what do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

[anon001]

OK so the industry is going down. electronic music, home recording, piracy, lack of preproduction. Whatever you choose to blame it on, your not making enough. Your a talented girl/guy you network fine but ends just don't meet. Your sick of rappers in your studio. What ever adjacent industry you look to, they are right behind yours on the way down. S*it rolls up hill when the mountains falling into a sea of it. You never thought you had a choice but to be an artist but now it seems like you have no choice not to be. Racks of Mic Pre's don't fit in cardboard boxes, so starving for your art isn't really a option.

Now what do you do?

[Jake Dempsey]

Take a deep breath, a few days off, and brainstorm new marketing strategies. Mailers, posters, myspace, sponsor contests, do work for charity. Whatever it takes.

[JSpark]

+1 On the deep breath.
The big checks aren't rolling in like they could, its true. What can we do? Many of us are in the same boat. Don't know what your specific situation is, but check in to notice all the good things you have in your life. Last time I checked, some of mine were

Health
Love
All my body parts
Friends
Family
etc.

Seriously. If you can really feel this gratitude, you can get in touch with yourself and figure a way forward.

Somewhere out there, out of the millions in your city, somebody needs something you have. It may be a skill, an object, or just your time. They need it so bad, they are willing to pay. Your problem to find them. You can't do that if you are pulling your hair out with anxiety and frustration.

Once you get to a decent place inside (this is absolutely necessary), use your imagination. Write stuff down on a piece of paper, or better yet,a big board.

Music industry? TV, film, advertising, video games are still going strong. Some indies are not feeling the hit as much as big labels. Individuals who have always wanted to record. Find them. Offer your services for cheap to get in the door. You can really generate many options if you put your heart in it. No shame in getting that 9-5 for a while if you have to. Whatever you do, don't give up on yourself.

Good luck. We're all in the same boat.

[shaddai]

Now what do you do?

Find a sister industry that uses the same tools! Try some 48khz work

TV, film, advertising, video games are still going strong.

Ahh...great minds think alike...mine's just a little slower I guess

todd

[themaidsroom]

Originally Posted by JSpark

+1 On the deep breath.
The big checks aren't rolling in like they could, its true. What can we do? Many of us are in the same boat. Don't know what your specific situation is, but check in to notice all the good things you have in your life. Last time I checked, some of mine were

Health
Love
All my body parts
Friends
Family
etc.

Seriously. If you can really feel this gratitude, you can get in touch with yourself and figure a way forward.

Somewhere out there, out of the millions in your city, somebody needs something you have. It may be a skill, an object, or just your time. They need it so bad, they are willing to pay. Your problem to find them. You can't do that if you are pulling your hair out with anxiety and frustration.

Once you get to a decent place inside (this is absolutely necessary), use your imagination. Write stuff down on a piece of paper, or better yet,a big board.

Music industry? TV, film, advertising, video games are still going strong. Some indies are not feeling the hit as much as big labels. Individuals who have always wanted to record. Find them. Offer your services for cheap to get in the door. You can really generate many options if you put your heart in it. No shame in getting that 9-5 for a while if you have to. Whatever you do, don't give up on yourself.

Good luck. We're all in the same boat.

nice

[mtstudi@pacbell]

Negative question positive answers.

[A LaMere]

Hmm.... "You never thought you had any choice but to be an artist, but now it seems you have no choice not to be"?

See, I have this... you're an artist regardless of whether or not you get paid, or what you get paid for doing it theory....

Most of us have or have had some other job that makes us money so that we can be the music junkies that we are.... there's no shame in makin' the dollars at a job that doesn't involve music in my opinion....

I figure, if I have to flip some whoppers to be able to afford a couple more of those api graphic eq's that I NEED to have!! than so be it....

[Windshore]

Now what do you do?

You live in denial. It works out well only because if you worried about the possible outcome of everything you don't have control over, you'd never walk out of your house.

Truth is everyone is just having to be even MORE creative. This version of creativity may not have been the kind you thought you signed up for, but your ability to get this far, is a testament to your ability to get through whatever life throws at you next.

We must become great improvisors.... and take each day as it comes, and be grateful that we've gotten this far.

[Jules]

Diversify..

