Let's Be Honest Here (Covers vs Original & The Music "Biz")

LeftyLoungeLizard

Shredder
TGF Recording Artist
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2,098
Regarding playing covers vs. original material & the music "biz"...

Now, I'm not trying to Debbie Downer shit here, and I'm not saying don't write your own shit, but let's get real here (and correct me if I'm wrong; although I do have some experience here):

1. The vast majority of guitarists are not getting a major recording contract anymore; those days are long gone.

2. For the vast majority of guitarists, there is no real money to be made in the music business anymore; those days are long gone (anybody here who is paying all of their bills and living expenses by playing guitar, chime in)

3. Bust your ass all you want with your original material and polish to perfection; most people won't give a shit anyways and will never click on your track, no matter how good it actually is. Best case scenario is they'll listen to it once, then forget it even existed. Why? Because (4.), (5.), (6.), (7.), (8.) and (9.).

4. Most people want to hear the music of their youth, because "sentimentality" and "nostalgia".

5. Music is incredibly cheap and easy to come by these days; with the tap of a smartphone. Gone are the days of waiting patiently for "so-and-so's" new album to come out in the record store. Instant gratification.

6. People will never forget "Stairway To Heaven" or "Sweet Child O' Mine". They will forget your originals, however. Because they weren't listening to your originals when they had their first kiss, blazed up their first joint, had their first kegger, felt up Mary Jane Rottencrotch, went to the Prom, attended / graduated college, got married, took that trip, etc...

7. How much more new and innovative (yet catchy) pop music can possibly be made - haven't we "heard it all already"?

8. The guitar has been pretty much mastered. There will be no new Clapton, Hendrix, Page, EVH, Yngwie, Gilbert, Satch, Vai, EJ, Morse, Petrucci, Abasi, Emannuel, Govan. You are not going blow away people's minds and melt their faces with any technical prowess, because it's all been done before.

9. I strongly believe that if you weren't a major player when the big music biz wave happened 1950's to 1990's, you were too late for the "show"; you missed the boat. And that boat is never coming back.
 
Most career musicians I know didn’t start writing music because they wanted it to be a career. They just wanted to make music, and happened to make good enough songs that people wanted to buy their records, go to their gigs etc. They didn't start in the "good old days" either.

We also shouldn't think about it in terms of "if you are not <famous artist> by the time you are 27, you are nothing". If you can make a living playing music - yours or someone else's - you have already succeeded. You probably won't get rich, but that's OK too.

Me, I don't have the drive for playing music as anything but a hobby. I'm not a songwriter, and I'm happy doing something totally different for a living. Leaves me with more gear money!
 
If your premise of "the biz" means purely "getting paid to play music"...

But there's much more to the business such as:

  • Songwriting
  • Film scoring
  • Music for television and advertisement
  • Session work
None of those things are going away.

All of those things are limited availability and take work, talent and luck to be able to do, but the same can be said about many professions.

There are new songs written, recorded and released all the time that will be the song playing during someone's first kiss.

Who is writing those songs?

And only playing covers will never produce anything other than a performance at that moment in time.
 
Comments in red:

1. The vast majority of guitarists are not getting a major recording contract anymore; those days are long gone. Most got screwed in deals anyways based on a lot of stories over the years. Most bands never made it back then either. At least now you can build your own product however you see fit because aspects are more accessible. Still takes a lot of luck and hard work either way.

2. For the vast majority of guitarists, there is no real money to be made in the music business anymore; those days are long gone (anybody here who is paying all of their bills and living expenses by playing guitar, chime in) There are more diverse opportunities now with guitar related ventures than in the past. Social media has created a lot of visibility for those options - which have audiences. The landscape has changed from the past, but it doesn't mean there aren't other doors to go through.

3. Bust your ass all you want with your original material and polish to perfection; most people won't give a shit anyways and will never click on your track, no matter how good it actually is. Best case scenario is they'll listen to it once, then forget it even existed. Why? Because (4.), (5.), (6.), (7.), (8.) and (9.). At some point you can't worry about what others will think, you create to create. Hopefully people dig it, but it's never a guarantee. All of those hit songs and bands from old did their own thing, in their own way. Your statement suggests they probably shouldn't have done it.

