenses while recording and touring? that’s the deal. you get access to the label’s resources and they front you the money to pay for it. they expect to make their money back, and you get to eat and work while that happens, and then eventually everybody starts to *make* money. if you don’t want to use their system, don’t.

again, i’m not ever going to claim that nobody’s ever been taken advantage of, but i do have a problem with the constant crying “victim” from people who went into the deal with unrealistic expectations.

and i wonder what Team Love does for their dayjobs. man, people think the solution to this stuff is so obvious, but it’s just not.

and stealing music on the internet is still stealing money from somebody’s baby. if they work at Capitol records in the mailroom, you’re still ripping them off. i’m not saying don’t do it, but calling yourself virtuous while being a music glutton is just wrong. “I’m doing the right thing by stealing this U2 album!” no, you’re just stealing that U2 album. you’re enjoying the work without remunerating the artist in any way. and don’t give me that one-off “but i sent them a dollar” bullcrap. you did not. admit it, just to yourself, and be on your merry thieving way.

It’s a what? A loan? Then after the loan is ‘paid back’ I get my masters back, right? Since I paid for the recording session, right? Not even the NFL fucks over their talent in that way.

90% of music artists are dropped because they are not promoted. This is institutionalized at the label. The label will not promote artists that do not spend their own money on promotion first and break themselves. I don’t know of a single case where a major label actually broke a new artist using the label’s resources. Do you?

These ‘arbeit macht frei’ myths just don’t map to reality at majors for the last 40 years.

And marcos, the options you mentioned are very, very new. That’s all. It’s been 100 years one way and 2 years the new way. It’s a scary thing to relearn what you’ve been drilled since childhood to believe.

watch your own back, don’t sign your life away, choose your battles, and you’ll be all right. if you get a major label deal, think of it like a job– like my job. i get money to live on, a little goes into a 401k, i can afford health insurance for a year, and maybe a couple thousand goes into savings. if you come out of a major label deal a year label having eaten for a year, slept under a roof for a year, saved a little (if you didn’t fritter it away on limos, you idiot), and had health insurance for a year, then how did you come out any the worse for wear than a regular joe? my employer certainly plans to make a lot more revenue from my work than they pay me, otherwise, why would they pay me?

everything’s taken to extremes. there is a problem, but the solution is in educating artists as to what they really need to do in order to make it, major label or not. it’s not a free ticket to fame and glory. it’s a free ticket to even more hard work, eternal vigilance over your legal rights, and the possibility of future employment doing what you love– making music.