Is it worth it?
 

Is it possible to make a good living of off music these days as a producer? It's hard to sell cd's and a producer doesn't have tours, not in this case. So what you guys think is it possible to make a GOOD living? Is it worth it to try as much as possible to make a living through music?

Unless you're producing for some major acts and are really well known and asked for a lot (which is pretty much just getting work), then no...
If you're just making tunes in your home studio, you might sell some of your music on one of those online services, but I doubt anyone who does that actually makes a living off it.

The music business isn't a money making field unless you're either being paid to be a mass produced commodity, which you basically just serve as an advertisement that millions of people buy into, or touring your balls off and selling yourself through a lot of blood, sweat and tears for nowhere near the amount of payoff that comes with being an "asset" for music corporations to widen their bank-roll. You only get invested in (big money contracts) if they think you'll pay off.. which means you'll likely be appealing to the largest customer base, whether you want to or not.
Those are the folks that make a good living.

The rest of them, regardless of their role, are going to make a lot less... and unless you've really got some skill and can land work and make a lot of connects, then you'll be keeping your day job.

freebase definitely (as usual) is pretty on point here. but i'd like to add that starting on one of those online sites which host the sales of tracks will help you develop skills necessary to go further, and get more of your music into the market than sitting at home asking people if your idea will work. basically i'm just saying don't let anything get in your way if it's what you want to do... unless of course you're a lazy hack who really sucks at what he/she does, in which case you should probably go to school or become a janitor or something.

Producers and engineers and all the other studio people get paid for their time in the studio no matter if the the album gets released or not.

A couple of good books to read are:

"Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles" by Geoff Emerick

"Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music " by Jerry Wexler & David Ritz

Also the DVD "Tom Dowd & the Language of Music" is a must see documentary.