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Topic..Making a 'smidgeon' from ones songs. (maybe new songwriters might find this thread interesting.) on this topic does anyone here have any advice for making a 'smidgeon' of money from streaming/ ones songs on the net ? let me explain my situation and objectives…. i'm not asking for much, just enough to get some recording toys i would like. each year…eg this year…these two. https://pcaudiolabs.com/rok-box-daw-pro-audio-computers/and maybe… https://line6.com/helix/or a kemper for example. even 1k to 2k a year would be nice…to sate my 'gear lust' lol...but it seems a lot of musos are lucky to make 100 buckys a year sadly. ive got most other gear needed. At the same time my wife and i value our private life. let me explain… by happenstance//flukes//my travels thru' the music industry ive met a couple of well known artists who shared with me the plusses and minuses of the music biz. these people were very kind to me, and shared their thoughts. particularly re the aspect /impacts on their 'private life'. thus ive always wanted to just enjoy my addiction to song creation and never had the desire for more. but a smidgeon of song income each year would be nice cos i'm one of the overtaxed middle class....lol. Any advice on how to make a 'pittance' would be v nice. i would also be curious if other pg users are making some decent bucks without impacting their private life. eg if your making a few k each year from your songs…does it severely impact your private life with the effort needed ? cos my 'thing' is doing songs and i have no intertest in doing much else in the music biz. thanks in advance for offering any advice. happiness to all. om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 09/04/22 03:49 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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If you find a way to make recurring income with little effort PLEASE let me know Everyone else I know puts in a lot of effort though I agree, fame is not for the faint of heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPX6JPHRmBAor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCIVBqVAZ-EI think that may be Lenny Pickett in one and Adrian Belew in the other .. making a pittance after all those hours on tour
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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On YouTube to qualify as a partner and thus earn anything you need to (per their statement) "be in good standing with YouTube, have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months, and at least 1,000 subscribers." That's quite a hurdle before you can earn a penny.
Joanne Cooper who has been quite active on the forums here over the years uses her talent, determination and BiaB to get literally millions of plays on YouTube and has over 75,000 followers. And she has a great business model. No doubt her income is significant.
On the major streaming platforms, e.g., Spotify, you will, depending on various circumstances, earn $2-4 per 1,000 plays.
For both of the above you need to be very skilled at promotion. There are a zillion suggestions on how to do that. I am way, way too lazy.
Then there are the sync libraries where you can earn a few bucks or hit the big time depending on the placement. We have had some monetary success with Songtradr FWIW.
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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JnB(4T).
thanks for the info. much appreciated.
ie info from people who have got some reward for their efforts.
i'm not sure i want to go on you tube.i value being unknown based on my discussions with 2 well known artists in the past. also sooo many people on you tube.
i'm also not greedy. just wanna make enough to feed my gear lust once a year. lol.
in addition i'm trying to figure out why a few people do really well streaming
(ie the 1 percent) vs the 99 percent that dont. ie what are the 1 percent doing right ?
bcos at some point the 1 percent were of course unknown….so what did they do right ? versus everybody else.
let me say i'm not lazy and have worked v hard in my life, and i'm not expecting much.
its just i prefer creating songs rather than doing tons of marketing.
kudos to your talents and happiness.
om
ps rharv thanks for the links. great stuff.
always liked Bowie.
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 09/04/22 12:57 PM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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My advice would be to find a way to help other musicians meet their goals. My life and business took a positive turn when I made that decision.
It has also, as Bud says, taken years of hard work and determination to get to over 100 million views on YouTube.
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JnB(4T).
thanks for the info. much appreciated.
ie info from people who have got some reward for their efforts.
i'm not sure i want to go on you tube.i value being unknown based on my discussions with 2 well known artists in the past. also sooo many people on you tube.
i'm also not greedy. just wanna make enough to feed my gear lust once a year. lol.
in addition i'm trying to figure out why a few people do really well streaming
(ie the 1 percent) vs the 99 percent that dont. ie what are the 1 percent doing right ?
bcos at some point the 1 percent were of course unknown….so what did they do right ? versus everybody else.
let me say i'm not lazy and have worked v hard in my life, and i'm not expecting much.
its just i prefer creating songs rather than doing tons of marketing.
kudos to your talents and happiness.
om
ps rharv thanks for the links. great stuff.
always liked Bowie. Firstly, thanks for the compliment. IMHO with few exceptions (and obviously) you have to produce music in genres that are mostly likely to attract the largest streaming audiences if the number of streams is your goal. We played in traditional bluegrass bands for years, charted an album and sold a decent number of CD’s mainly because our music partner was Grammy nominated.  All proceeds were donated to charity. Years later after discovering BiaB we moved to blues and Americana - a couple more popular genres Our “success” with them via mostly Songtradr has been financially much much less than that one CD. But those CD days are not a viable option. Songtradr allows you to upload an unlimited number of songs while most of the other sync libraries have to approve your submissions and they approve a very small percentage. There’s not much to lose other than time to upload. One serious film or tv placement would be worth a zillion streams. Low probability but … We have ZERO interest in creating ANY music that is not close to our hearts. So for us it’s done 100% for the joy of it. This does not imply that we don’t understand and support the interests of those who seek an income from music in today’s environment. Now if we could earn decent $ from producing the music we love that would of course be wonderful. But as mentioned our style of music ain’t gonna do that! Oh, and I’m an old guy entrenched in my “ways!” Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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JnB(4T).