4. Most people want to hear the music of their youth, because "sentimentality" and "nostalgia". Not continuously. Speaking as a listener myself, majority of the music I listen to now is within 10 yrs old.

5. Music is incredibly cheap and easy to come by these days; with the tap of a smartphone. Gone are the days of waiting patiently for "so-and-so's" new album to come out in the record store. Instant gratification. There are many young people buying vinyls. Believe it or not, there's a desire to listen to albums. I still download and purchase albums myself.

6. People will never forget "Stairway To Heaven" or "Sweet Child O' Mine". They will forget your originals, however. Because they weren't listening to your originals when they had their first kiss, blazed up their first joint, had their first kegger, felt up Mary Jane Rottencrotch, went to the Prom, attended / graduated college, got married, took that trip, etc... Of course I will never forget songs of my youth, how they impacted me, where I was etc. Those songs are imprinted in my brain, which is why I'd rather hear it performed by them than somebody covering it. Also see point 3b. And never forget... new memories are being made everyday, young and old people alike.

7. How much more new and innovative (yet catchy) pop music can possibly be made - haven't we "heard it all already"? There are plenty other genres to satisfy a listener's desires. Also see point 3a.

8. The guitar has been pretty much mastered. There will be no new Clapton, Hendrix, Page, EVH, Yngwie, Gilbert, Satch, Vai, EJ, Morse, Petrucci, Abasi, Emannuel, Govan. You are not going blow away people's minds and melt their faces with any technical prowess, because it's all been done before. Playing guitar to impress will only get you so far, that's where writing comes in.

9. I strongly believe that if you weren't a major player when the big music biz wave happened 1950's to 1990's, you were too late for the "show"; you missed the boat. And that boat is never coming back. Depends on what boat you want to ride on. Each boat has a set of requirements for entry but no guarantee of destination.
 
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I heavily employ "interpolation" in all of my posted/published musics on the Internets.

:farley
 
8. To be sure I would wait what some of the 6-year-olds who play Petrucci now are gonna do later :D
I also see people like Matteo Mancuso as interesting (except when he's playing Govan style licks), and I've seen lesser known wonders. While we may all be kinda used to any talent that may still appear, give them some time.

9. You never know. Although so much has probably changed for good, history repeats itself in ways... The more AI music may become mainstream, the more (even dumb) people may get interested in a few hundred musicians that still know the craft.

While the rant seems mostly correct, I don't see the people who need it anymore. I think this was all mostly known 10-20 years ago? ;)

BTW, a friend (in Europe) had an awesome 80ies style band in the 90ies with their own Journey/Toto style songs, but, like Giant, they came too late... They could only get gigs if they made half of it covers... Makes it seem that today's younger crowd prefer 5-chord songs in one key and that's where it all went...
 
If your premise of "the biz" means purely "getting paid to play music"...

But there's much more to the business such as:

  • Songwriting
  • Film scoring
  • Music for television and advertisement
  • Session work
None of those things are going away.

All of those things are limited availability and take work, talent and luck to be able to do, but the same can be said about many professions.
All true.

Don't believe the 'common knowledge' propaganda you read. It's mostly excuses and bullish!t.

I'm an example of a real life in music, and since I only know my own and my family's story, I'll share it.

I've made a good living writing music for ads, and TV since 1991, put three kids through good universities, had a pretty damn nice lifestyle the whole time.

I didn't get into the business at 18. I was nearly 40. Before that, I was a lawyer. I can't explain how this happened. Likely it was a combination of things. I'm also in Detroit, not LA or NYC. Some luck was involved. I was also persistent and never got discouraged. My clients have mostly been agencies for Fortune 500 companies, but there have been some TV documentaries, etc., and a few indie films.

You're all better musicians than I am. Maybe talents not involving musical skill are part of it, I can't say for sure. All I know is that it happened.

Realizing that it would be good to actually know something about music (unlike me, I know nothing), my son got a degree in music from a conservatory program. He went to LA afterward with a strong resume of musical work and scoring college films that won some awards. He landed his first job with a well known producer (the guy produced U2, many others) within a couple of weeks.

Right place, right time, someone tells you about an opportunity that you go for.

