The truth about money in the music industry

Stumbled across this, thought it was important.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgZJFu3SHVs[/embed]
Long story short, if you get into the music industry expecting to make money, you're gonna have a bad time.

not a bad video Pablo.
I assumed this would be the case for a new band starting out it would be tough to crack the market and make money with all the costs involved and digital music killing CD sales

Good find on the video Pabs. Didn't really expect the story to be any different. There are a squintillian bands out there but only a very very small percentage get anywhere. For me, being in a band is about having fun and getting lost in the love of the music you enjoy. Sure, you should get paid for gigs, and the free beers are good, but it's a pretty damn hard way of life if you want to make a career out of it.

I commented on this video on facebook with an obligatory cringe and the obvious counter culture female (but ok why not).

I think it's a bit of a misconception to say the music industry is hard to crack though. The major record industry is hard to crack, but when we look at the rock industry I think it's a very easy occupation to get into. Lots of people like it, and if you are doing pub rock the skill level requirements are pretty low. Low skill level, high market saturation equals low dollars earned. The record industry is a little different, which is a success in advertising, more than anything. But I am pretty sure the overwhelming majority of the money goes to the people doing the management and advertising (and production).

I also think it's a bit of a misapprehension to say that there isn't any money in selling records. Kate Bush hasn't made a public appearance in a long, long time and is one of the highest paid singers on the planet.

Education wise the focus is too heavily on the major pop/rock industry which is basically hollywood. If your only exposure to music is that (as it is for a lot of children especially), then of course you are going to have the misconception that music is a hard industry to "crack". The same misconception can happen with film as well.

It's certain hard to get to the top of the charts, though. But I'll be hard pressed to find an industry where getting to the top isn't difficult!