The Answer to Everything... And it's NOT 42

As a musician, I am often confronted with dilemmas that involve money. I mean, most people find matters of money to be dilemmas, but musicians often find that it takes money to make money.  An artist has to record music, this costs either money for studio time or for the equipment to make a studio. Then, after they get good recordings done, it costs money to design, manufacture, and be able to sell physical CD's as well as music online on such vendor's websites as iTunes and Amazon. Merchandise that an artist sells, has to be first bought.

For a college student, who happens to not have any job at the moment other than making a few bucks here and there where he plays, the costs of such things are far out of my budget. However, there is  a solution to many of these issues. Networking. No, not the kind you do on Facebook or Twitter (although they could potentially be avenues to do what I'm about to explain), but rather the more "professional" kind; let's liken it to a real life Linked In (if you don't  understand this reference, then you probably aren't a "professional").


This is a process by which you barter favors for favors with others in order to get things that will further a music career. Musicians are known to practice what is known as "Gig-swapping," which is when one artist in one town contacts another and says, "Hey, Artist X, we have got a big concert scheduled for y date. Would you like to come play with us? There's a guaranteed minimum of z-amount of fans who will be there. All you have to do is come with your instruments and then, let us play with you sometime in the near future in your city." This is what I mean by networking. It's possible to do this with fans. "Hey, we'll give you [free merch, private concert,etc] if you attack your Facebook walls to promote our upcoming concert and can pack the house." You can do it with lots of different people. Just this week, I bartered me helping a lady build a fence at her house for a photo shoot.

Sometimes, it's not your level of talent or even number of fans, but it's merely who you know. I'm having a guy who is going to school to become a web designer in another country build me a free website for a school project. All I had to do in return, is work with him daily (by work I mean, answer questions he has, sign some paper work, and keep in touch with him).

This IS the solution to almost every predicament a musician will face.

Now, here's some of the pictures from my photo shoot this past weekend (Taken by Elizabeth Black, Edited by Emilee Henricks)

Here's some from the same shoot, but that I edited myself: