Successmanship

Six years ago I decided to give the whole playing music thing all I've got. Prior to that playing music was a priority, but never a viable career option. This is all well documented right here on this very blog, so no need to keyhole the cymbals now.

Anyhow, recently a friend asked me if Scotland Barr had ever 'made it'. I had to give it some thought. By his own standards, Scott never 'made it'. He wanted to be a star and he knew he had the goods. But ultimately I would submit that he did make it. He wrote, recorded, and published three full length albums (actually the last one is a double but Scott only was able to record vocals for half of the songs). I used to think making money was the hard part. But really, having the goods is the hard part.

What good does financial success in the arts actually do? I suppose it enables one to devote more time and resources to their craft, thus resulting in higher quality output. Except that any band's discography, viewed chronological, would seem to contradict this premise. Sure it would be nice to have lots of nice things, but again the history of mankind suggests a correlation between wealth and happiness which yields diminishing returns.

Scott used to tell me "You consider yourself a camera salesman who plays drums on the weekend. You should flip that paradigm and think of yourself as a musician first who does whatever is necessary to pay the bills." At the time I couldn't have disagreed more staunchly. Then I grew up and realized he was right.
In the last six years my average annual income has been enough to live comfortably on, provided you're definition of comfortably doesn't include home ownership or taking a vacation. Perhaps I'd have earned more had I gone into finance, but there's no way I could sleep at night.

The best part is I'm in a band that is trying to make it all the way. To wake up each day knowing you're part of a group with the highest of aspirations is a very cool feeling. If my band's loftiest goal was to get good enough playing ZZ Top covers to make $300 a night at Duffy's Hanger, I'd be out before the first practice was over. So we'll keep making records and trying to make the best records we can. And hopefully the people who hear them will like them. And hopefully more people will hear them as time goes on. But if I never make a penny playing music it's still a success.

Finally, there's a lot of bs and a lot of injustice in our society. I know that unfortunately most people silently endure the marketing lingo and tps reports just to stay on top of their townhouse mortgage and it must suck. But I can honestly say, the greatest benefit to being in a band and really giving it a go is something I'd never have guessed. It's the quiet confidence. I began to see the world more clearly, to remove monetary designations and look at things in terms of actual value. Money is important to a degree but one can always find a way to make it work. When you're a part of a community that is really striving to make something good, it's easier to ignore that crappy boss at that crappy job. You can walk away from a bad relationship with a bounce in your step and a smile on your face.

Plus when you're in a band every day is dress up day, so if I feel like rockin' a puffy shirt and plaid blazer I can.