haha. i was just waiting for gapnap to post here.

eh gapnap,
so have u decided between
1. fvk working life and go full time PUB/Event band
and
2. fvk working life and go full time PUB/Event band

everyone else, got any questions on music career, just ask gapnap

i definitely agree with you that, network is very important. but that only come after ability in music. if a person have the ability, but no network, yes, there's no money. but if a person without ability, sorry, don't even talk about network.

i'm not sure if you actually meant network is above all aspects, that's actually destroying music industry if you trying to make people think that way. i know you sell gears, making money is top priority for you, and that's absolutely fine with me. but the real music making is not about money IMHO, money is a must, but not a "must", if you get what i mean.
RM400 per student is not something uncommon in malaysia. a master degree holder is charging typical fees of RM120 per hour x 4 = RM480 per month. there're plenty of good teachers earning at that amount.

that said, teaching is not for money. money is a return for the effort, but in the end the main purpose of teaching is to pass the knowledge and skill to the next generation. it's just that, high level and experiences teachers made their way to that level with a lot of efforts, so they cannot simply charge low price and that's absolutely fair.

PS: you'll be surprise there's actually plenty of teachers earning at 5 figures every months.

ok i must admit my view is indeed too idealistic.

what you've said is very true also. that's what i'm actually seeing now, just the same as yours. sometimes, a detailed work will never get appreciated. most of the time, clients just want fast, reliable, and cheap. quality? nah, they don't give a damn really.

i've also know a friend who's violinist. he absolutely play like, uh, i really don't know how to explain. and yet he's working at the industry of earning 4 figures by just playing a few songs. however, you know, he has packaging. dress like superstar, play violin pieces in fusion style like vanessa mae, and he's good looking too. it's just the way he play. i don't even dare to say he has half of vanessa mae.

however, i still believe that, if you're truely an expert of your own field, there's always a chance to breakthrough. i've deal with quite some good paying clients who actually know about their own stuffs, and they're happy with my stuffs, and slowly i got a chance to have my works presented at overseas. at the very least, i'm targetting on the standard that world musician will look at, rather than the standard the clients want, so no embarrassment will happen and people will gain respects too.

thanks!

yeah it depends on lucks too, maybe i'm a little more lucky that said. i have a friend who's one of the rare ones that actually can make you melt with his piano playing. the tone he produced is to die for. however, he didn't quite involve in gigs and large performances as well as music productions (he's a good singer too!).

i'm a music arranger. i mainly do pop music arrangement mainly for artist in chinese industry. i've also did some sondtracks for local animations too but that's of a rare project. i don't do jingles anymore. i did tried some, but it's really not within the reach of my composing skills. composing for commercial ads and composing for pop songs is just 2 different thing. and the pay for jingle writings, just, wow.

sorry to tell you that i'm going to stay anonymous at the moment, as i don't want to get involved in music industry politics too. however, i'll create some short clips just to give you an idea of what i've been doing. maybe soon i'll post it up on youtube.