What would you consider me?!
Question: I am an indie artist; I record CDs of my own music and get played on college radio, satellite radio indie stations, and Internet indie radio in the US and all over the world; I have sold CDs all over the world; however, I do not make enough money at it to cover the cost of making these CDs, much less turn a profit. Would you consider me professional, semi-professional, what?
Answers: I am an indie artist; I record CDs of my own music and get played on college radio, satellite radio indie stations, and Internet indie radio in the US and all over the world; I have sold CDs all over the world; however, I do not make enough money at it to cover the cost of making these CDs, much less turn a profit. Would you consider me professional, semi-professional, what?
a semi-pro
peace@love=0)
a dreamer, you obviously an extremely talented person so you are going to have to regroup and get an agent.
both
A struggling musician...
Good luck toward your future success
you're a BS artist.
You are professional. Professional means that you get paid for what you do. A semi-professional is one that goes in and out of getting paid for what he does.
I fall into that same category. I am an independent artist, though not exorbitantly rich (or close to rich for that matter), but I have been playing professionally for 15+ years.
By the way, I would be interested in hearing what you do. You can e-mail me if you wish.
I would consider you a person who is trying to make it but hasn't yet!
I think if you look at anyone who ever did end up making it, they were the same as you at one time......
look up Jodi Messena,,,,,,,or any other star and read their stories.
A professional is someone who can live well on the amount of money they make off of what they do.
A semi-professional is on their way to becoming a professional.
I don't think you really fall into either of these categories. You are just another starving artist.
If you don't make money then you're not a pro.
The music industry is so screwed at the moment that record labels are knuckling down on advances, so I'm afraid the future for making money doesn't look great.
Unless you're a DJ and then you can get gigs based on your productions and that's where the big money is nowadays, but not sure about indie music?
I think we can go with some basic (perceived) definitions to fit you into a group:
Professional - This is your full-time profession, you have no other employment. You are likely lost in the accounting for your career.
Semi-Professional - This is where you spend most of your time and consider it your primary employment but may still have other irons in the fire just in case. You goal is to be a full-time musician but aren't quite ready for it. You're working hard and losing money, then getting money, then buying equipment... basically never getting ahead monetarily speaking. But you understand that you're trying to collect fans right now, not cash.
Amateur - You have a different main occupation, but still spend a large amount of time producing/playing out/recording/writing. You are getting a fan base and selling some music and seeing a bit of money hoping to move up.
Hobbyist - You love doing this. You have a career elsewhere. You might spend a day a month working on music, but it's the best day of the month. You might sell, you might not. You may have fans, you may not, but it doesn't matter because you like what you're doing.
So I guess it's up to you to define yourself. Who are you and who will you be?