Should aspiring musicians who move to Nashville accept a 'regular' career if they haven't broken through after five years, or is quitting just giving up too soon?

• C

  Casey1w ago

  I moved here from Knoxville in 2009 with a guitar and $800. Waited tables at the Merchants on Broadway for six years. Got my first cut in year seven. YEAR SEVEN. If I'd listened to everybody telling me to 'be realistic' I'd be managing an Applebee's right now instead of having three songs on country radio. Five years is an arbitrary number someone made up.

  187Reply
• R

  Riley1w ago

  That take about Taylor Swift is just embarrassingly wrong and I can't let it stand. Her family relocated specifically to give her career access, her dad transferred his job, she had industry connections from age 11, and she signed with a label she co-founded with Scott Borchetta. Using her timeline as a benchmark for a 22-year-old who drove here from Ohio with no connections is genuinely one of the worst comparisons I've ever read on this site.

  176Reply
• NB

  Noah B.1w ago

  The question itself is flawed. 'Breaking through' isn't binary. My buddy Tyler has never had a label deal but he's been licensing music to TV shows and ad agencies for eight years and clears six figures. Meanwhile people are waiting around for some A&R guy to call like it's 1994. The industry changed. Adapt or don't, but don't pretend there's only one definition of making it.

  142Reply
• K

  Kofi1w ago

  My daughter moved here in 2018. She works at a dental office four days a week and writes songs the other three. She's happy. She has health insurance. She still performs occasionally. Some of y'all have been so poisoned by the all-or-nothing mentality that you can't even see a perfectly good life when it's right in front of you. The dream doesn't have to consume everything to be worth having.

  134Reply
• QM

  Quinn M.1w ago

  Nobody ever asks whether the accountants and nurses who moved here should quit their careers after five years. We only apply this 'when do you give up' framework to creative people and I think it says something ugly about how we value art. A regular job isn't a consolation prize. But neither is continuing to write music. Both things can be true at the same time.

  97Reply
• I

  Iris1w ago

  Honestly? If you're still bartending after five years and you haven't written a single song that's gotten any traction whatsoever — no cuts, no notable co-writes, no buzz from publishers — that's information. That's the industry telling you something. Not saying quit music forever but maybe recalibrate what you're doing with your actual life.

  89Reply
• M_

  Morgan _x1w ago

  I want someone to actually defend the five year rule with specifics instead of vibes. What exactly is supposed to happen in year five that validates continuing vs. stopping? A certain number of co-writes? A publishing deal? Actual charting? Because if we're going to have this conversation seriously we need metrics not just 'follow your dreams' vs 'be responsible.' Come on Nashville locals, let's get specific.

  71Reply
• R2

  Riley 211w ago

  ok but for every person who made it in year seven theres like ten thousand who made it in NO year and are still broke at 45. survivorship bias is a real thing and nobody wants to talk about it on this forum apparently

  63Reply
• T

  Theo1w ago

  I grew up in East Nashville before it got trendy and I'll tell you what I've seen. The people who 'make it' aren't always the most talented. They're the ones who figured out how to hustle the business side AND the creative side simultaneously. Five years of only playing writers rounds at the Bluebird and wondering why nothing's happening... that's a strategy problem not a talent problem.

  54Reply
• T

  Theo1w ago

  just moved here four months ago from Portland and this whole thread is terrifying me lol. also why does everyone at every open mic night look like they havent slept since 2019

  38Reply
• RT

  Ravi T.1w ago

  Fun fact: Taylor Swift was discovered after only being in Nashville for like two years so really if you haven't made it by year two you should probably just go home

  12Reply

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