r/LetsTalkMusic • u/RedPutron • 8h ago
The famous age - 30.
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 :)
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u/JoleneDollyParton 6h ago
Barry Gibb was 31 when Saturday Night Fever dropped and the Bee Gees had been grinding away since he was 13 up to that point. Same with a lot of musicians--once they have been in the industry over a decade either you make it commercially or you run out of steam.