>but I reckon most people can't turn that musical talent into a $600/month hustle.
Most people can't do most things but the vast majority of people who succeed at their goals in life have one thing in common. Lots of people in this world and to make a living as a musician you only need to connect with a tiny fraction of a percent of those people. If you honestly like the music you make odds are there are enough people in the world to support you in making that music, but you need to find them if you want them to support you.
>And you uncovered the issue
I addressed this already, my use of the phrase "paid internship" was not accidental.
>unless you're Low
I lived in Duluth for awhile around the turn of the century. Low worked their asses off with endless touring for the better part of a decade to make their name and kept it up until Al and Mimi had their daughter, but Al kept playing constantly. Every Saturday it was The Black Eyed Snakes and a couple other bands at the NorShor, Tuesdays was experimental Tuesdays the experimental open mic he ran, plus sitting in with random bands, doing random shows, running his label, organizing shows, recording bands, doing all the stuff for Low, endless short lived side projects, being a dad, he never stopped working from what I could see. Charlie Parr spent a few years doing the poorly paying weekly gig every Wednesday at The Brewhouse, he got $50 and bottomless coffee to play for 3 hours to maybe a dozen mostly uninterested people until he figured out how to get them interested and then he packed the place every week and started making his name. Haley Bonar/McCallum used to serve me coffee and make me sandwiches at Amazing Grace, she put in years toiling away in obscurity before making it. Lots of good memories from those years, need to get back there, been too long.
I had to retrace the thread to be confident, but I think you leapt to Minnesota-local from an oddly-capitalized fragment of the phrase "low cost of living".
Nevertheless, I enjoyed your personal perspective on the scene history there. :) I can echo your observations from the Boston scene -- e.g. when the one song gets used in a movie or TV show, and new fans of the "new band" have no idea about the years of hard work and crap jobs and crap roommates that were required to get the opportunity.
I did. I was done with the thread by that point and put zero effort into parsing the acronym, only responded because of the nostalgia. Half suspected I got it wrong which is why I left "COL" out when quoting, figured I could feign ignorance since I was staying on topic and point.
>my use of the phrase "paid internship" was not accidental.
Is "intern" a different meaning where you're from? For me, it implies an opportunity to learn under a company, where learning is a primary objective over proper payment.
Who are these teachers you're learning under? Where and how are you finding a teacher in music that you aren't paying for but is paying you to learn?
>Low worked their asses off with endless touring for the better part of a decade to make their name and kept it up until Al and Mimi had their daughter, but Al kept playing constantly
If you haven't noticed, the world's gotten (ironically) much less connected over the last 20 years. I can barely get my friends out for lunch. People who already know and assumedly like me. It's simply gotten a lot hard to do that 80's style of living in a van, paying $1-2 a day for food, and playing your passions until you can move to a semi-normal standard of living.
It's not impossible, and I appreciate the pun. But that lifestyle wouldn't really be possible in urban America. Not even a matter of "I don't want to live in a van". Those cities just got a lot more hostile towards loitering and theft is on the rise. A van is just putting a target on your face for someone, legally or for illegal preying. Even just being on the streets because of no homes can get you arrested with where current legislature it going in my area.
its just gotten rough. If you don't have parents supporting you, it is literally a dangerous lifestyle.
Most people can't do most things but the vast majority of people who succeed at their goals in life have one thing in common. Lots of people in this world and to make a living as a musician you only need to connect with a tiny fraction of a percent of those people. If you honestly like the music you make odds are there are enough people in the world to support you in making that music, but you need to find them if you want them to support you.
>And you uncovered the issue
I addressed this already, my use of the phrase "paid internship" was not accidental.
>unless you're Low
I lived in Duluth for awhile around the turn of the century. Low worked their asses off with endless touring for the better part of a decade to make their name and kept it up until Al and Mimi had their daughter, but Al kept playing constantly. Every Saturday it was The Black Eyed Snakes and a couple other bands at the NorShor, Tuesdays was experimental Tuesdays the experimental open mic he ran, plus sitting in with random bands, doing random shows, running his label, organizing shows, recording bands, doing all the stuff for Low, endless short lived side projects, being a dad, he never stopped working from what I could see. Charlie Parr spent a few years doing the poorly paying weekly gig every Wednesday at The Brewhouse, he got $50 and bottomless coffee to play for 3 hours to maybe a dozen mostly uninterested people until he figured out how to get them interested and then he packed the place every week and started making his name. Haley Bonar/McCallum used to serve me coffee and make me sandwiches at Amazing Grace, she put in years toiling away in obscurity before making it. Lots of good memories from those years, need to get back there, been too long.