Need to receives a commission in your musical skills?
As a musician, there are extra methods to earn cash than ever earlier than. Dozens upon dozens of how, the truth is!
When you ought to, after all, prioritize sure income streams as an artist who creates authentic music, there are occasions — maybe while you’re first rising your profession —while you simply gotta pay the payments.
And in that case, placing your music expertise to make use of certain beats a job outdoors of music, proper? Particularly if your musical side-hustle helps you keep sharp as an instrumentalist, arranger, producer, educator, or content-creator.
That will help you get a way of the wide selection of choices on the market, I’ve put collectively an inventory of 75 methods you may make cash out of your music, grouped by class for simple scanning.
Streaming & Digital Gross sales
1. Streaming Income: Earn cash from streaming exercise while you get your tracks onto platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, or TIDAL.
2. Digital Downloads: Promote MP3s, WAVs, or FLACs of your tracks on platforms like iTunes, Amazon, ReverbNation, Bandcamp, or your personal web site.
3. Social Video Monetization: Receives a commission when folks create social content material utilizing your music in movies on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Fb, and extra.
4. Monetize Your YouTube Channel: Generate promoting income from viewer exercise by yourself YouTube movies, and use further creator instruments to monetize subscriber engagement.
Music Recording Work
5. Music Manufacturing: Put your producing expertise to work for different artists. Receives a commission in factors, upfront charges, co-writer splits, or no matter different association is smart for you and your collaborator.
6. Engineering: Are you good at recording, mixing, or mastering? Let different artists know! This is usually a nice income between your personal recording tasks or excursions.
7. Session Participant: Bought skills as an instrumentalist or vocalist? Are you fast at studying and arranging tunes? Recording classes will be an effective way to receives a commission whereas not tying up an excessive amount of of your time directly. You’ll be able to attend classes in particular person, or do distant session work from your personal dwelling studio.
8. Studio Operator: Do you personal lots of recording gear that goes unused while you’re not making music? Possibly it’s time to contemplate renting out your studio to different engineers, producers, and artists.
9. Cell Recording: Whether or not it’s vacation spot recording (“My band rented an airbnb and we wish to flip it right into a studio”) or capturing reside audio for different bands at their exhibits, typically having a transportable studio could make all of the distinction in getting the job.
Music Publishing & Licensing
10. Mechanical Royalties: Gather this type of publishing royalty when your authentic songs — together with covers by different artists — get streamed, downloaded, or pressed on CD/vinyl.
11. Efficiency Royalties: Earn this music publishing cash when your authentic music is carried out reside in venues or publicly broadcast on radio and TV.
12. Sync Licensing (Songwriter Aspect): For those who write your personal songs and retain the publishing rights, you may get paid an upfront charge — and in some circumstances, ongoing royalties — when your music is positioned in movie, TV, video games, commercials, and so on.
13. Sync Licensing (Label Aspect): Similar goes for the “recording” facet of the equation. For those who personal your personal tracks, you’re the label, and might receives a commission for sync placements.
14. Compose for Music Libraries: Prolific composer or producer? You may write music for music collections which can be particularly curated for sync licensing alternatives.
15. Promote Sheet Music: The unique supply of “music publishing” income! Relying in your style, this is usually a massive vendor. (New Age Piano, anybody?) However don’t simply consider notation; you might additionally do chord-charts, tablature, lyric sheets, and extra.
Reside Music Performances
16. Touring and Reside Reveals: Play reside and receives a commission. This income might come within the type of ticket gross sales, door splits, bar percentages, or a assured charge from the venue proprietor.
17. Residency Gig: Similar type of cost choices as above, however a residency is a often scheduled factor. It might be “7 nights in a row in July” or “Each different Thursday all yr.”
18. Home Live shows: Play intimate live shows in personal houses. These will be nice fan-building experiences and allow you to promote lots of merch, whereas lowering strain for large turnout. Plus it can save you on journey bills if the host places you up for the evening.
