The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 999: Life after music
If you are a professional musician—that is, you’re being paid to write and perform music and can actually make a living from it—you’re a part of an infinitesimal quintile of people who are able to do that. You are living the dream…
This, in fact, may be the only career you’ve ever known. You’ve never had a “real” job. Maybe you’ve had a chance to see the world because of music. And if you love what you’re doing and the money works, you want this to go on forever.
But it probably won’t. At some point, the music stops.
It might not be your fault. The music industry moves fast. One day you’ve got it all figured out, working from immediate deadline to immediate deadline and from gig to gig. And then everything stops.
Maybe it happens quickly. Maybe it happens slowly then all at once. Changes in musical trends. The industry changes. Trends change. Technology changes. And one day, what you offer—what you can do best—is no longer in demand.
It’s like Captain Jean-Luc Picard says: “You can do everything right and still lose. That’s not weakness. That’s life.”
So, what’s next? If you exit the world of music—be it voluntarily or by force—what do you do?
Maybe it’s best to study what some other musicians have done to transition from rock star to civilian life. This is a look at examples of life after music.
Songs heard on this show:
- The Clash, Career Opportunities
- Communards, Don’t Leave Me This Way
- Blur, There’s No Other Way
- Five Finger Death Punch, A Little Bit Off
- Japan, Adolescent Sex
- Elastica, Line Up
- Faith No More, Epic
- Pulp, Common People
- REM, Driver 8
- Econoline Crush, You Don’t Know What It’s Like.
Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist for the show.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
- Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
- Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
- FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
- Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 11pm
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
- The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
- The Fox/Vancouver – Sunday at 11pm
- Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm
