Techno Vs. $€$£$

[stjohn]

Techno can be an expensive interest with with Equipment/Vinyl etc.... and how do BOA people cope with that? I am just curious to know how people manage their money and whether techno is a full time thing for you?????

Personally I'm a bum student who doesnt bother to go to school, and has no cash! Sometimes i make a webpage or two and that € goes straight to Spindizzy records most of the time!

Im at a stage where i have to make a decision to get up off my hole and get a job .. to further anything to do with techno because cash=resouces. But sometimes its hard to find a job where im not tearing my hair out (even tho ive a shaved head).

Just interested to know how people manage their $$ and their techno!!!

[miss bass]

I have to cope on a part time job as im at college, but i wouldnt say i cope as theres so much music and equipment id love to buy.
:cry:

[stjohn]

me 2..... i recently gave up my p-t job coz when uve to work on a sunday.....sometimes it just doesnt happen!!

but its a head melt when uve to go into a record shop with a 10er knowing ur going to want so much more!

[miss bass]

Totally, i work sundays :cry:

[gumpy green]

i work 9-5 five days a week to fund myself...

[Honeey]

I have managed to create a fairly successful graphic/web design business over the years which most of the time gives me more flexible hours and more control over my actual work time versus making techno time and I can still be creative in my work.

I recently turned down a cushy job as a project manager so I would have time for the music, most days I'm ok with it but sometimes I think I'm out of my mind, you have to follow your heart though.

[MARKEG]

well i dj as well and that's what pays the bills, which also means i don't have to churn out masses of tunes. i've known producers who just produce music and nothing else and it IS possible to live like this but the problems come when you're trying to balance creativity with business. i think it's very, very hard for producers in techno - you must have something else in my eyes. and if that's something else to do with music then that's the perfect senario.

one things for sure, you have to have a get up and go mind, as well as a good amount of business sense if you're ever going to make it as a producer. don't think it's an easy path cause it definitely 100% isnt!!! years of going without, couple with knockback after setback after shit and even more shit. i don't think i've ever been 100% happy with any tune we've ever done and the rest of the time is spent arguing in your own head about whether a couple of db's off 50 Hz really is making a blind bit of difference ;)

[Louis Theroux]

I am only a bedroom jock at the moment but my record buying was getting out of control.

I set aside £200 & went out & bought a second hand collection. I split this up, kept the few records I liked & sold the rest, paid back the £200 (it was from my credit card) & used the profit to buy a larger collection and so on. I also use the profit to buy new records from Juno, record shops etc.

I presently have approx 3000 records waiting to be sold & about 1500 in my own personal collection, all bought & paid for with my profits. I know this isn't a lot compared to some of the bigger DJs on this forum but for a bedroom DJ it is not bad.

That is how I pay for my "addiction".

[Traxx]

Right little delboy :lol:

[MARKEG]

yeah hahahaha

:lol:

[killarava2day]

I am only a bedroom jock at the moment but my record buying was getting out of control.

I set aside £200 & went out & bought a second hand collection. I split this up, kept the few records I liked & sold the rest, paid back the £200 (it was from my credit card) & used the profit to buy a larger collection and so on. I also use the profit to buy new records from Juno, record shops etc.

I presently have approx 3000 records waiting to be sold & about 1500 in my own personal collection, all bought & paid for with my profits. I know this isn't a lot compared to some of the bigger DJs on this forum but for a bedroom DJ it is not bad.

That is how I pay for my "addiction".

You sound like you should be into property etc...

[romelpotter]

hmmm money and techno,

a few years ago i was on the dole whilst doin music at college.

one day on crimbo eve, i went into manchester with 40 quid to buy all of my prezzies, to cut a long storey short, i whent into eastern bloc (just to see what was about ;) ) came out with 40 pounds worth of records :doh: but :twisted: !!!!!. that was a bad christmas coz of it but in my head i justified it some how :crackup: :shock: would i do it again :?: :?: :?: probably.

[mrbenn]

I go to college through the week & work every weekend & 3 weeknights to fund the vinyl & equipment :cry:

[Komplex]

I work high paying contract and temporary jobs a few times a year and spend the rest jamming techno and ****ing around :twisted:

Also work casual sometimes fixing music gear.

[romelpotter]

i do a 9 to 5 monday to friday job now in telecoms, i get to sit in front of a computer all day, when i get home i am to tired to even switch my comp on to produce some techno crackers :evil:

[killarava2day]

I work 60+ hours on average per week.

