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My-T-Hi
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5/17/2008 8:06:03 AM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 8:20:20 AM
What do independent musicians do for a day job?
Seems like a lot of folk on here making great music need a day job to pay the bills and get by. (me included, (except the great music part:) )
Is there a good day job, that lets you, more or less, get on with your thing?
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The Black Orchids
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5/17/2008 8:16:04 AM
Yes, I own a guitar amplifier company, and a record label.
I make my own hours, otherwise I couldn't do half of what I love.
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Jo Ellen
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5/17/2008 8:24:22 AM
Hey Mi-T-Hi! :-)
I find stay-at-home jobs or business ownerships are the best for flexibility with music. Although in this economy, it could be quite an endeavor to start up. I make extra money constructing websites for small businesses, non-profits, and musicians too. I also have an online gift store. It's up an running for now anyhow.
Dream big. Jo
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Jeff Allen Myers
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5/17/2008 9:00:08 AM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 9:02:04 AM
During the day I am the Controller of a San Diego Tech firm. Working in finance does not allow much creativity (Unless you work for Enron of course!..I have a song "White Collar Crime" dedicated to those bums)
I also am the father of a year and a half Boy who I can't wait to come home and see! This makes it hard to make time for music as I like to spend my free time with him (My wife fits in here too!) :)
Having a good Job has allowed me to get some good toys, now I need to make time to use them! I have a backlog waiting to record...just need to make the time!
I fall in the category of Musician/writer doing it for the Love of creativity and music. I would like to play live, but my priorities are with my family. I love the age we live in where I can have an outlet like IAC. My short term goals are to track new tunes....
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Duane Flock
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5/17/2008 9:04:14 AM
I have the regular 40hr day job at Dow Chemical (shipping/receiving). My kids are in their early twenties so I have all of the evening hours to work on my material and come here online. I still juggle around enough time to be in a cover band and do a few of my own acoustic gigs. I stay busy just enough to loose my sanity!
D.
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Hugh Hamilton
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5/17/2008 10:27:52 AM
Stay-at-home dad - littlest kids are FINALLY in a.m. preschool - that and the weekends are my big music time. I'm really fortunate to have this time, but it can't last forever. Hopefully I can get my act together and see if I can come up with something that might actually lead to some commercial activity. Paul McCartney hasn't called offering a spot in his touring band, though, so I'm not sure what to do...lol...
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Jeff Allen Myers
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5/17/2008 10:55:44 AM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 10:56:56 AM
Paul's got some Killer Cats playing with him, still together since 02....so unless one leaves the Gravy train I thinks he is set ;) You do have the talent to do something commercially Hugh, there is no doubt about that. All it will take is Focus, drive, and with a little luck mixed in..it will all work out :)
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never never band
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5/17/2008 11:09:24 AM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 11:10:15 AM
I restore and repair antique beadwork and quill work and religious artifacts and consult with collectors and museums on conservation issues.
I also teach a free after school music program during the school year (they've slashed all the school music programs here )
and I end up helping my son with his landscaping work in the summer when he cant keep up with it.
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Steve Ison
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5/17/2008 11:48:42 AM
Hi My T....I do a part time job as a music support worker for mental health service users(16 hours p/week) plus the odd freelance contract and do busking on a Saturday..
I'm lucky i get housing benefit which pays 2/3rds of my rent-so allows me to spend alot of time on my music...
I think it must be tough doing 9-5,having a family AND trying to get time to create music....
I consider myself lucky in that way...and would be unable to live the life i do if i was born in the U.S
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Hugh Hamilton
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5/17/2008 12:27:14 PM
Thanks for the kind words, Jeff...
Steve, if you lived in the US I'd be the first in line to make sure you DIDN'T lead the life you do...you oughta be gigging, selling, and famous, my friend...of course, all that really matters is that you're SATISFIED, either way...
I have a fantastic life, but I'm not "satisfied"...I've got an itch that needs scratching, and it's called MUSIC...
:)
H
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Jeff Allen Myers
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5/17/2008 12:40:35 PM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 12:42:42 PM
When you figure the time stuck in the car its more like 7 to 7.....but who is counting :)
I do it all for my family now, it makes it worth while.
I will make time, even if I need to send my wife and son to the in laws for the weekend once a month :) The Beatles used to do a lot of their tracking from 7PM-2 AM, maybe I could adopt that schedule! I could then do the singing when everyone is awake, I would hate to scare the neighbors cat next door :)
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Hugh Hamilton
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5/17/2008 12:44:56 PM
The vast majority of the recording I do at the moment is in the morning - and I hate it. I'm a night owl by nature. Lennon said something about Let it Be - I'll paraphrase, "We were in this big drafty barn at 8 in the morning. Who can SING at 8, or 10, or whatever time it was, IN THE MORNING?" LOL! That's how I feel, but it's the only time I have, and I use it.
We all do what we gotta do! If anything, having a family in a strange way makes me do more. I can not BELIEVE all the time I wasted before the children arrived. Sad. Foolish. Oh well, I'm trying to make musical amends...
