Making Money off Music
5 ways to making money off music
Many recording artist have a common question, is making money off music possible? Now this is a fair question to ask, especially in this new era of music. With the incline of social media and the internet a lot of artist, songwriters, producers and recording studios may have some doubts about the state of the music business.
Honestly I would have to say yes! The possibility of making money off music is definitely there. We are in a digital age, and there is no better time than now to make music and earn off of your music. The digital age has given recording artist the flexibility that wasn’t possible 15 years ago.
It is safe to say that the digital age has forced most artist and musician groups to become more independent and independence is not a bad thing! Yes being an indie artist trying to make money off music will have its challenges, but the success is a lot fruitful in regards to the monetary gain.
The average statutory rate for earnings for a newly signed artist on a major label is 10 cents off the dollar. Meaning a record label will collect 90 cents and the artiste keeps 10 cents. Some independent labels will give an artist 25 cents and collect 75 cents which is better. Also you have your indie artist that does everything for his or her self and will collect all of their earnings after paying for promotion, distribution, studio time and beat instrumentals or live musicians.
Making money off music will take time and will also depend on how hard your working. Think of a strategic approach to introduce the public to your sound. Your growth as an artist will not come over night but it will come if you have the proper work ethic.
Also you must have a love for what you are doing. Whether it may be a singer, rapper, dj, songwriter, producer or studio engineer, you must have a love for it. If you don’t have a love for it making money off music will just be something you’re doing just to make money. Most people who do something just to make money drop the ball and fail as soon as they see the slightest form of disappointment.
Below are 5 things an artist can do to begin making money off music, in the digital age.
1. Crowd funding – this avenue in making money off music is done through donations from friend, family members, customers/fans or individual investors. The approach is basically a collected effort amongst people who have admiration towards the artist music.
2. You Tube – As an artist you tube as set up monetization so selected channels can generate revenue through advertising. The very first step for you tube would be to drive traffic to your you tube channel and build an audience to optimize your channel for opportunities.
3. Sponsorship – Sponsorship’s only work best when an artist has developed a nice fan base. company sponsorship’s can range from money, products or services.
4. Streaming – One of my personal favorites is streaming, streaming does take some work to circulate your song for online streams. However streams are like radio spins. You can get 3, 5 or 10 cents per steam depending on where the music is being streamed from.
5. CD Sales – One of the top ways to sell cds are at live performances, an artist can have his or her team set up a vendor with cds to sell. Live performances are the best way in my opinion because potential fans are getting a feel for who the artist is and will feel more open to patronizing an artist music campaign.