Do’s & Don'ts of Streaming Your Original Music

The music industry is alive and well today.  In fact, some would argue it’s doing better than it ever has.  That may be subjective considering the players making the big money are not the artists or songwriters (unless of course they are famous – or a songwriter working with famous artists). 

If you do a Google search on “what is the original music industry worth today?” – you will find this:

The recorded music industry was worth $19.1 billion in 2018, which was almost a double-digit gain (9.7%) from the year prior, when the global business only rose by 7.4%. April 2, 2019

Or “what is the music industry worth?” – you will get this:

A disturbing new music industry statistic claims that artists only got 12 percent of the $43 billion the industry generated in 2017, according to a new Citigroup report published this week. According to the report, the industry's $43 billion year was its most profitable since 2006.Aug 8, 2018

Then, in a sentence right under that it states – “the music industry is booming but artists only get about 12% of the revenue” in an article from USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/08/08/music-industry-booming-but-artists-only-get-12-percent-revenue/936711002/

So, what do you do?  What don’t you do?  It’s a tough question to answer in depth here, but I can give you some short answers:

DO

1. Stream your music.  The money you’ll get from sales is small, but along with streaming on a platform like… deep breath… Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, CD Baby, YouTube, Spotify, Reddit, iTunes, Facebook, SoundCloud, Audio Mack, and many more – you may get some good streams and shares from social media.  If (and only if) your music sounds good.  The point of streaming is getting your song into a solid sounding digital format so you can share it everywhere on the internet.  If you are (or know) a good marketing person, that’s half the battle.  The old adage “it takes money to make money” doesn’t really apply here because digital marketing often trumps the money you make off of a song. The ROI (Return on Investment) is very little.  BUT… I’ve seen quite a few success stories.

2. Send your song to publishers (they call these “syncs”).  They will add It (again, if it’s good) to their sound libraries for film and tv.  If a tv show or movie picks up the song, it can be a lucrative way to make royalties.  Every time the movie or tv show plays, you are paid a certain percentage.  If it’s a hit, you could do very well with checks showing up in the mail.

3. Create your own web page with streaming setup.  Then market it.

DON’T

1. Don’t trust just anyone.  Do your research.  The music industry is known for, and will mostly likely always be known for, people trying to make money from your music without paying you a fair percentage cut. 

2. If you are not a musician, make sure the studio you choose to produce your song (with your lyrics) is reputable and established.  There are a lot of studios out there who say they will produce a great song for you, but they offer no examples of their work.  Make sure you can hear song examples they produced in the past.  Make sure you have someone with a musical ear listen to let you know if it’s good or not.

3. Don’t expect to get rich.  Making music and creating songs for streaming is great.  But thinking you will have a hit from streaming is unrealistic.  If you work hard, market the song correctly, create a following, and are up-to-date on social media you have a better chance of succeeding.

I hope this short blog gave you some insight on what streaming is and whether it’s worth doing or not.  If you have any questions, please email me at david@YourSongmaker.com and I’d be happy to answer anything you want to ask.