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Transcript/ScriptCONNECT Making Living Musician (TV)
HEADLINE: Building a Musical Life
TEASER: Musician finds financial stability in precarious field
PUBLISHED AT: 06/20/2022
BYLINE: Ailin Li
DATELINE: Huntsville, Alabama
VIDEOGRAPHER: Phil Woodall
PRODUCER: Ailin Li, Zdenko Novacki
COURTESIES:
SCRIPT EDITORS: EA
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:40
VID APPROVED BY: EA
TYPE: VPKGF
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((Eds: This is a self-narrated feature.))
((INTRO)) [[Musician Brent Morgan makes a living doing what he loves, which isn’t always easy in his field. VOA’s Ailin Li reports from Huntsville, Alabama on how he succeeded. ]]
((MUSIC/Singing)) All because I care too much.
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) The stereotypical dream for a musician is you move to Nashville. You walk into a label. You sit in the lobby. You sing your amazing song. They're like, “We want to sign you.” And they pull you up, kind of like Taylor Swift did, where
((Courtesy: AP))
they would go to every single label every week with her dad.
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) It's just not true. Moving to Nashville just triples your cost of living and you play in the bars downtown for tips only. I used to play the bar scene. I used to play gigs all the time.
((MUSIC/Singing)) Afraid my paper skin has started wearing thin.
It isn't fair I care too much.
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) And then I realized I could play in my shorts at home on a live stream and make, you know, five times as much money and have way more fun interacting with way more people.
((Courtesy: NBCUniversal))
You have to build a fan base online and they will push you to success with your music.
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) Hey, my name is Brent Morgan. I’m 33 years old and I write and produce music for a living. And this is my ordinary life. So, this is my studio. I have two different portions as you can see. Right here is where I do my live streaming every single day. As you can see, I’ve got my SM7 mic rigged up. I’ve got my Sony camera. I’m here most of my time every single day. I sit in this chair probably like four to five hours a day at least. And then if you come over here, this is where I do all of my writing and recording.
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) I got an interest in music when I was in 11th grade. My whole life before that was focused on sports. I had scholarships lined up for baseball. But I also joined a band with my friends. I started realizing that I could sing and I could play by ear. So, I started teaching myself piano and guitar and just performing for some friends here and there. And then I got really interested and I went to college for music and started giving lessons.
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) I started realizing my life was surrounded by music. So, I really wanted to pursue it. I even remember when I was about to propose to my wife, I had to go talk to her parents and say, I'm going to do music for a living. And it was terrifying.
((Courtesy: Orange Beard Films))
((Brent Morgan, Musician)) So, I live in Madison, Alabama. My whole family lives here. My mom, my dad, my sisters. We are all within five minutes of each other. ((Brent Morgan, Musician)) So, living in Alabama kind of frees up space for me financially. The house we live in now, it has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. To get something like that anywhere else in the world, like LA [Los Angeles] or New York, would be astronomically expensive. But it’s affordable here in Alabama and it gave me room to have a nice backyard for my dogs, to have room for a studio. And I own. So, I’m not renting. I actually can, you know,
pay this off and it’s mine.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Huntsville, Alabama
Embargo DateJune 20, 2022 16:14 EDT
BylineAilin Li
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
