Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith Gives Advice To Young Musicians: Don’t Expect To Make Money

In a new interview with Paul Salfen of AMFM Magazine, Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, who also performs with the band Smith/Kotzen, discussed the intense dedication and financial challenges inherent in the music industry. He advised young musicians to be clear about their intentions.

“Well, play all you want. You can have fun, have a band. Whether you wanna do it with your life, that’s something different,” Smith responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “You have to really dedicate yourself. And you could spend what some people would say are the best years of your life, from your late teens all through your twenties, trying to make it and not make it. Depending on how you class ‘making it.’ If you class it as earning money, very few people do, unless you’re gonna be in a Top 40 band. And if you just wanna be a jobbing musician, you can learn to read music, you can do sessions.”

He painted a stark picture of the financial realities: “But being in a band, that is a tiny percentage of people in a successful band making money. Even bands now that have got hit records are struggling to make money, because nobody buys bl*ody records anymore. And the money is light. So it’s very, very difficult.”

Smith continued, “But I suppose it’s a process, and the process just kind of makes or breaks the ones that stay with it. You almost have to have a sponsor as well, because it costs money to put a band out there. In the old days, a record company would sponsor a band and advance some money until they start making money. [It’s] difficult.”

Despite the hurdles, Smith concluded with a note of encouragement for the truly determined: “But if you’re gonna do it, then nothing will stop you, I guess.”

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, speaking backstage ahead of his appearance at the Musicians Institute’s MI Conversation Series in Hollywood on April 21st, highlighted the indispensable nature of self-belief. “One of the most important things is self-belief,” he stated emphatically. “And you can’t teach that. That’s character.”

Dickinson stressed that talent alone is not enough; musicians must have the confidence to put their work out into the world. “I mean, it’s like if you’re the greatest guitar player in the world and you sit in the middle of a tent in the Sahara Desert, you are never gonna make it,” he cautioned, emphasizing that resilience in the face of inevitable setbacks and peer criticism is also vital.

The Iron Maiden vocalist also advised against musical tunnel vision: “And try not to just go down the rabbit hole of a particular type of music…”

However, Dickinson offered a crucial distinction: genuine self-belief should foster connection with an audience, rather than lead to self-absorption. “Yes, you need the self-belief, but if you make the performance all about yourself, people will walk away, because nobody’s that interesting,” he explained. For him, the true aim is to use one’s talent authentically to convey stories and emotions that resonate. Live performance, in his view, is a vibrant exchange: “…when you’re performing live, it is like a game of emotional tennis, ’cause you knock it out there and they knock it back…” This dynamic, he believes, is why “concerts are always better at the end than they are at the beginning. [Laughs]”