What Is The Difference Between 'Just Playing Music' and 'The Music Industry '?

As a touring musician for over 30 years in the music industry I sometimes think everyone that plays music knows exactly what I'm talking about when I use the term "music industry", but then I am reminded that there are many people that have also played music for over 30 years or more and know very little about the "Industry" and the average music fan has absolutely no understanding of it at all.

Although the music industry revolves around music, it is a very small part of the industry. The music industry's total involvement includes many other facets such as, songwriting (nothing happens without a song), song publishing (which enables the writer to get paid), song pitching or plugging as it is called (to find someone to record it), artist development musically (creating a sound), the image of the artist visually (videos are a big market in the industry now) so it is sometimes more important how good you look then how well you sing, recording of the artist vocally (with all of the new advances in recording technology the singer doesn't really have to be that great anymore, one button can bring the artist to perfect pitch).

Then there's the sales of the artist's recording (this is where the record labels get involved to distribute the artist's recordings), booking agencies and booking agents (to keep the artist in front of the fans), live appearances, management, tour busses, trucks, airplanes, hotels, truck stops, bands, rehearsals, road managers, roadies, technicians (stage, sound and instruments), drivers and down to the people that sell the merchandise, just to name a few.   Read on...