The Geographical Shifts of Our Workforce and its effects on Demand/Supply of jobs

[Daniel LeClaire]

There are going to be great musicians where ever you go. Also, I would think a small community of players would be harder to break into than a large place, like NY, were there are opportunities a plenty. Something to consider....


Almost everyone that wants to be a professional musician, or any career off the beaten path, struggles with the 'Will I make it?' question. It's unanswerable, frankly. When I was 18 music was the only thing I could imagine doing. I'm now 24 and am still pursuing it but I've also branched off into other interests. Life kind of guides you along the way.

[Klemme]

Be open about playing music everywhere you go. One City might have a pre-dominent genre of music, that will require you to play in a setting you haven't tried before ( e.g heavy metal, electronica/jungle etc. ). Make sure to be in a city where there's frequent jam-sessions going on etc.

Copenhagen is blessed with great musicians, I find the level here on a pretty high musical level. We don't have alot of Virgs, Langs etc. but we have many musical drummers who listens and care for the music (not that Virg or Lang doesn't do that, but I hope you get my point).

And there's plenty of Jam-sessions on weekdays.

It's not like all of us are 50years behind the americans, because we endured WWII, the media has secured a wide-spread acknowledgement of foreign musicians, heck in the 50's, 60's and 70's, Copenhagen was flooded with international jazz musicians.

Man. I was in Egypt few years ago, and i saw a band play Herbie, Weather report stuff so tasty etc. those guys were from the ex-yugoslavia. War can do much, but it can't kill peoples endless love for music and the will to experience new kinds of music, take Zappa, he played an important role in the sub-culture environment in Prague while the Chezch's still endured Communism, and was honored by the first president after the reforms etc. People knew what was going on, and people KNOW what's going on musical now! [img]smile.gif[/img]

The music has been globalized, just as anything else. Silicon Valley was the no.1 hardware/software mecca more than a decade ago etc. now it's China in the front seat.

But if you want to play American music as the americans play it, there's no other way than moving to the states heh!.

[XNavyDrummer]

Good point DSOP. I think Weckl is a guy like that. It appears that he's playing music and conducting his business on his own terms. He's an example of a great artist with the ability to market his art.

Back to S.P.'s questions, I think that pursuing an education in music that could be used to land a teaching position at the junior college or university level is a great way to go. There are a lot of guys with academic positions that still tour and record.

[troutbrooke]

Originally posted by Vdrummer:
DSOP said you can record a record and call your own shots and I disagree somewhat. Yes, of course you can, but your odds of selling many units when everyone else is doing the same thing is quite small. I know original bands that have given away several hundred CD's, (radio stations, friends, reviewers) yet only sold a few.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is very true, but I never said that success is a foregone conclusion. Music is funny that way... [img]wink.gif[/img] But, if you do it all yourself, the way you want it, you have no one to blame but yourself. Personally, that's the approach I'm taking, but I have no delusions of selling many units. I totally realize that my taste has a very limited audience.

S.P., you're young, so you can go to school for music now, and then go back for business, or law, or auto mechanics, or whatever in the future. I find that degrees and certificates don't mean as much as they used to out in the real world (except for fields such as law, medicine, etc.) whereas real hands-on experience will count for a lot more. Don't be afraid to start your own business. The sooner the better.

[Riddim]

If you want to catch marlin, you have to go where the marlin are.

[troutbrooke]

The world is changing, and what used to be impossible (or extremely difficult and/or financially prohibitive) is now very possible. It's very easy to record, manufacture and release your own product now. What I'm getting at, is you can do your own thing and call the shots. You can make your own future if you are capable and driven. It doesn't matter WHERE you are.

[S.P]

Thanks to all! Everyone makes valid points! But i do disagree with some stuff that Vdrummer said...i mean if in in Spain (and i use this example due to what i have seen or experienced coming out from that scene) They have only very recently started getting people that play drums, perhaps now it is only the 2nd generation of drummers coming out From Spain (spain was in civil war during the 40's and was under dicatorship until the early 70s) so much of the country had little money.

So from what i have seen the drummers there have quite poor technique (not taking away from their musicality or any other aspect) they don't seem to be that professional either and care for their sound, they are still very much developing to catch up to the average standard of say a U.S drummer. Is it not right then for me to believe that if i did move there with a higher level of playing (assuming i had the right attitude for others to want to work with me) that i would be more likely to soak up all the work nationally?

Im not saying that i would be like a vinnie over there...but with i may be able to do better for myself in Spain than say in L.A or N.Y

then again the playing situations wouldn't be as prestigious (say a chick corea gig or whateveR)

I don't know, i guess after making the decision that i wanted to be a pro drummer, worries about making a living have hit me. And it seems that it is easier to make a living by going for a uni course such as business or something like that to set me up for a day gig. The thing is, i have absolutely no clue what i want, if it isn't to be a drummer.

Of course i would prefer to mainly play, but i would welcome teaching, having my own studio or working at a drum company! Anything to be closely associated with music. This is why i was considering studying Journalism and try and get work in a drumming publication.

HMMMM CHOICES!

Right now I'm leaning to just doing the Bachelor of Music and going for it, I would probably be able to find a way to make a living if i really want it bad enough!

DSOP what you say is quite inspirational...but can be an adversity due to the fact that now not as many drummers are needed to do records...most people can just program their own drums or whatever and those type of productions are so low budget that they might not even have money to hire a drummer!

[S.P]

Hey Guys!

This is all good stuff, even if there are no definitive answers to my questions, i still enjoy reading the responses very much and i think i will eventually have to do what spaceotter said...

take a blind leap of faith and hustle for everything to go as i wanted!

I'll let you guys know what happens in a couple of years!

It's been really great having all of your advice in the numerous threads i have made of this sort! Thanks again!

[spaceotter]

I like the responses here--especially Daniel's, which I think is quite realistic.

As I've said here before, my family were mostly musicians who tried to "make it" playing for a living, but then had to supplement. The supplementary income took over, and their focus shifted to what paid the bills. Of course, they were trying to do this in a small metro area in the midwest, so it was not the best environment to get paid. As Riddim says, you have to go where the marlin are to fish for marlin. So you're the best drummer in Nephi, Utah. Who you gonna play with?

I tried playing music in bigger cites on the US west coast (Seattle, SF) but distractions and pressures of higher-rent areas made steady income attractive, and a similar thing happened to me as happened to my family: other interests and supplementary income took over and became my primary focus. Money making pursuits then threaten to kill off the less lucrative artistic ones. This is one of the difficult internal battles that some of my musician friends and I face now in our 30s.

There's probably a balance somewhere between the harsh competitiveness of the music meccas and the vacuous wastelands of cultural nowhere. The climate for this in the US doesn't seem so great though. I've heard many say that Europe offeres a better balance.

Music journalism is a very limited field as well, and I imagine not a place to pay lots of bills. As a writer as well, I know most gigs in wiritng are slender unless you are cool with being somebody's ho' (and a pretty good ho) or are so brilliant in your own right that you are undeniable. Probably the same could be said for drums.

In the end, nobody can tell you what you need to know. You've been asking questions about stuff for a while here, SP, and are clearly at a place in your life where you have to make decisions. (Un)Fortunately, you have to do what you want and make your own way. Questioning is great but there is a leap of faith you have to take toward that thing you wanted, that other people told you was stupid or impossible. Because there will always be someone to tell you that what you want is stupid or impossible. Chances are they have their own motives or experiences that may not be relevant to your life.

I say do what you want, and live with the consequences. Or, if you are unsure of what you want, try stuff out at your own pace and let other people deal with their own irrelevant opinions about it.

Peace and best wishes always--spaceotter