middleaudio.com

Here's a link that JJ brought up in the REP. Interesting stuff about how much money artists make (or don't make.)

http://mashable.com/2010/04/15/music-artists-earn-online-infographic/

Wow that's pretty depressing. Just goes to show if you want to make a living in this industry, you've got to be a song writer.

As a song writer you can make a living.

Also I was too late, a GC thread on this has already started.

So how do you be a songwriter for a living? The idea of writing jingles, having other people record them, and never performing appeals to me greatly.

I wasn't suggesting being a songwriter exclusively, just that you need to be writing your own songs. As far as being a songwriter for a living, that's almost as hard a nut to crack as being a performer for a living. First you have to find someone who wants your songs, which is the hard part. Usually it's easier to find a way into writing for TV/movies/corporate stuff etc. than writing for other singers.
There's not as much chance at getting a big hit that makes a ton of money, but you would have a lot more opportunities to make consistent small bucks. As to how to get started, I don't really know as I don't work in that realm of things too much.

macrae11 wrote: Usually it's easier to find a way into writing for TV/movies/corporate stuff etc. than writing for other singers.
There's not as much chance at getting a big hit that makes a ton of money, but you would have a lot more opportunities to make consistent small bucks. As to how to get started, I don't really know as I don't work in that realm of things too much.

Bingo. After a while you could get a pretty steady stream of revenue this way, but it's a hard industry to ckrack and you have to be ridiculously versatile.

Christian LeBlanc wrote:So how do you be a songwriter for a living? The idea of writing jingles, having other people record them, and never performing appeals to me greatly.

How to get started?

From my experience, one should join a music association and begin networking at the conferences. In other words, instead of going to the East Coast Music Association awards weekend just to get loaded and party, one would attend the conferences, seminars, and one-on-one meetings and network, network, network. It's all about who you know.

Oh yeah, and also, at said conferences, one will constantly be informed that the best way to be successful is to continue to write better songs. Granted, they do not explain how to write better songs, but simply that one must write better songs.

Crimson Chameleon wrote:In other words, instead of going to the East Coast Music Association awards weekend just to get loaded and party, one would attend the conferences, seminars, and one-on-one meetings and network, network, network. It's all about who you know.

This. I couldn't agree more.