How to Make Money Off Your Music

   
     Hello everyone, and first off, thanks for visiting my blog! It has been over a few months now since I started my "Maestro Management" blog. It is mind-boggling to me that each time I logon to post another entry. I notice I have new subscribers and my blog page views increases each month. Wow! Thanks so much, I really do appreciate your support! With that being said, I have yet another awesome blog entry for you all, and I do mean AWESOME! I have some great information and tips that will be helpful to you, whether you are an inspiring musician, artist, or artist manager. This information will be of great benefit to you. I am going to give you a few tips on "How to Make Money Off Your Music". Artist managers listen up!  The information that I'm providing in this blog entry will also help you make your artist money off their music too. So, let's get started!

     Okay, so you just put the last finishing touches on your single, project, mixtape, LP, EP, collection, album or whatever you want to call it. Let's just call it 'music' (I know, redundant) for the sake of this blog entry. Now, you finally have a finished product, and you're ready to share your music with the world. Great! In the process of sharing your music with the world, you book a couple of gigs and flood your website and/or social media pages promoting your music. You and/or your management team have already invested a lot into your musical career (i.e, recording, photo shoots, distribution, mastering, legal documents, and the list goes on). Becoming a well-rounded artist or musician doesn't come cheap. Which is why, generating some revenue is a very crucial part of the success of an artist. But, worry no more my friends, I have put together 3 simple tips (I love simple tips) to help you make money off your music.

TIP #1 - Actively Sell CDs (simple but, highly underrated)
      What better way for an artist/musician to promote their music career, than performing in front of a live audience? I’ll tell you, there isn’t. This is why the few musicians actively selling their music at shows often surprise me.  I am a die-hard music lover and I nearly jump at every chance to attend local performances, showcases, and concerts. As I said before, I have witnessed very few artist mention they have CDs or merchandise for sale after their performance or show. With that being said, some artists, once they’re done performing would say, “check me out on iTunes at yada yada or blah blah blah”. It’s sad, but those are the exact words I hear whenever an artist wants me to go on the web to hear or purchase their music. Unless, the artist’s music is really good, the chances of me following up with the artist on ITunes are slim to none.  This is why I encourage every musician or artist performing in front of a live audience. Mention to the audience during and after their performance that they have CDs and/or merchandise to sell for anybody that’s interested.

      Simple but, highly underrated. Work the crowd—get out there and sales some CDs. You'll be surprise to the many music-lovers like myself that are willing to purchase your music. There are plenty of artists promoting their music on iTunes and through other publishing channels. Unless, you are a widely known musician or buzzing artist, it will be pretty hard for a consumer to filter through the clutter of other musician’s music on iTunes or the web. Keep in mind that iTunes’s music library contains over 25 million songs alone. So by doing the legwork and going into the crowd, you will make more money then you would by standing around and waiting for your iTunes profits to grow-- that's if you are an inspiring musician.

Bonus tip: Be authentic when selling your music. Don’t just jump right in with the sale; start with small conversation. Ex. asks the potential buyers, “how they're doing, or anything else you can find relevant to the conversation.

TIP #2 - Collect Royalties
      Let's talk royalties. Many artist pass up the chance to receive royalties from their live performances, or (in the words of my late grandfather) they just "don't know what they don't know" (think about it?). Whenever your music is performed in public places, you earn money via Royalty Collection Companies. Venues that are licensed are required to pay performance fees to play music in their venue. If you (artist) fail to register your music with a royalty collection company, then you could be missing out on a big opportunities to cash in on live performances of your music. There are a lot of royalty collection companies out there that will scout for royalty payments due to their clients (i.e., SoundExchange, BMI, TuneCore, etc.).

TIP #3 -  Gigs, Gigs, and more Gigs!
      Paid gigs are the best gigs! Unfortunately, in the music world the truth is that most music gigs are not exactly just that-- paid gigs. However, depending on the persistence of the artists and/or their management team building up a fan base. The artists can increase their chances of receiving a paid gig by putting on shows where their fans are willing to pay to see them perform live. Now, this is an ideal situation for any artist. However, unpaid gigs are not bad either, they provide great exposure opportunities for a growing artist. Once you gain more performance experience and add more to your performance resumé so to speak, consider entertaining the fact of booking paid gigs with different venues. You or your manager can work out the way you would receive compensation for your performances. Whether, 1.) taking a percentage of the door sales or 2.) receiving a prorated amount to perform. If you do decide to go along with the second option. Be sure to collect any dues owed to you before you perform. This will help prevent any fraud issues or future conflicts. As always, document everything and seek advice from an entertainment attorney (click here to read my blog entry on why it's important to get an entertainment attorney) if needed.

      The following 3 tips above are just mere examples on how any artist can make money off their music. I really do hope you all find this information to be helpful to you and apply these tips to your music career. If you would like to learned more about other industry topics in the world of entertainment feel free to browse through my blog. A good blog entry from my blog to check out is "What is Copyright Protection?" Thanks for reading and check back later on Maestro Management for my latest post.