Being in the music industry is hard. There is zero room for entitlement.
I had to learn the following the hard way. Maybe this will help you. I am still preaching to myself with this one so please read the following with some grace for me and yourself. I wish I would have had this knowledge eight years ago when I started.
I think it's healthy to desire living life on your own terms, doing what you love day in and day out. I think that desire helps give people power. It awakens people to go after what they really love to do and not settle for whatever.
The main issue that arises with this are people not realistically looking at what it takes to reach this type of lifestyle. We have a culture that thinks that just because they have a desire or a dream of doing something that it should just be given to them. This couldn't be farther from the truth.
I run into people every week, be it online or in person that can't seem to cope with the fact that making music cost money. It can cost a lot of money sometimes. I think a number of people use this as a crutch or as a "woe is me" thing.
As if someone has put this burden on them to make music and now they can't afford it.
I see people loathing other people that raise lots of money in fundraisers or knocking certain people for having money or having parents that want to support their children in their dreams.
It's all jealously, it's all entitlement, and it's all childish.
The music industry is full of a lot of backstabbing, greed, high risk low reward, networking, creating, timing, patience, endurance, ups and downs, always changing, being taken advantage of type people. There are also a lot of amazing people in it too. I resonate with music costing lots of money but I accepted that years ago. It was a choice. It's no longer surprising. It's part of the business. Most likely I will work harder at music then almost any other career choice and be compensated less then most. I have accepted that. It's my responsibility to deal with it.
When I mentor people, there is usually a harsh reality that hits them in the face that this will take time, lots of time, lots of money, and lots of work. Like you may have to go get a job and work 40 hours and then work 20 hours on top of that for five years. Like you may not be able to just work 20 hours at a coffee shop and then expect to make a professional sounding album with that money. Like you may not make any money for years from doing shows because you have to pay for a band to play with you and the list goes on. Many of the people I knew three years ago that were "artists" are no longer.
This is because the majority of people who want to be successful are also extremely stingy on what they think they should have to do. They want to be famous but they don't want to talk to people or their fans.... heck most of them don't even have fans and thats just the reality of it. Just because you're an artist that doesn't mean you deserve to have a following of raving fans. That's not how it works.
Trying to dodge the work that needs to be done for your career is the number one reason why you don't have a career.
No one is forcing any artist or engineer to go down this path.
It's always a choice. With that choice comes difficult tasks. The things you think you don't need to be apart of or learn how to do, are the exact things you need to be working on. The things you think are a waste of time, the shows you think are too small for you, the band that you think isn't good enough to work with you..those are all the things you have to learn how to deal with. You not only have to deal with them but you have to crush them. You have to get good at them. You have to learn that life is full of work and starting any business cost money, resources, and sacrifices.
No one owes you anything. No one owes me anything. No one needs to give you money for your next album. No one has to lower their rate just because you have created your own anchor in your mind of what a song should cost based on your circumstances. No one owes you an internship or an assistant position. No one owes you a lifetime of clients just because you have built a studio. No one owes you an hour of their time so you can "pick their brain" over coffee. The sooner you can digest all of this the sooner you can actually start creating a career and lifestyle that you love.
A lot of people will avoid hard situations or people that will call them out on their crap. The music industry is full of self starting artist's and engineers who will never make it because they are never really willing to learn how to work, adapt, and deal with the ever changing landscape that is business. They surround themselves with other people who are just as equally as burdened by this life of being an artist and having to create music. They become masters of avoiding anything that is hard and experts in delusional thinking. The internet has created a platform for good intentions, positive thinking, and self-help, to trick us into thinking that all of that will do the hard work for us. I am guilty of this. While there is a place for education and connection online, most of what I see are pity parties and endless chatter about why the industry is broken.
So you have a choice. You can start taking responsibility for your choices and the career path you freely picked or you can keep making excuses on why it's everyone else's fault. It's really up to you, but know that ignoring hard things in life only makes life harder.
Peace