He's produced, played and worked on gold records for other artists, and has toured the world a dozen times. Fender has had him in ads and provided tour support.

His band was signed a few years ago, and they got a great signing deal. They didn't sell a lot of records, but that's how it goes sometimes. Deals are still out there -- if they want to sign you.

I had nothing to do with any of this. I have no 'pull' in LA and don't know a soul there.

He's no better at guitar than you are, and many of you could smoke him. But he's good at arranging, writing, singing and generally being a good guy that people like to tour with, and he works his tail off.

He and his bandmate were asked to score some dramatic podcasts - similar to films but without picture - and it became a business; then they started producing them as well, and became co-executive producers for Dave Chappelle's 'Midnight Miracle'. Several podcasts won NY Times and Apple 'best podcast' awards.

The ambient music stuff that they started doing on a whim last year gets a million streams a month on Amazon music. Amazon sends them money.

My son still tours with friends' bands when he has time. Here's a shot from a couple of their shows last summer and fall:

Wrigley Field, Chicago
IMG_4865.jpeg


Las Vegas
THE ACADEMY IS_MATTY VOGEL_WWWY2023_-00373.JPG





If you can accept the idea of not being a rock star and take the opportunities that come your way, a nice living can be made from music. But not all people are willing to step away from that dream and explore what's out there.

Edit:

I'd like to add another observation. Do you think for one second it was easier for a band to get airplay and get signed in the 1960s/early 1970s when there was only Top 40 AM Radio, than it is now when there are so many more outlets?

If ever a bullish!t myth existed, the idea that opportunities were better in the past is surely one.

In the history of music, a few bands dominated the airwaves in their day. It was never easy. Nothing is easy. Yet people somehow manage to live their lives in every field without having to be at the very top, if they stick with it.
 

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It seems to be true of a lot of musical technologies. Bach and Beethoven never knew of a Steinway Grand Piano, yet many concert performances are of their works.

Distribution is very different today via the Internet as everyone knows. In Australia in the 1970's, we had a few radio stations and 1 TV show. When "Molly" Meldrum played the video to In the Flesh by Blondie by mistake one week they had their first hit anywhere in the world. In England before Pirate Radio you had BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4. When John Peel and others started playing new music on their boats offshore it was revolutionary.

You had to go to the store and buy the record in order to play it and hope they had it in stock. But everyone was listening to the same tunes. Even banned tunes like God Save the Queen made the charts.

For most of history musicians were not rock stars with mega-bucks - not even Beethoven.
 
Only stumbled over this now and gotta say that I agree with the OP pretty much to the letter.

And it's defenitely not just about guitar players, the entire "business" is pretty much doomed.
Sure, if you step back from whatever ideas of being famous, you might still be able to make your living through cover band things and teaching (and maybe the ocassional jazz club gig in case you're into that thing), but forget about anything original.

And while chances to make it have never been all that high, while there was no guarantee to really get through with original material, you have been able to kinda plan getting along as, say, a "sideman", in case you were willing to live with little money, do stressful things and still dedicate all your life to it. But even that is pretty much dead these days.

Also, we're not even "there" yet. AI will fundamentally change the entire music industry yet again. It already starts to happen as we speak, and it'll certainly not get any better in favour of real human musicians.
Once that transformation has penetrated everything, it's pretty likely that even cover bands won't be much of a thing anymore. Over here, it already started several years ago when, say, weddings weren't a typical cover band gig anymore but the bands were replaced by DJs - for good reasons even, people marrying these days often just don't want to listen to another round of "I will survive", "Mustang Silly" and "Cuntry Roads" anymore, with modern productions at the same time not exactly being band-friendly.

So, you might still be able to find your niche or be an outstanding musician with great social networking skills, so you might even end up being a sideman for a larger act (because those will actually survive for quite a while to come as it seems).
But others than that, I think we'll see a lot less musicians making a living from it. It's pretty much inevitable IMO.

However, all that doesn't necessarily change anything when all you want is having fun by making music. It might become somewhat less popular as well, but I'm absolutely sure that people will continue making music. And who knows, maybe we will even see a renaissance of smaller live clubs booking original bands. But that won't bring much food to anyone's table.

