Does Everybody Want to Be a Rock Star ?

What a funny world we live in. My wife and I went to our bank yesterday to open a new account for our website design business. During the 45 minute meeting with the branch assistant, the conversation steered towards the music business, at which time we discovered that our banker and I shared some common ground. That common ground being; we are both guitar players, we both have home recording studios, and we both are interested in the evolution of music as an artform. Interspersed between some short questions regarding our bank account, our music conversation evolved to cover some ground on current recording trends, theories about why the music industry isn’t what it used to be, where it’s heading, and how the affordability of technology has contributed to a world of mediocre music. It turns out that our newfound musical banker friend knew more about music, and the business of music, than many of my musician friends. This hard-core music aficionado had obviously invested a lifetime into his musical pursuits, and somewhere along the line, he made the smart choice of getting a real job. He can work on his music at night and on the weekends, without panicking the rest of the time to pay the bills every month.

Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, I thought of a friend of mine who is both a musician, and a realtor. I imagined this fellow showing a house to a prospective buyer, and how, if you met him in somewhere in the real estate world, you would have no way of knowing he’s a world-class studio musician, having played on countless gold albums.

This unsuspecting conversation in a bank office, reinforced some of my convictions.

We never know who we are really talking to. Whether someone’s a banker, a realtor, a dentist, or the Terminix man, in many cases, a person is much more than he or she might first appear.

The power and importance of conversation. Not only was our conversation interesting, and revealing, I now have a musician friend at the bank.

It’s smart for musicians to have other careers. The fact that skilled and dedicated musicians are working as realtors and bankers paints a telling picture about the music business.

And lastly, everybody wants to be a rock star.