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Beth Fridinger
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5/17/2008 12:49:05 PM
Jeff maybe there is a way to involve your family with playing music and make it fun...just a thought....make it a family thing.
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Beth Fridinger
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5/17/2008 1:18:56 PM
Glad you have the time for music...I am worried about having the time...trying to make music and then make money is not easy.
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Steve Ison
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5/17/2008 2:43:34 PM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 3:11:57 PM
Thanks for the kind words Hugh :)...I'd prob be a burnt-out alchoholic with a f*cked voice if i was gigging all the time...One of the reasons i make the choices i do is out of self-preservation...I'm an escapist party guy who rations his partying to once a week
"I have a fantastic life, but I'm not "satisfied"...I've got an itch that needs scratching, and it's called MUSIC..."
I think ' satisfaction' is the absoloute antithesis of what it takes to be and remain a vibrant artist...There's a smugness and lazy self-satisfied state of mind implied in being totally comfortable that works against being creative imo...
To be unsatisfied means having an ambition- a constant searching for new things-new ideas-new approaches-to keep learning etc which surely means more interesting music in the long run...
Keep feeling unsatisfied! i reckon lol
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SILVERWOODSTUDIO
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5/17/2008 2:56:28 PM
Steve ---how true-------------satisfaction must make one complacent by it's very nature ---unless it is a fleeting moment----- say after you just finish a track and get it right!!
I teach at a Polytech, plus I have a class of disabled and mental health students for music therapy-----and I have a sheep farm with Black sheep (for wool) and I am an established Artist in the medium of driftwood
My wife has a proper job (of course!)
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RedRobin
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5/17/2008 3:40:54 PM
I don't have time to work or do a 'day job'. I'm smug and self-satisfied and so all the music I create is boring and rubbish.
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the kozy king
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5/17/2008 4:10:07 PM
How fortunate to have a flexible boss who allows me to book my overtime as time-off-with-pay! At this point in my life I'm running out of time, not money.
I have bragged about my welding skills on this site, so I think people know, I do fabrications and repairs for the oil field and for agriculture.
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Steve Ison
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5/17/2008 4:25:27 PM
---- Updated 5/17/2008 4:30:34 PM
"I'm smug and self-satisfied "
A part of me can't help but admire your chutzpah for having such obvious pride in possessing those personal qualities RR lol
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RedRobin
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5/17/2008 4:37:11 PM
....Possessing such personal qualities as smugness means that obvious pride comes very naturally. :-)
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5/17/2008 4:59:05 PM
I am the Manager of a CSSD dept at a local hospital and we work in conjunction with operating Theatres and sterilize all their surgical instruments...it's a dirty job but someone has gotta do it !.....anyway, it goes against the grain for me most of the time as i think i'm a reasonably anarchic person but have to wear my sensible managers head while at work...having said that i have pretty much managed most of the bands i've been in over the years so i must be a born leader or a control freak...probably both....work life balance not so cool for me at the moment but i secretly like it as i feel rather absurdly that it helps the creativity.....
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Steve Ison
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5/17/2008 5:12:31 PM
"work life balance not so cool for me at the moment but i secretly like it as i feel rather absurdly that it helps the creativity....."
Thats interesting Brendan...Why do you think it does that?
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srm
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5/17/2008 5:15:49 PM
I work as an engineer at a VERY small market television station. I've kind of reconciled myself to the fact that I'm just a hobbyist musician (good thing, too, because my preferred 'style' isn't exactly market-friendly). However I enjoy making music, and hearing music made by others, so IAC is a great place to be.
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5/17/2008 5:28:52 PM
Steve,
I think it's to do with what you referred to earlier in regard to being too satisfied...i agree with you that it can potentially thwart ones ambition and affect what you do creatively.....a couple of years back i had a 6 month period where i had no work and i thought that i'd get on and record and finish loads of ideas that i had and i ended up doing nothing...i was totally paralysied in a creative sense and unproductive...but as soon as i started working the songs just flowed...i sometimes feel that i have to be literally exhausted before i can produce my best work...strange but true .....
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maggie council
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5/17/2008 6:05:28 PM
When i was a single mom trying to make music, i cleaned other people's toilets.
When I became a stay-at-home mom trying to make ends meet, I wrote entertainment industry puff pieces for print and online publications. This was not an ideal time to make music.
When the kids got to school, I worked as a community radio executive. This was not at all conducive to making music.
Now, I'm a grant writer in the performing arts industry. My last 2 albums have been partially grant-funded. But now I don't wanna get off the couch and go tour anymore. :D
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Hop On Pop
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5/17/2008 6:29:49 PM
Some interesting comments here. I envy a lot of you in that you can make a living in the arts, even if it may not be as a performer (yet)... but that you get to work with, for and about creativity all day long.
My job sounds more creative than it is. I'm a writer, but I write about industrial products for the catalog of a major Fortune 500 company. The pay is okay. The benefits are great. And, if I have any energy, I can play a little guitar after I put the kids to bed at night. But then I have to have time with the wife some other time.
So yeah, basically I'm a (serious) hobbyist; hoping that one day I'll just get lucky. And, in the mean time I'm just trying to get my music out and get it heard.
