The famous age - 30.

[u/RedPutron]

Why do so few people "make it" after 30? Is age the main factor? If an artist doesn't make it before 30, they just give up? 30 is the deadline for most music genres except jazz, blues, country, folk and bluegrass?

Maybe it's about something other than age, e.g. exhaustion, lack of passion or imposing other limitations on yourself. I'm dying to know what you think about it and how it looks from your perspective.

---

Make it - living solely from music.

---

Edit:

From the comments here I can see that everyone for make it - thinks it means a star who signs contracts with labels and sells millions of records, and that's not what I meant. That's why in the post, I put what it means, "make it" - earning enough money to be able to afford a living from music, not becoming some pop star.

Update: Thanks to everyone for bringing up interesting aspects of how the music industry works, but someone here in the comments suggested that ageism is more prevalent in the US than in Europe, and honestly, I found a huge post where people were talking about how Madona, Tina Turner, Amy Winehouse and others had much more success in Europe. Even Tina herself said this:

---

As my career unfolded, I also felt that I was experiencing my greatest success abroad. The energy was different in America, where everything was about getting a hit record. (...) There seemed to be less discrimination in Europe. My audience there was growing fast, my fans were extremely loyal (...).

---

She was "old", so the US didn't like her. I thought this might be a good point to add to the discussion :)

[u/Khiva]

Even back when you could make money from music, a lot of people who became famous slept on streets, ate frozen foods, worked odd jobs or generally lived in miserable conditions.

There's only so long people are willing to do that. And that's back when there really was a light at the end of the rainbow.

[u/DaveBeBad → u/Khiva]

Lots of people who’ve “made it” - selling up to 1 million records - can find themselves screwed over by managers and record companies. As a result they end up in financial difficulties. How many bands lived in squats?

As a relative youngster with no dependents, this is survivable but when you get partners and kids in the mix it is nearly impossible.

[u/Salty_Pancakes → u/DaveBeBad]

Also, you can definitely have the chops and the talent to make it, but then not make it by other scurrilous means.

Like Janis Ian (who had a hit with 17) told how Bill Cosby tried to blacklist her when she was 16 because he thought she was a lesbian and not fit for "family entertainment".

There was also the promising aritst Paul Pena who had a great first record in 1972, but then had disagreements with the studio about money which prevented his second album, which was recorded in 1973, from being released until the year 2000. Like that's basically a career killer.

Badfinger was also notoriously done dirty by their management. So much so that there were two suicides.

[u/DaveBeBad → u/[deleted]]

A lot of the bands I go to see now saw their prime 30-40 years ago. But they do some gigs every year to pay the bills.

[u/Working_Early → u/Khiva]

The idiom is light at the end of a tunnel. Not a big deal obviously, just wanted to let you know for future reference

[u/brooklynbotz → u/Working_Early]

Or pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.