What is success?

B

bishop55

Member
Hi,
My name is Michael Bishop and I am an ethnographer, a musicologist, and (for a few years now) a member of this board. I am wondering what the people on this board consider success to be. I admit that this is an academic inquiry, but I am also at a point in my own career when I could use the advice and wisdom that I have grown to expect from this community. I am only worried that by posting it here, in the songwriters forum, that I may skew a TOTAL perspective on the board as a whole. Do any of you have suggestions for where else I may able to post it without being being a pain in the ass or distracting from the current conversations? I am very intersted in the topic of perceptions of success not only as they relate to songwriting, but also to recording. I firmly believe that affordable technology has created a new avenue, a democritization (if you will) of audio recording that is unprecedented in music history, and I would like to hear how people are using this new medium to advance their own participation in "music" of any kind. Any advice or feedback would be more than welcome.

Thank you,
Michael
 
There was a discussion on success not too long ago in one of these forums (can't remember which).

Obviously, success means different things (commercial success, vs. personal success. Some very well paid musicians have histories of sadness, abuse & death (that doesn't strike me as success). Some less known musicains while earning meager livings are very content, while being true to thier musical visions (this seems more like success).

I can only offer my view as a musician of almost 40 years who has gigged professionally for about 7 years and semi-profession for about 30 years (everything from Vegas shows to large festivals to small clubs playing for a couple of local drunks). As a musician I made some significant amounts of money, and I gigged for as litlle at $10. As a songwriter I've sold a few songs, had a few published and a few placed in films (direct to video - no big screen). This generated very little revenue but large amounts of satisfaction. As a recording "engineer", I manage to bring in enough projects to pay for 1/4 to 1/2 of the gear I purchase (not a sucess, but acceptable to me) As a "buisness person", I've worked my way through the ranks to a point where if I choose I could likely retire at 55 (while not wealthy, some may consider that a success).

With that as a simple qualifier, I think success is being content with who you are and what your capabilities are. To challenge those capabilities and hopefully continue to improve, even if in small increments. To have the respect of your peers and the love of your family. As cliche' as it may seem, success is being the best you can be.

I have found that as a musician and as a person, as long as I pushed myself to be the best I could (within my known limitations), good things (success???) found me.
 
I love philosophical questions like this! :D

I don't think success is something you "reach" or "attain". Success is not a measure of "where you are". It is not static, or status.

Success is the process of balancing the various key aspects of your life (money, family, hobbies, faith, etc.) to bring about your greatest happiness, and the happiness of others. Success is a measure of how far you've come from where you started, and the process of working to go even farther. For example, Paris Hilton is wildy famous and rich. I would argue, given what I know of her, that she is not successful (and probably not particularly happy, though I'm sure she would disagree). Her wealth and fame were handed to her when she was born and she has done little to bring about her own success.

On the other, I think a person born in poverty, that works to educate themselves and eventually graduates from college and works their way through life is very successful. They have come a long way through their own labor, and that is a huge part of being truly happy.

A couple more random thoughts: success is a verb; an action. It is not a stopping point. Lastly... happiness is not pleasure. Anyone that squanders thier happines for fleeting pleasures will never be succesful.

A
 
mikeh said:
...I think success is being content with who you are and what your capabilities are. To challenge those capabilities and hopefully continue to improve, even if in small increments. To have the respect of your peers and the love of your family. As cliche' as it may seem, success is being the best you can be.

I have found that as a musician and as a person, as long as I pushed myself to be the best I could (within my known limitations), good things (success???) found me.
Click to expand...

yes yes fuckin yes!!!! 100% hit the nail on the head there mate. totally agree
 
Wow,
Thanks to the folks who posted a reply so far. In my own life and work I also have interpreted success as internal satisfaction. I think maybe I should narrow my question a bit to focus on success in terms of music, either recording or performing or writing. I am curious how people are using home recording technology, whether they view their interactions as movement toward a future career in music or if they see themselves as hobbyists, or as honing a craft or whatever! What I am hearing from mikeh makes me think that he is using music in a sense to generate both satisfaction and to bring out the best in himself. Thanks for a very balanced and thoughtful reply. Technology has changed the political economy of music so as to allow more people to achieve such goals in relation to recording. The reason I asked about success is that I am wondering if access to technology is changing the goals of home recordists.

