General

opinion: if that's what a person wants and makes them happy, then screw the haters. probably not the most stable job paywise, but i assume most of the people in that line of work aren't in it solely for the money.

me personally: no, i have no affinity toward on-stage type careers. that being said, i don't outright dislike the on-stage scene and i wouldn't mind doing backstage production. nevertheless, the career i plan to pursue is film / cinema and not necessarily performance.

deep down i still retain the minority stance that the culture industry serves as a crutch for the 99%, and there is a distinction to be made between authentic forms of cinema and those that mass produce commodities. i don't deeply condemn popular forms of culture but alternative / countercultural is more my niche, i suppose..

While admirable and quite artistically-driven, it's a very difficult career path with very limited movement in the industry hierarchy -- a lot less viable than, say, a VFX artist or animator. Many people I know who have taken performing and theater classes only end up acting part time or none at all. Unsurprisingly, you'd be in a way better position if you're a theater technician or a gaffer.

I love it when people are really passionate about something. They get that little twinkle in their eye when they talk about it and it's interesting to listen to even if you're not particularly interested in the topic yourself. People who care enough to live off of their passions earn a lot of respect from me.

It would be cool to learn how to play an instrument, but I wouldn't want to do it as a career. A hobby would be good though.

i'm not artistically or musically talented whatsoever but i admire anyone that's passionate about what they love and do. career wise it's pretty obvious that you either have to be the best of the best to make good money or blatantly bad like ice jj fish or rebecca black but sucking will only give you a tiny bit of fame. i thought about being an actress but hrmm

[quote=sezbeth]I'm not in any way opposed, however I find those at the tip of the economical spectrum to be drastically and unjustly overpaid.[/quote]

I think it makes sense when you put it in context, really. Entertainment is something you spend your surplus money on, and for a performer to become popular enough to make a good living off of it, they have to attract a heavy number of people with disposable income while working their asses off differentiating themselves from an over-saturated market. Given how widespread and widely consumed their works are if they are recognizable, the niche they fill in human culture--and their ability to expose their material to a wider audience--has an almost unlimited cap. Think about it: a doctor can only realistically see a number of patients on any given day, whereas people who want to see a performer (or merely consume what is produced by a consumer) face no such hard limits. Thus, by the sheer nature of their employment, performers who succeed have a much higher income, which is directly correlated with the cultural impact they have on people. Think about how important the works of top-performers are into shaping the lives of millions of people, and usually their job requires them to be charismatic, or, at the very minimum , never run out of energy despite grueling work hours and travel times. The simple fact of the matter is, very, very few people are talented enough to make it in this industry, let alone also know how to properly market themselves, and very few people have as much widespread impact on human culture and lives as they do, so their pay makes sense when thought about in a broader perspective.

If you can make it, it's probably one of the best careers. So much money and you get to have fun

get publicity then earn da big bucks

I dream of being in a metal/rock band as the guitarist, but it's just too risky to try doing only that.

Since I'm not really a performer, I would say its not viable. Your entire career lies in your talent so if you aren't keeping up with the demands, you really have nothing else saving your job

Im going to be the next Eminem!

xD I practice in my garage sometimes and just rap just by you know random words ands ttuff and so far its been good, xD i try to pracice alot

I'm not in any way opposed, however I find those at the tip of the economical spectrum to be drastically and unjustly overpaid.

I wanted to be a professional musician. I went to college as a music major but eventually I realized that as much as I loved performing, I didn't want to dedicate my life to it. But I have a lot of friends who are doing that, and they really enjoy it. Most of them are training to be educators so they have a better chance at finding a job.

I've done a little bit of work with comedians. The vast majority of them have a main job (usually bartending) and they do comedy on the side. It's just not viable at all for them to rely on comedy as a primary source of income. I would guess that most other performing careers are the same way.