Earl, the only way to make a living in this business is to treat it as a business. You must first and foremost keep meticulous records of your expenditures. There are more than 1,200 legal deductions that are available to a self employed musician/singer/entertainer. Things you don't even think about are often fully deductible.

A dear, departed friend of mine once told me that if you are out on a job and have to take a crap in a pay toilet, write it down. That $.50 cents you paid adds up at the end of the year. Of course, this means you will be filling out a schedule "C" on your income tax return, which requires lots of time and effort, but by the end of the year, you will get to keep most of your earnings.

The downside of this is you must keep all those receipts for 7 years, which is a safeguard in the event you get audited. Consequently, you will have boxes of receipts stored in the attic that you forget about after a few years and the mice tend to find those box contents make great nesting material.

As for the age thing, don't worry about it! I was playing and singing to the spring breakers down in Marathon Key, Florida just two years ago, when I was 76 years old. The ladies were all built like Barbie Dolls and ironically, the most requested songs were anything Sinatra, Jimmy Buffett, Zach Brown, and ZZ Top, stuff we have been playing and singing for years. The only reason I retired was health issues I could no longer ignore or cope with.

Good luck,

Gary

Hope this helps,

Thank you for your comments Gary. I have been thinking on this subject for some time and realize I may need to increase my scope a tad bit. I have a couple of tourist towns not to far away. Eureka Springs, AR, Branson, Mo and Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. I think I may need to canvass those areas as well as the senior circuit.

I'm thinking Branson may be a tough market, with all the great musicians that hang around there. I love Eureka Springs; that would be great to play there, just to look at the scenery.
My did was from Bentonville, and my brother-in-law lives in Bella Vista. It's a beautiful part of the world for certain.

Because I had responsibilities, home and children, I never relied on music for my living. It was musician and guitar teacher, or musician and piano tuner. I am not talking about dollars here, I am talking about having the freedom to pick and choose without worrying what I was being payed. In New York and Long Island musicians who used music to make money struggled. Those who did very well were better business men than musicians. Many them became booking agents.

This is not to discourage the N.H. player, but to bring reality to what the problems are. If you follow Gary’s system of getting jobs you will improve. BUT, because you are not Gary you will have much less success. Just look at what he has done in the Yamaha forums. And how many of us here are respected as much as Gary. He is a man that does not come around very often.

Stop blaming the N.H.s for what they are doing. And the musicians who play for the love of money. It will lead you to frustration.

I hope this helps:
1-How good of a musician are you?
2-How many dollars do you need to live on?
3-What are the musicians being paid in your area?
4-Do you enjoy poverty????
5-The answers that Don gives are mostly positive. There are more like him here.

I am trying to help guys. Your answer lies somewhere in the middle of who you are. John Maxwell, is a well-known in teaching in leadership in business worls, said, “If you feel that you are a good leader, look behind you. If no one is following you, you better think again”.

I’m doing my best here, John C.

Mark, my advice is to RUN AWAY from Nursing Home jobs; particularly at for profit nursing homes.

These places are hell holes. Over 65 % have ratings problems identified in the Federal Quarterly review.

I am in a group which lobbies and advocates for nursing home reform, because of the terrible things I saw when taking care of friends and relatives in Nursing Homes.

Music does help and is appreciated but my time is better spent contacting state legislators, writing op ed pieces, appearing on focused educational talk shows, etc.


This is a very important part of my daily life.


R.

Russ, I can agree with you when we talk about the people running the nursing homes. What keeps coming into my mind is the people who are hurting in those nursing homes. It is very much like the old saying, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water”.

Throw out the nursing home out then what happens to those in the nursing homes?
John C.

Unfortunately, when it comes to caring for the elderly, this is not Europe, and younger folks here do not have the European mentality. Now, I have not visited western Europe for more than 50 years, but I can clearly recall when I was in Italy, elderly family members often moved in with one of the oldest children when they became ill and unable to care for themselves. More often than not, mom and dad moved into a spare bedroom, someone was there to look after them 24 hours a day and take them to doctors visits when necessary.

In the US, where pretty much everything became disposable during the mid 1970s, and mom and dad were added to the list. The kids had no time to take care of their ailing parents, and if mom and dad had stashed away enough retire money, the kids would dump them into either a retirement community of assisted living facility. When the money ran out, medicaid would kick in and the facilities would still get paid, though not quite as much.

Many of these places are staffed by low IQ individuals that are paid about $12 to $15 an hour. Some cannot speak English, most do not want to deal with sanitation issues, and in many places, there is no professional medical staff on site more than once or twice a week.

Fortunately, much of that has changed in my part of the world. The staff mainly consists of caring individuals who bend over backwards to take care of the patients to the best of their ability and often go the extra mile to make life some enjoyable for residents who rarely have visitations from family members.

I made a damned good living as an entertainer working the senior circuit, enough to take care of my family and keep a roof over our heads. I worked very hard to achieve the goals I set forth during each performance, and I knew many of the residents on a first name basis. When many of them passed away, I attended their funeral.

Now, I have seen some of the Hell Holes that Russ often talks about, but they should not be shut down. Instead, the upper echelon staff should be criminally prosecuted and a better class of caring individuals should be replacing them.

Good luck,

Gary

WOW. It was exactly BECAUSE I had responsibilities, home, and children that I chose to make music my living. With so many things demanding my time, I needed (and still do) to be sure my heart and soul were stimulated enough to give my best "me" to my family, friends, and work. Music allows me to feed my soul, AND my body ... with a little extra for my gear fetishes. Drinking and smoking were two things I never got into, so there's a large chunk of change that was always available to me that many do not take advantage of. Making a living in entertainment is no harder than other professions ... if you learn your craft. I never wanted to "fall back" into a career. I chose to charge into one ... head (and HEART) first.

'sall guud

Because I was born right after the depression era, 1931, my view on security and dollars are different.

Because I was born right after the depression era, my financial picture today is more than adequate.

I guess this fact got into my post.
John C.

First I have to totally disagree with the statement "Making a living in entertainment is no harder than other professions ... if you learn your craft" Entertainment is one of the hardest and least secure forms of making a living . There are so many variables in the business from the people who hire you to the crowds you play for. I knew so many musicians that were going "full time" back in the day and making just decent money. I can only think of one who's still going and only because his wife has the solid job with benefits and a good salary. My own private teacher years ago choose to work for the PRR instead of doing music full time and he came from a time when musicians were more respected and opportunities much more prevalent. Recently saw an interview with Michael Buble and he said something really true. It's 20% talent and 80% luck. Every person on the "Voice" can sing well so why did I make it ?

Back to topic. Simple. Just canvas your area and see what's available, be prepared with material and equipment to cover all situations, and follow some solid business practices as Gary has shared. Definatly no guarantees but give it your best. Good luck.