Hey Chris
Glad to hear you are taking your approach to your music and our community seriously.
It takes a lot of effort to improve at your craft, and if it is worth that investment in your music, then your music has to be worth significant effort in the other areas necessary to make it viable.
For example, learning to promote yourself properly, learning about typical contracts, or different income streams. Even music remains a hobby, it can be an expensive one.
The way I see: it, I kind of owe the people who believe in me, my partner for her willingness to let me invest so much of my money and time in my music, my friends for support and for years of listening to me talk about it. I owe them at least the respect that I work hard and take it seriously. To my partner particularly I owe at least me trying to earn some money if only to offset the costs of getting gear.
The truth is, if you make money above basic costs, a lot goes on extra gear. Especially in the early days. It’s like the Theory Of Guitars:
x = y + 1
Where:
x is the ideal number of guitars
and
y is the number of guitars you have now
Personally, I have grand ideas for making and performing music. The studios I want to work in, the players I’d like to work with, my home studio set up, my own instruments etc. it all costs money. It’s a lot easier to justify all that, even to myself, If I am earning from my music.
Even if I wasn’t going to earn, I owe it to myself, to my music, to at least do enough to give my music a fighting chance.