great info. big thanks.
i'm exactly the same...i do songs cos of the 'joy', and if could make a 'pittance' lol to buy a bit of gear here or there its a 'bonus'.
best/happiness.
om
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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It takes money to make money.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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One idea is to advertise your services on the +++ fiverr +++ website. Essentially you will be doing piecemeal work. The site has listings for everything from voice overs to mixing, mastering, session musician, editing, vocal tuning. Look the site over, find a task you enjoy doing, write your advertisement and wait. Some examples. Forum member Joanne Cooper learned to use Melodyne pitch correction software and listed that skill under vocal correction. Another person advertises custom happy birthday songs. A second idea is to set up an account on +++ Patreon +++. Place a few examples of your music and tell people they can support your music and become a "sustaining member" by pledging a small amount of money each month. If you get 10 sustaining members and each pledges 10 Euros/pounds/dollars a month that is an extra 100 (whatever) a month.
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It takes money to make money. It takes effort That has been what always worked for me, tho YMMV
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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It takes money to make money. It takes effort That has been what always worked for me, tho YMMV That's what I just said.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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Well, I guess it does come back around
second verse same as the first <grin>
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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If you want to make money off your music, you have to promote it. Promotion takes work. A lot of work.
Miracles do happen. But most of the time people make their own.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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I have said this for years
We would go the local radio station with coffee/donuts and our CD ... buy 30 seconds of commercial time, then move on to the next one the next day
before you knew it we would hear ourselves on local radio stations .. then have a waiting line to shows
"Promotion takes work. A lot of work." .. and a bit of investment, but if you believe in it, just do it instead of wondering.
I'm too old for any of it now (fame would probably kill me), but still good advice IMO
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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well if it's so difficult to make a pittance out of creating songs, and as in a previous life i was in a team designing a stock trading system…maybe i should sell my recording rig and take up day trading in stocks…lmao. fiverr and songtradr lrook interesting tho'.
i have a serious question…have people here tried commercial radio stations for some radio plays ie getting some interest from commercial radio re their originals ??
reason i ask is the current streaming paradigm doesnt seem to be resulting in much income for lots of gifted musicians from my look at things..
best
om
ps rharv just saw your 'too old etc..' line.
yep thats me too...lol.
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 09/05/22 02:50 PM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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Justanoldmuso,
In the US most radio stations are owned by large media powerhouses. Each media powerhouse has a corporate programmer that sets the corporate song list for each genre. Deviating from the corporate song list would be a firing offense but the song list is frozen anyhow to make sure. Four or five sister stations likely share a common announcer. Morning and/or evening drive time is about the only time a station will have one or more live announcers.
Independent radio stations are a dying breed.
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It takes money to make money. It takes effort That has been what always worked for me, tho YMMV I would concur. It also takes doing things that you don’t want to do. The days of making songs and releasing them and making money are gone. In fact I doubt whether those days ever existed. just my opinion.
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i have a serious question…have people here tried commercial radio stations for some radio plays ie getting some interest from commercial radio re their originals ??
reason i ask is the current streaming paradigm doesnt seem to be resulting in much income for lots of gifted musicians from my look at things..
best
om
ps rharv just saw your 'too old etc..' line.
yep thats me too...lol.
I'm betting no one here has an extra $50,000 or more laying around to do that.
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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I agree with Jim Fogle on Fiverr as well as what Joanne does. There is probably more money to be made helping other musicians by selling your services to them. Akin to the Gold Rush - The people that made the most money were those who sold equipment/services to the miners. There are also services on Fiverr that promote music. Not sure how successful they are.
I make about two to three thousand dollars a year on Fiverr and that is with little promotion on my part. Not a fortune, but it provides enough for equipment/software upgrades and more.
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it seems to me the major strategic question is ….how does society CONNECT the consumers of music to the creators of music whereby the musicians make 'some money'....and everybody is happy.
(i know some people will laugh at me ..but i pray every day for a very happy world.)
It seems to me that there is a big disconnect between consumers of music and creators of music, and i think it's obvious that many consumers of music arent willing to spend time going thru' sites where unknown or new artists post their songs. thus imho both the consumer and the creator lose.
given above also i wonder who is gonna pay for gear in the future.
in the past of course commercial radio stations were the conduit for introducing new artists/songs.
thats how lots of people, and myself included found out about new artists.
Personally, I'm not on any user music production/recording forums other than pg here.
fwiw…one reason i stay here is i really like the way people try to help each other and new users.
as well as the exchange of ideas and support.
frankly i wouldnt be here if it devolved to be like some sites with arguments and umbrage etc etc.
but it troubles me (and assuming my crazy songs are baaaad..lol) that lots of my fellow v talented musos ive heard in the user showcase arent exposed more to the wider world of music consumers.
that fiverr DOES look ionteresting.
IF i could earn that Melvin...i would be way more than happy...cos good or bad my 'thing' is...
'the joy creating a song gives me'.
ive created songs with everything from total junk gear up to major studios...and all of it ive enjoyed.
happiness to all.
om
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs(90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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