I appreciate your input.
 
Speaking of one aspect of musical success, I think that technology has allowed for great personal success in my life. The ability to stand outside myself and have time to evaluate the overall integrity of my writing and performance makes me progress in leaps and bounds rather than relying on other to be honest with me about those things. I can outline my intentions musically and produce myself.

Now I can seek others for feedback on another level of my work. And a lot more of it.
 
When I was around 15 I found an 8-track of The Cars ("Candy-O") and at that point music became a prime focus of my life (instead of just playing in the background). For many years I used cheezy home keyboards, cheap guitars and a boombox to record my own original creations. The music I made was rough and lacking much compared to the "professional" music I was in love with in the early 80's (The Cars, Devo, Gary Numan, ELO), but I was compelled to make music...it was as if I didn't have a choice, no matter how much I lacked in natural talent for it. Of course I had to make a living (and still do) in a non-musical job. When I was 29 I discovered keyboards with sequencers that allowed one to (like a word processor for writing) build, piece by piece, layer by layer, a song from the ground up and this complemented my musical weaknesses (not being able to actually play an instrument very well and not having access to a lot of other musicians with which to play). With a pro-level keyboard (with sequencer) and a 4-track cassette recorder (equipment that I could hardly conceive of, or dream of affording just a few years earlier) I was able to make music that far exeeded the expectations of my former 15 year-old self. I feel like I have come a long way and achieved a measure of success. That is, I have gotten closer to the "ideal"...creating the perfect song, without flaws, that can stand beside my best-loved "professional" songs. Of course the closer I get, the further I find that I am from the goal. I guess (like Aaron Cheney wrote) success is an ongoing process. Affordable musical technology has allowed me to realize (in a musical recording) what before I could only imagine.
 
bishop55,

If we narrow "success" to the use of home recording technology as it applies to a future carreer in music vs. a hobby, I guess the benchmark for success would be: can one sustain a reasonable income to support themself (and perhaps a family). Given the economic conditions, I would think $30,000 is a reasonable annual "salary" (to compete with what someone could earn working for a company - certainly many can earn much more). However, the business (studio?) would have to generate more than that to cover operating expenses and gear upgrades (needed to compete with other studios). - So perhaps the studio needs to gross about $60,000 a year.

Naturally, if the intent is to operate a commerical facility (recording bands, etc) the overhead would likely be more than if the "studio" is focused on self contained jingle work etc.

About 10 years ago, I thought that I would eventually be able to generate enough revenue from my home studio (with jingle work, post production, etc) to allow me to retire early from my day job). This would have been a success for my personal goals. At that time my goal was to retire in 2007 and simply operate my studio. However, during the last 10 years, the technology has allowed many changes - in particular, low cost recording technology, loops, sample cd's etc have made quality music production a reality for the masses (you don't even have to be a good musician anymore).

Many marketing firms now do in house production, more and more radios stations produce jingles "in-house" (often at low on no charge if you air it x amount of times). Every band has access to someone with recording gear. Singer/songwriters now record there own demos, etc. etc. etc.

I find it harder to sustain a consistant customer base. Each year I lose a client here and there to thier own home studios, etc. While this has always been a hobby studio, I have always tried to make it self sustaining (so the gear pays for itself). This keeps getting harder and harder to do. So, I've accepted projects that I did not enjoy with people I did not like, simply because I could bill some hours (is that success?)

So my idea of "commerical success" has changed. Now I can't plan on my "studio" supporting my early retirement" at best I can only hope it will "supplement" early retirement. Accordingly, I guess I am not successful - as a project studio operator.

As a musican, I have made a fair amount of cash (somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 gigs). However, I did not enjoy life on the road and many of those gigs sucked - so while from a commerical standpoint the cash flow my seem like success (I suspect I made more than a large percent of musicians) I was not happy most of the time - that can't possibly be successful.

So, even in the more narrow context of being a musican/home recordist - the measure of success still has to come down to being the best you can and being happy with where that takes you.
 
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