I remember when I made the confession of music in my life. It was years before anyone else really knew just how seriously I felt about it. I said one day to my mother, “I don’t care what happens to me as long as I can be in music.”
At that time I think my subconscious became focused on music and that it determined my life’s path more than I realize. I made the statement before I could really play any instrument, know that I could actually sing in front of people, before I understood how music was constructed. I didn’t know anything about music other than it called me.
“You don’t have music. Music has you.”
Professor Ruth Morris, WKU
Ruth Morris likely said this to many students at WKU. She was someone who had many such phrases. But it was true. Even though I had interests in other areas and had declared a major far apart from the artistic world music would never let go of me.
I think musicians are mostly like I was and to a large extent still am. They just want to do music. They don’t do it for the money, they don’t do it for the applause, they don’t do it for the attention. They do it because they simply love doing it and not doing it is like not breathing.
As admirable as that may seem, it really isn’t the right way to think about a career in music. Everything anyone does on any level can be a business. So, the mistake I always made was that I didn’t ever really look at music as a way to build a business or that it could ever really support me or a family. I was happy just to get to do it, and would do it for any price.
The point I am making here is that once you make the decision to become a musician for your career then you also need to start mapping that out in business terms which is called…”making a living income and building a financial future with it.”
Most musicians are independent. They have to make their own business. But, like me most musicians have little to no business acumen. This is not a good thing. Musicians should understand and know business and make plans to succeed financially no matter what level they are working.
There are many ways to earn as a musician. There are also many types of organizations that help musicians build security in their professions. Unions, theater companies, recording companies, educational institutions, and orchestras/bands offer a support to musicians. But, I dare say, most independent musicians don’t belong to those institutions.
Most of the people employed in music aren’t musicians. When you look at “Jobs” in music, most of them are for business people. Just as in any such organization, most of the money goes to the business side of the entity. A company will have the newest and best computer system but will have pianos that are rumpled heaps for the musicians to play on or rooms that are barely fit for human existence to work in.
Musicians work really hard at their art. But, most don’t get paid for that work. Musiterania™ is being created to be one way that musicians can get paid and still have time to work on their music, have an organization that supports independent musicians, and builds a cooperation so that musicians can thrive.
You see, independent musicians all work for themselves, by themselves, with everyone else out there scrambling around to make it too. There is no coordination in it. It is a loose mess, a free for all. Musiterania™ is being created as a “home base” from which independent musicians can remain independent yet be able to work together to build an infrastructure in support of themselves.
Therefore, the principle driver of revenue in Musiterania™ will be through the Membership Affiliate program. I have long searched for a better way to be able to fund musicians, but this seems to be the most affordable, the most lucrative, and the most fair. The plan isn’t to build a dependable income overnight, although you could, but to build it over time. The Membership can benefit independent musicians in a number of ways. But none of it makes any sense unless the Members can build a living income with it over time.
Yes, there are Go Fund Me, Pantheon, and any number of “give me money” programs out there, and musicians should raise revenue any way they can, but all of those are dependent on donors. Musiterania™ is a for profit business. It is built on mutual benefit and supporting each other within music, with other musicians.
My advisors are always asking me, “What does a membership give the members?” “Why should someone be a member?”
They are looking for “information products”, “physical products”, stuff that in the world of commerce that only recognizes a “Product for Money” value. While Musiterania™ is going to offer highly valuable “products” for sale on the website and for the membership to give musicians the best possible environment to thrive in, it isn’t only about that. It is about the value of being a part of a larger organization that supports you in ways that aren’t physical but make a real difference in the lives of musicians.
My vision for Musiterania™ is that one of the first things an 18+ year old does as a musician is join Musiterania™ because it will become a powerful asset to them for their life as a musician. There is no ambition to be the only thing a musician becomes a part of, or that it should take over their lives. But, to be one source of stability in their musical lives.
For those of you who know that deep down music is your destiny then I would like to offer you a place in Musiterania™ to accompany you throughout your musical life. Visit the “Associates” Tab, register for free, and start sharing your affiliate link with others.
Let’s build a Music Paradise together.
