One of the greatest ruses in the American dream is that to be a musician you have to be broke and broken, never seeing a profit, never making enough money to even get a new set of strings. Well I’m here to tell you that you can indeed make money and it’s not impossible like you’re lead to believe by the man. You can do it and it’s not as hard as you think, but it’s also not the way you think. It used to be you had to get signed to deal and they’d give you millions and you’d be rich just like that. In fact, that was never the case, it’s just how it seemed from the outside. But here’s how you can actually make a living being a musician.
It’s All About the Merch
You have to make money in ways that maybe your dad’s band never had to. People still want to spend money on the music that they like, it’s just that they no longer feel the need to spend money for the actual music itself. We’re so used to downloading stuff and getting the actual tunes for free that if you’re a musician, you can either sit around whining about it and posting to Facebook about how no one buys music anymore, or you can do something about it and think outside the box. That’s where interesting and creative merchandise comes into play. Sell fun cool things with your logo (like beer koozies). Also, if you want to sell your actual music, hand design the CD cases or sell it on vinyl. Make it a commodity worth collecting.
Hit the Road
You absolutely have to hit the road. Gone are the days where you can just hang in your home town playing shows for your friends hoping that someone will discover you. You go out and make the whole dang country your home town, and show the future labels that you can generate a market and a fanbase, and then they’ll come knocking down your doors. You’ll need a good car for this adventure so find something nice and cheap and reliable at Nissan Alhambra. They’ll be good on gas mileage and won’t let you down. Compare to the cars at Downtown Nissan and be sure to book a ton of shows. 300+ per year is good.
Good Cover Song
And when all else fails, you should cover a song that is not in your genre, but record it in your genre. So if you’re a folk artist, take a hip hop song and make it folky. And if you’re in a rock band, take a pop song and make it a rock song. Make a great little video for it and off you go being a viral sensation. But that’s where shows and merchandise comes into play. If you make a viral video, you have to at least give the people something they can buy in case they want to spend money on you!