If you’re passionate about music or you’re someone who’s performing, writing, or recording music, chances are that you’ve considered music as your career. You know it’s among the most gratifying ways to make a livelihood for someone who has a natural talent. Selling music is an innovative way to generate money doing something you enjoy, whether as your full-time work or a prosperous side hustle.
But what if there’s no money at your disposal? Making a career out of music doesn’t come with guarantees. For many artists, the allure of a successful music career is simply not worth the danger. But there are ways through which you can kick start your music career. To get started, read our guide on how to generate money with music.
Streaming royalties
With music and other forms of entertainment going online, a musician can easily upload their songs to major websites like: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, and other similar services available for individuals to release their music on.
Even though streaming revenues won’t make you rich instantly, they can accumulate, notably if your fan base and monthly listeners develop. As a result, numerous musicians, young and old, big and small, rely on streaming for a steady income stream.
But how exactly do these streaming sites benefit musicians? It’s simple—via royalties from streaming services. Streaming royalties are the earnings payable to you when your song is played or acquired on a digital music website.
Streaming platforms are highly lucrative; in fact, streaming can help you commercialize your music over time by providing increasingly profitable revenue sources like live shows, merch deals, etc.
Live gigs
There is no better way for a performer to make tons of money than performing live in front of a crowd. Regardless of live streaming and online music, there is no denying the fact that they pale in comparison to a musician performing at a live concert.
More importantly, when a musician performs live and gathers a crowd, it spreads the word really fast. Especially in this day and age of social media, people sharing videos of a live event can increase the fanbase within days. Because of this, the ‘live concert experience’ is something that fans will pay to see in person!
If you’re inexperienced in booking venues for your gigs, a gig-booking app is one way to do it. ReverbNation Gig Finder has over 600,000 listings to get you a personalized and well-timed result based on the best venue for you.
You want to create good ties with local venues if you’re planning for the future. This is where your networking abilities will be useful. Begin small and seek out locations that welcome new talents.
Selling brand merchandize
T-shirts, caps, billboards, and badges are all staples of band merchandise, but this is also a great way to express yourself. What other goods do you think your customers would be interested in purchasing that are in line with your label? Anything is perfectly acceptable, from phone covers to mugs to scribbled lyric sheets.
If you look in the right places for merchandise, you can make it at a reasonable price. If you sell items at your live performances or shows, the revenue you gain can help you cover event travel costs and/or venue rental.
Your merchandise doesn’t have to be limited to a few things; it is your creative space, and you can use it however you want. Including a wide range of products can help create maximum and minimum pricing points in your merchandise range. So, while a $30 tour tee may not be affordable to every supporter, they’ll almost certainly be able to afford a $5 keychain. And those five bucks add up quickly!
Give music lessons
Not every artist aspires to be a worldwide sensation. Some people consider teaching the next era of artists to be a more significant achievement than performing at the Main Event half-time show.
There are several excellent sites to register to be a private music instructor if you’re enthusiastic about teaching others. A variety of online learning sites allow you to build a music course. The following are some online platforms that can help you monetize your music lessons:
- Udemy
- Thinkific
- Skillshare
- LectureOwl
- Podia
- Music Fiber
Sponsorships & partnerships
Collaborating with a brand is an excellent opportunity to make extra money. As an ambassador for a certain brand or product, the musician makes additional revenue.
As a musician, you might collaborate with the following partners:
- Clothing brands
- Social media brands
- Musical instrument companies
If you choose to collaborate with a company, they will work out an agreement with you to advertise their business or increase their awareness by partnering with you as an artist. This might take the form of paid social media posts, live concerts, videos on your YouTube channel, and more.
Sync deals
Music synchronization, sometimes known as “synchronizing licensing,” allows musicians to make money by having their music incorporated into visual media such as films, TV series, or computer games.
The media company must pay the musician a set fee for the right to incorporate their music in their publication. Flat costs range from $1,000 to $10,000 per sync insertion, including continued royalty payments for ongoing media utilization and repeat broadcasting. So yes, sync deals can be a highly lucrative business pathway for musicians, and the right way to approach a sync deal is to submit your piece through your publisher.
Conclusion
A successful music career comes at the cost of working hard and dedication, grabbing at every opportunity that comes your way. As we’ve mentioned earlier, for some people taking up music as a revenue-generating business is not worth the danger, but if you’re smart about it, you can make it work.
If you consider the above ways that we’ve mentioned, you can kick start your music career and even generate revenue out of it. One important thing to consider is that you might not experience success instantly, but consistency is key. So, the bottom line is – you can sell your talent to people who want to buy it.
