Music is not a profession for me. There’s nothing wrong when it is someone’s profession, but it’s not how I, myself, make my living. And I’m actually quite glad about that.

A profession implies that the trade is something you do for work, and work implies that commerce is, if not your only motivation, a significant one. I’m hardly a mercenary, but the work I do for my profession—which I happen to like—is still based mostly on being paid. If the job is profitable, I’ll usually do it. If it’s a good job and one that I will enjoy, all the better; but money talks. 

As such, I do whatever my industry demands. I follow trends, I keep up with the kinds of things that other people like, and a successful job is one where a client is happy… it doesn’t matter at all if if makes me happy or if it’s what I would do, personally. Though my job as a commercial web and print designer is somewhat creative, I don’t mine for “artistic fulfillment” in my work… And that’s good, I think. Because, while it’s possible that “art” and “commerce” don’t have to be mutually exclusive, they often are. The very definition of art (profoundly personal and individualistic expression) is by nature at odds with the core concept of capitalism (profit is the gauge of success). 

I’m not trying to imply that an artist with an eye on making money naturally has to completely “whore himself out” without a nod to maintaining integrity. But unless your goals, desires, likes, and inner muse happen to coincide 100% with the most marketable practices, you’re naturally going to have to compromise yourself a little bit if payment is your goal.

That said, the predictable flow here would be for me to now say, “I don’t want to compromise with my music,” which is true, but that’s not really the crux of the discussion. After all, everyone compromises at least a little, right? If you play music in a band, and you’re not selfish, you want to make your mates happy and scratch their musical itches. And in the process, it usually helps you grow and learn new things about yourself and your performance. 

So this idea that it’s “all about not compromising” is not really the main thing here…

Rather, it’s a larger concept. Because I don’t approach music as my “profession,” I simply avoid having to weigh commerciality and return-on-investment as factors for anything. I don’t have to engage that battle within me and confuse my passion with my way of putting food on the table. I do what makes me happy, and what I like to do. If the audience for it is small, that’s fine. I don’t rely on it to pay my bills and I don’t have to treat it as a “work,” to borrow a term from professional wrestling where lower card performance job a loss for a paycheck. 

So, I don’t need to wonder whether I should join a wedding band, I don’t need to struggle with the reality that I’d make a lot more cash and get more recognition and bigger gigs in a tribute band, and I don’t need to add elements of electronic music and rap into what I do because that’s what kids are listening to. I don’t begrudge any musician who does any of those things, because if I was dependent on music for a paycheck, I would have to decide what I am willing to do to make that work. But I love that I don’t have to have that dialogue with myself and make that decision. I have enough problems making decisions on other areas of life! 🤪

Instead, musically, I just need to do what I want and that helps me sleep well at night, feeling fulfilled and satisfied.

There is one problem, though, with being unapologetic about not using the “profession” word. When you say, “It’s not a profession…” people think it logically follows to say, “…it’s a hobby.”

Music is NOT a hobby for me. It simply cannot be cheapened with that word. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it is something that is so grand that it transcends both hobby and profession. It’s bigger than either term.

More about that in the next post.