Investment Banking while pursuing music professionally?
This is a pretty oddball topic but recently had an invitation to join an established band that does corporate gigs and large, high-profile weddings. I'm a newly minted college grad and now A1 and while hours haven't been rough yet, I understand that if I pursue the music opportunity then I will eventually have to start choosing between quality work / availability vs rehearsing and traveling for gigs.The gigs would be high paying but obviously nothing close to my current paycheck.
However my life-long dream has always been to do music full-time, specifically as my own artist. I create my own songs and am beginning to start posting my work. I feel like this opportunity may be just what I need to build my music network and develop the skillsets needed to be a successful performer. Doesn't really matter but I received the invitation from the studio engineer to join his band since I guess my debut song really impressed him (so maybe I have some potential to be good?)
Anyone have any insight or similar experiences surrounding following your dreams vs that nice IB paycheck? May be worth posting this in a music forum too for perspective on the other side's grass lol
Follow your dreams. Early 20s are the time to take risks as you won't have that luxury once you've ascribed to a certain lifestyle / have kids and a family to take care of.
If not pursuing this opportunity is going to cause you to be filled with regret down the road, then you should absolutely go for it. Try and balance both as long as you can, but you should find a way to do what makes you happy.
Thanks for that perspective. I agree that the early 20s timeframe is especially important for pursuing music as my own artist (especially since my sound is more pop).
I guess I’ll try to balance both the best as I can in the meantime and if there’s an inflection point where one job is truly going to take over the other, then that will be a decision to make down the road
Grew up around music industry and was musically inclined my whole life. Going into college, was split on the path to take—finance vs music passion. I would sit in on recording sessions sometimes as we had a fam friend who is a very successful producer. Advice he told me has always stuck, basically music will always be there for you and to not discount pursuing business first. Worst case music will always be an outlet, which is still is to me. I think that advice is more applicable to college, because once’s you’ve cracked into the biz/finance world, you can always go back if you fail. Try and juggle maybe, if it feels like you’re getting traction, go for it. The general rule of thumb I’ve always heard is 7 years to fame, and if money is ultimately what you’re chasing, probably not the best avenue for that.
If it doesn’t work out, you can likely always get a job in the music industry on the finance side down the line as well perhaps.
Great advice, thank you. I'm definitely not interested in fame but obviously want to get to a point where I can start building a fan base and get signed by a label. Know it's gonna be a grind to get there and the probability of making it is probably near 0.
But yea all I can do is work as hard as I can toward this outside of work
DJ D-Sol has it pretty good
Could you possibly move industries / roles? I can’t imagine a entry worse job to try to balance with your passion. In consulting or any other competitive corporate job you should at least have weekends free while still being well paid.
That's the goal sooner rather than later but I want to stick this out for at least a year, so I don't end up shooting myself in the foot or anything.
Also I want to use any bonus money to fund my music projects since studio time is ridiculously expensive lol (guess this is why labels exist)
One of my good friends from high school was an associate at Lazard, eventually decided to say fuck it, and then he submitted an application to Zurich University of the Arts and he got in to get his master's degree in Organ performance. He's still traveling around Europe playing the Organ in churches and at weddings and he loves his life. He speaks fluent Swiss-German and Italian now too which is crazy.
That’s so awesome. Man’s living the dream
I used to work right next to that school, very talented people but some of the weirdest characters I have ever met
There is a DJ with the moniker DSol who also moonlights as the CEO of a little bank the name of which I forgot
Very qualified to give advice on this one. Three reasons:
1) have a close friend who is pursuing music and finance at high levels
2) have a great deal of artist friends
3) have done various finance jobs including IB
Short answer:
Try to do both for now, eventually you might realize you don’t have the time for music and you will need to make a choice/ your band mates might slowly realize you aren’t reliable, but that’s ok.
My recommendation would be doing IB for a year or 2 then if you really want to pursue music take a 9 to 5 post IB and pursue music. I’m going to explain three real life friends for you, so you get why:
Life has trade offs and choices and you need to optimize for yourself, but from one former artist turned banker to a younger person at a fork in the road—IB sucks and everyone agrees it sucks, but it opens so many doors. The job is a lottery ticket if you can handle it for 1-2 years to wealth, flexibility, and safety that really almost no one in American society has access to.
Crazy that you have 3 friends that pretty much took the 3 different available routes I have in front of me. All that perspective is extremely helpful thank you. My gut says friend 2 has it the best for where I'd like to go (cushy 9-5 that allows for plenty of free time to pursue music).
