The Life of a Musician

We see it all around us. Schools are cutting the arts programs left, right, and center. If a new church building project is taking place, and we have to make cuts to save money, the music department is cut first. We are always the first considered to go. This is how it’s been, and having lots of money and being famous will not change anything. Knowing that this false security exists in music is quite troublesome, like a fly you can’t kill. There are a lot of musicians out there who have it all and are still depressed. So, money won’t change it. Because after the lights have been turned off and after everyone has gone home, you’re the one who is left with your mind. And that’s where the real battle lies. It plagues us, and we struggle with it. I’m not sure if this will ever go away. Even in the later stages of life, it will be present. The best thing I can do is recommend managing it the wisest way possible.

For those of us who only do music as a living, we eat and sleep music. We look to do nothing else but to play music. It is not because we can’t fit into society but because we know there is a pull that calls us to walk a different path. Some paths are longer than others, and we understand and accept that. For some of us, our fears hit us when we step on stage. The lights and cameras, the noise or the silence, can be overwhelming to the point where we can’t function. I remember those days when I used to freeze up knowing that I had a performance or that I had to do something in front of a large body of people. I never knew how to overcome it then, and as a result, I’ve had moments that were horrible because of my fear. And then for some, the fear hits us when everyone and everything is gone.

We know we all can’t be the best. There will always be someone who plays better. Wow, to know and to accept this reality is such a hard task. Not only does it play on our minds, but if we are not careful, we could stop being creative. Can you sit for a moment and imagine yourself creating a song, a melody, a body of work, and another person comes in and does it better than you, the originator? These are the kinds of mental issues we deal with on a daily basis. Have you ever heard the song “I Will Always Love You” sung by Whitney Houston? Many of us know her just because of that song. I think we can all agree it helped catapult her career forward. What a lot of musicians don’t know is that Whitney is not the original creator. Dolly Parton is. And she wrote the song over a separation between herself and her friend. It was originally a country and western song. But when it was added to The Bodyguard soundtrack, it became a hit for Whitney, and she was known by that song. Now, I’m fully aware that there are individuals who are gifted with the ability to write lyrics but might be lacking on the musical side to produce it or might not have the fame or following to get the music or their literature to the place they need it to be. Heck, there is a whole niche for it now in music that has turned into a market for those who can write behind the scenes without being recognized for it. It can be very profitable if they succeed in it. It’s called “ghostwriting.”

A ghostwriter is someone who is paid to write for another individual and gets no credit for the work that is done. Ghostwriting has been around for years; it is nothing new. The practice dates back to the fifth century BC. Scribes would produce work for politicians and royalty when they wanted to beef up their speech or if they lacked the intelligence to produce a body of work to get it to a certain orthodox point. If you don’t believe me, you can ask George Washington. People might think he wrote his farewell speech, but in truth, he did not. He gave that responsibility to a guy named Alexander Hamilton. The practice once held a certain level of secrecy within the writing world, but in today’s generation, it has become a very lucrative and profitable solution for many writers. Politicians, sports stars, music icons, and world leaders all have something in common that allows this niche to be so prosperous, and that is a lack of time. It is one of the main reasons for this niche. People don’t have the time to do the work it requires so they hire someone to do it for them.

The foundation has grown so widespread with a variety of projects that you can get a ghostwriter for almost anything. Though it is in high demand, there is still a negative stigma to having a ghostwriter, especially in music. In the rap world, people who have been accused of having a ghostwriter have come under heavy scrutiny for it. In the music world, individuals want to know that the music that they listen to on a day-to-day basis can be attached to a face. People feel a sense of connection when they know the musician is writing his or her music and not someone else. If it should come out that the musician had to hire someone to do the music, he or she could be looked at as lying about what the music is saying. So that is just another thing that could scare a musician, but I’m not focusing on that. I’m talking about individuals who play and write their own stuff and it didn’t take off the way they would have liked. Then, another person comes and uses their song, and it’s like it was the borrower’s song.