The nice thing about being in denial about the winter being here is that by the time you admit it, winter is half over. And things start to improve before the winter is fully over, so you hardly have any time to let the dread seep in, things are already back before you know it.
You also have a chance to buy when the markets are bloody because you know that that’s the best time. If you have capital anyhow.
I was smart enough to take profits but not smart enough to take enough profits. I don’t have anything to invest now and given everything else going on I’m not sure I will.
If I can manage somehow I will spend this market cycle diversifying. Stocks, metals, you get the idea.
I can only hope that the crypto winter is over by the time the AI bubble bursts. That will be some life changing moves, buying bloody AI stocks in a crypto bull market. It doesn’t seem all that likely though.
If I had to guess I’d say that we will see a delayed recovery for crypto and by then the worst of the burst will be over. Who the hell really knows though.
I am just riding the waves.
Taking out profits allowed me to buy everything I needed to make music (almost) and so I can do that now. Without any extra income I can’t really take advantage of any low prices, but I can move closer to the life I want and that’s something.
I may not be able to move out of my apartment just yet. I may not be able to take a long holiday yet. I may not be able to take it easy just yet but I can change my focus to the things I love, even if it is more of a challenge. It’s the challenge I want to be working on.
In 7 days I will received 500 copies of my live album on CD. I do not know if anyone will want it, but I’ve got to try my best to get it into as many hands as possible. It cost $1200 and so I’ll need to sell 60 copies at full price to make that back and another 60 to find a printing of my EP, and another 60 to fund a printing of our future album that I hope to release before the end of the year.
I also need to sell about the same amount to pay for mixing.
So after 240 copies I will treat everything after that as profit.
That sounds completely unrealistic at this point. I can think of About 10-20 people who I know will want to buy the CD, and I anticipate we will be able to sell 2-3 at any good show we play with more than 10 people (since some will already have bought it after a few shows).
Our last show we made $60 and dinner for 3 (2 members and a friend we treated) was $62…
So we are not even close to thinking about becoming profitable yet.
Our first goal (money-wise) is to get the music to pay for itself. I’ve said that before but at the time I was a bit too optimistic and now I feel just how far away it may be.
A few things blew the air out of my tires.
The first is that only 2 people came to see us play last show. Part of that may be because friends may just be showing up out of obligation, although there were 3 friends I know wanted to make it but had events of their own to join.
The main issue I think is that in a weak economy, there’s actually more to do because everyone is grinding and trying to keep people coming out.
In the winter we had about 10-12 people coming to our shows explicitly for us in the spring it was 4-5. Now it’s about 2-3 in the summer. I believe it is not a downtrend but also seasonal. There’s a lot less going on in the winter so we have less competition.
We have to see though.
The two shops that I was trying to book a show at have gotten distracted by all the many other things going on and haven’t gotten back to me. There is one place I know we can play in August on the other side of the city but it’s in the same town we will play next week.
So 2 shows on hiatus and 2 scheduled. One per month.
I guess that’s what it should be considering I want to keep recording. But I wish I could do more. I want to play a show a week, but we can’t handle it now. Physically, mentally, and mostly just logistically.
So as usual I was a bit too optimistic but things are still moving forward somehow or another.
In all reality, selling a bunch of CDs and having a bunch of people coming to our shows would help fill me with fuel to want to record as quickly as possible and keep learning the skills I need to make the best album possible.
I can’t guarantee those though so I need to motivate myself!
I can see old patterns repeating but not as severe as they used to, so I suppose that’s progress.
If you haven’t heard it yet, check out our live album “Resonance Experiments 1-2” on Apple, Spotify or any other major streaming platform.
A live album APPEARS!
Hehehehe... I did the same... Having experience from previous "cycles," I did take profits on the way up this time, but I was probably too greedy waiting for the "last pump"... But, on the other hand, those profits pay (and paid) bills during the tough times like now... As there is no spare money atm, no problems where to invest them... lol...
And regarding music... My wife is giving lessons in 2 private schools, but when summer comes, all that goes away... A few gigs that appear during the rest of the year are nice additional income, but in summer, all that people want is sun and the beach... Taking the piano to the beach isn't an option, so waiting for the autumn to come... 😃
Good luck with your album, and hopefully you will need to print more! 🥂
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Exactly the same, I knew I probably should have taken more profits when I did but I kept waiting for the next pump
Thanks! CDs are arriving in an hour!! 🌞🌞🌞
What does your wife teach? And what kind of gigs!?
You probably know her as she is on HIVE... :) She teaches piano, and gigs are mostly playing background music during meals, cocktails, wedding ceremonies, etc.
I can get how tough it is to make music pay. It has never been easy, but things have shifted over time in how people 'consume' music and many expect it to be free. A lot will not buy physical media any more. I saw something years ago about needing 1000 'true fans' who buy everything you put out to make it pay. These days some use Patreon or other apps to get fans to subscribe for a steady income.
I always thought Hive could offer an alternative. If enough fans vote up all your posts then that's some income plus the fans are earning too from curation and whatever else they do here. I just don't think any musicians have enough fans on Hive to make it pay, but I appreciate those who stick with us and support what I can.
I wish you all the best with your music.
!PIZZA
I think it used to be 100 fans but that become less sustainable hahaha
I think 100 would be more than enough for what we want right now though. And I think we have about 10 or 15 and I imagine the first 15 are more difficult than the next 15 that are more difficult than the next 15 so that’s something! If shipping and production costs weren’t so crazy we may have a bunch more. Now we want to build a few pockets where there are a handful so we can tour, first in Japan then around Asia Pacific.
Thank you!!!!
My band don't really have a following outside our friends and family, but then we are not expecting to make anything. We have all spent plenty on gear though. Got another gig lined up for the summer :)
I didn’t know you were still playing live! If you have any videos please send them my way! Glad you are still at it!
We played last weekend. It's all fun and I'm still learning.
Went back a few 3speak posts and heard…I think Nina Simone? Nice choice of songs every time 🔥
We do various stuff from over the last century. It's whatever we want to play.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@steevc(3/5) tipped @selfhelp4trolls
Learn more at https://hive.pizza.