You create music, or at least you want to. It has been your passion for as long as you can remember and you can’t imagine life without it. Beyond your music’s immeasurable personal value, do you care how others respond? If so, is it possible for you to make a living from your music or at minimum generate some income?
You likely have a better chance of generating income from your musical creativity now more than ever. While much has been made of the collapse of the traditional music industry due to the digital distribution revolution, less has been said about the tremendous opportunities provided musicians and other artists by technological advances. Now you can record, mix, and master quality recordings for much less cost than a decade ago, and often using less workspace in your home or apartment than a small closet. If you want to go from music as hobby (“I do what I do because that’s what I do and public response is irrelevant.”) to music as livelihood (“I do what I do and I’d like to make a living at it.”), start thinking about where your creative output – your music – exists relative to public interest.
For your music, you can save time, money, and frustration by being mindful of three things:
- What is Your Music? Step outside your art and envision how others may perceive it. Ask the opinion of both people you respect and some that you don’t know well. Their perceptions may be surprising.
- What is the Public Taste for Music? Be aware of the music that is around you beyond your own ‘comfort zone’ of taste. What are your fellow human beings responding to? Remember, you aren’t researching this to change how you create, rather you want to get a sense of whether your creativity has a potential audience.
- How big is the Overlap of Your Music and Public Taste?
Perhaps you worry that the very act of asking yourself how your music is perceived may adversely affect your creativity and turn your unique vision into a pandering swirl of sonic mush. Eliminate this concern if it exists by considering these issues after you have created a song. By applying such analysis with finished, or nearly finished, songs in this way you can protect your creative process.
Take a pen and paper and make a simple visual for yourself. Your estimate of the public’s taste will be a rough guess of course, but that’s fine. What is important now is the thought process.
A. POPULAR MUSIC
The above image shows a large overlap that suggests broader or mainstream potential for your music. If your hunch is correct you could have broad appeal and the potential income that goes with it. Keep in mind though that reaching a lot of people with your music can ultimately take a large investment of time and money. Still, there are ways to make this work. We’ll address this in future postings.
B. GENRE-SPECIFIC MUSIC
Image B show a smaller overlap representing a more genre specific or niche-oriented type of music. This smaller overlap area suggests perhaps lower income potential but you also probably won’t have a massive marketing expenditure either. You may be able to sustain a profitable career.
C. OBSCURE MUSIC
Here we see minimal overlap. It is going to be tough to make a living doing this unless public trends change. Still, you may be able to get some income by creatively (inexpensively) reaching those out in the world who identify with your music. There just may not be a big total pool of potential fans to draw from. Ultimately, maybe this shouldn’t matter anyway. The beauty and self-affirmation in creativity and expression for its own sake remains and you may be happier and more financially secure reaching 200 real fans versus spending too much money oversharing your music with people that won’t get it anyway. Enjoy and create! Just don’t deplete your savings counting on monetary reward from your music.
Of possible interest: “For the Love of it: Amateurism and It’s Rivals”
Tags: A&R, Career, earscollective, music shrink