When it sucks to be a musician...

In my career as a a software engineer, layoffs were quite common because in the upper Midwest, many of us typically worked for companies headquartered on either coast. At any economic hiccup, we were the first to go. I also spent time working for startups, most of which didn't survive more than a year or two.

As a result of this, my wife and I decided to live debt free so we could put money away for those inevitable times when our income would drop with job loss. Also (though this probably doesn't apply to working musicians) I worked hard to keep my skills up to date because I realized that it was up to me to keep myself employable.

For those in the "gig economy" who make a decent wage or salary, this plan is possible. For those who only make enough to get to the next pay check, our current situation with the corona virus would definitely be devastating.

I worked full time as a musician in the late 70s for a couple of years. We stayed booked solid back then for the entire time, working 6 nights a week somewhere. From what I understand, such bookings either no longer happen or don't pay any more than we made back then, which was a pretty solid "blue collar" income at the time. These gigs were a week at a time with Holiday Inns, supper clubs, and resorts. We didn't have health insurance either, but being in my 20s, it didn't really matter much to me at the time. If I had kids, the story would have been much different, as would have been my career choice.

However, I could see that there were more stable means of making a living, and I decided to take that route instead. Considering how things have changed for the average working musician in the intervening years, I am glad in hindsight that I did make that decision. I honestly don't know what today's musicians can do if they choose to remain in that career path, but they have my sympathies.

I suppose one could say that I am currently a part of the "gig economy" because I do engineering contract work for a couple of months a year. However, in another sense, I am not, because I am not financially vulnerable as so many are. It doesn't matter to me whether I work or not. For me at this point, I am retired and doing this work keeps my brain active and provides extra spending money for hobbies and the like, as well as continually building a cushion.

For the future, I see a trend that more and more folks will become contractors and companies will be maintaining smaller numbers of full time employees. In other words, the choice I made to be able to have stability in my life, may not necessarily be as available to people in the future. That means that situations as we currently have are going to adversely impact that many more folks, making it a societal problem.

There is an interesting youtube video that explains why the current situation is likely to be repeated more often in the future.  This woman lays out her credentials at the beginning of the talk so we know she is not just another "talking head" spouting hysteria.




Tony

Then there's situations like mine where you don't really have the option to go hide somewhere while this all blows over.  My company is doing all they can to mitigate things, but "the show must go on" as they say.  We're a distribution company and I'm a driver and there's no way to do any of that "from home" etc.

Also, sick pay?  Salary?  Lieu days?  Mental health day?  What are those?  We don't get those.  LOL.  If I don't go to work, I don't get paid.

Like @tbeltrans, mentioned, I learned all the Biblical principles years ago about living debt free so we'd be perfectly fine if we couldn't work for 2 weeks, or even a month, or even 3 to 6 months, but I asked around at work and apparently, nobody else would be.  They're all living paycheque-to-paycheque.  It's very rare nowadays for people to live within their means and save for the "rainy days."  That wisdom seems to be long forgotten.

Everybody's in a different situation, some very comfy, some not so much.  It's times like these where it's wise to learn from past mistakes and circumstances, make adjustments to our lives and then as the bumper sticker says: "Keep calm and carry on." 

I'm retired. 
I am not worried about money, as long as prices do not rise exponentially. My wife and I have been frugal and saved well. We don't rent/lease ANYTHING, not things, not services. We do not have any debt, not even CC.
But we can not control what gougers will do to prices as the pandemic progresses.

wife's company has told all it's employees (~100,000), If you can work from home, do it.
kid is also home for 2-3 weeks as rehab/respite centers closed
every destination is closed; malls, libraries, pools, skating rinks, museums, everything
will I even get to try out the new CH 12 string?...seems doubtful, as I will have no alone time to do it, possibly ever again.

I am not optimistic about this pandemic. It seems, to me, to be the EOTWAWKI event we have feared.
I am already worrying about keeping kid in pull-ups because the supplier disappeared Friday. I am worried about my own medications because distruption of supply chain is so easy in a pandemic environment.

..the only thing i do not worry about is toilet paper, I went with bidets on both toilets years ago

I don't know what an EOTWAWKI is, but don't worry my friend, this too will pass.  This is not really the dire situation it seems.  People are just panicking because the media, all of it, won't let up on talking about this incessantly as if it's the end of the world.  But......nature abhors a vacuum.  Eventually the holes we've created by all the people freaking out and buying stuff up will fill themselves somehow, the markets will recover and etc, etc. 

This actually may be a blessing soon for many.  When things like this happen, it's usually only people who are severely leveraged in life that come crashing down while people who are not find all kinds of opportunities that did not exist before.

Just be patient, ride it out, love your neighbor while doing so, it's going to be ok. 

For you young'uns, this is a breeze, for us over 70, we aren't allowed to go out or have visitors.
I would like be able to get the foodstuffs that make life worth eating. But. I can't. Nor will I be able to try that Seagull CH 12 when it comes in.


With kid home I cant even play guitar. Sge is standing behind me at this very moment Screaming because my typoing disturbs her.