4 ways to make money from your music beyond touring

If you’re like most artists, you probably dream of leaving your 9 to 5 for the stage or the studio. However, no matter how talented you are, it takes financial savvy to transform your art into your career. Luckily, when the SoundCloud Creator Forum touched down in Atlanta for A3C we explored this topic in detail with several music industry experts.

As part of the “Business of Music Creation” panel you’ll hear from artist, Kota The Friend, Associate Director of ASCAP Atlanta, Jason Reddick, concert agent, Yves Carmelle Pierre, and engineer, J.Rich Ent. Together the group discussed how to take a “cash or credit” approach to collaboration, the importance of building a local fanbase and why authenticity is an artist’s top asset.

Full panel video on “The Business of Music Creation” can be viewed here.

While touring (minute 12:50) was mentioned as a good immediate way to make money, one of the main themes of the conversation was finding multiple streams of income – something especially valuable during this time when gigs are being postponed and canceled. For those of you who don’t have enough time to dig in to the full video right now, we’ve summarized their top money-making avenues below.

Splits: Whenever you work on a new track, you and your collaborators are entitled to a portion of the money it generates, AKA a “split.” Wisely negotiating splits is one of the first ways an artist can put themselves on the right track to financial success. Head over to 2:40 to hear Jason Reddick breakdown the math behind the music.

Distribution: Once you’ve finished a track for release, you’ll need to have it distributed, or shared on various listening platforms to reach the most amount of fans. Wherever your music is available you have the opportunity to collect royalties. Jump over to 5:18 to hear J.Rich Ent. explain why your music should be on every platform.

PRO’s: Whenever a radio station, venue or store plays your music in public it generates a royalty. PROs (or performance rights organizations) like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC help collect and distribute this money to their members. Press play at 8:36 to hear the benefits of linking up with one.

Branding: As an artist, you’ll put a lot of time and effort into cultivating a brand around your music. With a little creativity you can channel this momentum into other business endeavors. Need an example? Fast-forward to 9:35 to learn about the origins of Kota The Friend’s fltbys clothing brand and how it fits into his rap career.

We’re filming all of the panels, Q&A’s, and live content from our SoundCloud Creator Forum live events and will be rolling out the content on a weekly basis. You can check back here for recaps, subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to know when a new video drops, and visit our creator guide to get access to everything you need to know to grow your career on SoundCloud.