A New Band | Hobby or Profession?

Friday night I met with 2 other worship leaders, (Jon Green and Michelle Lind) and one wacked out drummer (Josh Heidrick), for what may be the beginnings of a new band. Josh had suggested we all get together to see what happens. After a little conversation via Facebook, we all agreed on Friday night.

The practice was interesting considering there were a lot of things I wasn’t used to, and I am sure they were thinking the same thing. We went over a few songs and there were some nice harmonies spicing up the dish every here and again… I love harmonies. Practice went well, but it was obvious we all tried very hard to be polite and not step on any toes. Now that the FIRST practice is out of the way maybe our next practice will involve a potluck and the 14 kids we have between all of us so they can get acquainted.

This has all generated some questions… or should I say, this has amplified some questions I have about this band thing that I really want to work. I can see potential if we will focus and aim at a target as soon as possible. What do I mean by, “…aim at a target…”? Just like the others, I want to see this thing succeed. Not only do I want to see it succeed, but I would like it to be more than a hobby. It is to late in life to be dividing my time between family and ANOTHER hobby. To avoid that I can only participate in things that are focussed on two disciplines within my life goals, music and photography, which are my two arenas of gifting and anointing. Anything outside of these two areas is aiming at a chicken when I am hunting elk, or trying to make three baskets with one basketball and one shot, or trying to be an airline pilot while trying to be involved in your 3 YOUNG kids lives. I have to focus, but this is a rabbit trail from what I REALLY mean about, “aim at a target”. To answer that question, I need to know if this new band thing is desired to be a…hobby or profession?

What WILL it be?  It is never to early to decide and the sooner the better. To find the answer to that we have got to think about the future, where we plan to go, where we want to go, and how we will get there. Without such thought I think we will fizzle out like every other band that hasn’t realized it is a business first and art second.  I know when I say that word “business’, it can generate all kinds of thoughts like, “I don’t want a business, I want to jam and have fun”, or how about, “I already have a profession and I don’t want to switch”. I want both (For me I do not want to give up my photography business, but I want the music/band business. I believe I can balance both)! These kind of thoughts are heading off on a rabbit trail from the reality of success though. It is about it being a hobby or a profession.

I could say simalar things of myself as a photographer. I just want to take pictures and create art. But you know, if I don’t force myself to realize I am actually running a “business”, I will never go anywhere. I have to determine what type of photography I want to focus on, what niche. I have to figure out how to let people even know I exist (marketing plan). I have to have a business account and think of taxes (whether I like it or not). I have to look at competitors and make sure my pricing is appropriate for my  skill set,  products offered and my “target”. I don’t want to do any of this, however, photography will just be a hobby if I do not deal with the business side of things. You can never support a family on a hobby! So why would it be any different for a band, especially where you have four or more “owners” involved? There has got to be a road map so that it is definitely NOT a hobby.

Like I said about my photography, I want to just have fun and see where it goes, but I know it will not go as far as I dream unless there is a certain business “understanding” of what the goals are, short and long-term, and a million other things like that. I tend to be a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of guy so this advice is mostly for me, because I know it is true and will make for a solid foundation and a target to aim for. It is simply smart. Will we think or discuss this? I have no idea, but one thing is for sure… it will determine my involvement/commitment level. I will say once again that I want this to work because,  for me, it is the other half of my goals to balance the scales.

UPDATE (1-11-2010 10:02pm): What about a worship band? Now you have a whole new set of thought processes and we get deeper into a web of thoughts on what is right and wrong, etc. After pondering all I rambled here, reading some input from my wife, and carefully weighing things out,  I think for now I would like to relax a bit, feel things out, make some new friends, worship my God the way I worship and see what happens.

Anyone out there have any comments to this? We are open for discussion.