So thanks to IAC and thanks to all of you because YOU are the ones that are hearing it!
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LyinDan
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5/17/2008 6:49:38 PM
Hey, Black Orchid.
I own a Pro Audio repair business - fixing PA, keyboard, guitar amps. I presume you guys are making custom vintage tube stuff. Need a repair center in Arkansas? Center of the nation and all (well, close enough).
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My-T-Hi
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5/17/2008 7:17:58 PM
It’s great to hear from so many of you. Keep them coming. It’s turning in to a very interesting topic.
As for me, I have a 9 to 5:30 day job in fire protection in Osaka. It’s mostly engineering, but as I’m the only (first language) English speaker, I also do a lot of Japanese – English translations, write manuals and catalogs, and work with an international committee that develop safety standards. I’m lucky in that some of this involves traveling to various parts of the world. And that can be an inspiration for songs. I usually take my guitar and a small mp3 recorder on the business trips and often write songs during the trip as I find I have more creative time than on regular days.
So I find the day job helps in some ways, or maybe “it helps to think the day job helps”.
Looking forward to hearing more day jobs...
Moray
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LyinDan
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5/17/2008 7:27:59 PM
Say, Moray
I suppose Japanese construction has changed since the paper wall days, so you're getting less to do from that practice.
Say, ever heard of Bill Crutchfield (Yes...I know it's a long shot. Heh)? Childhood friend of mine. Last I heard was in or near Tokyo? He first came to Japan doing an Up with People show, which was a musical touring company back in the 70's. Married a Japanese girl and been there ever since. Heard he was on Japanese television at one time.
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Bruce Boyd
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5/17/2008 8:12:10 PM
Like RR I don't have a day job...and yet I STILL find there's not enough hours in the day!
I don't think I've got any chutzpahs tho Steve - I think they might be extinct in Australia.
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My-T-Hi
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5/17/2008 9:00:51 PM
LyinDan
Paper walls are still around here and there, but I'm more involved with the semiconductor and flat panel display industries these days.
No, never heard of Bill Crutchfield, Yahoo Japan came up with this:
http://www.kahpunkt.de/singles/1bitter1/1bitter1.html
"Bitter Is Better: composed and written by Masami Tsuchiya and Bill Cruchfield"
Masami Tsuchiya is a Japanese name for sure.
Could that be your childhood friend?
Moray
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The Man With No Band
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5/18/2008 12:43:03 AM
uhhhh ... what's a day job .... :)
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Phlegm
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5/18/2008 1:08:45 AM
I'm afraid to admit it, until I know I've still got the job after tomorrow... =:-)
Skipped a day for rest, after doin' family/music & kickin' ass at the day job all week.
I do good stuff for 'em... so if I still have it by Monday, I'll gladly let you know what my sad-ass day job is. Otherwise, I'll let you know what my NEW one is when I find it! DOH!
Two more band practices tomorrow for upcoming gigs, and uncertainty about the DAY job.... isn't being a musician the most CHALLENGING dream to pursue?
Admit it! You KNOW it is!
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RedRobin
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5/18/2008 2:32:17 AM
---- Updated 5/18/2008 2:34:05 AM
Contrary to what Steve might think, I actually do understand that "feeling unsatisfied" does inspire and motivate a lot of artists, and according to comments, many of them here at IAC.
However, I find that on the relatively rare occasions that I feel depressed, I don't feel in the mood for making music. Playing other people's music can lift my spirits though, as long as the music isn't of the depressing woe-is-me genre. Good Black Blues is good though.
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Merwolf
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5/18/2008 5:31:09 AM
Well, I work the old 9-5 job as a student adviser in a university. Pay isn't great but it leaves me the evenings and weekends to get out and do my thing. It's a means to an end.
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Phlegm
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5/18/2008 5:40:21 AM
I'm pretty sure 9-5 is what we'll do in the UK in 2010, but here in the States, it's 3pm-9pm 6 dayz a week.
OOOOOooooh I Need your love babe, 6 dayz a wee--eee-eeek!
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My-T-Hi
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5/18/2008 8:41:28 PM
Thanks for all the input here, lots of interesting stuff.
Here a simplified list of what we have so far, Hope I didn't leave anything out:
Music related day jobs:
Own a guitar amplifier company, and a record label
Own a Pro Audio repair business - fixing PA, keyboard, guitar amps
Have a class of disabled and mental health students for music therapy
Community radio executive.
Grant writer in the performing arts
Do busking on a Saturday
Teach a free after school music program
Part time job as a music support worker for mental health service users
9 to 5 type jobs:
Student adviser in a university
Write about industrial products for the catalog of a major Fortune 500 company
Controller of a San Diego Tech firm
40hr day job at Dow Chemical (shipping/receiving)
The Manager of a CSSD dept at a local hospital
An engineer at a VERY small market television station.
Teach at a Polytech
Fabrications and repairs for the oil field and for agriculture.
Fire protection engineer
Restore and repair antique beadwork and quill work and religious artifacts
Stay at Home Jobs
Stay-at-home dad
Constructing websites
Other:
Look for work
What's a day job?
Unkown but 3pm-9pm 6 days a week
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