tonebase Tips: On Making A Living As A Professional Classical Guitarist
Recently we read the Classical Guitar Magazine blog post about Obsession and Profession — Life as a professional guitarist, and were inspired to share parts of it with you! We wanted to highlight a few gems from the post as well as let you know about their fantastic newsletter which, like ours, goes out once a week and features true gems for the guitar community. Check them out here!
***For a limited time, get $15 off your subscription when you start a free 14-day trial with the coupon code TONEBASE-BLOG***
As a team of passionate, professional guitarists (and designers!), we’re always on the lookout for articles, videos, and more to help us learn more about our instrument. That’s one of the reasons we started our newsletter — so we could share the best material we find each week with all of you!
So when we read Classical Guitar Magazine’s recent blog post on making a living as a professional guitarist, we couldn’t help but share it with you all! For those of you out there who make a living by keeping your fingernails long and strong, this is for you!
1. There are many ways of “making a living” as a guitarist outside of performing alone
I know, I know, this one is a “duh!”. But it’s all too easy to get stuck in the rut of watching a guitar performance at GFA or another festival and thinking — “Gosh, that’s the only way to make it…”
Our favorite thing about this article was getting the inside scoop on the many myriad of different streams guitarists today count on — and there’s more than you think! From social media sponsorship, to becoming a tonebase brand ambassador (we couldn’t resist!) there are all sorts of ways for guitarists to follow their passion in 2018.
2. Concert fee’s can vary widely depending on almost too many factors to count
Again, nothing revolutionary here, but did you know just how widely they could range? According to Jackson’s sources, guitarists can expect anywhere from $200 (plus expenses) to $20,000 for the likes of John Williams!
That’s quite a range, and it depends on a myriad of factors — location, time of year, number of performers, length of the concert, etc. Some guitar club’s will work out alternate payment structures as well, paying performers a “percentage of the door takings” (ticket fees), mostly as insurance against having too small an audience.
NOTE: We have to make a point to mention here that several organizations exist to help up and coming guitarists get booked and climb the ladder to performance success. Pre-eminent amongst them are the Augustine Foundation, D’Addario Foundation, and others (Savarez, La Bella, etc.)
3. Masterclasses can still be a revenue stream, though they are (for most guitarists) an additional source of income rather than their main fare
The respondents in the article mention ranges from $200 to $600 per masterclass, with a few top-tier players able to get a higher rate. However, from our personal experience, masterclasses are difficult to count on as a steady source of income for all but the highest level of guitarists.
Both expensive, difficult to get to, and to be quite honest, a little nerve-wracking (!), masterclasses are slowly being taken over by awesome online resources like Classical Guitar Shed, ThisIsClassicalGuitar and, of course, tonebase!
4. Needless to say, the recording industry is not what is was 20 years ago, and album sales are hard
The current generation of music aficionados, for better or for worse, rarely buy CD’s. With the rise of streaming platforms such as Idagio, Spotify, YouTube and others, album sales have been on a steady decline for years.
According to Jackson, there was a time when Andres Segovia, Julian Bream, John Williams and the like could sell close to 100,000 copies of an album — but those days are long gone.
Today, 10,000 sales are considered strong and most albums never break the 1,000 copy ceiling. While labels do still exist, advances for artists, and vast promotion networks are becoming a thing of the past. Most up-and-coming recording artists (as we know all too well!) will pay out of pocket for the chance to record with a label, leveraging the distribution and brand name of the company to promote themselves.
That’s not to say albums are dead, or no one records. Far from it. But recording for profit, and banking on album sales to “make a living” are slowly starting to become a thing of the past — which brings us to the next point!
5. Understanding the digital landscape is important in today’s world, bringing a pre-existing audience to the table increases your value
This one is all our own — sorry Blair! As we know all too well, reputation is everything in both the guitar and non-guitar world. Building a personal brand is important for anybody, especially musicians!
To learn more about leveraging social media, building a following and using the internet to your advantage, check out the one and only Evan Taucher’s article on our blog: READ IT HERE
6. Publishing is hard unless your work is picked up by a major artist
Composing is another favorite activity of a few members of our team. One question that comes up a lot is how royalty payments work, and what one can expect to earn through this channel.
The answer, according to Jackson, is not much on it’s own. Usually composers receive a 10% royalty on the price of the good sold — which does add up over time. The best way to boost this revenue stream is to have your work picked up by a well-known guitarist. As Jackson writes:
“If a major artist, such as John Williams, includes a given piece on one of his records, then the composer could enjoy a respectable royalty.”
Royalty payments can also be the thing of nightmares. Since many concerts occur at non-official venues (churches, schools, etc.) performances can be difficult to track. That’s all not to say that composers don’t earn a reasonable income, but finding the right channels for your work (high profile concert hall, high profile album, the radio, etc.) is the real challenge for composers.
7. The vast majority of professionals are teachers — both at schools and conservatories or with private lessons
Ah, teaching. As teachers with a combined 25 years of experience, we know all too well the ups and downs that come with this income source. Of course we knew there were many ways to be an instructor, but the Classical Guitar Magazine article opened our eyes to just how many exist.
From heading a guitar department, to teaching at an elementary school, to a leading role at a conservatory, to the timeless classic (private lessons), there are more ways than ever to help spread the knowledge about our incredible instrument.
And now, with platforms like tonebase, you can earn additional income by becoming a tonebase Teacher — an elite group of teachers who work with us to give even more students access to the world’s best guitarists. If you’re interested email us at team@tonebase.co with the subject line “tonebase Teachers”!
8. Sponsorship deals do exist, they just take some effort to find
Sponsorship is still alive, though hard to count on. If you are a guitarist who regularly plays concerts — whether at a local, state or international level — you may have opportunities and brands who would sponsor you that you don’t even know about!
The marketing word for 2018 is “micro-influencer,” so whether you’re an Evan Taucher with 1000’s of followers, or a dedicated group of friends and fans who shows up to every gig, it’s worth exploring sponsorship as a possibility (or at the very least, score some free strings 😃)
9. Weddings can be an incredible income source (complete with free food!)
We couldn’t not mention weddings. Though Blair offers a number of possibilities outside a formal concert setting, weddings are one of our favorites.
There is a TON of classical guitar music that is just perfect for weddings. It is the complete instrument after all. And the best part is, not only do you get to play some incredible music, the food and cake are for the taking (not to mention a mimosa or two!)
10. Your path is your path, there is no right or wrong way to “make a living”
The road to following your passion is hard — that’s why not everyone does it. But for the few, the bold, the rewards can be overwhelming. There are times in the past, playing, practicing, teaching or working on tonebase, where we have to stop and remind ourselves that — “Hey! This is work!”
So to all of you guitarists out there, whether you’re a beginner wondering what life as a professional is like, or the seasoned veteran who haunts the halls of Delcamp, we wish you all the very best on your guitar journey and can’t wait to see you on tonebase!
tonebase gives you instant access to knowledge from the world’s greatest guitarists, performers and educators: https://tonebase.co
***For a limited time, get $15 off your subscription when you start a free 14-day trial with the coupon code TONEBASE-BLOG***
