What does it really take to become a career artist?

Anthony sent me an e-mail a couple weeks ago titled, “Tough Question”.  He asked me if I could summarize what it REALLY takes to “live comfortably” as a musician without the necessity of a real job.  He’s in a couple bands while going to college and is curious to know what he’s aiming for to make this happen.  It’s taken me a while to respond as I want this post to be sincere and informative.  I have many different thoughts on how to approach this one…so hang with me if I begin to ramble at all!

Topic – Make a living as a musician
What does it really take to live comfortable as a musician

Advice:
Define “comfortably.”  Because we’re not sure exactly what your hopes are, I’m going to make some assumptions.  Before I get into my thoughts about this…let’s break it down real quick.  As a musician and band member you are one piece of a business.  Like I’ve said many times before, you must look at your band as a business…you need to make more money than you spend.  And you as a member and participant of this business are entirely dependent on it’s success.  So let’s do some quick and dirty math.

Let’s assume you’re in a 4 member band.  Let’s also assume your definition of living comfortably is an annual salary of $40,000.  So, if every member is an equal partner, the company has to have an annual profit of at least $120,000 ($40k x 4 members salaries).

TOURING – How much are you making a show?  $100? $200? $500?!  Starting out, you make no more than $100-$200/show.  Let’s say you play 150 shows in one year at $200 a show..that gives you $30,000 income.  BUT, what about expenses like gas, tour manager, oil changes, tires, brakes, hotels, per diems, equipment, etc…chances are your per show costs (average tour costs divided by number of shows) is going to be around $100-$150…so kiss tour income goodbye at this level.

MERCH – Let’s assume you sell shirts for $10.  It most likely costs about $4 to make the shirt so you’re taking home $6/shirt you sell.  Let’s assume you sell about 15 shirts a night on your 150 shows.  That’ll give you $13,500 ($6 x 15 x 150).  CDs you sell for $10.  If you own your master and manufacture your CDs they probably cost about $2 to make…so a $8 profit.  Let’s be generous and give you 10 albums sold per night… (8 x 10 x 150) = $12,000.  So we’re looking at a total merch profit of $25,500

PUBLISHING – Let’s say you got a friend that works for a DVD production company and they license your song for a DVD…I’ll give you a very generous $2500 for that one.

ALBUM SALES – if you’re signed to a label = $0.00.  If you’re doing it alone and you have your CD Baby and Tunecore accounts set up….I’ll give you a generous 2000 albums sold.  The margins vary on your cost of goods sold and distribution fees…but let’s assume an average of $7.00 per album = $14,000

So what are we left with after a year of touring, 2000 albums sold independently, scoring a song in a DVD, and hustling your merch?  $42,000.

Divided by 4 members = $10,500 per member.

Note this doesn’t include any recording costs or manager, atty, and agent fees!

And this is real man…these are very realistic, if not a bit too generous, numbers for a beginning band.

BUT..all hope is not lost.  If you can get to a place where your band is selling out 300-400 capacity clubs, you can make about $2000/night as a performance fee.  You’re also selling a lot more merch.  If your band can get to a level where you can pull 300-500 kids in major markets, you’re making money and well on your way.  The trick then is sustaining that fan base.

So there’s the very down and dirty math..but it should give you some perspective.  Now, my opinion…

If you’re worried about making a career as a musician..just stop.  If you’re worried about paying the bills, struggling, and living uncomfortably…please…just go home.  This is not easy and not everyone should try.  Now more than ever it’s survival of the fittest.  I keep saying it… you have to unconditionally love music and your craft of writing songs.  If success comes…terrific…and it will for the best of them. But it’s going to be an increasingly long road and you will struggle…as you should.

Ben