[Harp-L] RE: Any out-of-the-box Ideas on Making Money?

[R Kraft <hoosierdads@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I enjoyed Jason's article and also learned a lot from Randy's book.
I've gigged on-and-off for years and love music, but found regular club gigging (3X or more/week) isn't what I'm into.
Now I play with people who are good musicians and good friends, write and record, and do occasional gigs (usually at the local pizza place, legion hall, house party, or art gallery, because they're happy to have us).
I enjoy music, but I did stay in school and do enough consulting to keep myself where I want to be.

First of all, try stuff and decide what you want to do. Do you want to be an Artist (Jason), Customizer (many of you here), Weekend warrior, ...

Second - find folks successful at what you want to do and ask for advice (congrats on doing this).
Harp-l and other musicians have been great for me over the last decade (...more?). Thanks again guys.

Third - do something/anything to get into motion. Randy's book was great for this for me.

My experience has been if you've got an "average" lifestyle to support (any kids, a wife/girlfriend, a house payment or a car payment) teaching is where you can make money, although I'm not sure about the demand for harmonica teachers. I have a couple of friends who play guitar and are good teachers that make $6-10K/month, but they hustle for it. They still have time for bands, but can't afford to go on the road ($500/week won't pay many bills if you've got a family).

The best money gigging for me was playing bass, doing a little harmonica, and singing a few songs to give the Diva/lead singer a break. I also usually ran sound from the stage (wireless bass).
Lots of gigs available and mostly they paid pretty decent.
The more you can do (instruments, genres, ...), the more people are willing to pay you and hire you.

You could also do sound, if you've already got gear for your band. Or do recording engineering if you've got a studio. These are both difficult businesses, but some folks love it and make some money.

Duos if you sing and play can also net a decent amount of money if you've got CD's to sell, good energy, an outgoing personality, and play songs people can sing along with. I played in Ireland last June and they want to hear Neil Young too (I'm much better now).

Have fun!

Ned