Friday, August 3, 2012

No wonder we're so used to starving!

What do you call something that isn't really news but you want to share? I don't care, but here's some: being a musician is financially draining. Yep, it sucks. The deal is, you're either someone's rich kid (Rebecca Black), someone pliable and willing to be molded into a creation (Britney Spears), or you're both very talented and very lucky, so someone with a lot of money decides to invest in you. Adele.

If you are none of these things, then it's likely that being a serious musician will be a huge drain on your wallet. Of course, it doesn't have to be! You could always record things in your mom's basement using a single microphone and pirated software. You could always just play in bars once a month, as a hobby. But if you plan on going anywhere and you have giant dreams, then odds are, you're going to want some professional recordings and some professional materials to promote yourself with. So whip out the check book, buddy... it's gonna be a long ride.

First of all, I'm really lucky that my band isn't a bunch of deadbeats. SUPREMELY lucky. The fact that all my band mates have jobs, a car, show up for practice, and donate to our cause financially might sound like it would be normal, right? Musicians should all pitch in, right? AHAHAHAHA! That's so funny! Because they don't. Most musicians, especially metal musicians, are a bunch of pompous deadbeats who won't put their money where their mouths are. Because their mouths are too busy spouting off about how talented/amazing/metal they are. Seriously, metal musicians are asshats. Or they're too young and unestablished to be able to help out financially. Or they're terrible musicians. Having auditioned around a hundred bass players, drummers, and guitarists, who either suck, don't come to practice, or are dead broke, I basically hit the jackpot with my band. That none of them do drugs or are alcoholics is just another thing to thank the Dio for.

But even with all that help and all that wonderful teamwork, it's often a numbers game. Who pays for what and when. Being married and no longer on my own, my money isn't just my money. It's our money. And while my husband gets that I have a responsibility to my band and myself, I can't just throw as much money as I want toward recording and junk because, as adults, we have financial responsibilities. Like... a mortgage. Car bills. A cat. All these things pile up, so at the end of the month, if I have any amount of money that can go toward the band, I'm ecstatic. Let me give you a few examples of the (often ridiculous) things we need to pay for:

  • Album Art
  • Album Printing
  • Recording Studio Fees
  • Gas
  • Hotels
  • Instruments
  • New Goggles 

All of these things are required in order to achieve any kind of success, without the help of some millionaire sugar daddy pulling our strings in the shadows. Paying for it all can be a challenge, because while we've all got jobs (sorta), we're also all adults. So that mortgage? They've got one, too. And dogs. And cars. Which means they're in the same boat I am, and while it's a much nicer boat than the deadbeat shithead metal musicians I've met in the past, it's still a small boat. Maybe a 19'. Good enough to go fishing on the bay, but you're not gonna go around the world in it.

That brings me to last night's filming of our Kickstarter video. We're already doing a campaign on IndiGogo for Metal Quest, which has been at least 30% successful at this point. In a few days, we'll be starting a Kickstarter campaign to help the band finance our new album. I spent most of last night's rehearsal time recording a video with info on our Kickstarter campaign, which was fun, but whenever you try ventures like this, the big questions remains... will this thing work?? Who knows! We can only hope and pray that we have enough fans out there who will actually help us finish this album. It's an expensive thing, making a professional sounding piece of music, and while we're perfectly okay with going bankrupt over this album, the money in our bank accounts and savings will only take us so far.

So, lets see where this goes! I guess if we end up starving to finish this thing, at least I should lose a few pounds!

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