When People Ask Me What I Do for a Living

I cringe when people ask me what I do for a living. Being a music producer is a huge part of my identity, yet I hate talking about it. It’s an interesting way to make a living, but it’s one of the only careers where people you just met feel comfortable to evaluate your degree of success and ask you specific questions about how much money you make.

Through the years, I’ve learned to work on my boundaries. It’s tempting to let people in on my insecurities, but it’s not something I should divulge to anyone. At the same time, it’s hard to front knowing how many people are more successful than me. People outside of the creative industry wouldn’t understand anyway. They wouldn’t ask as many follow up questions to someone with a “normal” job, and yet they don’t understand that you don’t need to be famous to get by.

Folks outside of show business will tell you they’ve never heard of you, but they probably have never heard of your favorite artists either. They don’t understand that there are different levels of success, just like in any industry. There are different shades of grey between the white of someone who has just started and the black of a superstar.

Most of us professional musicians will never fill stadiums, or become a household name. Especially in this cultural climate that welcomes niche acts and enables them to connect with an audience that can be selected with laser accuracy. 

You don’t need to work with Drake to be a successful producer, you just need to make music you enjoy making and find a way to get paid for it.

When people ask me what I do for a living, I cringe a little bit. And then I give them the benefit of the doubt : they're probably just looking for a way to connect with me. In 99% of the cases, they're not trying to judge me, they’re genuinely interested. It’s a good occasion to steer the conversation into a subject I like talking about (my process, my influences, why I became an artist, etc.)

If they ask me how I pay the rent, I usually answer: “Oh, I just write a cheque and hand it to my landlord.” People usually laugh, and hopefully, they’ll move on to another subject.

Cover credit : Maxwell Hunt