Whether you're a producer, rapper, singer/songwriter, or pretty much any other type of musician, there are MANY jobs available for you! As long as you're talented with your instrument & smart about how you manage the multiple commitments, you should make a living just from your music after you've built a foundation of income opportunities for yourself.
Production music is the first thing you should look into if you're trying to invest for the future. This is essentially the stock market of the music industry. Put as much stock in this while you can now so you can let 100, 200, 1,000 songs sit in these libraries online that constantly pitch your music and people come to all the time to find and license music. Research this topic greatly. I recommend looking up Richard Pryde Hughes III for information and advice on this topic. He's also one of the rare ones to make a massive living off of this idea that probably only a tiny percentage of the world's musicians use, so jump on it!
If you're one of those musician's who enjoys writing music to video, you could consider being a composer. This way you can literally write music directly to the short film, feature length film, and also documentaries. Unlike production music writers, composers usually get paid a one-time fee for their work, but most start out working for free to build a resume and experience. There's nothing more exciting for a composer than to score a film and then watch the screening in front of loads of people! For those who have no desire to play live but still have your music being heard but a lot of people in one room, compose for video! Look on Freelance sites for film directors posting about composers being needed.
Sitting in a room alone putting together songs and scores might sound like heaven (or hell depending on your sociability wants), but collaborating with others is an amazing thing! This not only gives you a chance to see what your music sounds like with a different twist, and many times other musician's can fill an empty void. For example, music producers should try to find singers and rappers to give their instrumentals life and a chance to succeed in the mainstream or at the very least become somewhat popular within the underground community. Even if it's just for a song or two for each collaboration, it's good to sprinkle these into your original music to keep people interested and coming back for more!
Selling music on iTunes & through CD sales has obviously decreased a lot lately, but if you happen to be a great musician and a decently efficient marketer, you can get enough sales and fan interest to have an underground following. Even if you aren't massively successful with your music in terms of LP/EP, mixtape, or CD, you'll always have your multiple sources of income to go back to. Always release the music you love and try to increase your album sales for each album. Do something different but not too different. Just remember to be who you are at the moment, so if your next album requires a completely different mood, so be it.
If you're a producer who enjoys writing hip hop or rap beats, why not think about starting your own beat-selling business? You can create a beat store that sells instrumental beats automatically for you. Google "beat store" or "buy beats" and check out some beat sites, start taking notes, get a domain, create your website, and start marketing your beats! This gives you a ton of practice with marketing and business, so spend a few months setting all this up, learning more about selling beats, and optimize your website and social media to rank high in the search engines. This is done through SEO (search engine optimization). Go to Google keyword research tool and start searching terms that you think your target audience would type and start including these keywords in the right places.
If the opportunity is available, play live! This gives your current fans a chance to meet up and see you playing in one place, while also drawing in brand new fans. Once you get to the point where you're somewhat reputable in your community, and depending on venue rules, you can set up merchandising booths to sell promotional tools. Think about every single concert you've ever attended. I'm sure you had a huge desire to buy a shirt, poster, or something else. This is where a huge amount of live sales come from. Venues and concert promoters will take a percentage of ticket sales and merchandise, however selling your memorabilia will make much more. Before going on an official tour, get your merchandise in order, as this will be the difference between as successful tour and a bankrupt tour. Initially you'll want to play small local venues until you become experienced, but move up when you feel ready!
Sample and sound/loop packs are a great way to make a few extra bucks from your music! If you have a site, why not promote these sample packs as well through this website? If you don't know how to do this, you can learn anything through YouTube & Google, including this! This might not be the most profitable source of income, but as a musician it's about quantity of sources (with quality work within these sources).
Consistently brainstorm ideas for how you can get paid for being a musician. There are many more ways to do this, and all it takes is research and creativity. Think about another list of ways to make money from your music once you've tackled some of these! It's all about the musician with the most sources of income, because if you're a good instrumental musician, you can write good songs quickly, which translates into many songs, giving you ammo for your music income ventures!
The term starving artist is slowly being used less seriously and more as a joke lately, since making money as a musician is much easier than it used to be. Whether you license your songs, compose over video, collaborate with others, sell beats, play live, or sell sample/loop packs, you can find numerous ways to make money from music.
