GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Ever wanted to “Go Pro” and make a living from your Music? Misha Mansoor from Periphery wanted the same thing and he did make it happen. However, as this video shows, it was not all it was cracked up to be. He is talking with Herman Li from Dragon force about making a living in Music, or really, doing anything you really like. Misha talks at length about how he used to make a living with Periphery. Ever since the lockdowns, he has not been able to make a living doing his band thing. Same is true for Herman Li and Dragonforce and just about everyone. So Misha talks about how he is happen this happened. He had gotten so burned out with touring and viewing music as a full time job, that he almost quit the band. Yup.
The good news is, he realized that he had created value behind the band as a brand and behind himself as a founding member. He used this as leverage to start several small biz ventures including his signature line of effects pedals and partner up on plugins (GGD DRUMS) and with builders (Signature Jackson guitar) and now a coffee company. He diversified himself in to several revenue earning streams outside of just Periphery. Now, he doesn’t care if his band ever makes money again. It doesn’t have to, not for him. He’s doing just fine with all of his other ventures. He doesn’t need his band to make money. He can just jam with his friends and enjoy it. Thats really the important part. He had gotten to not liking music, started to feel like a job, not like fun. Now it’s fun again and whether the band is touring or not, he can still earn a living. Herman Li is doing something similar by being on Twitch/Youtube all the time while his band is off of their touring schedule.
Misha has some sage advice in this cip. He also mentions his love of cars and not wanting to try to monetize it as it doesn’t want to ruin it for himself. He doesn’t want to make it a job andn something he “has” to do, rather than something he looks forward to doing just for fun. We need things that are fun in our lives. When we monetize them, we can ruin them. I’ve seen this a lot on youtube. Somebody gets some traction and now the audience wants 3 vids a week. This gets tiring pretty quickly and after a while, video just sorta stop. This happened with Keith Merrow a while back. He has started making vids again and he has more time on his hands these days.
The big takeaway is, keep the things you love. If you can make money with them, great. If not, be creative and find things that are “adjacent” to what you love and make money with that. Misha talks about being a serial entrepreneur. That is what every good biz guy sorta has to be. Not every venture will work. These days, having many fingers in many pies is a good idea. I think what he says hear has a lot of value to it. It’s practical and real, from a guy who’s been through it and is still doing it. What do you think?
