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You probably get the biggest headache as an artist when thinking about money...often it is a question of 'how do I fund my next project?', but even before you get there it might be ‘how do I pay my rent?’ or ‘can I afford to take that gig as it’ll cost me more in petrol just to get there?’ Even if you are fortunate enough to get paid for what you do there’s constant niggles about whether you are getting remunerated a fair amount, how you can improve your income, manage your outgoings and who else is benefiting from your hard work.
What can often happen is that money is relegated to being a necessary evil, a beast to be tamed and just kept in a cage as much as possible. The goal becomes just that it doesn’t get out of hand and bite you, a very negative approach, rather than a more hopeful and strategic approach where you actually tame and control the beast and make yourself the master of your own fortune.
Desperate for the day your music pays for itself and you can sack off the day job? Hoping for a breakthrough to enable you to make enough to take things to the next level? Then read on!
1. Set Goals - the first thing is this: do you have tangible, realistic financial goals and targets? Hoping you will ‘make more money’ is just too vague and not only will you make slow inconsistent progress but you’ll never really know if you have hit your goal. SO, step one: identify what you are trying to achieve. If you want to leave your day job work out the minimum you would need to make to be able to live. Then create your SMART goal: A good example might be: To consistently make £2000/month from all revenue streams by May 2018. Now you know exactly what your are trying to do and can chart your progress against it month by month.
2. Gigs - do yourself a favour and work hard at building your fan base and on promoting the gigs you perform at - not only will you gain a strong reputation with bookers but you will also have more bargaining power if venues know you will bring a good crowd and get stuck in pushing the event in various ways. Understand that promoters can only pay top fees when they have punters in the venues so work hand-in-hand with them to make this happen.
3. Merchandise - Key to this is understanding your fan base. Map out the average age, gender, location, demographic and think through what kind of people they are - middle aged well off women won’t tend to buy grungy t-shirts, just as much as teenaged boys might not buy deluxe limited edition premium priced vinyl collections. Know who you are pitching to and create products that add value to your fans. If you can ‘tell the story’ through your merch people will buy into the whole package for the long term; eg if you have a popular song about a Geisha, sell bright red lipstick and white foundation as a bundle with your single! Or if you have an album about Blackpool, sell sticks of rock - even better with your band name through the middle! Think like a shop! Think like a marketing executive for a growing brand! Think like a small business - because you are one!
4. Royalties - Make sure you are registered with PRS and regularly upload your gig listing to ensure you are paid what you are due. Easy mistake to make is to just ignore or put this off! If you open a show for big act in front of 1000 people or more, the songwriters get a percentage of box-office revenues. How could you generate more - through radio, public performance of your CD (get local shops to play it?) gigs and also sync… Don’t ignore what you can make from busking or doing the odd wedding.
5. License Your Songs & Recordings - TV, Film, Video Game and Websites buy music to use so why not pitch yours to them? Send out a monthly digital newsletter of your music to music supervisors with new songs for them to sample. Register with Sync Agencies (Google them). cultivate relationships with people who do this - and with other artists who have been successful and can help you get a foot in the door - but also think about strategic brand partners - local businesses who might be at a stage of creating videos for social media? Charities you have a link with? Local council website videos?? Think outside the box.
6. YouTube monetisation - The rules have become harder recently as you now need a certain level of subscribers for your channel before you are eligible - so get creating fabulous regular content and finding those subscribers and then the money will come in alongside! The same goes for selling advertising space on your website or even approaching companies to advertise on your van or on your guitar??
7. Fan-funding - This is a no-brainer - build your fan base at the same time as generating funds! The key principle is to add value for them - what do fans want and what will make them part with their cash? To feel valued by you - to catch the vision of what you are trying to do - to be invited on the journey with you and to get extra access to the ‘other stuff’ not just the music. Do that and you’ll have an army of superfans ready to throw their money at you in order to help you give them more music, videos and great experiences!
As the landscape of the music industry is ever-changing, make sure your try to open up a variety of income streams in addition to your music sales. Once you’ve identified the most active streams of income, look after your fans well and enjoy the ride!