What are some realities about being a musician in nashville ?

[u/IllustriousElk8436]

Hi all im from asia singapore and i have a dad that has been a musician all his life. He didnt make good financial decisions so he does not have any savings and has to work in his 70s partially disabled. A gig here you get around 150 to 200 dollars but the music scene is very small we dont have a strong arts scene and so i know people that are being paid 50 to 100 dollars for a gig sadly. It is very hard for artist to make it beyond my small country unless they go abroad

I have never been to the usa although i have family members who have moved there and i use to hear of nashville and texas being quite famous for country music . I like to listen to dolly parton, carrie underwood , ella langley , taylor swift although she is in pop now, pistol annies and for rock and pop three days grace , seether, Evanescence, fleetwoodmac, alice in chains, skillet and a lot of others which is too long to list.

1. What are some realities you can tell me about the music scene in nashville ?
2. How much do musicians get paid whether its for gigs, touring and being able to make a living out of music.
3. What is talent pool like - do you get musicians from all over the world trying to make it or mostly americans? How talented are they ?
4. Is everyone hoping to get noticed by a record label or a publisher ?
5. Are those guitarist or sound engineers hired to work for major label or big tour musicians more talented or knowledgeable vs those who work for independant artist ?
6. Is the music dream still alive ?

Sorry for so many questions im just really curious about the music scene and i hope to visit some cities in the usa and nashvile someday .

[u/s_l_e_e_p_y_g_a_l]

i am not well traveled, so i’m sure someone else could chime in with a more effective answer, but I feel like St. louis still has the small town / big city feel that Nashville used to have. Lots of free things to do, good music scene, good food. Traffic isn’t bad either.

But as far as “music city” songwriter hub … i just think the art of from-scratch music is dying. It seems tik tock is how people get their songs heard now (and i’m not on the apps so i literally did not recognize most of the award winning artists this last season) and if your song doesn’t work in the ten second clips, it doesn’t get heard - people don’t listen to radio stations, artists just cross sample everything and use computers instead of instruments in a recording studio … i feel old now i’ll step down 😭

[u/iUsedtoHadHerpes → u/s_l_e_e_p_y_g_a_l]

Most of what you say is pretty accurate, but for some reason genuine instrumentation has made a pretty strong comeback even in pop music, which is appreciable enough when most pop acts don't even really sing live these days. And just to highlight that it's not just "kids these days," look at how phony an Eagles concert is.

[u/MayorMcBussin → u/iUsedtoHadHerpes]

And just to highlight that it's not just "kids these days,"

90% of the internet is just complaining about how bad things are. This sub seems to have that disease in particular.

People have been complaining about how art is dying, kid's brains are rotting, everything use to be better etc etc since the dawn of time.

https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation/

If anything I'd push back on OPs assertion that no one listens to the radio any more. Country and pop are the two most popular forms of music in the united states and it's largely because country is super manufactured and plays for the radio. We live in Disneyland. It's kind of always been the way it is - songwriters writing for artists who pick up the songs and make them popular.

[u/Mindless-Chemistry69 → u/s_l_e_e_p_y_g_a_l]

to this point: st. louis has deeper american history roots than nashville. nashville grew quick and is a lot of new money. LOADS of old money too, sure, but the stretch marks are showing

[u/Tempiveyvurticore → u/s_l_e_e_p_y_g_a_l]

St. Louis is full of liberal pucks! It has very high crime too

[u/PussyFoot2000 → u/Tempiveyvurticore]

Blue collar Midwest democrats aren't the same as liberals.. There's more liberal 'pucks' in Nashville than St Louis.