75000 songs are uploaded, every single day –- the end of music-as-a-career??

B

beginner-HRF

New member

Hello everyone

I suppose mine is (perhaps) newbies’ ultimate dilemma.

I read online that about 75000 brand new songs are uploaded, onto various platforms, every single day.

Does this tell us, perhaps, the idea of making a living as musicians is both a naive delusion and a waste of time??

Or am I missing something??

Christian

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Depends on 1) your age/looks (yep, that's #1); 2) talent; 3) where you are; 4) luck. Until you become one of the elite (i.e superstars), streaming revenues won't give you much of a 'living'. Gigging is really the only sure way, and unfortunately, the pay is the same as it was 30 years ago.
 
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It comes down to the same things it always had. Your music needs to have mass appeal, you need to have that as well. Since record companies don't invest in acts, you need to be able to develop yourself as an artist and learn to market yourself.

The main things that have changed are:
1. Everyone has access to distribution
2. Record companies are no longer gatekeepers

So now, instead of having to impress a couple people at a record company, and having them do all the work and investment, you have to do all of that yourself and impress the audience one person at a time. (Once you figure out how to get their attention)
 
It can still be done. Years of hard work, exceptional talent and a bit of luck often combine to create instant success. It's still possible to make a living at music, but you need something special to become a media superstar.
 
The odds, if looking at this realistically and taking measure of say the success expected from those 75,000 songs, is exceptionally small. Most musicians do it for the love of it, and the few who are bred/willed into becoming famous (think child prodigies or marketed kiddie pop bands) becoming the exceptions to the rule. It's easy to assume that of the 75,000 songs uploaded on any given day, none of the ones not backed in some way by a marketing campaign/record company will amount to anything ever. Maybe one indie artist a month on average sticks, gets used in a tik tok video, etc.

Browsing youtube for talent reveals that there's more talent on the planet than ears to listen to their musical output. There's a lot of people and as a percentage of the whole more musicians, but we still only need the same level of attention span lasting bands so there's not exactly an increase in the market overall. Meaning - we only need X number of bands to exist, because that's how many are needed to entertain people wanting to listen to music. It's not an infinite market.

I don't personally buy into the "hard work" thing, as that is a percent of a percent of a percent based on the same luck formula as someone who isn't good and doesn't work hard. Just make music for yourself, put it out there as you are willing (whatever level of effort that is for you), and appreciate the nominal success you're likely to achieve.
 
Pinky said:
The odds, if looking at this realistically and taking measure of say the success expected from those 75,000 songs, is exceptionally small. Most musicians do it for the love of it, and the few who are bred/willed into becoming famous (think child prodigies or marketed kiddie pop bands) becoming the exceptions to the rule. It's easy to assume that of the 75,000 songs uploaded on any given day, none of the ones not backed in some way by a marketing campaign/record company will amount to anything ever. Maybe one indie artist a month on average sticks, gets used in a tik tok video, etc.

Browsing youtube for talent reveals that there's more talent on the planet than ears to listen to their musical output. There's a lot of people and as a percentage of the whole more musicians, but we still only need the same level of attention span lasting bands so there's not exactly an increase in the market overall. Meaning - we only need X number of bands to exist, because that's how many are needed to entertain people wanting to listen to music. It's not an infinite market.

I don't personally buy into the "hard work" thing, as that is a percent of a percent of a percent based on the same luck formula as someone who isn't good and doesn't work hard. Just make music for yourself, put it out there as you are willing (whatever level of effort that is for you), and appreciate the nominal success you're likely to achieve.
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I make vids and put them on Youtube but I could give a rats ass if anyone listens to them.
 
If you release your own music it's tough to get traction unless you have a large following and play live. If your music is great and get signed by a large label would be a way to get marketing and exposure. One huge issue with streaming is the way the proceeds are distributed because the big artists get the biggest share of the money. The little guy will be lucky if anyone outside of your friends and family will ever find your music unless you are famous on TikTok. You literally need millions of streams before you make real money from the miniscule amount that the streaming sites pay. My EP barely gets streamed and the most money I've made has been from digital downloads from Bandcamp because it costs .99 per song. It would take around 300 streams to make that much on spotify.
 
It really depends on what you mean by 'music as a career'.
The amount of new music released each day probably has little to no impact on the careers of the vast majority of musicians,
because the vast majority of musicians probably aren't competing with that.

In reality the career musicians I know are making money as studio session musicians, or teachers/tutors.
Some have built up a small circuit of regular paid gigs and work that in rotation, playing the same 5-10 venues every fortnight or so.
Some have established themselves as wedding (and other functions) performers. That can be lucrative if you're getting booked weekly or better.
I know some who stream regularly through twitch or similar and make some $$ on tips and donations there, although I don't know how stable that is.

All of these things take hard work, though, and a lot of time, patience, planning, etc to get to the point where the income could be called income.

If you're talking about being a successful well known act and somehow standing out from the crowd, getting millions of YT views, spotify streams, sales, etc then yeah,
it's not impossible but it's right up there with winning the lottery.
Realistically that probably takes more work than a regular job, but comes with the possibility that you'll get nothing in return.

Anyone I know who had ideas or dreams like that either eventually had to give up and find a stable job, or recalibrated such that their dream was finding a way to pay the bills through music.
 
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i think you can still call yourself a musician, irrespective of how much/little/zero money your music brings to you, a failed "career" need not be considered failure, but confirmation that it can be a lifelong, enjoyable hobby/pastime/occupation and nothing more, maybe that is all you eventually need
 
Steenamaroo said:
Anyone I know who had ideas or dreams like that either eventually had to give up and find a stable job, or recalibrated such that their dream was finding a way to pay the bills through music.
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Personally I only know maybe five musicians who make their living playing music over the 60 years I have been playing. The bass player on most of my Vids
on youtube is one although he makes that money playing guitar. He also had a side hustle as head tech for Spector bass guitars. When Spector sold out to Korg
about two or three years ago he left that job. He also builds studios, is a session musician, audio engineer and is now working as a tech for Veillette Citron guitars.
He is also the best guitarist I have ever stood next to although he played bass for me. Come to think of it he is the best bass player I have ever stood next to.
Another is one of his sons who plays drums for Coheed and Cambria.
 
Same - Compared to how many musicians I know, those actually earning their living from it are few and far between.
The ones who are treated it like a business, the same as any other, and put in a lot of hard work.
 
The goal of music should not be to make money, music should be used to express emotions. How many songs of of that 75000 do you think you would actually listen too?
People that really love the art will be paid for their work eventually. Just live your life and make connections playing with people in other places. Its all about getting out of your comfort zone too.
 
The musicians I know that are making a living from music do a lot of different things like play live, teach music, rent their PA system, run sound, DJ, etc, etc, and they still don't have much to show despite the hustle.
 
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