You're right, I shouldn't take being in IB for granted, and I think it's a lot easier to lose sight of the grind now that I've graduated college and am trying to find myself. Think the best game plan is to do the best work I possibly can in IB for the next 1-2 and I think those couple of extra years are exactly what I need to mature as a person and an artist. Then hopefully I can land that cushy $100k salary 9-5 and make the music thing happen on the side.
Right now will just focus on trying to find my sound, release what I can, and build a social media platform while in IB. Thanks again for your advice
No problem, best of luck to you and your music. Not going to sugar coat it, IB really does suck and it might be tempting to leave it all and very brutal looking around at the things you want to do but can’t because of your role, but I’m telling you it’s worth it. Being in your mid-twenties with a year+ of savings and being able to easily find a job gives peace of mind most people don’t have and will make you better at your music career if that’s what you want to do. I had no idea how much the role would change my life and it’s only now becoming apparent several years after IB. If the music opportunity is really exceptional, leave after a year in IB potentially and if you are good at your role, you might even have a spot saved for you when/if you need to return if you explain it to your managers and leave with plenty of notice and are respectful. But getting a shot at what you will learn in IB isn’t something everyone gets.
Adding too, the dumb/ignorant undergrad or analyst take is the job pays you to be an excel monkey and you learn nothing just making dumb edits and moving logos. It really felt like this at times, but I honestly didn’t even realize how much I was learning because things an investment bank does that is considered internally as “busy work” are tasks that others wouldn’t even know where to start.
The reality is if you just watch the process of a company fundraising or selling, let alone create any deliverables, you are seeing something most experienced c-suite executives only see 2-4 times in their entire career. After a year of banking you might have as much experience in understanding a sell-side or fundraising process as a 55 year old CFO, which if you go to a startup that needs to fundraise you might be able to help that 55 year old or frankly take his job. Further, the level of intensity you need to survive a year in IB virtually assures everyone you go to interview with that you are about as responsible an employee that exists and you also likely have exceptional understanding of attention to detail, finance, and professional work standards. Yeah, I drink the IB koolaide, but there’s a reason the skill set is so sought after and the path so valued.
Excited for your next few years and best of luck!
Where does your friend work for $140K/yr + while working 36hrs a week -- asking for a friend
Way more roles like this than you might think. The person took a 60k paycut from IB. Many Corp dev/ strategic finance positions at startups would gladly take an ex-banker at 140k doing 36 hours than two 80k fresh out of school or incompetent old person hires. You are no longer being paid based on hours you work, but you actually bring expertise. The ex banker even after 2 years can make your financials lights out and professional, while also giving guidance on how to raise.
In reality, I’m sure that person doesn’t average 36 hours and has a few 50 hour weeks, but for the most part they work less than most people.
Gael Faye did it - worked out pretty well fir him
are you confident you have the talent though ?
I am confident I have the talent. But talent is only the potential to be great. There’s so much about music itself and myself as an artist that I have to learn—and there’s the whole industry side of things dealing with labels and building your social media influence and whatnot.
That’s why I’m definitely okay with taking the next 1-2 years to mature as an artist while I continue working in IB. I guess it’s hard not to daydream about the other side while I’m sitting in the office, but realistically this is the path that I’m meant to be on
MD yelling into your ears is music.
Can you put music as a side gig for a year or 18 months and then lateral to corporate where you will have more reliable evenings/weekends? Would the band delay your "offer" a bit?
You generally will be okay to do Saturday night wedding type gigs but I imagine the band will quickly tire of you cancelling on gigs with a few hours notice, which would happen frequently.
Sounds like you have your head on straight, props to you. Get your year or so of IB and go to something with great WLB so you can give this a real run.
Is playing in a cover band that does weddings and corporate events really going to create any sort of real opportunity to advance your own musical career? If you want to play other peoples' music for a living, take the gig. If you want to make your own music, just do that on the side while you work.
Mainly just the network and developing my chops to perform live. But yes you’re right, dropping my own work is more important for the direction I’m trying to go in.
So currently focused on writing songs and making covers to post online whenever I have free time.
I won’t name names but one of the most successful hedge fund guys on the street (9 figure net worth etc) spent his 20s and early 30s as a semi successful rock musician before transferring into finance.
Seems like DS has a solid music career
I wanna keep my hair tho
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