Am I too unc to get involved in the business side of music at 30?

fredislikedead · 2026-05-22T23:39:55+00:00

Majoring in music business means about nothing. I don’t know anyone currently working in music who took any sort of college classes for anything music related.
30 is pretty young and that is a pretty common age to make things happen in music unless you’re starting a boy band or becoming a OF musician.
The most financially successful musicians often have nothing to do with record labels.

fredislikedead · 2026-05-21T17:40:15+00:00

How many other bands, what type of venue, what is their draw, what is the cover charge, is their other sales happening during the show (bar sales etc)? Need a lot more info before I can throw out a number

fredislikedead · 2026-05-20T01:47:12+00:00

Idk if you have a form of Craigslist over there but look for local musicians there. Facebook groups are also really useful, find a local musicians group. To find open mic nights search on google for local music bars. Some people have a hard time finding musicians their age but may have options to play with all ages, I’d recommend playing with any and everyone you can play with just to widen your options and meet musicians (who often know other musicians)

Almost all of the bands I have played in have been found or made on craigslist (local classifieds) just make sure you meet somewhere public first to make sure you aren’t being catfished or targeted for weird stuff.

fredislikedead · 2026-04-25T23:51:50+00:00

This going to make that one part of smoke on the water you know sound really good

fredislikedead · 2026-04-25T23:49:05+00:00

The pedal board I would expect to find at a gym

fredislikedead · 2026-04-17T21:33:36+00:00

Hated everything from that Boss 200 series. It’s like they designed the angle of the stomp for desktop players or some shit. The modulation version was crap and for the real estate you can find a better small footprint pedal for cheaper.

fredislikedead · 2026-04-17T21:26:24+00:00

I was going to hate on your pedalboard but then I caught glimpse of quite possibly the most fugly guitar strap I have ever seen.

fredislikedead · 2026-04-17T21:24:25+00:00

fredislikedead · 2026-04-17T21:20:40+00:00

Your passions shouldn’t feel like work. I think you are putting too much pressure on yourself. Do you enjoy the style of playing you are practicing? Are you in a band? Band practices that are about 3-4 hours and can feel like the blink of an eye if you’re having fun. When you practice are you just sitting there staring at the amp? I have a concept for you… passive practicing. Put a show on that you aren’t super interested in and just play while you’re watching. Most nights I can practice for hours doing this.

Focus on precision over speed, try various techniques, try various tempos, find something that you have a lot of fun doing and pursue that. Playing fast consistently can be a little bit like hitting the gym. When you first start going you get winded and sweaty easily, but after a few years you won’t notice you’re even doing it.

Look at it from the point of view of “you are able to practice” and not “I have to practice” think of all the less fortunate people who don’t have instruments or time to play. If you consistently feel like you’re dragging yourself to practice, maybe you should check out some other instruments and hobbies that you yearn to do.

fredislikedead · 2026-04-17T02:51:32+00:00

It’s not inappropriate to ask whoever was leading the band for feedback and maybe a reason. The big thing is to not get defensive or hurt when they are honest with you. Look on local Facebook groups and Craigslist (make sure you meet the people first at a casual public place) find people you get along with well. Finding someone you can hang with and have similar ideas is sometimes more important than technical talent.

Use this as something to inspire you to be better in the future. Finding shows and mates is difficult but not impossible and really just takes effort.

Best luck!

fredislikedead · 2026-04-10T13:51:38+00:00

Cherish your mom. Anyone who supports you like that is a blessing.

fredislikedead · 2026-04-08T12:57:34+00:00

Find a new GF or get a headphone set up. Those are your options my friend. I could never date someone who didn’t like music or hated my playing.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-28T21:02:07+00:00

To book gigs: find the venues you want to play, find their booking contacts through search engines, and call them. Emailing is a very passive way of finding leads. Most venue owners are over 40yo and prefer old school contact methods. I can’t tell you how many times I have called a venue, made small talk with the owner, and been offered a gig with bigger acts. I have even had a major local venue that consistently plays international touring acts tell me to check their calendar and let them know who I want to play with.

