Josh Smith - a great honest post

shaunm

I don't know if anyone follows Josh online but he put a great post up this morning on his Facebook. I thought it was really interesting that we have a musician of his caliber who is starting to get attention from the guitar press is struggling along. 

I know this isn't a new concept, musicians have always struggled (other than the megastars). Perhaps if you are to make a living playing an instrument these days you have to be far more creative from a marketing stand point (Jobo) as well as an exceptional player.

Anyhow, this is the post......

"BEFORE YOU READ THIS AND RESPOND: Please I am looking for conversation and just stating some things. I am fine and do not need any pats on the back. Please no, “I love you Josh, keep the faith” comments…..that while greatly appreciated, are not necessary right now. I am fine, I promise. 

Had a few things on my mind and needed to type/think this stuff out(so excuse the venting!):

Success, what does it mean? I know what it would mean to me. I’ve been doing this a long time now and feel I am certainly at a crossroads. On one hand I would say I’m probably the most well known I have ever been. I have a large online following and fanbase and I’m very grateful for it. I can’t walk into a music store anywhere in the world anymore and not be recognized. That is amazing. Musicians and fellow guitar players at this point “know me”. Also, (not to pat myself on the back in any way) I feel my playing is at the best it has ever been right now. I have continued to push myself to grow and be better(despite the absolutely unreal amount of stress and change my personal life has been through in the last 12 months). 

What does that add up to? The perception is I am working all the time. I get asked for advice on how to be a working musician by younger cats 10 times a day. The truth is, I’m lucky if there is 1 day a week in which I put money in my pocket with my guitar playing. 

I have a number of tours coming up….Japan, Europe, the UK, Australia etc.(and I couldn’t be more excited) but, here are some more truths. I am lucky to break even on almost every tour I’ve ever done under my own name. I have been building up Europe for 5 years now and had finally reached a point where some money came home with me only to see that crash back to square one after I cancelled gigs last year. In fact my previous booking agent in Germany is suing me right now for money from the cancelled shows. He is also smearing my name to clubs and promoters which has in turn made my guarantees for these upcoming tours fall off a cliff. All completely out of my control. I had never cancelled a gig in my life before last year. 

So, Success?! What is it and what would it mean? 

I constantly, no joke 10 times a day, get messages asking when I am coming to such and such state or country to play. I want to do that more than anything in the world. Its just completely impossible. 

I’m meant to be putting every ounce of myself into promoting myself, writing new music, playing for free etc. It can’t be done. 

Most people think I would be worrying about preparing a good show for tour, trying to present myself as good as I can. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to make shows even happen at all! 

A band, I haven’t had a “BAND” in 20 years. A show? What’s that? 

I couldn’t imagine even being able to present myself in the way I see it in my head. To play with the musicians I really want to play with. To be able to pay them enough where they are smiling and happy to be there. To have stability. To maybe bring more than one guitar on the road or amp since I wouldn’t have to carry it all myself. To present myself in the way I’ve always imagined. THAT, is the only level of success I care about. These are all the things people expect, when I’m just trying to find people to make the gigs happen at all. 

I even built a studio behind my house, a life long dream!!!! The honest truth is if I didn’t have it to work on the last year I probably would have gone crazy. I have big plans for it and have faith that I will work back there quite a bit, but the truth so far has been its mostly been a place for me to get away and release all the stress. 

All this being said, I’m fine. You all know me…..I push through and never give up. This is all I know how to do. The only things that matter to me is keeping my family healthy and happy, and playing music. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink or drug. I probably have eaten way to much and drank way to much Coke during the last year, but I’ll be ok.

Just needed to put my thoughts down. Thanks for listening."

Wazmeister

Wow.

Just goes to show for all his amazing talent, internet presence and current high profile... he is still vulnerable like the rest of us; and still needs to put food on the table.

Incredible.

dindude

Interesting about his comment of being recognised in every music shop. I was thinking the other day, people like Josh are the guitar heros of now. All the threads that pop up saying, guitar is dead where's the next (insert name). Josh, Pete Thorn, Greg Koch etc, these are the modern day guitar heros in a world where choice and available media has been diluted and fragmented into a million pieces.
These guitar heros have a lot less riches than those of old it seems.

shaunm

@Wazmeister it was an eye opener reading it. I watched a tutorial where Charlie Hunter, another phenomenally talented musician was giving a talk at Berkeley. He was saying that if set his sights on earning what a plumer or electrician would earn a year as that is a realistic goal. 