I spent a few years living in Berlin (91-93) is was impressed by the way the people involved in music there all seemed to have about 3 jobs.

1) A boring one they didn't like to much that wasnt music related
2) A cooler job doing something artistic
3) Their band or studio

I think they did this because the music scene there simply wasnt big enough to support full time jobs..
I always respected their practicality..

And their lifestyle!

[BevvyB]

When things are going down, SOME people are cashing in on it
Just like when things are going up

I did this once

When things were moving away from using a whole band on a commercial jingle to 'everything programmed with samplers' I got in on it

I would play all the instruments, program and mix a lot of the stuff

I was still charging for a whole band and my invoices reflected that

Lasted through the whole transition (with a bumpy ending I might add), and now there are lots of people like me who can do a lot of things - in fact, it's now the norm

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and the transition totally worked in my favour - as more people lost out, so I won

Be an early adopter of the way things are going - where there is loss, there is gain

For instance, now that EVERYBODY thinks they can make it in a band (because unlike us they're not jaded, yet) there is a huge market for mastering, even badly - now that EVERYBODY is on myspace, you can offer bands services over the net you never could have reached before - there are many things like this you can do

Also in the age of convergence, doing video is almost the same as doing audio - sometimes when I boot up Final Cut Pro it feels as normal as Logic Audio - offer bands deals on shooting them in the studio so they can stick it on youtube

Think about what clients need in this day and age - a website, a youtube video, their stuff sticking on itunes etc - a lot of the stuff you now know is valuable, but you may have forgotten that once a long day ago you never knew this shit - your knowledge can be charged for and you can include that in your packages

How about creating a website/recording/itunes/youtube package for all in one you can promise to have a recording out within 2 months on itunes with a video to go with it? There are lots of bands who want a quick fix

Anyway, knowledge is power, and you are not just valuable for your recording knowledge - think about all the things you've learned over the years, and find ways to charge for them

All I know is, myspace is FULL, all the rehearsal places I know are FULL, there are more bands than ever before. So you need to make less money from more of them. And less from more can actually end up being more than anything previous.

Also, this is the time that being a NICHE can work in your favour. Be the one place known only to do punk or thrash. Or be the one place that 'specialised in acoustic recordings'. Being known for the one thing means you can get all the work in that field all the time, as opposed to getting only a small slice of all of nothing.

One day someone realised that more people wanted to learn about engineering than there were jobs to have. So he started an audio engineering school.
Another guy realises that everybody in the world thinks they can sing. So he goes along to every X Factor audition and hands out thousands of flyers promoting his X Factor recording package. After a year he gives up recording bands.
Another guy has a studio, so records all good local bands for free for a slice of publishing, and uses his contacts in tv and film supervision to place the tracks. He makes more money than he ever would by charging a day rate on these bands, but still charges the ok bands.

Anyway, I have no answers, but I do know that you need to think out of the box. And remember, someone somewhere is making money from what we see as a downturn. Be that person too.

Personally I'm thinking of getting a 0800 number so the endless hours I spend answering techie questions about macs and other such stuff actually gets monetised instead of driving me mad (but if you're reading this I love you really)

[ericwall]

Originally Posted by JSpark

+1 On the deep breath.
The big checks aren't rolling in like they could, its true. What can we do? Many of us are in the same boat. Don't know what your specific situation is, but check in to notice all the good things you have in your life. Last time I checked, some of mine were

Health
Love
All my body parts
Friends
Family
etc.

Seriously. If you can really feel this gratitude, you can get in touch with yourself and figure a way forward.

Somewhere out there, out of the millions in your city, somebody needs something you have. It may be a skill, an object, or just your time. They need it so bad, they are willing to pay. Your problem to find them. You can't do that if you are pulling your hair out with anxiety and frustration.

Once you get to a decent place inside (this is absolutely necessary), use your imagination. Write stuff down on a piece of paper, or better yet,a big board.

Music industry? TV, film, advertising, video games are still going strong. Some indies are not feeling the hit as much as big labels. Individuals who have always wanted to record. Find them. Offer your services for cheap to get in the door. You can really generate many options if you put your heart in it. No shame in getting that 9-5 for a while if you have to. Whatever you do, don't give up on yourself.

Good luck. We're all in the same boat.

great post