Recession, recession…

That’s right, folks.  I used the new four-letter word….wait, 9….you get the idea.  We all knew this post would come eventually, and I’m afraid it’s time.  I (along with everyone else in the country right now) am starting to feel the effects of this downward spiral that we refer to currently as our “economy.”  Times are getting tough, and I wake up every morning hoping I still have a job to go to the next day.  At this point, I suppose it’s important to mention that I am self-employed.  This being said, I am not immune to the possibility of a job loss.  Private music lessons aren’t exactly in high demand right now, and I am finding myself wondering how I am possibly going to make ends meet this summer, as many of my students will be leaving for extended periods of time.  Pretty much the usual, you know?  So the next logical step is to start looking for alternatives.  I, myself am a fan of logic, and here’s what’s been floating around in my head for the past couple of weeks:

A) I have a college degree.

B) It’s in music performance and music industry studies.

C) You don’t actually need a degree to do any of the above.

D) I have the same job I had through most of college.

E) No, I did not get a raise when I graduated.

As you can see, all of this presents a potential problem, the solution to which I have decided is law school.  Yeah, shocking I know.  It’s not like every misguided college graduate I know hasn’t already gone down this road (for better or for worse), but the current status of our nation’s economy should be making you think about your own job security right now and what you can do to lock that shit down.  This begs the question: in an industry where people can become wildly successful with little or no college education, is it necessary to have a college degree?  This is something I teetered back and forth about for a long time when contemplating college, but it has become quite clear to me that the answer is both yes and no.  As you can see, I also like extremely vague statements…

The music industry is so much different from pretty much any other industry (still going strong with that vagueness).  In this industry, you can truly excel in your field with sheer street smarts and a good work ethic if you put your mind to it.  However, I struggle to think of any aspect of this industry where a juris doctor WOULDN’T make you a more desirable and invaluable employee.  Yes, I am aware that the world is over-run with lawyers, but not entertainment lawyers….no sir!  We are now, more than ever, in dire need of people who have a thorough understanding of the law and are dying to share it with others.  There are so many high-powered people in the music business who have no idea what they’re getting themselves into when signing a contract that it’s almost scary to conceive of the dire possibilities.

Yeah yeah, this whole law school thing does require several hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that’s a small price to pay for job security, if you ask me.  A full-time job with an almost inherent license to kill?  Now that’s something I could get used to…

Fortune Cookie:

Spend some time thinking about how you can make yourself invaluable to your employer.  If you are your own employer…start a website or blog.  It’s free and wholly necessary as a marketing tool!

Listening to:

Frank Sinatra – “Chicago”