OK, good point. Maybe I need to learn something from it, I was always more like must-do, study/job, then leisure, and every personal goal or task taking third priority. This may not be ideal. Lately it is changing, now that married with a child, now a suitable birthday present to my child feels even more important than some things the boss needs, and I am actually surprised by myself a bit there. I don’t know what exactly, but I think is the birth of our child is pushing me out from the “do things other people give you grief if you don’t, then leisure” mood into “hey there are some things I actually want to achieve” mood. Weird, kind of.
But every musician who wants to make a go of it comes to a point where they have to start saying to people
That is a bit optimistic. Maybe it is just my circumstances, but I see an over-supply of everything. I see quite good musicians still having to do it for free and making a living doing accounting during the day because the paying demand is low and the supply is high. This is why my impression is you really, really need to be a big “star” to do something you both enjoy and get paid for.
I don’t know what exactly, but I think is the birth of our child is pushing me out from the “do things other people give you grief if you don’t, then leisure” mood into “hey there are some things I actually want to achieve” mood.
That’s a far better place to be!
This is why my impression is you really, really need to be a big “star” to do something you both enjoy and get paid for.
There’s a range of getting paid. In the market for fiction, so I’ve heard, only a small fraction earn enough to live on it. But any publisher who asks a fee to publish your book is a crook. The market for taiko here in the UK is small enough that there are only about three people in the country who can make it their primary job, and I’m certainly not one of them. But still, anyone who wants us to start their corporate party with a bang can pay corporate rates, and have done. Even the street busker is getting paid—there wouldn’t be any point otherwise.
Even when you aren’t depending for survival on the money from what you enjoy doing, there is value beyond the money itself in getting payment to do it for others. Giving to strangers and getting nothing from it but the act of giving is draining in the long term. There has to be an exchange of value, even if one side is contributing “only” money.
Which is rambling away from the original topic, but I felt like saying it.
OK, good point. Maybe I need to learn something from it, I was always more like must-do, study/job, then leisure, and every personal goal or task taking third priority. This may not be ideal. Lately it is changing, now that married with a child, now a suitable birthday present to my child feels even more important than some things the boss needs, and I am actually surprised by myself a bit there. I don’t know what exactly, but I think is the birth of our child is pushing me out from the “do things other people give you grief if you don’t, then leisure” mood into “hey there are some things I actually want to achieve” mood. Weird, kind of.
That is a bit optimistic. Maybe it is just my circumstances, but I see an over-supply of everything. I see quite good musicians still having to do it for free and making a living doing accounting during the day because the paying demand is low and the supply is high. This is why my impression is you really, really need to be a big “star” to do something you both enjoy and get paid for.
That’s a far better place to be!
There’s a range of getting paid. In the market for fiction, so I’ve heard, only a small fraction earn enough to live on it. But any publisher who asks a fee to publish your book is a crook. The market for taiko here in the UK is small enough that there are only about three people in the country who can make it their primary job, and I’m certainly not one of them. But still, anyone who wants us to start their corporate party with a bang can pay corporate rates, and have done. Even the street busker is getting paid—there wouldn’t be any point otherwise.
Even when you aren’t depending for survival on the money from what you enjoy doing, there is value beyond the money itself in getting payment to do it for others. Giving to strangers and getting nothing from it but the act of giving is draining in the long term. There has to be an exchange of value, even if one side is contributing “only” money.
Which is rambling away from the original topic, but I felt like saying it.