Tricky

[hiphop-instrumental]

I feel sometimes that we Musicians, Producers, artist whatever are being tricked, or used by the industry just to sell their
stuff. The reality is not everyone can be JayZ, or Beyonce. not everyone can be Dr. Dre or Just Blaze, only a very small percentage of musicians, artist or producers who aspire to reach such success will ever reach it. the rest of us are only
the ones who keep putting our money in the hands of those companies making gear, services,whatever else is required.

It's a multi billion dollar business, they are feeding off the dreams of people who want to make it..
I guess it's nothing new about this, but I wonder is there a way we can change this into a more profitable for all type
of situation? any ideas on this folks?

 

[steffeeh]

Well, they're not forcing any of those stuff on us, just marketing it, we're the ones who decide to buy it.
If we realize that we've wasted a lot of our money on highend gear that we never really needed, we are the only ones to blame.
It's our own responsibilities to ask ourselves if we really need that new expensive plugin or hardware, or if we should go find a cheaper option (because there are cheaper options).

 

[Pumpthrust]

A couple months ago, I bought a new guitar- a Gibson L5 Wes Montgomery. I have been wanting this guitar for awhile as it is the standard for jazz archtops besides the Gibson ES175. Think of it as the Jordan shoe of jazz guitars. They are NOT cheap--used, they run $5500 at the cheapest and $8900 brand new. Now, the big question is, why on earth would anyone NEED a $5000 guitar? Well, after a thorough setup and some play time, I gotta say, the L5 is worth every penny I spent on it. The way it feels, the way it sounds, the way it looks---shiiieeeetttt. If you've been used to playing crappy guitars, you will definitely feel and hear a difference. I don't have to struggle and strain anymore and my left hand technique actually IMPROVED.

Will this guitar make me play like Wes Montgomery--nope, but that isn't what I bought it for. I need that chunky, round, warm, thick jazz tone that can only come from a 17 inch, solid carved arched spruce top and solid carved maple back and rims hollowbody guitar. I also need the comfort of a well designed neck carve for effective left hand fretting technique.

Could I have gone the cheap route-of course, but It would have screwed up my hands and took years off my playing. People whine about the high prices of Gibson guitars, but once you play one, there is no going back to that cheapo $400 wristkiller. This may not be evident to those who only fiddle with two-octave midi keyboards on a two year old pc running pirated FL-Studio, but the truth is still the truth--you get what you pay for. No one is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to buy high end gear you don't need or cheap gear you don't want.

What i'm saying is, as a musician, you need a quality instrument to perform at your best, and sometimes following a well-known brand will save you money, hassle and physical stress in the longterm. I know too many musicians that wasted thousands of dollars on cheap gear instead of saving and buying the instrument they wanted/needed in the first place. I'm glad I didn't have to go through all that.

 

[SwagProductionz]

no... and the fact that there is probably less and less money being made in the music industry every year doesn't help..