And now back to the original question......

I live in Saint Peterburg, FL, pop 250,000, a part of the Tampa Bay region (pop 2.8 million). I can easily name 20 people who make a full time living from music who I know personally or at least have met, but this is a tourist town so there are a million (well almost) beach bars and restaurants that have live music multiple evenings per week. Most of these musicians are making their living from gigs and tips, not music sales or tee-shirts. (I am in tune with singer/songwriter, blues, and classic rock people. I have no idea about rappers and dance club people.) When I lived in Plano TX (pop 300,000), there was essentially no live music. You had to drive into Dallas to find it, so it depends where you live.

They spend a lot of time hustling their next gigs and they play five or so times a week to make a living. I would guess they make between $50 and $200 per gig and probably average $125. They are not getting rich but mostly they would rather do that than work a "day job".

There are a bunch of recording studios in town and my friend who runs one usually has a session every day, as do some of the others. So there are always people recording their originals.

I dunno what all this means......

Colin

I try to critique as if you mean business.....

http://colinwardmusic.com/

http://rosewoodcreekband.com/