Not so long ago, I was talking to a guy I met about working as a musician in Denmark and he was complaining that it is so hard (it’s a small country). I could totally agree with that, because it is very hard to make a living of only playing gigs.
Its very normal that very experienced and skilled musicians with impressive carriers have day jobs as dentists, music teachers, carpenters or whatever.
He has worked in many parts of the world as a musician, but only here in Copenhagen, Denmark was he forced to work as a waiter to make ends meet.
All this comes at no surprise to me.
But then he said something that I think needs some consideration.
He said that that “only the ones who play bad music can make a living in this country”.
You can argue that he may be right, and you can argue that he is just a bitter musician wannabe.
Well maybe there is some truth in both arguments.
Long ago – maybe 10-12 years – I saw this interview with Phil Collins who was talking about his live tour and all the rehearsals and logistics involved in this massive tour.
He was talking about a musician and referred to him as “a professional” – and then just when he said it, he continued “I know it sounds bad – like this guy is a machine and only works for money”.
Apparently he preferred to work with people who were not “professionals”, because they often had their heart so much more into it, than the bread and butter musician who works on the clock and could just as well be a busdriver or whatever . I doubt there is so many of them really.
Anyways, at that time (15 years agomybe) it puts things in perspective for me.
I have always persued a professional career in music, and I actually make my living out of playing, composing and producing in many different setups.
That doesn’t make me a bad artist I think. I just do what I like, and I am very happy to be able to work with stuff that I love the most – music. Be it chillout, downbeat, electronic punkrock or weird improvising to silentmovies.
Ofcourse its not fun all the time. There is always office stuff and things that are boring that just needs to be done and boring deadlines and so on, but this is the routine that you cant avoid I think.
Its life, when you have to work to make money.
<a href=”http://www.ganga.dk”>Ganga – Downbeat / Chill Out Music</a>