Royalty-Free Samples
If you have a passion for creating music and make a lot of it, you likely have a hard drive full of unfinished sounds.
The best way to use these unused tracks is to turn them into a royalty-free sample pack. You can easily find a music producer that will pay artists for quality samples to use in their own productions.
For income streams of royalty-free samples, compile a pack of 100 or so samples and put it up for sale. You can do this through your own website or with a sample marketplace.
It’s a great way to turn all of your brain dumps into something valuable for someone else – and fill your pockets!
Make Money From Music With Live Streams
When live shows were canceled in 2020, many musicians started looking into live streaming so they could keep performing for their fans. Even famous artists were putting on intimate live stream performances.
Fortunately, traditional in-person shows have started coming back. However, that doesn’t mean that live streaming is no longer valuable. It’s still a great way to instantly connect with your audience.
With live streaming, you can reach countless listeners all over the globe. That includes many listeners that have never had an opportunity to watch you perform in person.
You have a ton of options with live streaming, too. You can sell tickets to online live streams, or you can do it for free and set up an online tip jar.
There is certainly money to be made in the music industry from live stream ticket sales and tips. In case you missed it, we wrote an entire article about how to do a great music live stream.
Write Songs
This one seems obvious, but it is often overlooked. And when it comes to good songwriting, it is definitely easier said than done.
When you write and sell songs, you can get mechanical royalties or performance royalties. With mechanical royalties, you will earn a statutory rate of $0.09 per track in the United States.
Therefore, if you write a song that is on 10,000 albums, you’ll make about $900.
You’ll earn a performance royalty whenever the song you wrote is performed.
Stuck in your songwriting process? Having issues creating the type of music you want? Check out our tips for writing great songs.
Teach In-Person Lessons for a Record or Music Store
There are music stores all over the country that employ musicians to teach music lessons in their stores.
This is a great way to make money with music and you’ll build connections at the same time.
Networking with music shops could prove to be invaluable, and it will be very easy to turn students into fans.
Ask your local music stores about teaching positions. If it’s something they’ve never done before, see if you can negotiate a possible partnership.
If you don’t want to go the music store route, you could also teach lessons from the comfort of your home. You’ll just have to put a little more effort in your marketing compared to teaching in an established store.
Commissions
If you’re a composer, commissions might be the most sought-after method of making money for original work.
There are two kinds of commissions:
- Concert music commission
- Commercial music commissions
With a concert music commission, you are paid a certain sum of money to write music for an ensemble.
A commercial music commission can come in the form of a lump sum for a one-time project, such as a movie score, or a recurring contract, such as a television series score.
Some composers find long-time employment being commissioned to write television scores.
Merchandise (Without Overhead)
While selling merch isn’t necessarily a unique idea, it is all about how you go about it.
If you’re constantly playing shows and need merch on-hand you’ll still likely have to go the overhead route. However, if you just want to attach a merch platform to your artist, band, or music production website you should check out platforms like TeeSpring and TeePublic.
You never have to pay for a single item or to have anything shipped. Instead, just promote your merch on social media and watch the money come in.
The down side is these platforms do take anywhere between 50% – 60% of the total profit, but you get to establish the price that you want and you still never have to worry about handling the items. All that is needed from you are the design files that will be displayed on your products.
In addition to merchandise, these platforms allow you to also sell digital products – like MP3S, demos, EPs.
License Your Music
Getting a song placed in a movie, TV show, or commercial earns you a licensing fee.
Two licensing fees, actually.
The first is the master use licensing fee to use the recording.
The second is the synchronization licensing fee for the songwriters and publishers. These fees vary greatly and depend on the budget for the project and how much they use your song.
Music for films and television or licensing songs you’ve already recorded can be a significant source of revenue for musicians.
Judging by the many listed benefits, it is clear that earning your Pro Tools Certification can go a long way in terms of developing your skills, building your resume, and being able to proudly display your Pro Tools knowledge to future musicians you collaborate with.
If you are a music student, there is no downside to learning Avid Pro Tools and earning your official certificate. Most students find that the benefits of certification greatly outweigh trying to learn the program independently.
