[Harp-L] List of harmonica players who have achieved becoming millionaires?

[Mike Fugazzi]

In fairness, if a harmonica player makes $40,000 a year and has a 25 year
career, they have made a million dollars.  That being said, the list of
harmonica players making a decent living - Forbes reports that the average
annual salary in the US is $59,428 - is probably very very low.  For
those that are making "good" money, they are surely diverse in revenue
streams.  Meaning, they aren't just playing music for people to listen to.
Those that do make a significant amount of money gigging probably do things
other than play harmonica too.

Anecdotally, in my head, many of the "famous" harmonica players I know
supplement their income working jobs outside of music.  Those that don't
are few and far between like Jason Ricci and Dennis Gruenling (I assume).
The elder statesmen have either been that established over decades OR, I am
guessing, have benefits from being at retirement age that make things more
manageable?

Many years ago, I read the Little Walter biography, and I swear I read that
even at peak popularity, LW was playing covers on guitar to make most of
his money.  To make an average salary, a harp player would have to make
$1,250 a week, year round.  Let's say you have no expenses and three great
gigs a week making a couple hundred dollars for a couple of sets, so
roughly $600.  I am not saying you can't make more than that, but am
looking at it realistically.  You could teach a few lessons a day at $50
and get close to $1,250.  But you are also probably booking your own gigs,
doing your own promo materials, and trying to be a content creator....so
you'd be working full time as a musician.

The best way to make a livable wage as a musician is to perform in a cover
band.  I know guys locally charging several thousand a show.  Assuming it's
$6,000 a night, almost half probably goes to expenses.  The other $3,000
would be split between 5 band members, maybe?  So, they are making about
$600 a gig.  Pros are the amount of effort to sustain booking shows is
lesser and you don't have to work as much off stage.  Locally, the seasons
create a stronger demand for shows part of the year, so winters might be
slower.

Another workable model is to not play in a band but to do duo or trio.  You
can charge $300-400 a show with lesser expenses and overhead.

At the end of the day, there is a lot of nuance to the topic of who makes
money with harmonica and how much.  There is also popularity vs money or
online presence vs gigging to consider too.  I've noticed a lot of
contemporary harmonica content creators get views, but are intermediates at
best.  They seem to teach content at their level or maybe a step below.  My
point being there is a doable floor of entry for trying to make income as a
content creator.

Finally, the case can be made at times that the better you are from a
technical standpoint, the more you hit a point of diminishing returns where
the general public cares less about what you are able to do or how "good"
you are.

I started playing in the early 2000's and was too late for the 5-7 shows a
week and too early to get in on the YouTube train before it became
saturated.  I long ago decided that harmonica was a hobby and I would only
do it under my terms, whatever they are at the time.  I view it like the
lottery, you put a little effort in and some day you might get lucky
meeting the right person at the right time (kind of like Mickey Raphael).
Could I sing and/or play harmonica at a professional level? Absolutely.
Have I ever really tried to do that?  No.  I like having a steady job,
income, and supporting my kids.  Since returning to gigging (I took a long
time off when I went to grad school), I've booked limited winter dates and
as much as I can in the summer.  I play in a dad band (wide range of covers
on a very small scale of $75-$100 a night) and a duo (which I LOVE LOVE
LOVE to do), where I clear $150-300 depending on the gig.

As a duo, I basically get to do whatever I want.  I get to play stuff like
this https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7IvCJu7ifl8 and still get to do this
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NPICWtlg1k0.  FWIW, when it comes to posting
gig content, I consistently get the most views from Facebook.  TikTok is
consistent, but not as many, and YouTube is all over.  I posted clips from
the same gig where the one I thought was kind of lame got a ton of views
and then one that I think is really good got like 100.  I can't figure out
YouTube.



On Tue, Dec 12, 2023 at 5:49 AM Ken H in Ohio <airmojoken at xxxxx> wrote:

> Not sure a list exists... but I bet these three are at the top of it !
>
> 1. Bruce Willis -- $250 million
> 2. Jim Belushi -- $50
> 3. John Popper -- $10 million
>
> Ken H in OH
>
> On Sun, Dec 10, 2023 at 5:57 AM F F <franze52 at xxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Does anyone have statistics on the harmonica players who have achieved
> the
> > milestone of becoming millionaires?
> >
>