8 Ways Musicians Can Make Money in 2021

4 min readDec 16, 2020

The days of merely relying on music sales and touring to bring in the big bucks are long gone. Don’t wait until January 1 to start planning your year. Here are 8 ways your music can make you more money in 2021 right here. Let’s dive in…

8 Ways Musicians Can Make More Money in 2021

Streaming

Having your music on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc. is a no brainer. Luckily, we’ve got a bunch of articles to guide you through getting your music on these platforms and how to optimize their performance.

Publishing Royalties

Royalty collection is a complex business. The two most common music publishing royalty types are performance royalties and mechanical royalties. With our Symphonic Publishing Administration, these would be the two main types of royalties we’ll collect for you.

Even though we do all the complex administrative work for you, it’s vital to understand how they work and how you can best leverage them to maximize your earnings. Not sure if you’re already earning these? // This post breaks it down for you.

Want to learn more? Check out:

Live Streaming

Since the beginning of quarantine, live streaming has taken over the music scene. All the while, artists have become more creative and tech savvy than ever. Don’t get left behind! With in-person shows at bay, live streaming is the next best thing.

If you’re looking to get sustainable results by monetize your streams, you’ll need to get creative.

Here are some ideas to help you out:

Host a Live Q&A // Promote an upcoming release by turning on a live stream and hanging out with your fans for 30 minutes. All you gotta do is hop online and start a conversation. Hosting a Q&A not only gives your fans a chance to get personal with you, it also gives you valuable feedback on what your fans want to see in the future or even which songs they want on the next album! — You get free, instant data AND the revenue from ticket sales & tips.
Plan a Series of Live Streams // Erykah Badu stepped it up and created “Quarantine Concert Series: The Apocalypse” from her home in Dallas. The series is made up of three separate streams, all unique and full of life. For price, she charged $1 for the first, $2 for the second and $3 for the third. — Streaming is not limited to sitting down in a single room and turning on a laptop camera. Get creative!
Stream Behind-The-Scenes // Give your fans a backstage experience they can’t get anywhere else. Show your creative process, you making beats, ask and answer questions, maybe even take some song requests and jam out with your fans. Keep it engaging, down to earth, and personal. Making this connection will foster more dedicated fans who will support you in the long run

This article, “Creative Ways To Monetize your Live Streams”, breaks it down even further.

YouTube

YouTube is another platform that continues to garner major success for independent artists. The easiest way to earn money on YouTube is with Content ID, a digital fingerprinting system that content creators (like record labels and artists) can use to easily identify and manage their copyrighted content on YouTube.

If you’re a Symphonic client, you would upload your music to us and we’d go ahead and upload it to YouTube’s Content ID system. When that happens, any song that is uploaded is compared against audio and video files that have been uploaded by many users all over the world.
If a match is found, we will monetize the video that has been matched and claimed, thus bringing you more royalties and ensuring that your works aren’t being illegally shared and monetized by others.

Video Games

The most engaging video games have great soundtracks to go with them. There’s a reason players get so immersed in their virtual worlds, and the music is a major part of that. — Consider putting out an instrumental version of one of your best tracks just for gaming playlists.

Merch

Merch has always been a key source of revenue for independent musicians. Although live shows aren’t what they used to be, live streams are a great opportunity to keep your merch sales going strong. // Check out, “How To Sell More Merchandise During Your Live Streams” to learn how.

Sharpen up your merch game with these helpful resources:

Sync Licensing

Any time your song is featured in a TV show, movie, commercial, or any visual media, that’s called a “sync placement”. In addition to performance royalties you earn for airing on TV, sync placements also pay an upfront “licensing fee”, which is determined based on the song’s market value as well as the various details of how the music was used in the production. // “How To Optimize Your Songwriting For Sync” can help increase your chances of landing placements.

Micro-Sync

Just as an artist would be paid licensing fees and royalties for a placement in a TV show or film, they would also be owed “micro-sync” fees and royalties for smaller features.

Some examples of the types of common micro sync placements include:

User generated content, i.e. YouTube
Social media posts
Internal company videos
Video presentations at events and conferences
Professional wedding videos
Podcasts

In Conclusion…

With this crazy year finally coming to an end, its time to look towards the future with hopeful eyes. Whatever the New Years brings, move forward with optimism! If you made it through a global pandemic, you can make it through anything.

Originally published at https://blog.symphonicdistribution.com on December 16, 2020.