Where's your Porsche?

It's mad being on this side of the instrument, many people don't perhaps know that it's emotionally difficult, politically difficult and mostly financially difficult unless you've arrived at the big stages and even then there are huge pitfalls facing these people....unless of course you are Elton John.

The first thing that I would like to talk about is money and to be honest it's my entire reason for starting the blog in the first place. A guitar playing friend of mine was recently telling me how he is really disappointed with the reaction of an organiser of a wedding or other family celebration when asked how much their act would cost. It still irks me enormously that some people will gladly pay a 'DJ' £1000 to turn up and plug his iPod or laptop into a little powered desk, into some speakers and then activate a playlist, however when a band of 5 members asks for £1500 for a 90 minute set, they baulk at it believing that they are rip off merchants and wrongly assumed that the fee would be "around the £300 mark". It's really amazing to think that some people think all musicians 'do it for the love of it'.....Well some musicians do, but the working musician eats food the same as everyone else and needs a roof over his/her head just the same as the client does. The following below is an example of what I'm talking about, some of you will have seen this before, it's been around a while;


Craigslist Ad:

We are a small & casual restaurant in downtown Vancouver and we are looking for solo musicians to play in our restaurant to promote their work and sell their CD. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get positive response. More jazz, rock, & smooth type music, around the world and mixed cultural music. Are you interested to promote your work? Please reply back ASAP.

A Musician’s Reply:

Happy new year! I am a musician with a big house looking for a restauranteur to come to my house to promote his/her restaurant by making dinner for me and my friends. This is not a daily job, but only for special events which will eventually turn into a nightly event if we get a positive response. More fine dining & exotic meals mixed with some ethnic fusion cuisine. Are you interested to promote your restaurant? Please reply back ASAP.


I'm standing to one side on this and defending the working musician as I am a creative player who can't rely on music as an income stream. I'll be honest, I've never been paid more than £400 for anything musical in any one sitting and that's very rare. I recall way back on the 'Strange Engine' Tour with Marillion and after the last gig in Redcar being asked by a couple of gentlemen what I was doing now that our stint on the tour had finished, my reply was "Well I've got a bathroom suite to deliver in Wigan at 9"which took them both by surprise as they expected me to reply with something like "I'm back in the studio" or "I'm back on my yacht for a rest".

Forging a career in music is phenomenally difficult, even more so in the last 10 years as the industry is struggling to say the least and I will always advise my pupils to make sure they can balance music with something else that resembles a proper job. I'm lucky, I've ended up working in a boutique guitar store, working with some very nice people but had I not been made redundant 5 years ago, I'd still be selling boilers and bathrooms.