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Scott wrote a thought-provoking post (although I guess it hasn't provoked any specific thoughts that I'm ready to share) about how many fans you need to make a living:

5000 Fans Theory was first floated by Brian Austin Whitney, founder of Just Plain Folks, in one of his monthly newsletters. Brian pointed out that an artist who has 5000 hardcore fans to give him or her $20 each year — be if from CDs, ticket sales, merchandise, donations, whatever — stands to make $100K per year, more than enough to quit the day job and still have health insurance and a decent car.

Scott continues doing the math from there. The most interesting figure, I think, is:

In Washington state, where I live, a person working for minimum wage would only need around 700 paying fans. As Hobbit sez, there are a lot of people working for minimum wage doing stuff they hate.

700 is still a lot of people to get $20 from, but it is, to use Scott's word, "attainable."