How Do Music Artists Make Money: It’s Not What You Think

You’re here because you’re frustrated and wondering: how DO music artists make money?

And with all the experts and gurus out there telling you specific music industry tactics to do, you’re probably getting a little (a lot) fed up with the run-around.

As a musician, you’re probably following a familiar pattern:

• Write your songs
• Record your songs
• Post them on social media
• Hope they make you go viral
• Repeat

Sound familiar? Here’s the harsh truth – this approach is never going to work. You’re stuck in the 80/20 trap, where 80% of your efforts are producing only 20% of your results.

While countless tools and articles promise to boost your music career, most only address symptoms rather than the core issue. The real problem? Your mindset.

The industry is flooded with tech companies and platforms claiming to have the ultimate solution for musicians. As someone who once believed in these technical solutions myself, I can tell you with certainty – no app, technology, or AI-powered platform will save the music industry.

What I finally realized is that you need to start with a plan.

Then put that plan into action, which thankfully includes playing music and doing all the fun artist stuff that you still want to do.

Success in music requires you to operate on three levels:

• The Visionary: This is the role you need to prioritize – the business owner with passion, vision, and mission who steers the ship.
• The Manager: The strategic middleman who transforms vision into actionable plans.
• The Employee: The tactical executor who completes the daily tasks.

Here’s the challenging part – as an independent musician, you must fulfill all three roles. It’s not always fun, especially for creatives, but it’s essential for success.

Let’s take a look at each of these roles more closely.

As the visionary, you’re the creative force and strategic mind behind your music career. This role involves:

• • Defining your unique artistic direction and brand identity
  • Setting long-term goals and creating a clear mission statement
  • Identifying your target audience and understanding their needs
  • Making high-level decisions about resource allocation
  • Spotting market opportunities and emerging trends
  • Planning future projects and creative endeavors
  • Building and maintaining industry relationships
  • Determining which revenue streams to pursue

The visionary role requires you to step back from day-to-day operations and think big. Schedule regular “vision time” – perhaps weekly or monthly sessions where you focus solely on the bigger picture and future direction of your music career.

The manager role bridges the gap between your grand vision and daily operations. This involves:

• • Creating concrete plans and timelines for projects
  • Budgeting and financial planning
  • Developing marketing and promotion strategies
  • Coordinating with collaborators, session musicians, or producers
  • Managing relationships with venues, streaming platforms, and distributors
  • Setting up systems and workflows
  • Tracking metrics and analyzing performance data
  • Prioritizing tasks and allocating resources effectively
  • Creating schedules and deadlines

Think of the manager role as your internal project manager. You’ll need to develop systems for organizing tasks, tracking progress, and ensuring everything aligns with your vision while remaining practically achievable.

This is usually where most artists work 100% of the time, but that’s the problem: you’re only ever focused on this one hat when you need to be in all three.

This is where the rubber meets the road – the actual doing of all the tasks required to run your music career:

• • Writing and practicing music
  • Recording and producing tracks
  • Creating and posting social media content
  • Responding to fan messages and comments
  • Updating your website and promotional materials
  • Submitting music to playlists and radio stations
  • Handling email correspondence
  • Managing merchandise inventory
  • Booking and performing at shows
  • Networking at industry events

The trick to managing these roles effectively is to:

1. Time Block Your Schedule: Dedicate specific times for each role. For example:
   1. Monday mornings for visionary work
   2. Tuesday afternoons for managerial tasks
   3. Rest of the week for tactical execution
2. Create Clear Boundaries: When you’re in one role, stay in that role. Don’t let tactical concerns interrupt your visionary thinking time.
3. Develop Systems: Create workflows, templates, and checklists for recurring tasks to make the employee role more efficient.
4. Use the Right Tools: Different roles need different tools:
   1. Visionary: Vision board, strategic planning software, industry research tools
   2. Manager: Project management software, budgeting tools, calendar
   3. Employee: DAW, social media schedulers, email management tools
5. Regular Role Review: Schedule weekly reviews to ensure you’re giving adequate attention to each role and that all three are working in harmony.
6. Know When to Delegate: As you grow, identify which tasks in the employee and manager roles could be outsourced, allowing you to focus more on the visionary aspect.

