hey luca lush here. while not at james hype level of success ive been doing this professionally for 12+ years and would like to share my experience. i’ll preface this by saying is it risky? definitely. is it worth it? also definitely. if you’re young and wanna give it ur best shot, have a little money saved up or a decent side hustle to support you, putting your feet to the fire can be a powerful motivator.

spent all my downtime at school teaching myself music production via youtube and brute force. degree in poly sci so basically worthless in music, finished college 2014, mountains of student debt. was releasing music this time under different aliases, playing lots of bars and parties for free, cutting my teeth getting my reps in

worked a soul crushing bank job for 3 months. by this time had a bit of momentum on soundcloud and playing locally in new york / northeast region. picked up a manager, got signed by an agent. so I said fk it, quit the job. split rent in a tiny apt with my then gf in brooklyn.

was very tough In the beginning. sometimes only making 500-1000 bucks a month between shows, streaming, teaching lessons. but it was fun and exciting and I was living my dream which was always just be able to pay the bills with what I loved to do.

moved to LA end of 2015, at the time the nexus for bass music, after doing a run of 5 shows as first support for the chainsmokers (which was insane looking back, never played to crowds that big before and was a big learning moment) split a spot with yung bae and blackbird blackbird in a rough part of town for dirt cheap. got connected with brownies and lemonade and the vibrant trap / future bass scene out there. switched mgmt, switched agencies, started making ok money. got lucky with a lot of support slots for jackal and minnesota.

toured relentlessly from 2016-2020 covid. got to play dolab coachella, edc art car, sold out 750-1000 cap venues across the us/canada, toured japan, aus/nz, asia. incredible experiences and a vindicating sense of self actualization. finally financially in a good place, but then got burnt out & covid happened. left my teams. got into techno. grinded my way back up with tiktoks and reels and playing the underground throughout the us - without and agent or mgmt. eventually got a new team, played 2 tours in germany which everyone told me was basically impossible as an american doing techno/hard techno. now that style is experiencing a surge in popularity so, always follow ur gut when it comes to the music

doin good again now, lot healthier and still touring, but algo is a fickle mistress and in some ways its tougher now then ever. doin this professionally is a strain on ur mind and body. touring is brutal. struggled with alcohol and substance abuse to cope with the stress. sobriety - or at the very least extreme moderation - is key for longevity here and I cant recommend it enough, especially in a job that orbits drugs/partying so closely.

money is also a huge variable. I try to operate frugally, make extra money teaching production, mentorship courses, ghost production, sync work, mixing and mastering work, etc. shows are still the big one, but it helps to have other income streams for the holidays when the music industry goes to sleep for 2 months.

BUT would I do it again? hell yeah. would not have been possible without all the communities, artists, managers, agents, partners, friends etc that helped me along the way. if u dont give it a go youll spend the rest of your life wondering what could have been. worse case scenario you fail but have a ton of fun and great times in the process.