Professional Musician - This is what every musician dreams of, to make a living out of music. Once your instrument becomes a part of your life, it is very difficult and frustrating for you to do some thing else for a living and it is but natural to think in the lines of becoming a professional musician. After all, there is this Chinese proverb which says that "Find a job you love and you do not have to work for the rest of your life" and I am sure we all love our music.

Will I make a decent living?

But the question remains, is it possible to earn a decent living out of playing music? If you are young and single, you might say "Yes, it is possible" and you could be right as most of your expenses would be for your own self. If you a virtuoso in your instrument and if you are located in a place where the style of music you play is popular, then you should get enough high paying live performing opportunities.

But what about those who may not be virtuoso's but are good enough? What if you are married, have a family to support, have to pay your mortgages? What if you main profession is a high paying one like a lawyer, doctor or a software professional? Would you be able to chuck that away? Perhaps, in these situations it is not so easy to make a decision and you will have to do some planning and think carefully before you take a decision to be a professional musician.

Various opportunities
Even if you love playing your instrument, I am sure you will not mind doing something else, if you have to, which is still related to music. In fact, if at all you decide to take the plunge and become a professional musician, you would still be doing a lot of activities related to music, besides playing your instrument. There are various other professions in the music business which you can consider taking up to supplement your income. Some of these are teaching, arranging, composing, studio musician, concert pianist, band, sound engineer, DJ etc.

It may not be very easy to get some of these jobs but you will have to try. You will have to make your demo CD and mail it to various contacts, you will have to personally go for auditions, you will have to visit music studios, production houses, meet a lot of people, and do some initial jobs for free to develop relationships.

But eventually you will find out that you can get decent amount of work and you will feel very happy about it. It is just like finding a new cheese, you will know this if you have read the book "Who moved my Cheese". If not, please read that book. It is a must for people who are thinking of taking up a new profession.

Social pressures

As usual, lot of people may discourage you but as mentioned earlier, if you plan well, you should do fine. You should also realize that if you are going to take up a lot of performing activities, you will have to be on the roads most of the time, which could affect your personal life so you need to discuss this with your family. Lastly, if you are planning to chuck your current job to become a professional musician, I would advice you to do both the things in parallel for some time before taking that plunge.

No! not all of us want to become a professional.
I love some types of music which give me a lot of pleasure.
I love the shear excitement and physical well being of performing either for my own pleasure or others.

You may say I get a high.

I am happy seventy three year old who is enjoying life like a pig in mud.

Cousin Ken

I am 66 and have been in and out of the business several times in the last 40 plus years.

With family responsibilities, I was forced to pursue other endeavors as a main job, but played when I could.

The main point I want to express is that I never failed to focus on the thought of someday returning full time and making the big time. Whether it is realistic or not, is immaterial. Keeping the thought alive has made me a much better musician.

Bernie

Well, having retired from the 'day gig' after 40 years, now when people ask me what I do I say "I'm a musician" ... fortunately there is the pension, Social Security and the 401k to keep the food on the table ...
t.

If playing music is a 'vocation', rather than a 'profession', as some of us here may feel, you don't get a lot of choice in how much you make. This can force you into a lesser lifestyle (materially) than many other skilled jobs. But because it is a 'calling', little of that really matters. Material things have little to do with inner peace and happiness...

If you are trained, with the skill-set to adapt to any playing opportunity, you can support a family (many of my friends put kids through college just playing gigs) AND remain true to your art. But getting restrictive about the styles you will play, or the venues, or co-workers will only make it more difficult. A good musician can find SOME joy in almost any musical situation, and despite external distractions (or internal ones!) can go home each night and say 'I am getting paid to do what I would have gone out and done for free anyway! What a great life!' and overcome frustrations with bar managers, drunks or other musicians (or drunk bar managers that THINK they can play!).

Every time I drive past some poor guy roofing in August here in Florida I go "Margaritaville AGAIN...? Hell YES! Beats roofing....'

At times, playing music can be one of the most inspiring things you can do standing up! But even at it's worse, it's better than most jobs...