Is time running out? :/

[FELINEGUITARS]

Interesting question
Depends what you want success as
Seasick Steve has been a big hit and he is hardly teenybop material

The record companies have made me sick over the last 25 years
If you are old enough to know what you are doing then you are too old/past it
Well guess what - those record companies are on their knees and going broke these days

It is all about to change - it's all in flux
It's not just record labels either
Live Nation are nearly a BILLION dollars in debt apparently - that cant go on much longer , although there is talk of them combining with ticketmaster
But they are overpricing gigs and NOBODY is turning up

The whole rulebook over age , colour , creed, good looks etc is about to become defunct.

I see a lot of pubs and bars opening up to live music when DJs were previously the flavour of the month, so there will be a grassroots change.
In Croydon it is happening because the Drum and Bass nights and dance music clubs were bringing a lot of drugs trouble and gang violence with it (turf wars over selling drugs), and the police and council have had enough and are revoking licenses.....good riddance too!

Maybe it is a return to pub rock , and that's great news in my opinion
Get people away from POP IDOL and make them realise they'd do better honing their skill and playing live

[AndyR]

^ that's interesting stuff Jonathan.

While I was typing mine earlier, I was thinking that "making it" as I knew it is kinda defunct nowadays anyway... I'm getting the feeling that things are changing as well.

I don't really fancy playing live again... but that's based on x years ago when it was dying... you put all that effort in, struggled to get a gig, then when you did, the same three people turned up everytime (expecting to get in for free!), plus the obligatory alcoholic propping up the bar who wanted to tell you about god knows what...

If pub rock got going again, that would be grand :D

[nfe]

What do you think constitutes making it? If you want to be an NME cover band or a pop star, chances are yeah, you do really need to be making waves when you're young.

In more niche genres/scenes, it's vastly less important.

I deal with lots of musicians who I consider to have "made it" bt they're all still working full time jobs and plenty of them had zero success till their late 20's and 30's.

[38thBeatle]

I feel for you Nadz but I would be optimistic and say don't give up on the dream.I think Jonathan has made some great points that I was thinking of as I was working through the posts ( and Gwen, I was impressed with your stuff).
Like the others here I really thought I'd make it and I saw the meter running too but  though I had a few close calls, I didn't "make it" but life takes over and your perspectives change and as the years go by it becomes less important. I'd say play your a*se off and love it. I still do and I am just in a pub covers band with plenty of work.

I think that the traditional record company run music business will change and there are lots of opportunities for people to get their music out there. I don't necessarily think that it will make people wealthy but to me it has only ever been about writing good songs and the satisfaction of having people listen and want to hear them, sadly a target I have not yet achieved.

Besides, making it big means these days being under constant scrutiny perhaps more than ever before and I can't think that real or perceived financial gains can compensate for that.

[_tom_]

to me it has only ever been about writing good songs and the satisfaction of having people listen and want to hear them, sadly a target I have not yet achieved.

Same here.. well of course like most young guitarists I wanted to be a big star and have all the money. But now I dont really care, I realised I would probably hate all the attention anyway but of course the money would be nice :)

Right now I just want to get playing live and have a "following" of people who just want to turn up to a pub/venue and hear my music. Its too hard to find a band into the same stuff as me though, the only person I know who I might get on well enough with musically is indy from this forum. And we live nowhere near each other so jamming isnt going to happen easily :?

[Nadz1lla]

By "making it" I mean doing what I love either as a career on its own or at least making enough money from it to cover my bills whilst juggling it with a regular job. It's just, the only way I can see actually getting this thing off the ground properly and getting the attention I want, getting on the festivals and bigger venue circuits, is by getting the backing of a really good agent / manager, maybe even a record company. Although, I guess I would probably want something more like a distribution deal, not a record deal, as that way I get to keep the rights to my music.

It might also sound a bit cheesy, but bugger it, I'm going to put it out there... I read an interview with Dez Fafara in this month's metal hammer, and I just thought to myself "what a nice guy" and couldn't help but think he is exactly the kind of role model the kids need these days. He's very much like me in the way he thinks, his outlook on life and his work ethic. If I ever got the chance to be the kind of person who gets into magazines, does interviews etc like him, then I would want to be that role model, to let everyone know (indeed even up-and-coming musicians) that it's ok not to do the sex and drugs, all you need is the rock and roll. I see too many kids getting into the wrong things, or making big mistakes too young, and I've been my own worst nightmare in the past for that kind of thing. If I could become Mr. Big Rock Star, I'd use my powers for GOOD!  :lol:

I just want to make a difference in the world, and I'm not going to do that sitting in a damn call centre for the rest of my life, or fitting bathrooms as a plumber. The only thing I'm really good at in life is music, I honestly suck at everything else!

[MrBump]

The rules and infrastructure are different today than 20 years ago.

Today it's possibly to make a professional recording for hardly any money, and get it to a wide audience.  And as Jonathan said, live music in pubs and small venues is very prevalent.

