Quote:
Originally Posted by elphenor
Lots of people making "part of their living" on bandcamp album sales
That's kind of not the point though
professional is a synonym for boring when it comes to music
Do you want music as an art or as a trade like plumbing
|
Listen to Darkthrone. They don't tour and have real jobs. I kinda joke, but I firmly believe that the whole "make album, tour, go home for five minutes, make album, tour, rinse and repeat" thing is kind of like cancer to a lot of bands, especially the underground ones.
How you gonna maintain artistic credibility and truly step outside your comfort zone, or quit when your ideas dry up, when your music is the only thing between you and a McDonald's job cause you've been doing the music thing on a regular enough basis that you never developed any marketable job skills? You can't. I think once you're still in a "professional" band by your late-20s you've kind of backed yourself into a financial corner where you have no choice but to just release albums over and over again, regardless of quality, lest you be forced to live in the real world.
If you're the Rolling Stones you can kind of afford to do whatever you want, since you've already made so much money and continue to make more off of royalties that you aren't beholden to the music system. But if you're a band with moderate success that won't translate into a retirement plan then your financial options are limited to the point of forcing you into becoming a shell of your former self.