5 Stupid Simple Ways You Can Make Some Moolah From Your Music

Back in 2016, I was driving around town listening to an independent rapper named Futuristic. He said a line that absolutely excited me that said: "Bitch I'm mean - I'm a millionaire by 25

Someone call up death, we about to vote these nigga's out the tribe".

I thought: "Damn, you can get that much money as an independent artist?" Before that, I was under the impression that only artists on a major label could make that kind of money. But I was wrong and happy about it.

Here are 5 ways to make money as an artist:

#5 Live Shows

I know it's an obvious one but some artists are under the impression that you need to perform for large crowds while on tour in order to make money. Let's use a tour from Snow Tha Product as an example.

(Via Snow The Product "F#*k Your Plans Come Kick It" Tour poster)

Take a look at the right side for March 30th at the Wow Hall in Eugene, OR. That venue fits up to 600 people.

Let's say tickets are $20 each and you sell out the show! That a generous sum of $12,000 in one night.

Of course, everyone has to get their cut but that's not bad for a city with under 200,000 People. And if you keep doing shows and growing your fanbase YOU'LL NEED BIGGER VENUES, bigger venues= More money.

#4 Youtube Adsense

I don't think a lot of artists talk about Youtube when it comes to generating income from their music.

It is one of the easiest ways to generate income because once you meet Youtube's requirements for monetization, the video you uploaded will generate income while you sleep. Granted you have a good amount of views coming to your channel all the time.

Here's a quote from https://influencermarketinghub.com/:

"Google pays out 68% of their AdSense revenue, so for every $100 an advertiser pays, Google pays $68 to the publisher. The actual rates an advertiser pays varies, usually between $0.10 to $0.30 per view, but averages out at $0.18 per view. OnAveragetheYouTubechannelcanreceive $18 per 1,000 ad views"

#3 Royalties

Royalties?? What are those??. Royalties are just payments made to the copyright owner so that the person paying has the legal rights to use the copyright owner's property.

In this case, your property is your music. And you have the legal right to be paid when ANYONE uses your work. There are different types of royalties and you need to sign up for certain companies online that will go out and retrieve your money on your behalf.

Watch Kato explain How to collect 99% of your music royalties independently - 4 simple steps:

#2 Limited Edition Merch

Not just any merch, LIMITED edition. For some reason, we as people perceive something as more valuable if there is less of it.

Plus, it also creates a sense of urgency to buy it now because if not you'll lose out on the opportunity of being one of the few rare people to have this rare piece of merch that will never come back, FOMO.

F-Fear

O-Of

M-Missing

O-Out

This way you'll sell merch faster and people who didn't get the last merch drop will be waiting at their laptops to buy the next limited edition merch.

#1 Crowdfunding

I see nothing wrong with this method. Others may think its like begging for money but I think differently. What better way to support an artist you already love than by giving the money to them directly.

One of these crowdfunding sites is Patreon. This site allows you to create a page and allow people to subscribe for a monthly fee and gain access to your content. You can charge $5, $10 or even $100. It's completely up to you.

Catalytic Sound Patreon Page

People subscribe and you need to bring them content. Maybe its 5 songs a month, maybe it's some behind the scenes stuff. Whatever it is, you just need to create content around your music.

Here are some ideas for some content:

Exclusive unreleased music
Film the recording process in the studio
QnA sessions
Podcast

Drop a comment if you can think of any more ideas!😁😁

Conclusion

Just to recap:

# 5 Live Shows
# 4 Youtube Adsense
# 3 Royalties
# 2 Limited Edition Merch
# 1 Crowdfunding

I really do believe that you do not need a label to succeed. No offense to anyone who wants that record deal, you do you. But know it is not necessary.

"Keep Going"- Tariq G