Prog musicians juggling music career and work?

Most prog musicians have day jobs. That's true. Some actually have jobs in music though and make a full time living out of music but just not usually full time out of prog. For example, I know that is the case for two members of echolyn, the keyboard player also teaches music full time and another member is an engineer, producer, and also a teacher.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - August 13 2020 at 13:20

Recording an album no longer costs much. A laptop, interface, headphones and instruments. Anyone can make an album. Problem after that is how are you going to interest people to listen. It used to be the job of the record company or manager to push your music to get played on the radio to get exposure. They would pay radio stations to play a song so many times a day. Now the artist has to wear all hats and many of them don't have the patience, time and money to do that. There are too many musicians trying to juggle work and music. I can't think of many that are successful enough to quit their day job. And sales from albums are nothing unless you sell millions. Most weekend prog musicians are lucky to sell 100 copies of an album. Streaming revenue pays even less. The artist gets approximately 1/1000 of a cent for one play. Very dismal. By touring and merch sales maybe the artist can break even, but if your job pays more, and covers health insurance, it seems like you would take that over poverty for your passion.