From my perspective, that the time you're on stage is your break time. You push to get your gig, practice to sound good, work your social media, etc. That time on the stage is your only time to be "you". If you're someone else on that stage...if that isn't who you are...walk. The stage is your reward for the work you put in, and your chance to show that work to others. Once you step off the stage, it's back to work.
@@DamianKeyes Bath college. Level 3 music performance Btec. It's meant to be an all around course to help prepare you for the industry but we hardly learn anything.
10 years... im in. it took me only 4 to break into comics. we need to rebuild this world with patience and hard work, and honesty and love and all that good sexy stuff
Hey, great video Damian! I'm a guitar player/ ssw going on 18 now and I'm beginning to think about what my future is going to look like. It really does look scary, but this video did help a lot! Cheers :)
You're such a legend. "You can literally fuck off and go and watch them". That is gold. Have you considered making a highlight real of all your genius real-talk moments? They are amazing. Thanks for the constant reality check!
Amazing as usual! I can feel all your experience in each of your videos. I’m watching a lot of tutorials and videos about music business, marketing and technology and you are one of the best RU-vid I’ve seen! It’s like listening to the voice I’ve got in my head since I play piano! 😂 thank you Damian!
I do not agree with this "fight" philosophy, and the real thing that moves me isn't "I only do art" either... We're here to reach one seat that waits for us, it's here it's not gonna move. But you have to do everything you can to reach it, and that doesn't imply necessarily fighting. It is mostly about help and dedication, but this fight thing is just caring about others while you can focus on you and your project. This is not a competition, this is a challenge.
Hi Damian, I've been in bands since I was 13 and saw many musicians quit while other ones got famous worldwide. Now I'm nearly 30.. and I still haven't given up. It always feels like there is soo much to learn. You'll fail many many times, doesn't matter how talented you are and how far you came, ..you may fail.. and then you need to get up and try again with what you've learned. You're videos speak a lot to me. As a RU-vidr myself I know that preparing/serving quality content regulary is not an easy thing to do. You're doing a very good job here. Listening to your advise helps me focussing more and trying harder. Keep it up! Greetings from Berlin
I'm a fan of yours, so i'm pretty happy that this is your mentality on tje subject! Never give up! No matter if it's releasing your own music (which i really enjoy) or showing how to create huge noise walls with your socks on a bunch of pedals. Never stop!! 🔥
The right mindset is the most important thing to start with and being professional comes together with it. Nothing worse than being unprofessional and sadly there are so many unprofessional people everywhere, it’s truly shocking.
Love the Rage Against The Machine reference ; ) Somebody once said to me that they see their music income streams as taps. I completely get that reference. So they won't have ONE tap/income stream gushing out lots of water/money. They have lots of small taps dripping out different incomes. He made 10k a year teaching privately at home, 10k a year teaching in schools, 10k a year playing classical guitar gigs at weddings during the daytime and 10k a year from playing lead guitar in a wedding band in the evening, 5k a year from royalties and 5k a year from session work. All those income streams (taps) gave him around £50k a year. Add on something like RU-vid and Spotify streams like you mentioned and it's not a bad income for the PRIVILEGE of playing the guitar. Thanks again Damo, always love watching your videos and recommend them to all my friends who are aspiring musicians.
Big respect for that but can he still keep working at that rate? I play in a covers duo mainly playing weddings and we play between 150 and 200 gigs a year. We do ok and it’s great for the moment but I’m very aware that I couldn’t physically keep doing that for the next 30 years. I’m 30 now and in 30 years there is no way I could deliver the same energy to a show as I do now.
10 years........ I wish. Long story short, I studied theatre in college. Four years later I was in a short film and did a film for Disney and a film fest. Now that I have the tools I need and a resume, I’m now focused on music and still with acting, the open mic nights came calling before I was ready. Though I’m not hoping to release any music album style, I’m only interested in writing and performing. I don’t have expectations but you have to be ready for when an opportunity comes knocking you’re ready. Ten years could be realistic but it’s far fetched. Sometimes, you’re in the door sooner than you think.
I make some extra money from a guitar course I sell online. It's not 'passive income' like the gurus say. I have to put in work to keep traffic coming in. But it's nice to wake up in the morning and see a couple of sales have come in.
Great tips Damo, but I’ve gotta ask where are the gigs where you play for 2-3 hours a night? From all my experience in the local music scene (the midlands) pretty much all bands get 30 minuets for a support slot, and 45 minutes to an hour for a headline slot. I suppose the exception is wedding/function bands, but other than that...?
Lee Allen it’s covers / function bands 100% all over the UK the demand is there but you have to expect to be driving every night and play stuff that you always said that you’d never play. Chelsea fucking Dagger anyone?
Absolutely right Lee, UK musicians can play 7 nights a week if they don't want guaranteed fees or to be treated with some respect, and they dont want play on an actual stage with lights and a PA... oh, and are prepared to drive hundreds of miles for door money... its easy 😂
I had an acoustic duo for several years...three gigs a week, each one paying £250ish, so £375 a week paying weekends at pubs, weddings, anything can earn you extra money. Private parties would pay up to £500-£600...not to be sniffed at! We would typically do 2 x 45s, although if the client requested it we would do 3 hours of music.
Damian. My. Name. Is david. Glasper. I. Used. Too. To. Be. In. A. Band. Called. Breathe. Have. Many. Songs. Looking. For. Management. And. Guidance. And. Help. Let. Me. Know. If. U. Are. Interested
Mr.Keyes I am a artist and I am thinking about putting my original songs on youtube. The question I have and I hope you answer is If my channel is a music channel will I have to list it as a kids channel?
Brain Cyclops great question Brain, this week RU-vid updated and Morgan and I got an email with those changes and we had to update our settings. It was interesting phrasing of the questions. Instead of questions like ‘is this material suitable for children’ it was questions like ‘is this material aimed at children’ which is different. My content is not made for kids but I don’t want them to take the reach away if I don’t click that option. I think RU-vid has a bit more explaining to do
@@DamianKeyes Thank you for answering. I make electro like Paul Hardcastle and Herbie Hancock I personally dont mind children watching but I am targeting adults and I really do not want to get hit with a 40 grand fine because kids might watch it.
If you can get a manager who is right for you and brings something extra I would say yes. The key is finding someone who compliments the band/you and helps to fill in the gaps. This mustn't be used as an excuse to offload responsibility as the artist is responsible for everything. But a good manager can defo help organise and lighten the load. I would also think about how the manager gets paid, is it the traditional 20% or a retainer? If it's a percentage don't go with someone with no experience unless you truly feel they are right for the position.
ManhattanStory maybe so but for many it’s a huge amount and not to be laughed at. The issue is people think they can fuck about and make a million a year so they flex and put pics on their Instagram standing next to someone else’s car... the reality is a musician who earns enough from their music and is happy ... wins
