Do you know what’s even better than being a musician? – being an online musician.
Becoming an online musician opens up revenue streams that many musicians are unaware of. An artist with the talent of creating music has a head-start at generating income online.
These income streams can even make a ton of money for you while you are sleeping. Doesn’t that sound exciting? Let’s get you knee-deep in some sweet online cash!
Who is this guide for?
- A kickass drummer, guitarist, bass player or keyboardist
- Any classical, jazz, pop or rock music player
- Any one who wants to earn on the side from middle school, college or while holding a job.
- A music composer with a bedroom studio setup
- Hustlers or budding entrepreneurs looking to set up their passive income streams
Heads up! Most of these options require you to record music from home.
Here's our Guide to Making Money as a Musician Online
1. Make a Profile on Websites like Fiverr
This was the first active way of income that I opted for when I was just 18 years old. I have basically lived off Fiverr money for the last 2 years of my college and I highly recommend at least giving this a try.
Create your profile, create a “gig” which basically means write about the service that you want to offer and put a price on it. For example, your gig’s name can be ‘I will record guitar for your song’ and in the description section, you can specify the price is 10$ for 480 seconds of a song.
Your role will be that of a session musician and if you get lucky you might get great clients that become your regular client. It is a win-win for both of you.
More websites like Fiverr –
- Upwork
- Freelancer
- PeoplePerHour
2. Create your Instagram Page
This is a reliable option to make money online but it does take a lot of work in the beginning, like any other way to earn a good amount.
This is how artists make money on Instagram – You have to consistently upload entertaining videos of you playing your instrument. Be it guitar, drums, keyboard or the bass.
The trick to Instagram is creating quick and short-form content. For example, if you know how to play a solo from a very popular song, record yourself playing it and upload it on your Instagram page with the correct hashtags.
If you do this consistently you will see your page getting some traction and you will soon become big on the gram.
When you do reach this position, you can –
- Contact brands to get brand deals
- Create your own eCommerce site and direct traffic towards it
You can either contact brands to do a deal with you where you promote their product for a certain price or you can set up your own eCommerce store where you sell music-related accessories. You will be surprised how many Instagram pages earn via this method and are doing quite well at it.
3. Start your own YouTube Channel
If you search for musical instruments related videos on YouTube, you will notice that a lot of the times the view count touching a million views.
If you are good in front of a camera then this can be a great source of income for you. I learned a lot of the music I play via YouTube so I know how useful it is as a form of content. And if you think about it, you can never run out of content because everyone has his or her own way of playing their instrument.
The content here is not restricted to short term content like Instagram. You can make in-depth and long videos about your expertise about your instrument.
Some video ideas –
- Guitar Lessons
- Song Playthroughs
- Song Covers
- Reviews of Musical Instruments
All of these categories have a high demand on YouTube.
4. Become a Music Teacher
That sounds a bit boring. The truth is – you can be someone’s Educational Rockstar.
Why should you be stingy with your talents? Pass on your talents and get paid handsomely for the same. This can be an awesome way to make money right from the comfort of your home.
You can sign up to sites like:
I recommend you teach a student in real life first, not the whole instrument but take a session to understand what kind of a teacher you are. If you are naturally good at it then there is no problem in going ahead with this option.
5. Seek Music Licensing Opportunities
This method is the definition of ‘making money when you sleep’.
Imagine an indie movie producer is looking for a guitar lick for a cheesy scene or a mid-size business looking to put drum beat behind an instructional video for their app.
They all will definitely look for copyright-free music libraries and you can be the one who makes a bunch of them and charge them money for the same. It is an excellent method for passive income as a musician.
These are some websites you can start looking into to create music libraries –
6. Create your own Website for Local Gigs
Creating your personal brand website can be an integration of offline and online modes of income.
You can also take it up a notch and integrate offline and online forms of making money. You can display your Instagram page, have a link for your Fiverr gig or link to buy your music and then ask the users to contact you for events where you can go down and play.
You can get started with building a website with WordPress. WordPress is a cheat for creating websites, it has ready-made templates and placeholders. You can master it within a week and display your content professionally.
It can be like your online portfolio where you have everything in one place so you will never lose a customer. In this process, you will also create a brand of your name which is honestly priceless.
Well, that does it.
These are the simplest and most enjoyable ways of earning money as a musician online. I hope you find this to be useful. These are all tried and tested methods, if you put in enough work and maintain consistency, you will definitely reap what you sow.