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How To Make Money As An Independent Artist In The Music Industry Today

*This article may contain links to affiliate products & services. We have reviewed these services to try and ensure the highest quality recommendations*

Written by Omari

Before you read this article, I want to be sure you have a good mindset to consume the material. Many artists will browse through material like this, and it’s almost like they expect a $20 bill to show up in their pocket when they get to the end of the page.

The nasty truth is, you won’t make money off these tips if you don’t actually do them.  

I provide dozens of resources for artists to better their careers. The percentage of people who take full advantage of the resources is likely below 5%. Why is that?

I get most independent artists in the music industry don’t really have the drive it takes to be successful. If we all did, we’d all be successful. But for the small percentage of artists who do have the drive, this article is for you!

Getting your fans to pay for what they want and finding ways to make money from music is therefore a challenge. This can only be tackled by a clever mix of producing astounding music and a full knowledge of how to promote your music online. Ultimately, what sells is what appeals to your customers for music is all about reaching out to the souls of the people.

Here is a list of 5 (less thought of) ways on how to make money from music.

1. READ BOOKS & BLOGS (DON’T SKIM)

You get out what you put in. If you expect to get lasting results in music from only reading free blog posts for 30 seconds, you’ve got another thing coming. Blogs are helpful, yes, but there is a different level of seriousness your brain attaching to information when you purchase it. Artists don’t like to hear that because we’re generally not business minded; thus, our industry is made to be a laughing stock.

Music marketing and business books are widely available, you don’t have to read just one. If you really (and I mean really) don’t like reading, listen to the audiobooks they have available, but I am encouraging you to invest in yourself; not just time, money.

I didn’t truly start taking my music seriously until I bought my first music marketing course about 4 years ago, and that level of seriousness have got me to where I’m at today. We just cleared over $150,000 in revenue over the past 12 months as a fully independent music business.

2. LATCH ONTO WHAT’S ALREADY SELLING

I’m speaking of affiliate marketing here. Music affiliate programs are available in a number of places. I go over this concept in-depth in my book, The Unconventional 6-Figure Music Business, but essentially it’s like riding someone else’s coat tails.

Say you notice there’s a business that sells Hip Hop instrumentalsmusic promotion, and books gigs for artists. You’d ask them if they had an affiliate program where they give you a special tracking link to place on your website and social media, and they’ll give you a percentage of the sales for qualified traffic you refer.

I do this with a number of products and have my own affiliate program that you can make money off too! Click the button below for more info.

3. BECOME A SESSION MUSICIAN

Session musicians are hired freelance musicians that come in during studio or performance times to help fill out a song and supply their playing abilities on a limited time basis rather than as a permanent staple in a musical act or band.

You can sell your services online nowadays too! All you would need to do is set up your website or a page in a marketplace like Fiverr. That way you could run this entire operation from your home studio setup.

4. SELL SONGWRITING, SINGING, & LYRICS

Finding the perfect singer or lyricist can be very difficult for some people. Maybe a small business is writing a jingle and they need some talent to make their dream a reality. Maybe there’s a great vocalist out there, but they can’t write songs to save their live. People won’t buy it from you if you don’t offer it!

5. SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULTATION CALL OR WATCH OUR IN-DEPTH VIDEO

If you want personalized one-on-one attention to see how we can help your music goals, schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation with us or watch our free in-depth video below. I go over the exact strategies I used to grow my music business from $20K to over $117K/year. Any artist who wants to sincerely learn and grow will take advantage of either of these resources.

If you're looking to make money from Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more, this is the way to go.

Tunecore doesn’t take any commissions. You get to keep 100% of the royalties and their reports are some of the best around, allowing you to get a really good insight into how well your music is doing.

The best thing, in my opinion, about Tunecore is their music publishing. You can submit to unlimited TV Shows, Films, and video games for a $75 one time fee. 

They're the industry leader for a reason in terms of music distribution and the wide variety of platforms they let you monetize on.

We're even partnered with Tunecore and may receive commission if you signup. We've combined forces with them as we believe they're one of the best!


When your song is ready to go, it's time to start promoting it to potential fans! Omari has the best organic promotion services money can buy. With packages for Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, we will get your music the traffic and attention it deserves! Click below for more information.  


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SPOTIFY CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

*Here are some small samples of the playlists in our network. Obviously, we aren't able to share every single list for confidentiality reasons, but these are a handful of examples out of the hundreds of playlists we have in our network.*


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Playlists This Song Was Featured In

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Playlists This Song Was Featured In

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Playlists This Song Was Featured In

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Rock Hits (5K Followers)


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Clean Rap & RNB (10K Followers)


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Playlists This Song Was Featured In

Top Hits From New Artists (20K Followers)

Electro-mania (6K Followers)

Best Workout Playlist (14K Followers)


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SMALL CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

MEDIUM CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

[Hip Hop] K-Rich - We Workin  

LARGE CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

[Hip Hop] Surve - Found My Way  


*Note: Songs may have ordered promotion from other sources as well. Small, medium, and large only denote the amount of promotion that was ordered from our service.  

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KID TRAVIS (R&B, POP)

With an already buzzing YouTube audience of over 400K+ subscribers, Kid Travis wanted his Instagram profile to start gaining some of that same traction.

While you can get some spill over audience from YouTube, Kid Travis knew that Instagram ad campaigns could boost his presence on IG even further!

He discovered that trying to run Instagram ads yourself vs. having us add our years of experience and expertise to them made a huge difference!

His main goal was to achieve new followers who are seriously interested in his journey as an artist.

Kid Travis already had amazing talent but needed to combine his music genius with some marketing expertise to get the best of both worlds.

We were able to bring out the heart of his music through paid ads by editing & optimizing his existing videos and properly researching and structuring his ad campaigns.

The end results: We were able to consistently and predictably gain followers averaging between $0.25-$0.35 per follower (including a bulk of the promotion being done in high cost English speaking countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia, & Canada) resulting in around 4,000 new, engaged followers/month on Instagram.

Kid Travis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidtravis/

Kid Travis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kidtravisofficial


*Note: Previous campaigns are not a guarantee for results in future campaigns. However, we do our best to ensure each client gets the best results possible.  

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