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Really good posts in here. I know it all seems bleak, and frankly, many of you are right in that trying to live off music in not a sane person's choice.
Having said that, at least here in LA, I know dozens of people who work int the industry and while they may not make enough by age 40 or even 50 to last the rest of their life, they make enough to buy a little house, have kids, all the usual trappings etc.
The sad thing is, even people who "make it" don't have security;
One of my best mates is in a very successful, household name, band, as bass player, backup (and occasionally lead) vocals. One of their singles spent over 20 weeks in the top 10 and an entire year in the top 100. To date they've sold over 10m singles and 5m albums. They still tour and can still sell out a decent size gig (5,000+) in most countries around the world. The band has been a big name for just over a decade.
You could argue (even though he's not a household name or would get bothered by paparazi etc) he's a Rockstar.
Sure, he doesn't have to worry too much if he's careful with his money, but truth be told, if he stopped working now, it's not enough to see him through the next 30 years. Sure he has a house (nothing fancy) and some cash in the bank, but truth be told, most people how got a normal job career going in their early 20's will be better off than him at the same age (early 30's).
To make decent money of music, licensing is indeed where it's at.
Composing takes a lifetime of music expertise to get anywhere and even then you better be fucking amazing at politics, people skills, working a room and sucking studio exec cock to get anywhere.
Being in a band has the worse odds of all, as hardly any bands make great money anymore - the %'s are just so low it's not worth it if money is your concern.
DJ'ing, same as above unless you're a branding genius or have rich and/or famous parents that can bank roll a publicist and R agency for you.
Producing (in the traditional sense, not EDM) - You really have to be very musically talented, and have worked your way up in a label, library or studio environment for at least 10 years or so to get anywhere. Long slog, but quite stable and well paid.
Producer of EDM. Tiny odds that you'll make anything you could live decently off but you could get lucky.
Engineer - Just need brain and know when to shut up. Must have an organised and technical brain, as well as intellectual curiosity and the ability to go very long periods without sleep, food or female contact.
Most of you guys don't realize that a lot of very major name EDM stars were regular TA's:
BT, Joel (Mau5), Darude, ATB, Gareth Emery (GTR) to name a few and I know for a fact some other extremely big names lurk here but I wont out them here 
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