If I had to decide today, I wouldn't try to make my living from music at all anymore. And if I had a sort of an idea about how things look today back then when I made the decision, I would've chosen something else, too. I had my fun, I had a whole number of great gigs and other experiences, I even tried to be a rockstar once (which, while failing, was a whole lot of fun), but it all went back to being a "functional" player doing whatever is a paid gig without pretty much any options to choose from, let alone saying "no" (which I was allowing myself to do quite a lot, say, just 15 years back). Sure, there's still some great gigs, but they're way less than what once was (and I'm pretty sure it's not my fault). I also like playing functional things, I like a bit of touring and what not. But in the end, today I'd possibly rather have a normal job and all the freedom in the world to look for some mates and play just the music we want to play.

Add to all this that the competition is incredibly strong. I know quite some teachers at the local music university (some are my friends), and they're all like "yeah, this year there's two new students that I can't teach anything on the instrument anymore".
So it's less jobs but an incredibly higher amount of qualified players trying to apply for them. Getting older doesn't help much, either, because people rather hire a band of smart looking guys in their mid-twenties.

Sucks.
 
Does the general public even care about guitar at all?

As a listener I remember the nineties with Nirvana, but wasnt the best period for guitar not in '60-2000?
 
This post reeks of the chuds from your high school who haven't listened to anything new since their senior year but proudly claim there isn't any good music these days



If you think its too hard now so just give up and play covers since you can make some money that way that's on you but it's a shit way to look at things.

Playing covers is totally fine and probably fun and certainly the quickest way to make money but just saying the system is harder now so you shouldn't even try is kinda lame. Lots of people don't even wanna be famous or make money. It's rewarding just doing it for the love of music.
 
9. I strongly believe that if you weren't a major player when the big music biz wave happened 1950's to 1990's, you were too late for the "show"; you missed the boat. And that boat is never coming back.

What is considered a major player? You can sure make a good living with a cool fan base. Also, all the business deals going on on the side might make it more lucrative now to be in showbizz than in the 1950s 1990s including financial smartness.

- John Mayer (probably the most business smart of them all now. Watches, etc)
- Gary Clark Jr.
- St Vincent
- Derek Trucks
 
No, it's a fact. Whether you still make music for the fun of it or not hasn't got anything to do with it.

im not disputing that its a fact. i am saying if you give up before trying because of that you are lame.

you only should try music if it was easy?

you only should try music if you were going to get rich?

you only should try music to get famous?


i agree the system is fucked. i agree it was much easier a long time ago. im saying if you give up on your passions and creativity you just die inside and become another unhappy shell of a person living with regrets going through the motions until you die and thats not a very good way to live your life.


write a song. pour your soul into it. be happy with something you created from nothing. everything doesnt have to be about making money or becoming famous.
 
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I have been a cover player for my whole time playing guitar. I got pretty good a being a human jukebox. I have had a lot of fun playing gigs and have made some okay money doing it. I have also made some okay money doing live mixing of bands and other events. I never really learned or figured out how to make my own music. I have had a ton of ideas for songs over the decades. I have written a bunch of things down that I still have. I am older now and am tired of the late night schedule of gigging and the drama that is involved in it. I am now working on figuring out how to write my own stuff. I don't care if it never gets played in the to 40. It is just something I want to do at this point in my playing.

With the gigs I have been the soundman for, there have been some for bands that were playing nothing but originals. These shows typically had less people there to listen. I have never really seen much excitement for original music in the gigs I have done. I have also been in bands that had original songs. We could only play one or two of those in each set because the only people that knew them were those in the band and our really close friends. People want to hear what they are familiar with when they are out having a good time. The only band that I have run sound for that played all originals that people loved is famous so that doesn't really count. :)
 
i am saying if you give up before trying because of that you are lame.

Nobody says one should do that. But unless you're really willing to do everything imaginable, there's absolutely no sense anymore in trying to make your living from it. It might happen accidentally, but that's about it. You may as well win the lottery.

you only should try music if it was easy?

you only should try music if you were going to get rich?

you only should try music to get famous?

No, no and no. But if you are as well looking for a job, music rather shouldn't be it. That's all I'm saying.

One can still make music for all the other reasons. And one should do so. Noone ever disputed that.
 
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