Getting Paid as a Musician

There are a lot of ways to get paid from your art. Most times, people think that it's just a hobby that regular people couldn't possibly make into a full-time job. But as we all know, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Today I'm gonna share with you guys two different ways you can make money from your art.

For musicians, I know it can be frustrating to gain traction to start bringing in at least a little something with your music. But licensing is a huge income source that most artists don't tap into. Licensing your music could bring you anywhere from 15K to 150K per year. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty goods to me.

There are so many different ways to license music nowadays it's ridiculous for all of you not to be out there living the life. Although there are some tough standards to meet. Once you get the hang of it, there's really no cap to your potential earnings.

The best way to start your journey off is to look for some music libraries. What they do is allow you to upload your music to their site (for the low price of absolutely nothing). Then they push your music to people who are looking to get music—YouTube, TV, movies, video games, commercials, etc.

Be sure you do your research before you go blindly into a situation. Being that you're reading this, I assume you are new to the whole music licensing thing. So I would suggest that you look for non-exclusive licensing companies to get your feet wet—because it is easy to sign a contract and not know what you're getting into. So just be careful.

The second way is by streaming. In the world of music today, Spotify is a streaming giant. Most artists will tell you that, if they are making money from streams, that is where the lion's share is coming from.

Spotify is a "go-to" for indie artists because it's so much easier to gain traction than most other streaming sites. Mostly due to the playlists. Playlists can definitely make or brake an indie artist's career. It's such a powerful tool because you gain streams, followers, and monthly listeners all at once.

Now, we all know as far as pay out goes, Spotify isn't the most generous—with each stream being worth between .004 to .0075. But don't let that deter you from making Spotify work for you. Because the algorithm is more indie-friendly than pretty much every other streaming site.

Simply put, the more activity you have on your music/page, the more they push you to other people they think may like your sound.

Now when it comes to actually getting on playlists, there are a couple different ways to do this. The one way I've found to be most effective is to find a submission company that has already built relationships with playlisters. So, ultimately you don't have to. What these companies do is listen to your music and find the playlists they have a relationship with, and get them placed. Simple as that.

The other way—I've found be a lot more difficult—is to find them yourself. Basically, you search a playlist name and find the person who owns the playlist on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Most times it's really hard to track these people down, and when you do, they don't normally reply in a timely manner. So be patient and be polite—because don't forget you're asking them for something, not the other way around. And if you can add value to them, give suggestions to the playlist of music that isn't yours. Build a relationship beforehand. You just come off as needy if you write and ask for something from someone you don't know.

I hope this helped you guys out a little. Now go out and make some money!