Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson – HuffPost 4.4.12

Mike Ragogna: One last thing I need from you, please, is advice for new artists. You’ve had an amazing career!

Ian Anderson: My advice is to do it because you love it. There should be no sense of second best or failure attached to the idea of being an amateur musician. So, my advice to anybody is set out with the idea that you want to do it for you and you want to do it for the love of what you do, that being the latin root of the word “amateur.” To be an amateur musician is a very fine pursuit, it’s not something that is somehow failure or second best. Don’t set out to be a rock star or a pop star to make tons of money, because the chances are it’s not going to happen, you’re just not going to make it. The depression, the sense of failure attached to starting off with that viewpoint, just not making it, is huge. I think you should do it because you love it, it’s fun, it’s something you do in your spare time. If it’s something you find is turning into a career, and you’re getting paid for it against all the overwhelming odds, then that’s an added bonus. But do it for yourself, do it because it’s fun, do it because you love it. Remember that people like me who do get paid for it spent a lot of the year actually out and about traveling around the world, jumping on and off jumbo jets, riding in limos and whatever we’re supposed to do. We have days off when nothing much is happening and what we do, we pick up our guitar or our flute, we do it for fun. Half the days of my typical calendar year, I too am an amateur musician and I’m having a lot of fun, not getting paid for it.