I wish I could dedicate more time to DJing and production, because I have no problems in affording these vices.

[Dj Swannie]

I fund myself with a fairly well paid full time job selling HiFi, plasma displays & general sound equipment. This has its perks, such as having acess to equimpent at trade price ect but it also has its problems like it takes up too much time working 42 hrs a week & i often find it hard to fit everything else into my ' spare ' time. Also it stops me from traveling to events far away on a friday night as i have to work on a saturday most of the time :cry:
I often wish i didnt have a full time job as then i could put more time into making music, but then if i didnt have a job I wouldnt be able afford to spend £££ upgrading computers & buying vinyl every week. I certainly wouldnt be able to afford to get 750 records pressed either & its not as if selling them will make you lots of £ because it doesnt. At least my job is easy & fairly laid back & sort of music related, it could be alot worse !

[Komplex]

I fund myself with a fairly well paid full time job selling HiFi, plasma displays & general sound equipment. This has its perks, such as having acess to equimpent at trade price ect but it also has its problems like it takes up too much time working 42 hrs a week & i often find it hard to fit everything else into my ' spare ' time. Also it stops me from traveling to events far away on a friday night as i have to work on a saturday most of the time :cry:
I often wish i didnt have a full time job as then i could put more time into making music, but then if i didnt have a job I wouldnt be able afford to spend £££ upgrading computers & buying vinyl every week. I certainly wouldnt be able to afford to get 750 records pressed either & its not as if selling them will make you lots of £ because it doesnt. At least my job is easy & fairly laid back & sort of music related, it could be alot worse !

I hear ya man. I would be quite happy working a well paid job only 3 days a week and having the rest of the week for personal music endevours.

[davethedrummer]

after living on the dole for about 10 years , i finally started to get paid for making music when i was in my first band.
after that i used what was left over from that money to buy studio equiptment and hooked up with a guy who had a studio but no time to use it
( extremelly lucky break no.1)
i moved into his studio with my gear and slowly atarted to get his gear repaired and got the studio into some kind of working order.
it was based in the attic of a pub that was owned by the same guy so we were rent free for a time , and then i met chris lib.....
( lucky break number 2)
we worked on a few tracks together while the studio became a collective and studio time became tight.
then i was introduced to kris needs......
( lucky break no 3)
we started working on remixes under his secret knowledge name.
we did the orb , jesus jones , and a couple of things for eye q , which started to generate some cash , at that time the s.u.f sessions were coming in thick and fast which also generated a little extra cash. along with one or two gigs.
i eventually decided to move the studio out of collective hands ( as the gear mostly belonged to me by this stage)and over to brick lane on my own.
since then the studio has paid it's own way and generated enough money to live on.
recently i have been dj'ing to earn money , leaving my weeks free for me to write music on my own , and not have to rent out the studio so often.
it's not easy to make ends meet , but i get by. sometimes things are good
sometimes not.
for now i am renting a 3 bed house in kent , one of the bedrooms is the studio and that arrangement works pretty well.
i am hoping to buy a place next year.
i sometimes completely freak myself out by thinking...

" what if i wake up tomorrow and all my gigs are cancelled?"

etc etc ....
it's pretty scary living like this sometimes. but it's worth it.

[acidsaturation]

It's a perennial one isn't it...

work: have money and no time...

don't work: have time but no money...

Think my best time for music was managing to blag best part of 6 months off in my last job on full pay after being attacked by a client and refusing to go in until the security was sorted... ...but not a course of action I'd recomend.... I work, it's not enough to pay for it all really but gets me by.

It's the time aspect now with a job and a part time degree, and when you bring a girlfriend into the equation...

[Jay Sanders]

I Myself work Monday to Friday 9 - 5... ok its a cushty job as i get to use the net at lunch time and that but thats just not enough sometimes!!!

Im trying to hold down this job, Make it as DJ and Run a Record Label all at the same time and its not easy at all..... some of you may know that just the running of a record label is stressfull enough without having to worry about buying new tunes to be ahead of your game in the DJ'ing world and getting to work on time, something i aint good at!!!

I was lucky enough to get some inheritence passed on to me last year so the label is basically funded for the first few releases and hopefully things will come aroung....

So basically its hard to weigh up how many tunes a week you can buy with also having to pay the rent and live...... hard business i know but all worth it i reckon!!!