Production music is the first thing you should look into if you're trying to invest for the future. This is essentially the stock market of the music industry. Put as much stock in this while you can now so you can let 100, 200, 1,000 songs sit in these libraries online that constantly pitch your music and people come to all the time to find and license music. Research this topic greatly. I recommend looking up Richard Pryde Hughes III for information and advice on this topic. He's also one of the rare ones to make a massive living off of this idea that probably only a tiny percentage of the world's musicians use, so jump on it!
If you're one of those musician's who enjoys writing music to video, you could consider being a composer. This way you can literally write music directly to the short film, feature length film, and also documentaries. Unlike production music writers, composers usually get paid a one-time fee for their work, but most start out working for free to build a resume and experience. There's nothing more exciting for a composer than to score a film and then watch the screening in front of loads of people! For those who have no desire to play live but still have your music being heard but a lot of people in one room, compose for video! Look on Freelance sites for film directors posting about composers being needed.
Sitting in a room alone putting together songs and scores might sound like heaven (or hell depending on your sociability wants), but collaborating with others is an amazing thing! This not only gives you a chance to see what your music sounds like with a different twist, and many times other musician's can fill an empty void. For example, music producers should try to find singers and rappers to give their instrumentals life and a chance to succeed in the mainstream or at the very least become somewhat popular within the underground community. Even if it's just for a song or two for each collaboration, it's good to sprinkle these into your original music to keep people interested and coming back for more!
Selling music on iTunes & through CD sales has obviously decreased a lot lately, but if you happen to be a great musician and a decently efficient marketer, you can get enough sales and fan interest to have an underground following. Even if you aren't massively successful with your music in terms of LP/EP, mixtape, or CD, you'll always have your multiple sources of income to go back to. Always release the music you love and try to increase your album sales for each album. Do something different but not too different. Just remember to be who you are at the moment, so if your next album requires a completely different mood, so be it.
If you're a producer who enjoys writing hip hop or rap beats, why not think about starting your own beat-selling business? You can create a beat store that sells instrumental beats automatically for you. Google "beat store" or "buy beats" and check out some beat sites, start taking notes, get a domain, create your website, and start marketing your beats! This gives you a ton of practice with marketing and business, so spend a few months setting all this up, learning more about selling beats, and optimize your website and social media to rank high in the search engines. This is done through SEO (search engine optimization). Go to Google keyword research tool and start searching terms that you think your target audience would type and start including these keywords in the right places.
If the opportunity is available, play live! This gives your current fans a chance to meet up and see you playing in one place, while also drawing in brand new fans. Once you get to the point where you're somewhat reputable in your community, and depending on venue rules, you can set up merchandising booths to sell promotional tools. Think about every single concert you've ever attended. I'm sure you had a huge desire to buy a shirt, poster, or something else. This is where a huge amount of live sales come from. Venues and concert promoters will take a percentage of ticket sales and merchandise, however selling your memorabilia will make much more. Before going on an official tour, get your merchandise in order, as this will be the difference between as successful tour and a bankrupt tour. Initially you'll want to play small local venues until you become experienced, but move up when you feel ready!
Sample and sound/loop packs are a great way to make a few extra bucks from your music! If you have a site, why not promote these sample packs as well through this website? If you don't know how to do this, you can learn anything through YouTube & Google, including this! This might not be the most profitable source of income, but as a musician it's about quantity of sources (with quality work within these sources).
Consistently brainstorm ideas for how you can get paid for being a musician. There are many more ways to do this, and all it takes is research and creativity. Think about another list of ways to make money from your music once you've tackled some of these! It's all about the musician with the most sources of income, because if you're a good instrumental musician, you can write good songs quickly, which translates into many songs, giving you ammo for your music income ventures!
The term starving artist is slowly being used less seriously and more as a joke lately, since making money as a musician is much easier than it used to be. Whether you license your songs, compose over video, collaborate with others, sell beats, play live, or sell sample/loop packs, you can find numerous ways to make money from music.
About the Author:
Learn more about how to make money from music through multiple sources of income & also check out an example of a freelance producer who specializes in making electronic dance music for multiple people, leading to multiple sources of income.
No comments:
Post a Comment