Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner $MONEY$ question -- piano concert/recital ticket sales

It's a combination of things:

* Performing in larger concerts (with an orchestra)
* Performing in smaller concerts (solo)
* Accompanying others (in concerts)
* Accompanying others (in lessons, and practice)
* Recording
* Teaching
* And in the case of Lang Lang, producing ties, pillow cases and other things related to piano!

It's the same with composing. One cannot really make a living out of composing classical music (or media music most of the times, but in media music it IS possible)...

Teaching is by far the greatest source of revenue.

Also, church services and weddings, pit orchestra work, and of course, "day-jobs" unrelated to music.

I'm with Kreisler on this one. It seems like everybody but the top 10 pianists in the world today have a teaching job.

I would suspect that except for mega-scale arena concerts, most organizations generate more money from donations than from ticket sales.

I'm with BDB. I think I remember that in "B"-class music non-profits, the percentage is about 50%? And in the "A"-class, it's around 70%?

I keep forgetting that (about church services)...

You see Orthodox church doesn't have organs, or choirs, or stuff like that... It's quite bare bone compared to the Catholic church, or even worst the mega churches of the States... So this church thing keeps eluding me...

It seems to me that you need more business sense than talent or accomplishment to make a living out of purely performing.

Those willing to 'sell out' by playing easy-listening stuff, light jazz, popular tunes, simplified classics et al will get far more engagements playing in restaurants, hotels, clubs, weddings, functions etc than someone who will only play unadulterated classical music.

How many hoi polloi want to hear a Beethoven Sonata while having a romantic dinner with their beloved in an expensive restaurant? Yet that pianist tinkling the keys playing Moon River or a simplified Clair de lune - not very well - in the background will likely earn far more than a young virtuoso practising 6 hours a day, still desperately trying to make a living as a concert pianist despite having won several piano competitions - but has yet to find an agent......