Kidz Rage !

“Good things take time.”

Undeniable. But time requires money, as soon as you start acting on a more professional level. There are times in your life when you have the freedom to “invest” time without having to think about that, like when being a student. And even then, there are times when you’re forced to step back, write your exams or whatever. Seems money is coming somewhere, almost magically. Of course it isn’t, but your daily costs – rent, food, loads of other fixed costs – are somewhat low, partly due to lowered taxes, but also because at that time your level of living often is lower. These are the times to build up skills you use later on in life.

The effort
Most of us are not in that position though, so we have to “find” the spare time to use for DnB business, be it as a promoter, label manager, dj or producer. The promoter has to manage communication with artists and supporters, the dj and the label manager will need to check and work on new material, which is created by the producer. (Interestingly, the abstract business picture of producer and consumer doesn’t fit too well in DnB, as we also have mediators (promoters) and a second, passive type of consumer, the party guest. The market theories therefore don’t fit well.)

The problem now is, that after learning the basic skills to act as a producer, you still need quite some time to put out a new tune and get a release on a label. For us, a typical release requires the following steps (estimated average values):

• Basic tune and arrangement: 12 – 18 hours
• Mixdown issues and fine-level adjustments: 3 – 6 hours
• Label issues, reconcilement, promotion, contract stuff: 3 – 6 hours

As you can easily imagine, this is “magic” time put in in addition to our normal jobs/commitments! We therefore prioritize it high enough to put out a tune every 4-8 weeks. Also notice, that there is an amount of stuff we throw away or put aside in early track development stages.

What is important here is that the times mentioned are based upon previous knowledge earned in the past and characterize a typical tune. Consequently, this is not a tune containing either especially innovative elements or collaboratively recorded vocal bits. Now you may see the difference between a Noisia and a Dillinja tune! Yeah, good things take time, but great things take ages! Therefore, an awesome tune may easily require 3 to 4 times the effort!
Interestingly, there is a rule (called the Pareto principle) stating that it is possible to get 80% of the maximal possible result by putting in only 20% of the necessary work. Vice versa, the required “price of perfection” grows exponentially!

The result
If you set this time efforts in relation to the money earned, this is more than a joke. In our case, we’re talking about none (hello, labels x and y!) to some hundreds of Euros. It’s obvious DnB labels don’t make much money either, so most of them consequently can’t really pay much. This is totally understood and all good. (There are some labels out there who on the other hand should be able to do so, but actually don’t – you may have heard the stories…)
In consequence, you have to dj to make at least any money with it. The releases here primarily serve the purpose of promotion. From that perspective, you may ask why not putting it out all free via the net? Well, labels not only handle promotion to have tracks be noticed in the vastness of crap put out every month, but also guarantee a certain style and degree of quality. The better the label you release on, the easier and more lucrative it is to be booked. Period.

Nevertheless, djing doesn’t mean making a fortune either. (Just think about travelling times!) Yes, there are some artists who are paid really good amounts (I bet Andy C isn’t doing too bad), but for the majority of djs, their fees are based on guest numbers, and these in turn are not through the roof in these times. Especially, if you’re running a cutting-edge style far from the mainstream. My rule thumb is that a gig gets you about as much money as a release.

But how many gigs are you able to play per month? Assuming one or two gigs and statistically half a release per months gets you enough to pay your rent and re-finance your DnB investments (vinyls, equipment, …), but not much more.

The option
Summing up these figures and getting back to the starting point: Basically, you won’t get rich. Instead, there are three ways of making a living being a DnB artist (and I haven’t even started to think about personal future, life after hanging around clubs, or having kids to feed):

1. Do DnB in your spare time. Have a fulltime job to pay your bills. Put out a record once in a while and dj not too often to avoid burning out in your primary job or losing all friends. Don’t rely on the money. Therefore feel free to be innovative or to put out many crap records. No responsability, but little chance of getting really big.
2. Do DnB as a part-time job. Rely on the money. Find a balance between innovation and reasonable release cycles. Find a job that guarantees time flexibility and some income. The optimal job is one which is based on your skills, like doing workshops, writing articles or building presets. Because it is only part-time, you won’t get too big a payment though. Try to fill that financial gap by the irrational joy to live your dream.
3. Throw away that well-paid job, focus on music. Music? Yes, DnB alone won’t in the long run get you enough to pay the rent. Try some more commercial genres as a backup. But then, isn’t this the same as #2?

I know people from all three categories. As long as we’re that far from the mainstream as we are now, only very few people will dare to pick option 3. A lot of “old heroes” do, but as pointed out in previous posts, most of them rely on the same formulas to guarantee sales. And these sales are decreasing over time. Anyway, as newcomers you don’t have that choice.
There is no perfect solution, instead your choice depends on complex factors like DnB skills, non-DnB education/job and desired standard of living. You decide.

via(neurocode.de)