Can I Make Money from My Song?
There’s a complicated answer to that question. In fact, much too complicated to go over everything in this short article. I think the only good answer is… yes… and no. It makes absolutely no sense, I know. It’s not an answer. But that’s about the best answer I (or likely anyone) could give without having a full day discussion on the topic. I’ll go over some known examples below to shed some proverbial light on the situation.
If you are a musician, and you work your butt off, yes, it’s possible to make money from your original music – but for most people - not so much. I know that answer sucks, but I’m being honest. The music industry is tough and always has been. Although, it’s easier today than it was 10 or 20 years ago – to make some money from your own music. But it’s still very hard. With social media, computer power getting better and faster, the ease of communication with another person through your device, searching the net easily to research what to do (like here), easily learning how to play an instrument using music software, an app, or website… the list goes on and on. But there’s one catch. What you write, play, and sing needs to sound good. The internet is fickle that way – it likes good sounding music. If it were just the internet, it would be one thing, but it’s more than just that. A lot more. There are companies like Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, and many more that will add your original piece to their platform, but it comes at a heavy price. You see, these companies make a lot of money off of artists and their music. Some are famous artists, but there are a lot of internet musicians who are paving a new way. The new “do it yourself” way. It’s tough to do without money because the world wide web – the good ol’ internet - is massive. People finding your music mixed in with the millions of other artists out there is unlikely. Unless you have money for marketing… or… are just “that good” and you get noticed on YouTube or some other social media site. It’s a dog eat dog musical internet world out there.
Anyway, there are a few positive things you can do to get your music or lyrics out there. One (shameless plug) is using a service like YourSongmaker.com. Once we create the high quality production from your lyrics, you’ll have the music to try the things below. It’s fun for our clients to submit their songs to different professional musical entities.
Here are some places to check out when trying make some money from your original music:
1. Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, Instagram, Twitter, CDbaby, YouTube, Reddit, SoundCloud, Audiomack.
Here are a few other ideas of how to make money from your tunes:
1. Publishers – there are a lot of publishers, but a couple of really good ones. You can research who they are, it’s pretty easy – but it’s your own preference. Some of the percentages are more than others (what the company makes off of your music). What publishers do is hold digital catalogs of original music for use in licensing agreements for whoever wants to use it. They (the publishers) purchase them and use them, in most cases, in perpetuity. But if they choose your piece you get paid. The tv & film industries browse music publisher catalogs and use what they want for different emotional scenes. It’s a lot cheaper than using famous songs like the famous filmmaker Quentin Tarantino does (he’s very good at choosing music for his movie scenes in my opinion). If the company picks your song, you will receive royalty payments. This can be lucrative (more so then playing gigs) if it’s used in something that becomes big, or a popular tv show. These are called “syncs”.
2. Create your own website. There are a lot of artists that do this and market it from playing live shows or through social media marketing. You can sell your music online and have the sales go right in to your bank account.
3. Send them to a music producer and music manager sites such as:
Music X-ray, Taxi, Great American Song Contest, ASCAP, BMI, and many more. The key is to research. Spend a day and do it. Type or write them all out, then look in to how each one works. It is very helpful for your own knowledge. There are scams out there, so be sure to read the fine print on anything and make sure you ask questions before you sign away any of your music.
This is just a very short, basic, start. There is so much more, but this should keep you busy for quite a while until you start to figure it all it. Oh, and if you do, please let me know! I’m not sure anyone has actually “figured it all out” yet. There’s no silver bullet, unfortunately. But this is FUN! Music is art, and fun, and happy, and makes you feel good! It’s such a great life living with music every day! Anyone can do it. You just need to take that first step. We can help you if you need it!