Had to clear my art studio today. I can't afford to keep renting it. I can't even afford the artist's materials. I simply can't afford to be an artist. Neither could Van Gogh, I know, but he wasn't a mature musician, a budding-promoter, a freelance drug treatment co-ordinator, and stay-at-home dad, as well as an artist. At least I don't think he was? (He wasn't - Ed)
So what could I be? A teacher? Possibly. It's a career move, I suppose. Which is what was aiming for when I went back to school to get my first degree 5 years ago. So I should be making something resembling a career move at this point. I am 42. I'd need to go back to school for at least another year, though. Which means at least another year without any money. I do miss having money. I've got to the point that I'm looking at the parking attendants and envying them their salary.
See, the wife is the bread winner. Now should I feel emasculated by this? Should I feel ashamed? Or just very lucky. Or both? That's it, I do, I feel lucky, lucky to have the opportunity to throw mud for a while, and somewhat, slightly, ashamed - at the same time?
A small amount of work at the clinic is bringing a few quid to pay for RTYD flyers and stuff. And the year started so well 'cos thankfully even junkies make new year's resoultions. Usually, as soon as the cold turkey sandwiches come out. (That's not funny - Ed) But since about May it's gone very quiet, with only the occasional three-thousand-four-hundred quid being taken out of a branch of the UTFB (Under The Floorboards Bank) to fund a quick fix rapid detoxification.
So, I'm 42, and I'm still wondering what the hell it is I want to do with my life. The thing that plays on mind, of course, is this effing Rock-Til-You-Drop. Could I make a business out of it? Or not. Or am I dreaming, all over again?
There's no money in promoting, not yet anyway, and not for a while, I'm sure. But what if I was to introduce a premium membership of the the online social network with an annual fee? What could I offer Mr M. Musician, aged 48, of Farnham, Surrey who wants to connect with other musicians but doesn't know where to start? What would justify that fee? Is a 25 quid annual fee, worth paying to get you back in the loop? And is the loop big enough yet?
Could I limit access to the musicians' adverts to premium members? Could there be a service whereby premium members can have their music/releases/web presence critiqued by other premium members or a panel of 'experts'? Could I limit postings to the gig calendar to premium members' bands? Or offer to promote all premium members' gigs to my mailing list? Could I limit other aspects of the site, too?
Could I also go to bed without thinking about it?
3 comments:
There's nay money in the web mate. Everybody expects it to be free. just like music. The best you can hope for is to grow everything to gigantic proportions and then flog advertsiing around it. Nobody would complain if Rotosound Strings etc. had a click through ad - you just need a big enough membership etc. - international and so forth. Think big m'boy! Either that or combine with me and we'll create an online magazine to go with it and then we can flog ad's. See? I'm not so daft am I eh?
An on-line magazine? Sounds interesting. Let's talk about that.
If you're collecting email addresses, how about surveying
subscribers/members to see what their biggest frustrations/problems are in being a mature muso?
You could use Google "Documents" to put a short survey together. 5 or 6 questions/suggestions.
Then you could think about creating/marketing a solution...
I used this approach with my 2nd book.
From what I can see RTYD seems to be the only site out there specifically serving us mature musos. That alone suggests real potential to me, if you can come up with a "product" or two.
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