10 surefire ways to gain exposure and make money with your music online
Does making a living with your music sound like an impossible dream? If you think it’s not possible, you will never make it. We understand you, though – as a 100% do-it-yourself musician, it feels like you are fighting a battle all alone, with slim chances of success.
Are you really alone, though? There are millions out there like you. If we, musicians, helped each other out by sharing our music between ourselves and the people we know, getting noticed wouldn’t be such a problem! That’s what Drooble’s made for, and if you are on it, you are already seeing it for yourself.
But being on our social network isn’t the only thing you can do to advance your musical pursuits, get exposure, and make some money. In fact, there are options out there you will feel very underwhelmed if you don’t take advantage of them.
Drooble user Jason Silver generously listed 10 ways he’s able to generate income from writing, producing, and performing music – which is exactly what you want to be doing, right? This is one of the best pieces of know-how that we’ve ever seen on Drooble.
Actually, it’s so good, we’re printing the whole thing with minimum editing and giving Jason some well-deserved Karma for the awesome advice. Make good use of these 10 clever tips, and in due time, you will see your musical ambition flourish!
1. Write and record regularly. I try to do one song a week at least, record it, and upload it to lots of different places. Try to get better with mixing and recording each time — learn.
2. Make a lyric video of your song, and put it on YouTube – I start with either a nature video I record of just a nice scene (let the camera run for 5 minutes on a tree or a lake etc) or with a free background video loop.
3. Open a Patreon account and in every video, direct users to support your efforts there. Upload the song for your users to download to Patreon each week.
4. Upload your music to Distrokid to get it included in Spotify, iTunes, Google Music, Amazon, and other outlets automatically. Make playlists on Spotify of your songs, include similar songs in the playlists. Follow people.
5. Join groups on Facebook that are on your topic – Irish music lovers, Metal Music lovers, whatever. Every week you write and release a song, share the YouTube Video to all the groups at around 4:30 p.m. their time on Fridays (as they’re signing off work for the week).
6. Bump up each post on Facebook /once/ with comment along the lines of “did you get a chance to listen to this yet?” Do that half way through the week, say a Tuesday. Engage with that community and say thank you for every share.
7. Make interesting comments on YouTube videos that have similar music to yours; don’t tell people to come follow you, but just talk about the music and say intelligent things. They’ll come looking and follow all on their own.
8. Look for paying places to play in your community. I lead at a church every week, also play background music for seniors functions, weddings, etc. Play free sometimes if it will get your name out there.
9. Upload your songs to Jamendo. I make a lot of money from Jamendo, because I make my music available for licensing.
10. Take on some students. Not only will teaching bring income, but the act of teaching actually helps you grow as a musician. This is because you’re forced to analyze what it is you’re doing instinctively. Just explaining it opens up new ways of thinking about it! I also have been exposed to a lot of indie music that high school students are listening to, and this has expanded my repertoire and forced me to keep learning and helped me to stay current. You might think you’re not good enough to teach, so start out with a beginners class! Or teach children!
You’ll have to put in a lot of up-front time without much payback. I give a good day a week to all of this, if not more. Do it because you love it.
Again, hats off to Jason Silver. Take his advice and get busy!
The Market Network for Musicians
Join Drooble
- - Connect with fellow musicians
- - Exchange ideas and share knowledge
- - Get their music heard and appreciated
Music Feed
- We’ve Been Building New Platform Harmonies December 11, 2023
- Drooble Feedback Survey! August 22, 2023
- 📢 Exciting Announcement: Introducing Drooble’s New Management! August 10, 2023