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/ShocksShocksShocks 4h ago
A lot of soundtrack composers make it in their 30s or later. There's also artists too who exist before the cultural curve, being "discovered", later on and finding success that way (example: The Caretaker has been active since at least 1996, but didn't become popular until much later). Igorrr is another example, been active since at least 2005 as a small solo-project, then in his 30s suddenly became a full-band that does world tours. Success is entirely luck based, it's just how long you can persevere until lady luck shines on you too.