"Most" musicians (at least, all the ones I know personally) spend most of their time freelance teaching, doing relatively dull studio/session/gig work freelance

"Most" musicians (at least, all the ones I know personally) spend most of their time freelance teaching, doing relatively dull studio/session/gig work freelance (with all the stress and uncertainty that entails), practicing several hours a day just so they don't degrade, gig work at clubs/pubs/etc. and only occasionally managing to find time to do anything truly creative and new-new. Re-arranging crappy piano scores so they fit a scratch band they've been asked to work with, figuring out how to stretch the tiny school budget into buying a less awful keyboard... If they do have time and energy to put into 'green field' music production, there may be some stress over whether or not it's liked, but realistically they're mostly doing it because the concept of the album inspires them so they can't sleep at night because the melody is stuck in their head.