I seem to remember having the same internal debate - is it too late to make a career out of playing the guitar?  But I guess it's about priorities for me.  To be completely honest, I wouldn't WANT to make a living playing the guitar these days.  I enjoy it far too much as an amateur.

Mark.

[jpfamps]

I've only really been in one band doing original material which tried to "make it" ie go down the record contract etc route (and this was long enough ago you could do that!).

In my opinion the songs were really good (I didn't write any of them by the way), however we were probably too old for the fashionable end of the market (although the music certainly wasn't chasing that market), and the to be honest the band probably weren't good enough.

For most styles of music I now don't think age is an issue. It was more of an issue when the market was controlled by the record industry, and they wanted a certain stereotype because they thought that their major market was teenagers.

Hopefully the market will now swing towards acts that are good musically and do a good show rather than are "fashionable". This problem as been more acute in the UK, where much more popular culture is determined by "fashion" rather than quality......

Back in the day  a band would be sent out on tour (at a loss — it's really hard to make money touring unless you are playing big stadia) as a way of promoting record sales (which did generate income), with the hope that you could break into the large venue/ stadium category.

Bands (if they were lucky) were also given time to develop. One of my favourite bands, Thin Lizzy, didn't really make it until their 6th album. This just wouldn't have happened even 15 years ago, they would probably have been dropped after their first album.

The real problem now is that no-one has any idea how get a new band into a situation where they generate any significant income as the only acts making real money at the moment are the big acts play big venues: AC/DC, Springsteen, U2, Maddonna (!?).

I expect someone will come up with a way for bands to make money, however none of the many people I know working in the music business have any idea........

[Nadz1lla]

All very good points, and all making me feel a bit better about the situation, heh. It just got on my tits a bit the fact that until recently I haven't shown my true potential, but suddenly I have started writing really well thought out lyrics, which are verging on poetic, whereas before I would tell the story in really plain terms and I hate that, I prefer to have pictures painted when I listen to a song. On top of that, I've been trying to break away from the A, B, C, A, B, C way of writing and structuring songs and it's a REALLY hard habit to break, I'm finding it really difficult, but at the same time it is pushing myself to evolve as a musician. My playing isn't great, but I still try to make things as fresh sounding to me as possible.

Ideally I want to try to write things with the beauty and equal ferocity and complexity of Opeth / Ihsahn and bands like that, but I find they can be fairly boring sometimes. Yes, ok, they might not be traditional in their song structures, but I have noticed they will go into one riff, quite clearly enjoying it (and rightly so) and play it 8 times, then move on to the next section, same again, play it 8 times, move on again. It just gets boring after a bit... the only exception is Deliverance as I'm completely addicted to the hooks in that song and I play it over and over  :lol: But I digress...
I think maybe I'm also putting too much pressure on myself to over-complicate things when my musicianship clearly can't keep up with the ideas in my head, and that really frustrates me.

Sorry for the rant, heh  :D. I actually feel like my head might split open and I seem to be causing myself such a lot of stress where, if I look at the situation objectively, maybe I need to down tools for a bit and go out and enjoy the world...but for some reason I feel like every moment is precious and I should be at my music computer just playing my fingers to the bone until something accidentally slips out, or I have an epiphany.

Early midlife crisis perhaps?  :?

[ToneMonkey]

Nope, it's too late, you're going to turn into your dad any day now  :lol:

[Lew]

If you are old enough to know what you are doing then you are too old/past it

That really resonates with me.

I've never 'done' music because I want to acieve something but because I just can't not do it, I know that sounds over melodramatic but it's not a take it or leave it thing, music defines my life on so many different levels it's really quite sad  :lol:

I knew from 16 that I never had the inclination or motivation needed to make it 'big' but that's not the same as not wanting to make a living from it though. + everyone's priorities are different, at 21 I had a mortgage and fiance, I'm 28 now and I'm just coming up to my last year in UNI.

I totally know where you're coming from and it's horrible way to feel but if you stop and ask your self honestly in the grand scheme of things would it really be that bad of you didn't 'make' it?

[Philly Q]

Early midlife crisis perhaps?  :?

Nah, having the energy to do all that stuff you just described is nothing to do with a midlife crisis.

When you really are middle-aged you'll find you can't be arsed to do anything.  :|

[tomjackson]

If you give up becuase you think you are too old you were never doing it for the right reasons in the first place.

Do you want to be the best musician and writer you can be or a famous rock star?  Give up on the latter and the former might just come true :D


shite, I'm starting to sound like Yoda now....

[Nadz1lla]

Nah you need to get some of your words back to front.  :lol:

Nah I've always done it because I love it and I've been a late bloomer in everything I've ever done. I just want to squeeze all the potential out of whatever it is I have, and because of my late bloom I have been getting worried that it might be too late.

Hell, why not, I'd love to be a massive rock star too, who wouldn't? Okay some people might not, but it's the kind of challenge I would thrive on!  :D

[gingataff]

 8)It's never too late 8)