Life as a Full Time Musician

After ramming a needle into my arm this morning, the physician's assistant tried to calm me by making small talk: "So what do you do, dear?" "I'm a musician." "Oh really, what's that like? What aspect of music are you in?"

"I mostly sing and play piano and guitar. I also teach voice lessons, music production. Sometimes I work weekends DJing for parties and events, and I also play shows, and write and perform my own music."

She looked shocked - "that's a lot." But the blood work was done, so she slapped a band aid on my puncture wound and sent me on my way.

Yes, she was right. It's a lot. But that's what it takes to succeed as an independent artist and musician in today's world: you either have to have a lot of money, or you have to have a lot of skill sets and stay flexible based on whatever opportunities are available at the time.

Maybe it's summer, and nobody wants voice lessons, but there are lots of opportunities to perform at late night parties looking for bands and DJs. Or there's a pandemic and suddenly you have to figure out how to make money exclusively online with your music. Livestreams. Offering social media marketing. Creating merch bundles. Launching a Kickstarter.

But to be fair, I also left out: designing merch and artwork, releasing and promoting music, marketing for other local musicians and the photography and videography skills I've been picking up along the way.

"How can you manage all of that?" With an iPad! Ha. Just kidding. It's manageable because I love waking up everyday and having a different set of tasks to do - I love how multi-faceted a career in music is. I love that one day I'm in the studio all day recording, or writing songs, and then the next day I'm out getting photos done, but later in the week I'll be teaching someone how to sing a Billie Eilish song or write their own songs.

Sure, it may not be a great choice for someone who needs stability and security, I'll grant you that. But it's exhilarating, challenging, and there are constantly new opportunities to learn and grow. The other nice thing is that your work builds on itself: constantly getting new followers, new fans, building up music streams, growing your email list. Once you've achieved a goal (like 200 subscribers on YouTube or 300 on Spotify), it's awesome to see it continue to grow and flourish on its own, on and on and on.

So far this lifestyle has lead me to working events at the nicest hotels, ballrooms and event centers in Atlanta. It's lead me to making lots of new friends every time I play a show or attend a friend's concert. It's the reason I get to staying up late laughing and playing board games after practice with my band. It's the reason I'm able to learn new skill sets to further my career, then turn around and offer those skill sets as freelance work.

Have there been months where I don't make much money? Yeah. Have there been days of existential dread and wondering if I'm doing the right thing? Duh. But it's been such an adventure so far, that I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. And this is just my first full year of working for myself full time as a freelance musician (Oct. 2020) and as an independent contractor - so I'm just getting started!

Feel free to comment any questions you have below about working as a full time musician and I'll try to respond :)

- Anji Kaizen