19. DJing: For those who’re not touring, you may DJ occasions, events, or venues in your hometown. On the street? Do a DJ set at a pageant or venue between your tour dates.
20. Company Gigs: Need to receives a commission massive bucks whereas coming into The Twilight Zone? Play at a company perform. It’s surreal. And profitable.
21. Weddings and Personal Occasions: Carry out at weddings, bar mitzvahs, anniversaries, household Christmas events, birthdays, and different kinds of personal occasions. These can usually pay higher than an ordinary venue gig.
22. Metropolis or Municipal Occasions: The annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, the summer season beer backyard within the park, the Arts Stroll. Examine along with your native chamber of commerce or metropolis council for alternatives.
23. Festivals: It’s nice to play music festivals, after all, but in addition analysis non-music gatherings which have reside music as a element. Beer festivals. Balloon festivals. Meals festivals.
24. Busking: Play in a public area with a lot of foot visitors for ideas. Subway stations. City squares. Boardwalks and piers. Simply verify the native ordinances first. Get a allow, if required.
25. Be within the Home Band: Just like a residency, the place you keep put and totally different audiences come to you, search out efficiency alternatives the place you back-up different singers. May very well be live-band karaoke, a giant band or jazz group, and so on.
26. Play Cruise Ships: For those who don’t thoughts small rooms and lots of months at sea, cruise ship gigs provide you with an opportunity to play lots (typically a number of gigs per day), and supply downtime to give attention to follow, recording, studying, and so on.
27. Nursing Properties: Whereas these aren’t glamorous gigs, they are often very significant for the viewers and also you because the performer. They will pay nicely, are often shorter units, and have the potential to turn out to be reliable repeat gigs.
28. Digital Performances: Need to mix the unique and intimate feeling of a home live performance with the comfort of livestreaming? Play a personal, digital efficiency on Zoom, Google Hangouts, and so on.
Music Merch Gross sales
29. Artist Merchandize: Promote merch at gigs, in your web site, and on platforms like Instagram and Spotify. Gadgets might vary from t-shirts to mugs to books.
30. Bodily Music Codecs: Regardless of what you might have heard, followers nonetheless buy CDs, vinyl data, and even cassettes. Supply them in all the identical locations you’d your merch, in addition to in file shops by way of bodily distribution or consignment.
31. Restricted-Version Releases: Supply limited-edition or signed bodily copies of your music to followers. As an illustration, you might promote tour-specific recordings that may by no means once more be out there to buy.
32. Digital merch: Not all merchandise should be bodily. You’ll be able to provide PDFs of your tour diary or poetry. A digital cookbook. An unlock of a secret video.
33. Digital “Field Set”: Similar goes for music information. You might have a trove of unreleased recordings. Give followers paid entry! Or bundle all the pieces you’ve ever recorded right into a digital bundle with bonus tracks.
34. NFTs: “Non-Fungible Tokens.” These are crypto belongings on a blockchain that signify possession or engagement in some piece of music, imagery, neighborhood, art work, or monetary association.
Music Training
35. Educate Music: Whether or not it’s personal classes or a teleconference tutorial, you may assist different folks get higher at an instrument, music manufacturing, or songwriting.
36. Music Remedy: Put your expertise to make use of in a therapeutic approach that helps folks enhance their well-being.
37. On-line Programs: Create and promote a digital course. It might be about your instrument, or your music-biz and promo expertise. Numerous upfront work, however with the potential for it to turn out to be extra “passive” revenue as soon as your advertising funnel is up and operating.
38. Music Workshops: Host IRL or on-line neighborhood gatherings the place studying and suggestions occurs in a gaggle setting.
39. Visitor Lectures: Communicate at colleges, faculties, or music seminars. These are sometimes paid alternatives, however even in case you’re an unpaid speaker at a music convention, you must have the prospect to make a fast gross sales pitch on the finish of your speak or promote books afterwards.
