2016 took a lot out of us, in general. From our political state being absolutely bananas to the deaths of many beloved people. There are even jokes about forgetting that 2016 even happened. The year also took some of the biggest rock stars we have known, like David Bowie and Prince. Unfortunately, as the years progress we will continue to see more rock stars pass on, but such is life.

What we have also been seeing with these physical deaths is the overall death of the original rock star.

When people like Bowie and Prince were gaining popularity they didn't have to worry about how they would make the cash. Once they had a record deal, they were pretty much set. The money came pretty easy because the music made the money. They played thousands of shows and put out a couple of records, it was easy. Even though I mentioned Bowie and Prince who had their starts pretty early in the sixties and seventies, this can be said for many other big names who followed those decades like Motley Cruë and Pearl Jam.

Things are vastly different for today's musicians. Now when a band or musician gets picked up by a label it isn't an automatic meal ticket. Since the music doesn't pay the bills completely, these musicians work twice as hard than their predecessors. Along with producing new music with their label, they often have side hustles, like starting a clothing company, or their own record label to keep cash flowing in while they pursue their ultimate end goal. To give you an example, front man of metal core band Attila, Chris Fronzak (more popularly known as Fronzilla) has a clothing company and a record label both by the name of Stay Sick that he runs as well as writing music and playing shows. Others may use their creative abilities to write comic books or sell artwork, like Max Bemis and Sherri Dupree-Bemis respectively.

Am I saying that your dream of making money off of being in a band are dead? No, of course not. I'm saying that it's not going to be easy to get to that point. You have to be on the up and up with what's popular and what people are listening to. Music just doesn't pay quite like it used to.