:lol:

[jon connor]

a nightmare if you have got kids , my way is by saving my pennys, i alway launch a spare fiver in the jar and at the end of the month i buy my records, my tune selection has to be spot on as to the money situtation you have to buy quality with wot little you have got. for the record label worked like a nutter to save cash, dont blow your cash on uneccesary things. an artist who is dedicated and doesent have much cash flow aint so bad it makes you work harder therefore turning you into a go getter.
;)

[Louk]

I work part time only one day a week in total, if that and rest of my time is dedicated to Uni.

I can afford to buy one or two new releases a week and to live off my student loan for the time being.

Louk

[waldhaus]

i am still at school! in general I have enough time for techno and managing school, but now I have to learn for my final exams and I had to cancel three gigs abroad :cry: but I think a good exam which allows me to study is better than some gigs, because I do not think I am good enough to make a living with techno. Also I don't wanna be dependent on the sales of my records or my gigs, because that will create a lack of creativity for me.

[TechMouse]

i am still at school! in general I have enough time for techno and managing school, but now I have to learn for my final exams and I had to cancel three gigs abroad :cry: but I think a good exam which allows me to study is better than some gigs, because I do not think I am good enough to make a living with techno. Also I don't wanna be dependent on the sales of my records or my gigs, because that will create a lack of creativity for me.
This is a good point.

I've tried my best to make sure that I would never have to rely on music as a career. Respect to everyone who does, you guys drive the scene, but I couldn't do it. On one side, it's nice to know that I have (relatively) dependable income, and on the other it's nice to know that music is always recreation, and never "work". I know I can put all of my spare time into the music I love.

It's been a long time coming, but I finally got my degree the other year, and now I'm finally in a job I quite like with flexible working hours, nice people etc. So that's all good.

The downside is after spending a whole day working on a PC, often the last thing I want to do when I get home is fire up Cubase and have a piss around. This is my problem.

That, and convincing my girlfriend I really do need a drum machine.

[neilried]

I work in the IT dept of a firm in central london, 9-5 mon - fri, then on call 24/7 every other week which means I can pretty much buy every licquorice pizza I find that I want...

BUT its developed into a stupid habit thats getting out of hand.... a daily, lunch time sweep across london checking out at least one store a day.... Phonica, HMV Picadilly Circus (oddly the biggest techno selection in Soho, infact the SUF and associated lables section occupies more rack space than the entire deep house section which is top form!), Eukatech etc. Plus Juno a couple of times a week...

Kinda came to a head when my girlfriends having a rummage through a couple of boxes looking for something Id played recently and pointed out that I had three copies of the same record... :doh:

Only way I have found to avoid this embarressment is; dont let your bird nose through your records..... :nono:

[fresh_an_funky_design]

As soon as my student loan comes in buy loads of records & some studio hardware/software. Then get some money the rest of the time by cutting down trees, doing graphic design, or scaring people on the ghost walks in Derby (crazy job) :lol:


Sometimes im completely skint, sometimes ive got some cash to burn depends how much work i do. DJ'n & producing is one ****ing expensive pastime though :rambo:

[Udy]

Hmmm... techno or money?

I consider myself to be lucky enough to be surrounded by talented musicians so i tend to spend a lot of time absorbed in the music local to me. This helps keep the music flowing as does my small attempt at a record business.

This is funded by working the 3 days im not at Uni, and with help financially and free labour from my friends.

All the music projects are helped along by a small network of people keeping each area covered, one web designer with a bit of spare space, and CDs burned off by an army of home PC users!

It'll be slow, but we'll get there :)

[audioinjection]

i have a monday-friday job, and that helps me get my gear/records, also pays my bills.............hopefully soon i can start working more on my music rather than worry about my job, and have more time doing what i love to do

[Oracle]

I worked in the city for about 7 or 8 years in a pretty well paid job, until I realised about 18 months ago that I was not following my true path. I left the city work to become a Reiki practitioner and to concentrate more on music (producing, DJing and promoting).

Now I earn a great deal less, I live a much more basic lifestyle but then, I'm also a great deal happier.

That said, I have no regrets about the city job as it helped me build up my studio and a decent record collection. ;)

[FILTERZ]

I work like a bitch for the man 5 days a week and hate every minute .

Maybe should try harder to promote stuff and sell meself (not down hampstead ) then i might be able to consider giving up day job.