40. Music Transcription: Are you good at determining complicated harmonies, blistering bluegrass breaks, or well-known saxophone solos? You may earn cash transcribing that music note-for-note. It is perhaps work-for-hire revenue, or you might publish these transcriptions in a e book. Or on YouTube (with the potential for incomes advert income).
Crowdfunding & Fan Assist
41. Mission-Primarily based Crowdfunding: Use platforms like Kickstarter or GoFundMe to lift cash from followers to help a selected recording, tour, advertising, or video mission.
42. Membership Golf equipment: You should utilize a subscription-model platform like Patreon, or construct your personal on-line fan subscription via your web site. In alternate for month-to-month cost, followers get unique or early entry to content material and different perks.
43. Fan Donations: Settle for donations immediately from followers via platforms like PayPal or Venmo. These hyperlinks will be listed in your web site, livestreams, and even pinned to the highest of your Spotify profile.
44. Livestream Assist: That is income followers provide you with for livestreaming. However in contrast to the Venmo or PayPal ideas talked about above, it will possibly come within the type of a platform-specific foreign money or motion: Stars, Bits, Subs, and so on.
45. VIP Experiences: Supply your diehard followers the prospect to pay for an unique expertise. Backstage passes, meet-and-greets, watch the soundchecks, dinner earlier than the present, photographs and autographs.
Music Composition
46. Songwriting for Different Artists: For those who’re a prolific author, you might have concepts to spare! Pitch your unreleased songs to different artists, publishers, or labels. Or collaborate with co-writers to make new songs. Repeatable success on this space takes lots of dedication, however might result in a publishing deal.
47. Write Jingles: Ya know, the catchy (and typically annoying) music that performs throughout commercials? There’s cash to be made the place artwork meets promoting.
48. Movie Scoring: Compose music for movies, TV exhibits, and documentaries. Like many areas of specialization, this discipline can require lots of time and dedication. Contemplate accordingly how usually and while you wish to settle for scoring work.
49. Video Recreation Music: In concept, this isn’t that totally different from movie scoring. Besides that gaming has its personal musical tropes, so the reference factors could differ from cinematic orchestration and sound design. Many video video games additionally characteristic songs that turn out to be a part of the sport’s soundtrack, which refers again to sync licensing. Lastly, there’s a entire large ecosystem of VGM covers on YouTube, the place artists do their very own artistic preparations of standard online game music. So in case you play a singular instrument, this would possibly provide you with a solution to differentiate your self: Halo on accordion, Ultimate Fantasy on metallic guitar, Zelda on harmonica, Mario Bros on banjo.
50. Promote Beats and Pattern Packs: Are you a prolific producer in a style that depends closely on digital music, equivalent to hip-hop, pop, or EDM? You’ll be able to assist different artists get an enormous musical help by promoting your beats, production-starts, and pattern packs.
51. Write Customized Songs: Let your followers know you’ll compose and file customized songs for particular events like weddings or birthdays. Simply remember to cost sufficient in your precise effort and time!
52. Sound Design and Audio Branding: Create “audio logos” and “sound identities” for companies. Or use your manufacturing expertise to make sound results and audio environments for media, public areas, or different commissioned tasks.
Retail & Venue Work
53. Document Retailer: Gig at evening and work at a file retailer in the course of the day. You’ll keep on high of the newest music releases, as nicely brush up on the classics.
54. Music Retail: Slightly be close to devices? Work at a music retailer and develop your experience within the newest gear, used instrument valuation, and extra.
55. Making or Repairing Devices: Good at fixing guitars? Carving violins? Soldering results pedals or synths? You may begin your personal enterprise or work out of an current store or retailer.
56. Expertise Purchaser: Already in communication with a big community of proficient musicians? Put these social and group expertise to make use of reserving the acts at an area venue.
57. Venue Workers: Choose extra of the “on the bottom” venue expertise? You may be a bartender, bouncer, field workplace assistant, or venue supervisor.
58. Reside Sound Engineer: Each good venue wants good reside sound. You may be the important thing to creating that occur. Bonus factors in case you’re not a grump!
