Does Age Matter in the Music Industry? [Ari Herstand]
In this exclusive expert from his book, “How to Make It in the New Music Business,” independent musician and artist advocate Ari Herstand tackles the “age-old” question, “Does Age Matter in the Music Industry?”
This is an excerpt from Ari Herstand’s just-released third edition of How to Make It in the New Music Business.
Get the book here.
Does Age Matter in the Music Industry?
The question I get asked frequently by older musicians is “does age matter.” There’s no simple answer because it all depends on what your goals are. But I’ll tell you one thing—age has absolutely no correlation with success (or talent). Uncle Joe will tell you, “If you haven’t made it by thirty, give up.” Stop listening to Uncle Joe!
Joshua Radin started his musical career at 30, two years after he picked up the guitar for the first time. Matt Nathanson put out seven albums (and one major-label album) before releasing his chart-topping (indie-label) hit “Come On Get Higher” at 35.
Lizzo was 30 when she got her first hit with “Juice.” Bill Withers released his debut album at 32. Sheryl Crow released her debut album at 31 (after working as a music teacher, jingle writer and backup vocalist). Daniel Powter’s hit “Bad Day” came out when he was 34.
Khruangbin’s Mark Speer was 35 when the band released their debut album and 39 when they first charted. Willie Nelson was 40 when Shotgun Willie came out. Bonnie Raitt didn’t see commercial success until she was 40. Sharon Jones released her debut record at 40 and it wasn’t until she was 58 that she got a Grammy nomination. Leonard Cohen was 50 when he released “Hallelujah.” 2 Chainz didn’t get a #1 album until a month before his 36th birthday. John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting was 35 when their smash hit “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” took over the airwaves. James Murphy was also 35 when LCD Soundsystem released its debut album. Andrea Bocelli was 34 when he released his debut album.
Rachel Platten was 34 when “Fight Song” reached #1. Butch Vig was 36 when he produced Nirvana’s Nevermind, and it wasn’t until he was 40 that his own band, Garbage, released their debut chart-topping album. Dan Wilson was 37 when his first hit, “Closing Time,” was released with his band Semisonic (and he was 46 when he won his first Grammy for cowriting six songs on the Chicks’ Album of the Year Taking the Long Way). Sia had her first #1 single at 41. Neil Young was 44 when he released “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
Chris Stapleton was 37 when his debut, award-winning solo album was released. Debbie Harry was 31 when Blondie released their first album, and not until a few years later did they see worldwide success. Joe Satriani didn’t release his first album until he was 30. Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac was 34 when Rumours was released. Michael Fitzpatrick was 40 when Fitz and the Tantrums released their debut album. Thelonious Monk released his best-selling album, Monk’s Dream, at 46. Louis Armstrong, although a renowned trumpeter-performer for decades, was 64 when his best-selling album Hello, Dolly! was released. Charles Bradley was 63 when he released his debut album. And although a lifelong musician and producer, Seasick Steve was 67 when he released his first multinational charting (major-label debut) album.
But these are artists you’ve most likely heard of. And this is when they “made it big.” If you take away one thing from this book, it’s that you don’t need to “make it big” to “make it.” Don’t let age scare you. There are 16-year-olds writing better songs than I could ever dream of writing. And there are 50-year-olds dusting off their guitar, reconnecting with their soul and deciding to finally pursue a career they can believe in. Age means nothing. If you work hard enough, you will make it, regardless of your age.
That being said, life happens. And I’d be lying if I told you it was easy to start a rock career with a spouse and kids at home. Once kids enter the picture, all bets are off. There’s this bit in Alex Blumberg’s podcast StartUp where he jokes with an investor about how parents fool themselves into thinking it’s possible to work just as hard at their entrepreneurial pursuits with kids, exclaiming “you just get better at managing your time.” They eventually concede that, in fact, parents can’t devote as much time to their passions and careers as nonparents.
If a music career is more important to you than a family, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re 23, want to start a family by 27 and you just formed a rock band to take over the world, you’re going to come to a crossroads very soon. You’re going to have to decide whether you want to be an absent parent on the road with your band or at home raising your kids working a 9-to-5. There’s a balance, sure, and there are many successful musicians with children. But most of these successful musicians didn’t have kids until their music career was coasting a bit and they had enough passive income that they didn’t need to spend their entire life on the road.
But again, pull out your goals sheet and ask yourself, “Can this be achieved with a family?”
Everyone’s situation is different. Maybe your partner has an income to support your family while you devote all of your time (and money) to your musical pursuits. Maybe you just want to play locally and not tour. Maybe you want to be a local hired gun or a producer-engineer. Maybe you want to be a YouTuber, Instagrammer or livestreamer. Maybe you want to live in the college or Performing Arts Center (PAC) circuit and fly out to one-off gigs every once in a while (more on this in Chapter 9). Not every career in music requires incessant touring. But it’s hard to be a successful indie band, singer/songwriter, DJ or hip-hop act and not tour.
It also all depends on what your idea of success is. And no one can define what success is but you. Remember that.
If you’re an indie act making five figures staying at home licensing your music to film and television, that’s success. Could you make six or seven figures if you toured? Maybe. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to. There’s no right or wrong. You should do what’s going to make you the happiest.
Happiness needs to be built into every career decision. There are more important things in life than money. Actually, once you have enough money to support the lifestyle you want, you shouldn’t make any decision based solely on money ever again.
Ari Herstand is the author of the best-selling How To Make It in the New Music Business, the host of the Webby award-winning New Music Business podcast, the CEO and founder of the music business education company Ari’s Take, and a Los Angeles based musician.
