If you’re devoted to making music, it’s the most fulfilling way to make a living. Whether it’s a full-time job or a lucrative side business, selling music is a creative way to make money by doing what you love.
But what if you don’t get the money? There is no guarantee for music sales. For many musicians, it’s a risk.
So how do you reduce or eliminate the risk altogether?
Making money with music isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. Providing a multi-faceted, automated source of income gives musicians in 2020 the opportunity to mitigate risk and seize their dream career.
What should I do to do that? Here’s how to do it.
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In the early stages of a music career, having multiple sources of income is essential. Without the backing of a major label, it’s difficult to get enough living expenses from a single stream.
However, the combination of several automated sources of income reduces risk and allows you to focus on music production rather than sales activities.
Let’s look at common sources of income that artists can use to monetize their music.
It’s important to understand the difference between streaming services and distribution networks.
When it comes to streaming services, musicians don’t have much choice. Even big-name artists can’t escape the opposition by withdrawing music from popular streaming platforms.
The world’s largest 2 one of the services, Spotify and Apple Music is possible to deliver your work in is important. Other well-known streaming services include Google Play, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and certain genres of streaming services such as Beatport and Juno Download for electronic music producers and fans.
Most distribution networks can deliver your work to major streaming platforms, so don’t worry too much about that. However, there are major differences in what is offered by each distribution network, and points such as fees and royalties payments are important considerations.
Let’s take a look at some common distribution networks.
Benefits: It‘s the cheapest option as it gives you access to all major streaming services and 100 % streaming usage paid to the artist.
Disadvantages: Advertising on Landr ‘s main product ( mastering software ) is compulsory, which can be stressful, especially if you are an experienced producer and you are not using the product.
Prices: Starting at $ 9.99 per year per single.
Benefits: Includes a set of tools to help artists prepare, promote and sell their music, and 100% of the streaming fee is paid to the artist.
Disadvantages: The price structure is confusing and each song is billed annually, so there is a risk of spending more than you earn.
Prices: From $ 9.95 per single.
Benefits: Includes distribution of CDs and vinyl, making it easy to sell physical products as well as digital downloads, and access to Show.co, the music marketplace.
Disadvantages: The streaming usage fee is 91 %, which is lower than other services.
Fee: Free
Benefits: Most affordable and easy to use, ideal for small artists. Amuse is also a record label, so there is a chance of exposure. The streaming fee is 100 % paid to the artist.
Disadvantages: There is no desktop version, only mobile apps. Features are very limited compared to other services.
Live is the biggest earner for musicians. It’s possible to stream live performances over the internet, but the experience of seeing the performances of your favorite musicians in person is second to none.
Live performances are not only a good source of income, but they’re also great for building your audience. Live fans are more valuable to your music career than social media fans. That’s because it’s been proven that you’re willing to pay to watch a live concert.
Assuming you haven’t bought a tour bus yet, you need to find a good local venue to build a realistic live music fan audience. Of methods for the 1 single but, ReverbNation Gig Finder gig reservation apps and such as the Web is to use the site.
Gig booking sites and platforms are easy to access and tend to show many shows such as corporate events for a wide audience. Keep in mind that these performances can be profitable, but they aren’t very valuable in terms of building a sustainable audience.
From a long-term perspective, you should build relationships at your local venue in the “scene” to which you belong. This is where your networking skills come in handy. Start small and find a venue that is open to new acts.
When contacting the venue, you will need an electronic press kit ( sometimes called an EPK, promotional package, or just a press kit ).
EPK is a digital collection of documents, videos, photos, and, of course, music. The venue will use EPK to understand your “brand”. You can use design tools such as Canva, Adobe Spark, and PressKitHero to create these press kits.
Selling related products is probably the best way to earn extra income while working as a musician. With a fully automated retail store, you can make money without spending time on music. Shopify is a platform that allows you to create an online shop that is used by many famous artists around the world, making it easy to express your brand and your worldview.
With Shopify and print on demand, you can quickly create an automated online shop. First, decide what to sell. T-shirts are a must for brand products, but other print-on-demand companies offer a wide range of products, including water bottles, bags, and pillows.
This means that once your products and store are ready, you don’t have to do anything else. A print-on-demand company will take care of printing and shipping for a portion of your sales.
Popular print-on-demand apps that can be integrated into Shopify include Printful and Canvas.
Many musicians earn extra income from their side jobs. Depending on the type of music you are making and your music skills, you can earn money through a variety of collaboration methods.
Freelancer sites like Upwork, Freelancer, and Twine have bulletin boards for vocalists, producers, instrumentalists, and more. Some various apps and platforms allow you to find musicians to collaborate with. Examples include Jambro, ProCollabs, AirGigs, Vampr, SoundBetter, Kompoz, Blend, Vocalizer, and Audio.
If you’re a producer, selling beats and samples as digital products is a common way to make money. Depending on the producer, this may be the main source of income. Selling samples and beats has the big advantage of spending more time making music.
Not all musicians are aiming for a global star line. For some, educating the next generation of artists is more important than playing at the Super Bowl halftime show.
If you are interested in education, Lecture Owl is a good place to register as a private music teacher. You can also create music courses on many online platforms.
Even if your live performances and product sales are successful, you can’t make money without you. So knowing how to promote your music is just as important as profiting from it.
Let’s review the key points for promoting your music online.
It’s important that fans and venue operators can easily find you online. Streaming services are great for linking music, but Spotify’s profile isn’t great for building an audience. Therefore, the profile on SNS becomes important.
If you’re just getting started, focus first on growing your social media audience. Then we shift our focus to getting them to come live.
If you want to know more about social media marketing strategies, there’s a lot to cover, but generally speaking, there are a few things to keep in mind when creating a profile.
There are music blogs of various genres that allow you to target specific niches. Some are local, so it’s also a good place to find fans who can come to live.
Many music blogs accept open posts. However, in that case, you will have to sort out a lot of low-quality posts. That is, you have to stand out.
What should I do to do that?
Most streaming services offer playlists and recommended algorithms. Since each service operates differently, each streaming service has its own rules of optimization.
Apple Music and Spotify’s streaming service 2 because of large giants, can achieve a considerable reach, this is the time to optimize 2 one but will be the most important.
Spotify has tools that allow you to optimize your profile for your platform. First, apply for a profile (English only) and it will be subject to Spotify’s playlist algorithm.
There’s no guarantee that it will appear in anyone’s feed, but the more continuously your listeners subscribe to and save your music, the more likely it is.
Spotify’s algorithm evaluates your music based on activity on your profile and user activity.
Music videos have always been the best promotional tool for music. There are countless ways to create video content, but there are a few things to keep in mind, especially for musicians.
1 Strong ideas are important. If you’re envisioning a band playing in an empty warehouse, you might want to start over from Brest.
2 Prioritize being unique over being professional. Your video needs to get attention. Using a professional production team can quickly be expensive, and browsing on social media is not guaranteed. Cheap but intriguing videos are much more likely to spread by word of mouth than expensive and boring ones.
2020 for the musicians of the year, revenue source 1 is unlikely because only one. Investing in your music career is building a diverse and easily manageable income system that allows you to focus on your most important music production.
Risk management can be achieved through diversification. If you don’t have enough sources of income, your big investment in a music career won’t pay off. Understand how to create a protected source of income and devote yourself to the best music production.
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