5 Ways To Make Easy Money From Music - For Beginners

This is a really basic summary of some simple ways you can earn some extra money for your band. For those of your who have been earning a living from music for years, this will all be obvious to you, but for those new acts out there, I hope you can get something out of this.

1. Get A Blog

You can actually earn money via advertising displayed on your blog. How much, depends on how many people click on the links whilst viewing your page. So you just need to get them there.

Doing so means keeping your content interesting and updating your blog regularly. At least twice a day every day in the first month will do it. 

Coming up with a consistent stream of interesting stuff might be tricky, so plan to start posting on your blog when you have some exciting stuff coming up. Going on a tour next month? BAM! Enormous amounts of content.

Not to mention a successful blog will mean excellent publicity for your band.

2. Merch Websites

Get your gear and tunes on every damn merch site that is relevant to your band. If someone searches your punk band on a punk merch site, you had better be there! Many merch sites enable you to set up a basic account for free, but some might charge you per item.

I’d go for the free ones first and then expand as you can.

Bandcamp is a great place to start, it’s free to set up a basic account, just remember to consider shipping when deciding on your pricing.

3. Sell Royalty Free Music

If you have some tracks sitting around that you doubt you’ll ever release or like to create bits and pieces of potential film scores, well you can actually make money from selling it royalty free. There are sites like Tradebit where you can upload these tracks. But remember royalty free means you get a one off payment, for that licensing.

If you want to read up more on music licensing you can here.

How To Make Money From Music Licensing

You can also read up on Creative Comons, which is the concept of royalty free music.

Creative Commons For Musicians

4. Tip Jars

Set up a tip jar at the bar at gigs, you’ll be surprised how much you can earn from something so simple, try putting one at the door (if there’s a cover charge) and a couple at the bar, most venues won’t mind. Just make sure you ask first out of courtesy.

You could also try putting a Tip Jar link on your website, link it up with paypal, and people can put $1 here and there into your tip jar.

5. Workshops

Schools and rural communities will pay good money for bands to come in and do workshops. If you have a free weekend coming up, maybe it’s time for a road trip. Be careful with this one though, because it’s best to approach this doozey after you’ve ticked a few boxes such as touring and recording, as this is the first thing any aspiring musician will ask you about.

It’s best to contact the schools and communities direct (and be ready to mail out some press packs) but WAM can generally help out too if you get really stuck.

Well, I hope this was helpful.

I haven't covered any of the obvious money earners like Licensing, playing gigs, APRA royalties etc because well, they're obvious. However if you do want me to write a post about any of those subjects, leave a comment in the comments box.

Big Hugs!

xx