Hi everyone this is my first post here. I've been making music for about 5 years now, have had a little bit of success with some label interest in various genres over the years (trance/electro), a few competition entry success that sorta thing, but I'm still not doing this full time.
During the week I go to work (I work in IT support/help desk) monday to friday, 8:30-5:30 so it's past 6pm when I get home, and of course after sitting in front of a computer all day I can't sit down immediately and start producing masterpieces, need to unwind, get inspired etc. By the time that happens it's around 9:30pm and then by the time I play around with something it's 10:30. I'm even single at the moment so having a girlfriend/family would take away even more of my time.
The thing that concerns me is that time is slipping away, I don't have time to follow my passion, and next thing I know i'll be 50 years old without a single 'album' finished because of work and family. That scares me. I want to be a success, according to my dreams I should be touring the world by now getting paid to DJ other people's songs as well as my own productions.
So anyways, how do people Gui Boratto find the time? I mean he's sort of famous, but nowhere near mainstream, actually I wouldn't even call him famous. He's known in the scene. Do people of his callibre go back to their shitty jobs during the week. How about all the countless electronic artists on beatport signed to labels with high quality banners, etc they work full time or what.
full time job leaves no time for producing
I'm basically trying to say that like any hobby, music making can be extremely time consuming, and, to make a career out of it needs time. A full time job on the side is very counter active to achieving this goal. I have been part time for the last 7 years and that was ok. But I'm talking about my current situation, which is full time.
SHAP - 14 hour shifts are may be ok for you but we may have different goals? How much time to you get in an average week to actually work on music? Have you set big goals for yourself with regards to music, or is it just a small time hobby for you?
SHAP - 14 hour shifts are may be ok for you but we may have different goals? How much time to you get in an average week to actually work on music? Have you set big goals for yourself with regards to music, or is it just a small time hobby for you?
I feel your pain mate, I've worked for 9 years solid full time whilst trying to do music, sound design and now graphic design on the side.
It's meant to a loss of friends, girlfriends, and sleep. At one point I ended up on medication because I was pushing myself too hard and I've since had to ease back and compromise, in my case it's been cutting out gigs, I was doing 3 a week at one point, 2 playing my own music either live or DJing and one either recording or engineering for bands.
The thing is - come January - It may have paid off, but I won't tempt fate by banging on too much about my own situation.
It's probably worthwhile remembering Carl Craig and many other influential musicians saying : those people who aren't being supported by the industry or working full time in it are the people who can afford to be influenced by it least and are often the 'real musicians' as they aren't doing it for commercial concerns eg: they aren't having to churn out track after track of the same sh!t in order to pay the bills.
this isn't ALWAYS true (eg - I and many others have a hell of a lot of respect for those that do make music full time and still never compromise their style, and being fair - who am I to criticise If people do want to make music so badly that they are up for doing whatever it takes to exists in the industry).
Another thing to remember is that Gui Boratto actually has been producing since he was 23 , he produced for a lot of mainstream artists and has worked commercially for some time before he got signed to Kompakt, and I'll bet he makes up shortfalls in his income from that by doing other more commercial projects which you probably would never hear about.
I know a lot of artists who have worked for MTV, Royal Bank of Scotland, International Governments and Car manufacturers on the side producing graphics, or AV material in order to boost their income.
Some people might see this as 'selling out' but to me it's just a way of making sure they never have to let their lack of money or record sales influence the direction they take musically.
One of my good friends is a hip hop producer, he's produced for a lot of well known artists on the uk scene and also remixed miss dynamite.
But he doesn't make a lot of money out of that, so he runs a property buisness and has at times produced radio jingles to make some money.
So perhaps it's worth considering other breaks in the industry , or developing different skills in order to facilitate a transition from IT into something equally as 'solid' career wise, but more music related.
I've just for example applied for jobs doing webstuff for media to tide me over until January, it's not 100% music, but I can do that sort of thing in my sleep, so It would mean freeing up brainpower to work more on music when I get home.
Some other good suggestions above re: getting a part time job.
Personally I can't do that myself as I have responsibilities to maintain financially which mean I must be earning a good wage in order to meet them
The final thing is to remember - what's for you is for you, don't ever be frustrated by your efforts If you've done all you can, not everyone can be a succesfull artist , the fact it's so difficult means that typically the ones who do make it are very special indeed and deserve support, there's plenty of people on this board in fact struggling away that could do with more people taking an interest instead of persuing their own interests..
I wish you the best of luck mate !
It's meant to a loss of friends, girlfriends, and sleep. At one point I ended up on medication because I was pushing myself too hard and I've since had to ease back and compromise, in my case it's been cutting out gigs, I was doing 3 a week at one point, 2 playing my own music either live or DJing and one either recording or engineering for bands.
The thing is - come January - It may have paid off, but I won't tempt fate by banging on too much about my own situation.
It's probably worthwhile remembering Carl Craig and many other influential musicians saying : those people who aren't being supported by the industry or working full time in it are the people who can afford to be influenced by it least and are often the 'real musicians' as they aren't doing it for commercial concerns eg: they aren't having to churn out track after track of the same sh!t in order to pay the bills.
this isn't ALWAYS true (eg - I and many others have a hell of a lot of respect for those that do make music full time and still never compromise their style, and being fair - who am I to criticise If people do want to make music so badly that they are up for doing whatever it takes to exists in the industry).
Another thing to remember is that Gui Boratto actually has been producing since he was 23 , he produced for a lot of mainstream artists and has worked commercially for some time before he got signed to Kompakt, and I'll bet he makes up shortfalls in his income from that by doing other more commercial projects which you probably would never hear about.
I know a lot of artists who have worked for MTV, Royal Bank of Scotland, International Governments and Car manufacturers on the side producing graphics, or AV material in order to boost their income.
Some people might see this as 'selling out' but to me it's just a way of making sure they never have to let their lack of money or record sales influence the direction they take musically.
One of my good friends is a hip hop producer, he's produced for a lot of well known artists on the uk scene and also remixed miss dynamite.
But he doesn't make a lot of money out of that, so he runs a property buisness and has at times produced radio jingles to make some money.
So perhaps it's worth considering other breaks in the industry , or developing different skills in order to facilitate a transition from IT into something equally as 'solid' career wise, but more music related.
I've just for example applied for jobs doing webstuff for media to tide me over until January, it's not 100% music, but I can do that sort of thing in my sleep, so It would mean freeing up brainpower to work more on music when I get home.
Some other good suggestions above re: getting a part time job.
Personally I can't do that myself as I have responsibilities to maintain financially which mean I must be earning a good wage in order to meet them
The final thing is to remember - what's for you is for you, don't ever be frustrated by your efforts If you've done all you can, not everyone can be a succesfull artist , the fact it's so difficult means that typically the ones who do make it are very special indeed and deserve support, there's plenty of people on this board in fact struggling away that could do with more people taking an interest instead of persuing their own interests..
I wish you the best of luck mate !
