Creative

Ways to make money from music in these hard times

 The experience of lockdown and the effect on live music and music education has been significant, and it does not look as if there are any significant changes on the horizon.  It is therefore up to us to look for opportunities in these rather chaotic times. It is safe to say that there are always opportunities but they may not be obvious, they certainly will require us to look very differently at what we have to offer.

Often in these situations the answer is found somewhere else, for instance if you are looking for an answer to your problems look elsewhere in another industry or discipline.

Where are the problems that music teachers are having at the moment?

You cannot assume that things will go back to normal; this event has caused a seismic change in the way that you are going to do things in the future. If you been able to teach online, that is going to be an important component to the work that you do in the future, even if you are able to resume face to face work. It can increase your catchment area to the rest of the world; the only problem is people finding you.

 Online recording work,

There is literally no barrier to where you could work in the world if you are set up to record at home. I have a number of friends who have over the years supply music for films and artists around the world from the comfort of their own home studio. LinkedIn is probably the best place to forge those contacts because it is the platform for professional people of numerous areas of business.

 Don’t just limit yourself to the world of music

Other businesses require music for their presentations and maybe some sort of in-house training this is a brilliant time to be able to offer that, particularly if you can do it online because businesses who are strapped for cash may be able to afford you doing the training as a sort of experience day.

It is also a good idea to create a check list of other skills that you have and see if they can be useful at this point. I know musicians who are skilled in computer programming and others who are keen gardeners, instrument makers, meditators etc. If you have a van and happy to carry things about there is always the (Wo)Man with a van.

 Support for others as a Mentor

 If you have expertise in a particular area, whether it’s in teaching or performance, how about mentoring those who are starting out? You could mentor someone who is a teacher who looks up to you as being an expert in their discipline or you can mentor somebody fresh out of college looking to develop their skills as a musician in the real world.

Remember that people will buy from other people that they trust.

Make the most of the goodwill that you have developed over time with your customer base, whether that is in the form of teaching or concerts. A good customer knows that times are difficult and therefore when you advertise you can ask for their support. Now is the time to record lessons to sell, remember to focus into a niche in the market. You may think that everything is already free on the internet but there are still people making money from Diets and Yoga all of which are abundant on YouTube

Experience days

Companies such as Airbnb, buyagift and experiencedays may be a good port of call getting on a platform that could show your work. Not only does it give you some sort you kudos within the industry but is a very good way of being able to spread your name.

Think of how you could package your things is an experience day maybe ‘beginners guitar in a morning’

And it’s always about innovation and technology 

Whether we like technology or not (and I’m not particularly keen) unfortunately we are where we are. Technology has always been an essential aspect of a human’s interaction with the world. Fire is a technology which meant we could travel very far into temperate zones and apart from offering us warmth it also offered us protection and the ability to create things.

We used it to create implements, it stimulated culture, stories were told around campfires and were the great spiritual force in humanity. But it is also an amazing destructive force when out of control, so think about it,  you know we could use modern technology for good and not so good, but we can’t step back from it, however much we would like to. I can assure you I am a bit of a Luddite at heart. I prefer to do things manually however I do play the electric guitar and not acoustic so in that regard I am hypocrite.

So let’s embrace new tech as we’ve got and use it anyway.

 Think of creative places to play

 Look around you and see what great ideas other people are having, from gigs in your front garden being streamed online, to the possibility of gigs in big open spaces. From the aircraft hangar to the open field, the possibility of a silent disco, which we can turn into a silent concert where all the audience wear headphones, to the drive in movie becoming the drive in concert.

 So it’s time to open your mind up and come up with his many interesting and novel ideas. These are often not the solutions on their own but the idea is that they stimulate other ideas. It’s a little bit like meeting somebody at a party; they know somebody who would be the perfect contact for you. Like Stanley Milgram’s 6 degrees of separation, where you are only six people away from anyone else in the world. I think it’s the same with ideas; one idea will introduce you to another idea. So with that in mind get out there, start talking to people in other businesses and industries and see what ideas they have and see what it stimulates in you.

 So for those of you who are in need of personal help and some form of mentoring I currently have on my Patreon site a Guitar Mentoring program to help you through your problems and find answers. This is explained on the intro video visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

 Yours Vic

Elliott Peek 

Elliott is a bass player and this was recorded a few years back when he was in the Tunes lots of things have happened since and hopefully I will be speaking to Elliott again soon but at least this is now up on iTunes 

You can contact Elliott via the show 

Grant Tunbridge 

Back into the archives to get this onto iTunes etc and it is good to hear from Grant. 

Stories about bass and teaching and how one works in the engine room of the band 

You can contact Grant through Facebook listed as Grant Tunbridge Gigs and Music.

Justin is a drummer who is the go to guys if you want someone who in his words 'is not there to make up the numbers'

It is always good to catch up with the guys who make playing in a band fun. 

To contact Justin send an email to me at [email protected] or contact the bluescamp website www.bluescampuk.co.uk 

Graham Semark

Graham is the CEO at Cyclone Music Productions who manufacture CDs, DVDs and vinyl formally engineer and producer at Red Studios in Kent UK. I know Graham from his days as a guitarist and borrowing my amp when his blew up!  

For full details of Grahams work at Cyclone visit www.cyclonemusic.co.uk

Raymond Burley Classical Guitarist

In this episode I am interviewing Raymond Burley. Ray has played with such luminaries as John Mills, Gordon Giltrap, John Etheridge, Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Rick Wakeman.

Ray is often understated, he is amazingly industrious with many books of transcriptions and recordings to his name and concerts worldwide with leading guitarists of different disciplines.

On a personal note it was good to catch up with him again.

You can find Ray at www.raymondburley.com

Paul Hill is a jazz guitarist and teacher who I have known for many years through the RGT 

This was recorded very early on in the life of the podcast and went out on YouTube so here is it again. Good to hear Paul talk guitar. 

you can reach Paul on https://paulhill.biz/

Amanda Cook 

Dubbed “The ‘guitar queen’ with a silken touch” by The Independent, Amanda has appeared as a soloist in the USA, South America and throughout Europe. In the UK venues include the South Bank, Wigmore Hall, 

This was such an interesting conversation with such a fine guitarist. We get into the life of a solo concert performer and how she deals with preparation for live work and balancing being a mother.

For details visit amandacook.co.uk and have a listen. 

This was recorded a couple of years ago and you can tell that things have improved on Skype in that time! 

The chat is great with one of the top British drummers who is one of the busiest (when he can get out to play, this remix is done during the pandemic) 

Have a listen to how Sam started and his work with Cymande and Gary Moore amongst others. 

Find Sam on Facebook  and on Sam Kelly 

This months solo show looks at what we can do as musicians, teachers and music examiners post pandemic