In my many years as a record label executive, I have come to realize that upcoming artist are not fond of utilizing diverse opportunities this digital age has created to make money which will enable them sponsor their music career, all they looking out for is a record label that will sign them and give them big money.
But what this folks fail or are unable to understand is that, record labels are business entities who are looking for a marketable product to sell and make fast money.
And for that reason you must be an artists who have been able to take yourself a bit farther in your musical career by making good music you promote online and also being able to build a strong social media presence.
Beside looking for a record deal, Almost 98 percent of upcoming artists who reach out to me are always telling me they need someone to sponsor or support their music career.
And when you ask them to send in their music for review, you will realize that nearly all of them are using phone apps like Bandlap to make music, and the excuse they give is that they have no money to pay for a studio session. And even those who have a studio recorded track are not able to get a quality production that will make their music listenable.
One thing I always like to tell upcoming artists is that there is no way you will be able to succeed in the music industry if you don’t have money. So it’s better you look for a side hustle that will help you to make money which will enable you to sponsor your music career.
And in this article I am going to show you how to make money as an upcoming artist, and I hope you utilize any or multiple ways I am going to freveal to you.
How to make money as an upcoming artists.
Below are various ways you can utilize to make money as an upcoming artist:
- Sell your songs as digital downloads.
- Sell your CDs.
- Distribute your music to digital stores.
- Monetize your social media accounts.
- Build a blog or website.
- Do busking.
- Learn music production.
- Begin DJ services.
- Start freelancing on Fiverr with music-related services.
- Start a record label.
1. Sell your songs as digital downloads.
Selling your songs as digital download is one of the ways to make money as an upcoming artist. But before you can do so, you need to start by giving out free songs either by uploading and promoting them on music blogs or free music promotion sites like Audiomack or Boomplay.
The best method of selling your songs as digital download is to upload it on Google Drive, copy the address nd use a payment method like Paystack to collect payment so that when anyone makes payment it will redirect the person to the Google Drive link where they will be able to download the music.
2. Sell your CDs.
You can also make money as an upcoming artist by selling your CDs either to your fans online or in shops and street corners.
Tom McDonald is an American rapper who has sold millions of CDs to his fans online, and what I always observe the guy to do is that fans will pace an order for the songs on his official website which you can review here, and before he sends the packages out he will do a viideo to show them to his fans.
I think this has been a way he has used to build confidence on potential fans who wants to order the song for the very first time.
Even if you do not have a website where you can make people order your CDs, you can use your social media platforms to do so.
3. Distribute your music to digital stores.
Upcoming artist can also make money by distributing their music to digital stores where they can earn from music streaming.
Now how does music streaming work?
Music streaming is the process where artists are able to distribute their music to music apps or platforms via an aggregator so that when subscribed users are playing their music a certain amount of money will be deducted from their subscription fees and paid to the artist.
You can learn about how musicians are making money from streaming by reading the article below.
How Musicians Make Money From Streaming.
4. Monetize your social media accounts.
Social media platforms has made it possible for their users to earn from the contents they post online once they are able to meet their requirements. And this process is known as social media monetization.
For instance, to get monetized on YouTube, you need to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within the space of a year.
So as a musician, you can think of a content you can start creating now and regularly post them online, and once you are able to need the particular social media requirements, you will begin to earn from those content.
You can read the article below to get the basic content ideas you can create on social media as a mmusician.
Basic content ideas for musicians to get fans on social media.
5. Build a blog or website.
Building a blog or website will open you to several opportunities of making money online as a musician.
The two articles below will help you learn those ways you can make money from a blog or website.
How to start a blog and make money online.
How to build a website and make money online.
6. Do busking.
Busking is a process where musicians perform live in public places, and you can utilize this process to source for donations from those who will stop by to watch your performances.
You can do this by placing a donation box in front of your performance spot with a caption that calls on people to help support your musical career with anything they have, or you can always stop intermittently to verbally ask for the donations, especially whenever you see a large crowd gathering to watch your performance.
7. Learn music production.
As an artist you can set aside a little budget and learn music production, and after that you can find a producer job in any recording studio or start your own small recording studio where you can make music for upcoming artists for a fee.
You can read the article below and learn all you need to start a small recording studio.
All you need to start a small recording studio.
8. Begin DJ services.
Since a DJ service is music related, you can start one today and uilize it to make so muuch money as an uppcoming artist.
Even if you don’t have money to purchase a full DJ equipment’s, you can start out by renting them, the most important thing is to source out for jobs that will help you to make money.
9. Start freelancing on Fiverr with music-related services.
There are lots of music rellated services you can offer on Fiverr as an artist and use them to make so much money, some of those services are:
- Songwriting.
- Jingles.
- Voice overs.
- Audiobook production.
- Podcast production.
- Album artwork and music logo designs etc.
You can follow this link to join Fiverr now.
10. Start a record label.
Sounds funny I think? Because I know what you are thinking: “how can I start a record label when I don’t have the money to build even a studio talkless of financing an artists”.
But I want to clear your fears about the inability to start as record label because you don’t have the money because nowadays, this digital era has made it possible for you to stay anywhere in the world and work with artists you like.
Now all you have to do is build a social media platform and website for your record label and strike a deal with artists and promoting them on the label for a percentage cut of the profit that will come to the artists if you are able to promote them welll.
Now you can start by distributing their songs to digital platforms and promoting them to get streams, you can also source out for shows and enroll your artist to go there and perform for a fee.
There are several other ideas you can utilize to get your record label up and running, and once you are able to make an artist become popular the money you need to build a studio and finance an artist will come in a flash.
Good luck!