Different Music Professions
59. Music Journalism: Write present previews, album evaluations, characteristic interviews, and extra. Chances are you’ll discover a chance to do that as a side-gig in your native newspaper or arts weekly.
60. Musicology, Criticism, Editorial, and Curation: Put your deep information and fervour for a specific style to make use of. Educate others about that historical past. Or make music suggestions and thrilling connections for listeners.
61. Member of an Orchestra: Jazz, Classical, Ballet, or the pit-orchestra for Musical Theater. If in case you have nice technical facility in your instrument and reliable sight-reading expertise, you might make a dwelling in a big ensemble.
62. Spiritual Music: Whether or not it’s the organist in a cathedral, the guitarist in a praise-and-worship band, the cantor at a temple,… many religions have music as a part of their common service.
63. Voice Expertise: If in case you have a great singing voice, you would possibly be capable of translate these dramatic expertise to offer voiceovers, audiobook readings, or character voices.
Model Collaborations
64. Model Sponsorships: Associate up with some firm who shares your values and aesthetic, and receives a commission while you rep their merchandise, companies, or mission.
65. Endorsements: Get discounted (or typically free) services equivalent to devices, music advertising instruments, or music manufacturing software program. In alternate, you agree to make use of that gear in public and supply testimonials.
66. Affiliate Advertising: Promote a sure product in your web site, do gear evaluations, and hyperlink to the producer or retailer, and earn a fee on any gross sales.
67. Be an Influencer: “Influencer Advertising?” Simpler stated than finished, however… if in case you have a big social following, you might be able to monetize that spotlight by doing product placements or promo shoutouts.
Miscellaneous
68. Books, eBooks, & Audiobooks: I suppose this might go beneath the “merch” part, however that’s extra in regards to the last product and gross sales. Changing into an creator is an endeavor all its personal, after all. However in case you already show a knack for lyric-writing, you might have longer-form literary expertise too. It might be fiction, non-fiction about musicology, essays about band drama and tour mishaps, and even written instrument instruction with accompanying illustrations.
69. Music Running a blog: I discussed above that you might write evaluations for an current publication, however you might additionally host evaluations by yourself web site within the hopes of monetizing your weblog via advert placements and affiliate income.
70. Podcasting: Begin a podcast about your music, adventures, or different pursuits. For those who get ample engagement, you may monetize via advertisements, sponsorships, or listener help.
71. Competitions: These might be rap battles, songwriting challenges, bluegrass competitions. There could also be an entry charge, however that additionally means there might be a giant payout in case you win.
72. Interactive Music Experiences: If in case you have combined media or web-development expertise, you might create an immersive real-world or digital expertise. Emma McGann’s multi-player “Monsterverse” RPG in Discord is a good instance. You’ll be able to ask your followers to pay to take part, or you need to use it as an opportunity to drive merch gross sales on the finish of the expertise.
73. Consulting Companies: Musicians need assistance, strong recommendation, and networking connections. Are you able to mentor somebody in administration, crowdfunding, digital promoting, or one thing else? Present that technique recommendation in alternate for a charge.
74. Open-Supply Collaboration: That is while you make some artistic work out there for others to make use of, with out a clear thought of who will collaborate, or what precisely will end result. Making stems downloadable for remixers is an apparent instance. You’ll be able to approve your favourite remixes and formally distribute these tracks, splitting any income the remix generates. However artists like Holly Herndon and Grimes took it one step additional with AI fashions of their vocals.
75. __________: Sure, a clean area, as a result of if there are 75 objects on this record already, there’s certain to be many extra methods to make cash out of your musical expertise. And I needed to depart room so that you can think about your personal prospects. Have enjoyable!
Conclusion
Most musicians won’t ever deal with each merchandise on this record, and that’s fully positive. They shouldn’t. All of us have our personal specialties and pursuits. Greatest to give attention to what’s rewarding, each when it comes to private development and revenue.
However hopefully this lengthy record offers you an summary of your choices as you make a profession of your music, and as you complement your main music revenue sources with further income streams.