Remember, neglecting any of these roles can create bottlenecks in your career. Many musicians focus heavily on the employee role (creating and performing music) while neglecting the visionary and managerial aspects. This is often what leads to feeling stuck or overwhelmed despite producing great music.

The key is to approach each role with intention and understand that they all serve different but equally important purposes in building a sustainable music career. Success comes from being able to smoothly transition between these roles while ensuring they all work together toward your ultimate vision.

The music industry often feels like it’s all about numbers – streams, followers, likes, and shares.

But beneath these metrics lies a fundamental truth: music is about human connection.

When we strip away the algorithms and analytics, what remains is the age-old desire to share stories, emotions, and experiences through sound.

Success begins with showing your authentic self as an artist, going beyond just sharing your music to letting your audience see the person behind the songs. This means being genuine about your creative process, your inspirations, your struggles, and your victories.

When you’re real about your journey, you create resonance with others who see themselves in your story.

Building meaningful connections requires shifting focus from broadcasting to engaging, from trying to reach everyone to deeply connecting with those who truly resonate with your music and message.

Start by focusing on finding and nurturing your first hundred true fans – people who don’t just listen to your music, but feel personally invested in your success.

Think of community building like hosting a dinner party rather than performing at a stadium. At a dinner party, everyone can participate in the conversation, share their stories, and form genuine connections.

While this intimate approach might seem slow compared to viral marketing tactics, it creates lasting relationships that support sustainable career growth. Your authentic fans become your most powerful advocates, sharing your music because they truly believe in what you’re doing.

When your community grows large enough to attract industry attention, be cautious. The traditional “record label deal” often promises to expand your reach but can actually stifle your growth.

The traditional record label deal can seem like a golden ticket, especially when you’re managing every aspect of your career independently.

Labels approach rising artists with compelling promises of taking their music to the next level, offering powerful industry connections, and providing the financial backing needed for major success.

This allure becomes even more potent when you’re exhausted from juggling the countless demands of being an independent artist. The promise of focusing solely on your art while a professional team handles everything else can feel irresistible.

However, the modern label landscape operates very differently from these rosy promises.

Today’s major labels often function from a position of fear rather than innovation, feeling threatened by independent success and preferring control over authentic artist development.

This manifests in contracts that typically claim 80-90% of revenue streams, recoup all expenses from the artist’s share, and exercise extensive control over creative decisions from song selection to public image.

Perhaps most concerning is the growing practice of “strategic shelving,” where labels sign promising artists primarily to prevent competitors from having them, adding them to their roster without any real promotion plans. These artists essentially become bargaining chips in larger industry negotiations, their careers stalled while under contract.

The digital age has, in a strange way, made this situation more complex. While labels have less control over distribution than ever before, they’ve adapted by creating more restrictive contracts and aggressively expanding their reach into previously independent revenue streams like merchandising and touring.

The key to navigating this landscape is understanding that traditional labels are no longer the only path to success in today’s music industry. Your independence and direct connection with your audience can be your greatest assets, and alternative approaches like distribution deals, strategic partnerships with indie labels, or building your own team piece by piece often prove more beneficial in the long run.

The most important thing to remember is that a label that picks you up, puts you in its pocket, and only lets you come up for occasional sunlight is the worst thing you can do for your music career.

The only real solution for the music industry lies with the artists themselves.

The world needs music – it’s our universal language – now more than ever. Success comes from building genuine connections and growing your community organically, not from chasing viral moments or surrendering control to labels.

Focus on the 20% of activities that generate 80% of results.

This means spending more time on business planning, strategy, and leadership rather than getting caught up in the daily grind of creation and promotion without direction.

Remember, an industry that controls and constrains artists isn’t serving its true purpose. Your music career deserves better than being pulled out for occasional sunlight like a storage bin from the label’s closet.

AUTHOR DISCLAIMER

Look, I will agree with you: this is not the career advice any musically creative artist wants to hear.

It’s not the sexy stuff you love. It’s not about the fun gear and toys you get to create with.

But this is where the serious artists are separated from the hobbyists.

Marrying music with money isn’t meant to be fun. It’s meant to be a job, a challenge, a career.

So if you want a career in music, then you have to take it seriously.

If you only want to play local shows and make a few bucks, then stay on the hobby path.