Music as a Job

Hi folks, There's something I've been wondering about for a long time. A stigma exists when it comes to creative jobs. I live in the Midwest and the lifestyle in my neck of the woods for people around my age is usually: Get up, go to work, get off, go to the bar, go home, repeat. Which is fine and all but what if you work as a musician? Well then that's when things start to change. For one working as a local musician means you work AT the bar. For some musicians this means an easy way to get free drinks. For others it means hanging out with friends easier after work ends. For people like me it's slightly awkward. I'm a very non judgmental person be nature. Some would even describe some of my personal life as rather libertine and free roaming in nature. That being said I also grew up in martial arts so I have a high value for being in complete control of my body. As such I generally avoid drinking and drugs as both a health and fitness choice as well as a self control point. I don't mind if others do it, just not my thing. But because of that I never really had a chance to get comfortable in crowds especially at a bar. So playing at bars is actually work for someone like me. But we get paid half decent for the work and it's nice to be able to put smiles on people's faces for a living. I'm very passionate about making people happy and because of that I love my job. The question tonight is about whether being a musician (or any other creative professional) is really work. Here in the Midwest a job seems to be defined as "clock in, clock out, go home." Anything other than that is relatively considered a hobby or playing some sort of games. Now we know in this society you can make a living doing just about anything, look at people who play video games on youtube for a living as a prime example. This is a great thing, because whatever you love can be your livelihood and anyone can truly have a career in anything if they work hard enough for it. So if you only define "working" as clock in, clock out, go home; then you're really limiting yourself to the possibilities that exist. However among this kind of mindset is a very dangerous concept of "oh you play guitar, you must be broke" or "you're unemployed then?" Well both of those things can be true but for a surprising amount of us that's not true. The basic mindset seems to be that if you're not on tv then you aren't working. I'd like to try and dispel that notion if I may. Firstly creative people work mostly off the clock. Look at the singer who spends all their free time learning songs, practicing technique and getting ready for a 3 hour show. Also look how many years it takes a musician (generally) to get to the level required to play full time? For me it took 15 years of consistent work on my instrument. No not all songs that I play require all that practice, but there's always that song that you HAVE to learn where you thank God for that time you spent running scales and learning theory. We train our skill sets for years before we can even start to get a paycheck. I don't know any "normal job" that requires that much patience and stamina. Not only that, but just to get to that first gig (and subsequent paychecks) is a barrage of cold calling, demo recording, auditioning, etc. You have to work the business side just as much if not more than the creative side. Then once you finally get that coveted paid gig, you have to make sure you have all the equipment (your tools) ready in working condition, and that you perform like the employee of the month so that you can come back to work another day. Our work is the only one where our performance EVERY DAY is the decisive factor for future work. You see we can't have an off day, and just coast through work like a regular job, we can't call in sick if we're not famous, we have to work our tails off and work like our lives depend on it each and every time we go on. You don't do that at a regular job. Yes we are our own bosses but that means we have the responsibility of an entire company on our shoulders, we are responsible for the branding, the work scheduling, the materials, the tools, the transportation, and we have to hope we'll get paid the full amount our time was worth in the first place. Most of all in a regular job, you have your schedule set up for you. We don't have that luxury. We have to claw tooth and nail to find our first set of working days, and after all that. After that heart attack inducing amount of work that we put in for YEARS just to get started, we have to make sure to keep going. I think most folks around here are right, I don't have a job. I have a career. A career I've worked half of the entirety of my life to achieve. And I'm humbled to have that opportunity, and damn proud to be a part of a select group of people willing to stray from the heard.