Are you an artist or producer seeking to understand how to make money from music as a producer? Look no further! Diversifying your income streams is essential for establishing a stable career in the music industry. This comprehensive article guides you through the top 10 revenue streams that are key to monetizing your music production skills. With our expert insights and practical tips, learn how to effectively generate income from your music as a producer and turn your passion into profit.
Streaming royalties
When exploring how to make money from music as a producer, streaming royalties stand out as a fundamental source. By releasing your music on major platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Tidal, you start your journey towards earning through music royalties. While streaming might not yield substantial income immediately, it gradually accumulates significant earnings. This growth in revenue is closely tied to the increase in your followers and monthly listeners, making streaming a consistent revenue stream for artists of all sizes and stages in their career.
Spotify & Other Streaming Payouts: What Producers Need to Know
If you’re a producer thinking about how to make money from music, understanding what Spotify and other platforms pay is key. The amount you earn per stream varies depending on where your listeners are, but a general figure is about โฌ0.0032 (or $0.0034) per stream. So, for every million streams, you could earn around โฌ3,200 ($3,400). It might not seem like much, especially when you factor in the cuts taken by labels and collaborators like singers. But, there are smart ways to boost your streaming royalties as a producer.
One trick to maximize earnings in streaming royalties is by purchasing non-exclusive vocals at an affordable price from Voxalized. This allows you to keep 100% of the earnings when you release a song featuring our high-quality vocals. This approach can not only significantly enhance the quality of your song and appeal of your music, but will also maximize your earnings and return on invest.
Read more about it in our article: Why You Should Consider Non-Exclusive Vocals for your song
For more tips and tricks on increasing your streaming income, take a look at our article. We’ve got some great strategies that can help bump up your earnings from music production.
Music Publishing
As a music producer looking to make money from music, understanding music publishing royalties is essential. This might seem complicated, but it’s really important to ensure you’re collecting all the royalties you’re entitled to.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
Your music is your property. When places like radio stations, streaming services, or concert venues use your songs, they need to pay for a license. This license leads to two main types of royalties for you:
Mechanical Royalties
Money you earn when your song is streamed, downloaded, or made into CDs or vinyl.
Performance Royalties
Money you get when your song is played on the radio, TV, at concerts, or in public places.
As the producer and owner of the music, you’re the one who should receive these royalties. Remember, keeping track of and managing these royalties can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re already working with a royalty collection agency. But getting a handle on this is a big part of making money as a music producer.
Joining a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) is a crucial step for music producers aiming to make money from music. PROs like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GEMA (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) specialize in tracking where and how often your music is played in public. This tracking is key to ensuring you receive all your performance royalties. Without a PRO, it can be nearly impossible for independent artists to monitor every instance their music is used across various platforms and venues globally.
Merchandising: A Profitable Strategy for Music Producers
For music producers exploring how to make money from music, selling your own merchandise is a highly effective strategy. Manufacturing merch can be cost-effective, especially when you find the right suppliers. Selling merchandise at live gigs or concerts can significantly subsidize expenses like travel and venue hire.
Your merchandise range can extend beyond clothing to include a variety of products such as mugs, phone cases, posters, and bottle openers. Offering a diverse product line creates different price points, catering to fans with varying budgets. For instance, not every fan may afford a $20 tour T-shirt, but many might pick up a $5 keyring. These smaller purchases can quickly accumulate into substantial earnings.
The best time to invest in merchandise is when you’ve built a following and are performing regularly. These events are prime opportunities for merch sales. Additionally, you can sell merchandise through your website or platforms like Shopify.
Touring and Live Shows
For music producers and DJs looking to make money from music, touring and live performances have become a key income source, especially with the resurgence of live events. Understanding the diverse revenue opportunities from live DJ gigs is crucial.
As a DJ, your income from live shows can come from several channels:
Ticket sales for events where you’re performing.
Entry fees collected at the door of the venues.
Payments from venue owners or event promoters for your performance.
Once you establish yourself in the DJ scene and start getting regular bookings, whether as a warm-up act or the main headliner, charging for tickets becomes viable. The price range for tickets at events featuring up-and-coming DJs usually falls between $5 to $15.
Collaborating with other DJs or acts? It’s important to pre-agree on how to divide the earnings. Also, consider any expenses you might incur, such as equipment rental, venue hire, or promotional costs. Finding venues that offer the best value for your investment is key to maximizing your profits.
Don’t forget: If you’re spinning original tracks, keep track of your playlists for each event. This is essential for claiming live performance royalties, a significant yet often overlooked revenue stream for DJs and music producers. By tapping into these opportunities, you can enhance your income and solidify your standing in the music industry.
Sync Deals: A Lucrative Opportunity for Music Producers
For music producers looking to make money from music, securing sync deals can be a game-changer. Though challenging, successful sync placements in various forms of media can be highly rewarding.
Sync, or synchronization licensing, is a unique realm in the music industry. It involves artists earning money by having their tracks featured in visual media, including movies, TV shows, and video games. To use an artist’s music, media producers must pay a flat fee for a license. These fees can be substantial, sometimes reaching up to $10,000 per placement, not to mention the ongoing royalties for repeated broadcasts and continuous media usage.
Sync deals are indeed a lucrative revenue stream for music producers. The most effective way to pursue these opportunities is through your music publisher. Publishers have the expertise and connections to pitch your tracks to major global networks and streaming services like BBC, HBO, and Netflix.
With their help, your music can reach wider audiences and open up new revenue streams, making sync deals a valuable part of your strategy to make money from music.
Brand Partnerships & Sponsorships
For music producers seeking to make money from music, brand partnerships and sponsorship deals offer a unique avenue. These deals involve endorsing a brand or product, providing a direct source of income.
As a music producer, potential partners could include:
- Musical instrument manufacturers.
- Fashion and clothing brands.
- Social media app developers.
- Grooming and lifestyle product lines.
In a partnership, you’d promote the brand, enhancing their visibility through your association. This could involve sponsored posts on social media, appearances at live shows, features on your YouTube channel, and more.
For emerging artists, it’s unlikely to immediately catch the attention of major brands like Marshall or Fender, as they often seek artists with a large fan base or a robust online presence. The key is to start small. Approach local or independent brands and negotiate deals. Initially, compensation might come in the form of free products, but it’s a valuable starting point.
However, it’s crucial to ensure that any brand you partner with aligns with your image as a music producer, whether you’re into pop, soul, rap, or any other genre. For instance, BTS’s partnership with Hyundai for World Earth Day makes sense, given their global influence and the campaign’s focus.
Maintaining authenticity is essential. If a brand partnership doesn’t strengthen your image or resonate with your values, it’s better to decline. Preserving your authenticity and your fans’ loyalty should always be a priority. This approach ensures that any brand collaboration you engage in as a music producer not only brings financial benefits but also supports and enhances your artistic identity.
Conclusion
Our summary of “How to Make Money from Music as a Producer in 2024” breaks down several key methods for music producers to earn income. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding streaming royalties from platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, which can grow over time. It also points out the need to know about music publishing and suggests joining a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) to make sure you get all your royalties.
The guide also talks about making money through merchandising. Producers can sell different items, from T-shirts to keyrings, at concerts and online. Touring and performing live, especially for DJs, are highlighted as great ways to earn, with income coming from ticket sales and payments from venues.
Sync deals, where producers get paid for using their music in TV shows and movies, are mentioned as a particularly good opportunity to make money. Finally, the article suggests working with brands that match your music style, starting small with local brands and growing from there.
In essence, the article lays out a clear roadmap for music producers to diversify their income streams and understand each area well, to make the most of their music careers in 2024.