Adam Neely's new video - Is DIY live music doomed?

sjo89

In case you haven't seen it, here is Adam's brilliant new video: 

It's a breakdown of the costs of putting on a DIY tour for a small band and it's frankly kinda depressing and alarming.

In essence, he puts on a very successful tour with most venues selling out and doesn't even break even. This is mostly due to a band member catching covid, but it's also clear that had it all gone to plan, they would've barely made a profit, certainly not one worth putting in the time and effort.

He also highlights the awful, cliched, prevailing public consensus of musicians should struggle. The culture of thought, whereby because music is something we enjoy, like a hobby, why should we complain about the costs? Funny how people don't have the same attitude to pro sports.

The thing that got me down is that it's clear that, more so than ever, professional i.e. full time performing musicians, are going to become all but extinct and only those cherry picked by the big labels with funding behind them are going to be able to do it for a living. And it begs the question to young and upcoming acts of "why bother"?

Pre streaming you could justify the slog somewhat as there was the prospect that if you built up a following and made it, there was the potential to make a living in music sales and I believe there was also a more positive culture towards music in general. It wasn't seen as such a throw away item as it is now.

digitalscream

The thing is..."professional musicians" aren't "full-time performing musicians". These days, most folk who make a living as musicians have multiple income streams - merch, live shows, music sales, streaming, teaching, YouTube etc.

For everybody else...it's a hobby, and hobbies are something you spend money on, not something that makes money. Now, it might be a hobby with aspirations of becoming a profession, but it's only at the inflection point between the two that the balance sheet becomes important.

alexh

He looked at his bank account and thought "Is that all there is?"

shufflebeat

sjo89 said:

...only those cherry picked by the big labels with funding behind them are going to be able to do it for a living.

...and those with rich doting parents or sugar daddies.

Turns out pop will actually eat itself after all.

It's the weavers and the potters I feel sorry for, soon to be joined by bus and taxi drivers.

Danny1969

digitalscream said:

The thing is..."professional musicians" aren't "full-time performing musicians". These days, most folk who make a living as musicians have multiple income streams - merch, live shows, music sales, streaming, teaching, YouTube etc.

For everybody else...it's a hobby, and hobbies are something you spend money on, not something that makes money. Now, it might be a hobby with aspirations of becoming a profession, but it's only at the inflection point between the two that the balance sheet becomes important.

Yeah pretty much this. I write and record music which I very much enjoy and do it pretty much every week but the money to run my home  comes from 

Electronics repair of music and I.T equip - tribute band ticket sales - teaching - running live sound & PA hire. On Saturday I was playing in Bristol in my tribute band. This morning I'm teaching guitar. Tonight I'm in the New Forrest mixing a corporate band function. On this coming Saturday night I'm playing in Portsmouth in a covers band. 

There is very little money in music now. I have friends on tour with established artist making less than most of us on here make playing weddings. The cost of venues and promoting is insane. Recently putting on a show at Gloucester Guild Hall cost us £1835 ... that's venue hire, security, sound & light tech, promotion, PRS etc.

On a more positive note though it's never been easier to create professional sounding albums at home and get them on the same platforms as the big label acts. 

digitalscream

Danny1969 said:

digitalscream said:

The thing is..."professional musicians" aren't "full-time performing musicians". These days, most folk who make a living as musicians have multiple income streams - merch, live shows, music sales, streaming, teaching, YouTube etc.

For everybody else...it's a hobby, and hobbies are something you spend money on, not something that makes money. Now, it might be a hobby with aspirations of becoming a profession, but it's only at the inflection point between the two that the balance sheet becomes important.

Yeah pretty much this. I write and record music which I very much enjoy and do it pretty much every week but the money to run my home  comes from 

Electronics repair of music and I.T equip - tribute band ticket sales - teaching - running live sound & PA hire. On Saturday I was playing in Bristol in my tribute band. This morning I'm teaching guitar. Tonight I'm in the New Forrest mixing a corporate band function. On this coming Saturday night I'm playing in Portsmouth in a covers band. 

There is very little money in music now. I have friends on tour with established artist making less than most of us on here make playing weddings. The cost of venues and promoting is insane. Recently putting on a show at Gloucester Guild Hall cost us £1835 ... that's venue hire, security, sound & light tech, promotion, PRS etc.

On a more positive note though it's never been easier to create professional sounding albums at home and get them on the same platforms as the big label acts. 

Exactly.

In case it hasn't clicked for anyone yet...the majority of the money in the music industry comes from selling things to musicians, not musicians selling things to other people.

monquixote

Danny1969 said:

digitalscream said:

The thing is..."professional musicians" aren't "full-time performing musicians". These days, most folk who make a living as musicians have multiple income streams - merch, live shows, music sales, streaming, teaching, YouTube etc.

For everybody else...it's a hobby, and hobbies are something you spend money on, not something that makes money. Now, it might be a hobby with aspirations of becoming a profession, but it's only at the inflection point between the two that the balance sheet becomes important.

Yeah pretty much this. I write and record music which I very much enjoy and do it pretty much every week but the money to run my home  comes from 

Electronics repair of music and I.T equip - tribute band ticket sales - teaching - running live sound & PA hire. On Saturday I was playing in Bristol in my tribute band. This morning I'm teaching guitar. Tonight I'm in the New Forrest mixing a corporate band function. On this coming Saturday night I'm playing in Portsmouth in a covers band. 

There is very little money in music now. I have friends on tour with established artist making less than most of us on here make playing weddings. The cost of venues and promoting is insane. Recently putting on a show at Gloucester Guild Hall cost us £1835 ... that's venue hire, security, sound & light tech, promotion, PRS etc.

On a more positive note though it's never been easier to create professional sounding albums at home and get them on the same platforms as the big label acts. 

I used to have a guy who was an occasional dep who played big festivals with an act from the 70's you would have heard of who had numerous top ten hits.

He made more money with his function band and still had to supplement by working as a decorator part time to make a decent living.