Music Is Art and Music Business Is Not

And one can live without the other but not make much money doing so. Of course music is art and music can exist all alone without the music business (and it did for countless centuries). Music business is not art but if you are a musician and you want to make money from your craft, you must involve yourself and understand at the very least the basics of music business. You need only learn enough to keep your hired PR and management from ripping you off. Or you take it upon yourself to DIY the whole thing in which case a much broader and multi-faceted understanding of music business is needed.

I would rather not deal with the business end of music. But I do because I would like to make some money from my work. Luckily because I am not solely dependent on my music to make money I am not discouraged by a lack of substantial success. Also I am very hampered by the exact same circumstance. I would love to pour more time into my music and my music business. I just don’t have the time right now. I do not look to my future and see myself being a pop star, I see myself being a older musician making tunes for use in various media projects an applications. As a husband and father of two, this is the practical path for me.

Music is art and I love to create. I hope it makes me money someday and I am not ashamed to say that at all.