Re: where's the money?

[3nki <3nki@modaldub.net>]

i think you'd be better off giving away CDs to boost your audience so you could charge higher ticket prices for your performances, rather than trying to make money from selling CDs.

eno was on the first roxy album only if i recall. he's the right guy in the right place only in retrospect. more importantly, he's connected his activities so that they support each other. also, he's a "modern" artist in the sense that he's adapted to the current system to incorporate various elements to reflect his interests/concerns/hobbies/whatever.

the idea of making a living "as a musician" primarily from selling "records" seems historically recent, perhaps never true anyway to the artists, and largely pushed by record companies. if you want to make a living solely by playing music and no other activity, do just that - play music. concerts, performances, whatever. the more CDs and free songs off the P2P networks people download the more you'll make at your shows. at least, you can be fairly sure it's not taking away anyone from your shows ;)

On Jan 9, 2006, at 9:40 PM, Travis Hartnett wrote:

Eno was in a "hot" band (Roxy Music) before striking out on his own in

a time when musicians could put out a series of small-selling records

and not get dropped.  His production skills, work ethic,

self-promotion skills and canny sense of the direction of popular

music put him as the right guy in the right place at the right time

repeatedly--Bowie in Berlin, the late 70's New York punk scene,

ambient music, U2, and so on.  He doesn't regard himself as primarily

a "musician", and moves between music, visual art, design theory,

philosophy, charity work and just about everything else.

For those who do define themselves primarily as a "musician", the

question may not be "How can I make money in music and art related

fields?" but perhaps "How can I get people to give me money for music

I've recorded and performances?"  Personally, I have almost zero

interest in getting involved in music production, interactive screen

savers, ambient art installations, speaking engagements or any of the

other fascinating Eno projects, but I am very interested in getting

paid to play music in public and sell CDs directly related to that

music, and that's been the center of this recent thread.

Brian Eno and John Cage are more the exception than the rule for "How

do I make a living in music?"

TravisH

On 1/9/06, 3nki <3nki@modaldub.net> wrote:

with all this discussion of declining CD sales, "selling ourselves" and so

forth, i was wondering... it seems to me that most artists' don't make most

of their income from CD sales. there are artists like Brian Eno, John Cage,

philosopher-types one might say, who have managed to brand themselves

essentially and are far more well known than their record sales would

indicate. Eno said he'd never sold more than 10,000 copies of a record. but

you can find his name in any history of modern music, and he makes pretty

good money on associated activities like speaking engagements, production,

etc.  plus, he gets to do whatever he really wants without being restricted

by thoughts of how much his new CD might sell, thoughts of suicide at

over-commercialization, or who copies it off the web for free. or, take even

a hyper-commercial artist that does sell a lot of "records", for example U2.

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