Generation Y seeks stardom with a safety net

By Jane Lee

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Australian lawyer Tim McDonald leads a double life. By day, he wades through legal jargon at a Sydney law firm; at night, he thumps out beats with an electro-punk band that has played alongside Snoop Dogg.

McDonald, 26, is one of the many members of "Generation Y" who have dismissed the starving artist reality of the 1960s rock stars that came before them, to demand something more: the lifestyle of an artist with the income of a professional.

"I don't think we feel like professionals," McDonald says of his band, Pomomofo, where he is the lead drummer. "I don't think the word professional and band really go together."

Generation Y expert Peter Sheahan says 20 and 30-year-olds who have been constantly told they can do anything now have the qualifications and the technology that allows them to get high-paying jobs as well as become independent artists.

"The idea of being a lawyer and a rock star, or an accountant and a famous actor is a typical Gen Y thing," says Sheahan, author of the book "Generation Y: Thriving (and Surviving) with Generation Y at Work".

Attaining celebrity is also something that some Generation Ys crave, and thanks to Web sites such as You Tube and reality television programmes such as Australian Idol can achieve, and has helped fuel this double-identity trend.

"It's possible to be an artist in Australia and develop a following around Europe and America without going there," says Bernard Zuel, music reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Thirty years ago you had to go through a standard route. Now you can put the record out yourself, you can get on the Web and if you're lucky get a presence somewhere."