I have made a (meager) living off of music as a hired player and am working on my own project now, hoping to make it financially viable soon.

Some pieces of advice. Perhaps these are obvious, but "how do you make it as a musician?" is a vague question. Most of these bits I am trying to follow and failing most days to do so:

-The people who have made it are either lucky, hard-working or both. 100% of the time. Talent does not matter. It's hard to control the first one but it's quite easy to control the second.

-Finish things. No one gives a fuck about your music, but they ESPECIALLY don't care about that collection of eight bar loops you have in your Ableton folder. Don't get precious. A completed song that is just OK is something to learn from, whereas "potential" for a song does not actually exist.

-Say yes to every opportunity that you feasibly can.

-Define your goals! Do you want to be Ed Sheerhan? Do you want to make weirdo bass music and put it on Soundcloud? Do you want to be an artist or maybe just a producer? A songwriter? Figure out the answer to this question as early as possible. If you know exactly what you want to do, it is harder to fail. If you don't know exactly what you want to do, how do you succeed? Knowing your intentions can also serve as your moral compass should you be lucky enough to "see attention." If you have no goals, it's easier to find yourself in a situation you are uncomfortable with.

-On the same wave as "don't get precious," it is important to constantly progress and be self-critical. Finish a song and then ask yourself what is good and what is bad about it? And then make more shit and ask yourself if you've improved. It is scary to hold on too tight to any one particular song as "the one that's gonna make it happen." Work towards better defining yourself and your vision with every tune and other people's reactions will fall into place. It's never the song you think it's gonna be anyway.

-Finally, making music professionally requires an immense amount of personal sacrifice (especially in a band). Being on tour strains relationships, wallets and general spiritual well-being. Making no money ever, even if you are making money, at the thing you love is discouraging and maddening. As many before me have said, don't do this unless you have to, and I firmly believe you simply know if you "have to" or if you don't.