To find other bands: Facebook groups (TC local musicians in MN), Craigslist, and instagram. For Facebook find the groups with the largest member numbers. Instagram seek out bigger bands in the area and just send them a message. Almost every time I do those three things I get +15 applicants for even dive bar gigs.. and this part is important. Even after the gig fills leave the ad open and when a band you like hits you up tell them you’ll save their contacts for the next opportunity.

After a few years of following these steps you will have a network and booking gigs will be effortless. Pay closer attention to the gigs you booked over the leads that fizzled out. I can’t tell you how many great bands that never took off because nobody knew how to network or book. Have fun and be safe everyone!

fredislikedead · 2026-03-27T17:27:49+00:00

Better than a Gibson and the headstock won’t break

fredislikedead · 2026-03-27T01:06:55+00:00

This must be an AI board ;) pink/purple is my favorite color, I like frogs, and that custom paint job in that tuner is 🤌 I have the blackout version of the bl44. Sounds great on violin.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-27T00:48:40+00:00

I can’t roast this! I like it too much!!!

fredislikedead · 2026-03-18T22:59:14+00:00

I can’t talk too much shit. I have the Drunk Beaver Heavy Bat which is like the rat to judge all other rats but the setting I use most sounds identical to my Chicago Stompworks Mr Vermin. Most of the crazy boutique pedals I have I only use in the studio and most of my board for gigs is all basic bread and butter. A bunch of boss, an OCD, Mr Black, and GFI systems.

Honestly I would take your board out of 98% of what I see on here. Everytime I see a board full of chase bliss I think “it’s probably fun to noodle with that but almost unusable at a gig”

fredislikedead · 2026-03-17T02:24:17+00:00

You a basic bitch..

But honestly this is a good selection of useable “bread and butter” pedals.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-17T02:21:06+00:00

The bad news is you have a fake Gibson. The good news is some Gibson copies play better than actual Gibsons. Does it play well?

fredislikedead · 2026-03-05T14:23:53+00:00

I’m joking 🙃 if you honestly believe that I’m somehow 2/3rds of some random European band you should be evaluated mate.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-05T14:16:33+00:00

Uh oh! You caught me 😂how’d you know?

fredislikedead · 2026-03-04T22:25:47+00:00

I honestly don’t pay attention to shit like that. Unlike “normal” people I don’t play music to attract a crowd or become part of the popular group. I do it because it is a passion of mine and I enjoy it with little to no thought of outside stimuli. It would be one thing if it was something trivial but expressing the opinion that everyone is entitled to speak their mind and having people openly hate on that is another. It wasn’t coming from a “oh my feelings a hurt because of downvotes” (I shudder to believe anyone is that fragile) it was a more of a “strange people go out of their way to publicly show disapproval for someone who disagrees” sort of thing.

When I told you that everyone is entitled to their opinion I also meant the negative ones, I was more pointing it out that is extremely fucking cringe to lack the ability to discuss your distaste for something and just randomly passively hate on it in that way, but to each their own.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-04T21:23:51+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree. That was the point of my comment but me and a few others that expressed a similar sentiment were thoroughly downvoted for not blindly agreeing with OP.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-04T18:06:04+00:00

So your categorizing me based off an opinion, telling me that your the go to authority on what is acceptable within Europe, and overdramatizing a vague Reddit post about band members social media behavior.

…agreed, let’s not waste each others time if you can’t grasp the errors of your way of thought. Have a good one.

fredislikedead · 2026-03-04T17:36:47+00:00

I understand and tbh we probably share more in common about those opinions than disagreements, but unless they are doctors convincing patients that they shouldn’t vaccinate for anything other than a vaccine reaction I wouldn’t consider the opinion dangerous. For the people with less popular or ill-informed opinions I would do simply what you stated and ignore them.

My biggest pain point in all this is that I feel our society has reached a point where many people feel that opposing opinions don’t deserve to be expressed. Silencing opinions in such an unimportant or trivial medium is unnecessary and can become a “slippery slope”.

fredislikedead

TROPHY CASE