I live near Fargo ND. Unlike a lot of the U.S., when it comes to help wanted signs, they are everywhere here. The music business is OK here as well as we are in Western MN land of 10,000 lakes and resorts.

But if you were to move somewhere, where the signs said Musicians Wanted where would you go?

,

Nashville

Harlem NY...best Jazz in Ny

Mid Atlantic Region - no doubt about it!

Gary

Osoyoos, Okanagan. No, very sunny, but actually a bit too rural...
Tsawwassen, Greater Vancouver (though a bit rainy)...
In Europe: Saint Tropez, Côte d'Azur (though a bit very expensive)...
In Germany: Lake Constance (wait, people are a bit too conservative there, and in winter it's all foggy)...
Actually it's not the worst place where I am at present.

It's super competitive everywhere with more musicians then gigs. If I wanted be a recording/session guy, I'd go to Nasville, or maybe LA. If I wear a jazzer, it would be NYC. OMB types would probably do best in a resort area with lots of seniors, I'm not sure exactly where, but probably outside of the states. It all comes down to playing/singing your ass off and having some contacts and amazing people/social skills.

There are polished pros playing for tips all over Nashville. Not the place to get a job!

That's might be true, but Nashville will drive you to be a better musician to stand out and be BETTER & UNIQUE also then the all the rest which always in turn makes you sought after if you got the goods,........

That will hardly work out. If everyone gets better, nobody can stand out.

Then there is the problem of distinguishing a good musician who has paid his dues in thousands of hours of work learning his trade, and, because of advancing technology, the button pusher.

I am all for advancing technology, but the line gets rather blurred for the average listener.

Hardly. Musicians often PAY to play there ... on the chance they might get noticed. Rough market.

Having visited Nashville on a few occasions, mainly on my way south to visit with Don Mason, I got to talk with dozens of street and club entertainers, nearly all of which played a beat up Gibson guitar with unclipped strings protruding from the head stock and ready to stab them in the eyes, all of which hoped for some form of recognition to make it into the big time. Unfortunately, for the vast majority, they were already at the pinnacle of their musical careers. And, by and large, many of them knew just that. They were playing club jobs for $100 for four hours, hoping to get some big tips from the tourists. By and large, there were very talented entertainers, but Nashville is a tough town for "Have Guitar Will Travel" entertainers. They're pretty much a dime a dozen there. Some, but not many, actually, as UD said, paid to be able to perform in some of the clubs. Yep, they shelled out what few dollars they had in their pockets to a greedy club owner who often claimed to have big connections to the music producers, but in reality, he or she didn't and was scamming the wannabes who just rolled into town.

Good luck,

Gary

A few years ago, our friend Rory Hoffman and two guys who were musicians on the Grand Old Oprey had a $75.00 per man job on W3ednesday night. It was one of only a handful of jobs available. Last Summer NAMM, A group of musicians were pooling $25.00 to pay a restaurant owner for an electric line to play outside.

ROUGH!


R.

A dear friend of mine, the daughter of an old bandmate moved from Australia to Nashville to continue her career. She is a gem. http://www.jokellystephenson.com Here is one of her songs that she sings and wrote "Slip Away". Her Dad records her albums and plays on them as well.