Songwriters Reality Check
I know that songwriters sometimes get overwhelmed at the thought of trying to get noticed by an adoring public - or even any public at all. Somehow, seeing rows and rows of records in a store and knowing that you were just one of many was less daunting than browsing myspace and seeing bands from all over the world who HAVEN’T been noticed yet and knowing that you are one of many hundreds of thousands who is competing for attention.
However, there are lots of nearly everything. Lots of lawyers, lots of plumbers, lots of data entry clerks, lots of computer technicians, lots of telephone salespeople. It’s a big world, and yet, barring some personal issue, we all seem to be able to make a living and to do the job we choose to do. It’s just that most of us don’t start at the top (I didn’t get to argue at the Supreme Court my first year out of law school. Or in any of the years since then, either. ) The fact that there are lots of songwriters shouldn’t be a deterrent if you really have a passion for songwriting.
However, if you want to make a living, or even just pizza money, you do need to be aware that there are lots of ways to make money being a songwriter without having top ten radio hits. Very few lawyers ever go to the Supreme Court, but lots of them make a living being lawyers, and the same is true of songwriters.
Songwriter Craig Bickhardt talks tough to struggling songwriters with delusions in their eyes. Two of his best appeared in the last couple of weeks, here and here.
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