shadowcatcher
Guardian
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2006
- Posts
- 349
- Location
- France
- Society
- retired
- Avatar Name
- Salome Shadowcatcher Malongo
Posting on public forums is a delicate business, and I'm not very good at it. I am frequently misunderstood, and the hard edge of my writing style provokes misunderstandings.
However, you have showed such deep, sensitive understanding of very volatile, complicated questions, and explained it all in such a wonderful way, thank you ever so much.
"you must spread some reputation around before...."
I would like to turn your notion of getting paid to enjoy yourself being somehow wrong on its head. Very few people have the balls to follow their passion 100% and try to make a living from it. It is a very hard, precarious thing to do, and I lose many nights' sleep over the realities of rent / bills etc. But I manage it, because I keep working hard, and I keep the faith.
Likewise, the notion of somebody who works in an artistic profession permanently enjoying what they do. This is also very far from the truth. Today for example, I have been sent 19 songs I have never heard that I am required to transcribe and play tomorrow as an accompanist without messing up. This is incredibly boring, lonely, lengthy, and tedious, and I have absolutely 0% room for mistakes. However, despite tedious days like this, it's all about holding on to an ideal and a dream, because most don't dare to do it.
Why do I do it? Because, working on boring things like this, and radio jingles/advertisments, commercial pop productions, terrible songs for TV shows, allows me to keep dreaming, and keep composing and playing for the pleasure. I have recorded 5 albums in the past 5 years of my own songs, none of which are commercial projects.
Non professional musicians always say a similar sort of thing, exactly what you said in your first post to me. No disrespect meant, but playing as an amateur does not give you any understanding of the reality of turning pro, and the two should not be compared.
One last thing about radio royalties. In truth, deals are struck between music publishers, who require 50% of the artists' royalties, and radio stations, so that every time certain songs are played on the radio part of the royalties go to the radio station itself. This can be a lot of money. People do not generally know this, hence the notions of "exposure = success", not deserving money for it etc.