@dindude ;When I think of guitarists i admire I think of them as globe trotting gazilionaires who all wield 1959 LP's and have a personal entourage to lug their gear about. I don't think of the likes of Josh making no money. I guess that's my perception having been brought up on rock and roll guitar heros. 

BluesyDave

Blimey, talk about a reality check.  Josh is an amazing player and the fact he can't get regular work is an absolute tragedy.  I hope he can turn things around a get the success he deserves.

RandallFlagg

Who is Josh Smith? never heard of him

shaunm

On TPS the other week when Matt Schofield was on he made a couple of references to money and how he could have made more money if he did more sessions.  Perhaps they (current crop) are struggling more than we think. 

It got me thinking that I don't do enough to support these guys. I don't always buy their albums I sometimes listen to them on Spotify which is really poor on my behalf. 

Last week my band got its first royalty payment and as part of that we got a breakdown from Spotify. We had 6000 plays of the album through June/July and we made £11.74. Make no wonder these guys are struggling. 

Sassafras

I don't think I'd recognise him if he was standing next to me in a guitar shop, but then I'm hopelessly out of date.

Legionreturns

£11.74?! 

That's just made me rethink my Spotify subscription. I suppose I'm a guilty as many others in that I play a lot of tracks on there but rarely buy an album as a result. I think of it as "my music budget" which is clearly wrong. 

shaunm

@RandallFlagg one of the new crop of blues/jazz guitar maestros. Amazingly versitle player. 

Here is a clip of him him more than holding his own with Jobo

Sassafras

Google tells me he's a professional basketball player.
To be honest, he sounds a little self-pitying.
He can't be too hard up if he can build a recording studio onto his house.

shaunm

Legionreturns said:

£11.74?! 

That's just made me rethink my Spotify subscription. I suppose I'm a guilty as many others in that I play a lot of tracks on there but rarely buy an album as a result. I think of it as "my music budget" which is clearly wrong. 

Totally true. We made ok money from selling the album on iTunes but Apple Music, Spotify and the streaming sites- terrible. Ok we did get our album listened in places we'd have never got to before that but even so. 

I cant imagine how demoralising it must be for guys like Josh, Matt Schofield and JD Simo when you put your life into it and you get nothing back. 

It has made me review the way I purchase music.

UnclePsychosis

Streaming services make money for the labels but not for any of the musicians (except for the global megastars). 

If you want to support a band or artists you have to buy their cds, merchandise and gig tickets. Streaming income is so small it might as well not exist. 

The problem for artists now is that streaming sites offer a bloody great deal to the consumer. There is also pretty much an entire generation who have got used to the idea that you either download stuff for free or you get unlimited streams for £10 a month. It's going to be very hard to convince those people to start paying £10 a cd. 

Jack_

Guy playing blues 50 years after its peak in "not making any money" shocker.

viz

Chillidoggy said:

Never heard of him. 

Lol

shaunm

UnclePsychosis said:

Streaming services make money for the labels but not for any of the musicians (except for the global megastars). 

If you want to support a band or artists you have to buy their cds, merchandise and gig tickets. Streaming income is so small it might as well not exist. 

The problem for artists now is that streaming sites offer a bloody great deal to the consumer. There is also pretty much an entire generation who have got used to the idea that you either download stuff for free or you get unlimited streams for £10 a month. It's going to be very hard to convince those people to start paying £10 a cd. 

Very true, it won't change now. Let's face it we were getting ripped off in HMV and the like for years. I remember paying £18 in the late 90's for the Band of Gypsys album. 

There is a happy medium though. £5/8 for an album isn't a lot of money. If I like the artist then I should support them.

Modulus_Amps

he is a great player, but he has chosen a hard gig to make it "big" financially I would think. you need more than a good guitarist to make money, there are loads on youtube, you need a really good team that knows how to take your skill and turn it into money.

shaunm

Jack_ said:

Guy playing blues 50 years after its peak in "not making any money" shocker.

Or 

Enormously proficient guitarist can't get paying work. 

joeyowen

Jack_ said:

Guy playing blues 50 years after its peak in "not making any money" shocker.

nearly spat my drink out.  

Jack_

shaunm said:

Jack_ said:

Guy playing blues 50 years after its peak in "not making any money" shocker.

Or 

Enormously proficient guitarist can't get paying work. 

I'm really proficient at mining coal, but I can't get paying work.

shaunm

Jack_ said:

shaunm said:

Jack_ said:

Guy playing blues 50 years after its peak in "not making any money" shocker.

Or 

Enormously proficient guitarist can't get paying work. 

I'm really proficient at mining coal, but I can't get paying work.

Well it would seem that your talents are being wasted.