How Do You Make Money as an Independent Musician?

Music careers can be difficult to maintain because they are draining and costly. New independent artists must be prepared to invest money in recording and touring. Build a listener base by meeting other artists and building an online presence. Sustain your music career by letting go of the idea of fame and making the art you want to make.

By Lora Korpar

The traditional path for a musician seems clear: Find a record label, build a fanbase, make an album, go on tour, rinse and repeat. However, more artists are taking the independent path, especially after the rise of social media.

You don’t need to sell out stadiums Beyonce-style to have a successful music career. Smaller independent, or indie, artists say you need a passion for your art and a solid plan to begin.

“You don't need permission to be an artist,” said Charlene Kaye, an independent artist who makes music under the name KAYE. “You don't need to go to school for it. You don't need other people to validate you. You're an artist when you say you are, and that can look like anything that you want it to look like.”

The path to becoming an independent musician is different for everyone. Some maintain day jobs or side hustles. Others might choose a social media career to bolster their music. Dani Brillhart and Colton Jones, who comprise the pop duo Ni/Co, have chosen the latter.

“If you were a child in the 90s or early 2000s, you might have been under this impression that a record label’s going to find you and then all your dreams come true,” Jones said. “Our family and friends still think that's what's supposed to happen. They ask questions like, ‘So when do you make it?’ Well, we're making a living doing music. We've already made it.?

“When you're an independent musician, it’s about changing your mind frame and realizing that there are lots of people who get signed to big record labels and big producers and then nothing happens. And I think things like TikTok and Spotify playlists have democratized the music industry in a way that you can do it yourself and have a life and be happy.”

The Cost of Being an Independent Musician

Making music costs money, so build some savings before beginning a music career. Forbes reported that about three-quarters of indie artists make less than $10,000 a year from music.

“Being an independent musician is starting a business,” Jones said. “And I think that it's really easy, as creatives, to overlook that. If you were going to start a pie-baking store, you have to start by investing money. So when we first started, which was about four years ago, we dog walked, babysat, worked at a restaurant, worked part-time for a music company. We did everything we could to put money into our business. And the truth of the matter is in the first year, it was really discouraging because you're basically just draining money.”

Recording music requires paying for studio time, plus hiring people to mix and master the song, distribute it to streaming platforms, design the single or album cover art, and more.

Kaye said most musicians at her level need day jobs to fund their music careers. She works as a graphic designer, animator and illustrator. Some also find jobs playing for bigger artists’ tours. Do not feel ashamed if you are in the same position.

“There was a period of time where I felt a lot of pressure for my art to provide for me, and I considered myself a failure if it didn't,” Kaye said. “And now after having been in this for a while and realizing the realities of what the industry demands, I'm in a place where I am most concerned with providing for my art.”

Touring is also expensive, so prepare to use your savings. Account for costs like paying the band and crew members, funding merch creation, renting a van or bus, paying the lighting person, and covering gas and hotel room costs.

“It's very rare for a mid-level touring artist to make money on a tour. You're lucky if you break even,” Kaye said. “The upfront costs are just so much to create a show that has professional production value that I basically save money so I can play shows.”

Factors to Consider Before Starting a Music Career

Music is an unstable career that never guarantees success, so don’t go into it with fame as the goal.

“[Ask yourself] ‘Do you love this more than anything in the whole world?’ And if there's no hesitation, run full force into it,” Brillhart said. “If there's any hesitation, you should reconsider because… emotionally, this career path can be trying and really not rewarding at times. At the end of the day, you have to go to sleep remembering ‘I do this because I love it and for no other reason.’”

“I think it's really easy for artists to try to lead with their ego,” Jones added. “And if you lead with your ego and you go down this path, it'll really knock you on your butt because you just get knocked down so much. But we don't do this because we want to be famous or because we want people to just praise our names. We do this because it's what we give to people… It’s our responsibility to be storytellers and to give people relief from the mundane of whatever their everyday life is.”

Avoid burnout by finding other creative outlets besides music. It is easy to make music your whole life when it is your career. Having a day job helps Kaye separate her work art from personal art. She also takes acting and pottery classes to try different art.

“I found that it helps me channel a lot of my anxiety and pressure into letting go of control and making what I want because it pleases me, not to satisfy some sort of end goal or to reach a certain number,” Kaye said. “There are some people who think ‘I'm a failure if I don't have a hit song.’ That's one way to look at it. But the way that I've been looking at it is… I feel super fortunate to be able to live a creative life. And I don't think there's any life more interesting than one in which you can make stuff.”

Building a Listener Base and Social Media Presence

A successful music career requires finding people who enjoy your music and want to return for more releases.?

Kaye says it is important for musicians to also be fans. Go to other artists’ shows and make connections with them.

“You have to think about it less as making fans and more as playing shows and meeting people,” Kaye said. “Finding community is how you end up growing your own network of folks… If you don't have a natural curiosity for the type of work that other people are doing in your field, it's not very likely that they're going to be interested in yours either.”

Building connections online can also be instrumental in gaining and maintaining an audience. That was Ni/Co’s goal when they started their YouTube channel. When they realized they weren’t reaching a wide audience by just releasing music, they began uploading covers to the channel.

Now they have more than 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 140,000 TikTok followers. Their social media numbers allow them to promote and fund their music. They said consistency is key to building and maintaining a social media presence.

“You have to constantly be putting out content and music,” Jones said. “Everyone jokes now that music artists also have to be content creators. And some people can say ‘No, I don't want to do that. I just want to make music.’ And I get that and I hear you. But also it can be fun to create content. We have so much fun taking songs that we wrote and then bringing a different perspective to them by putting a skit with them.”

“A little tidbit someone said to us that hit us like a ton of bricks was that you have to treat your creative output like you are a TV show,” Brillhart added. “When we grew up, at 8/7 Central there was something on TV… and you sat down religiously and would watch your show. And now you have to get an audience to be excited for your upload time. Whether that's video or music, people get excited when they can look forward to the weekly time that you release something. It’s really cool for us to be like someone's TV show.”

Also, don’t be afraid to show your personality in the content you create. It helps you connect with more people, growing your audience.

“Some of our favorite artists that we love, we found them because of music, but we stayed because of who they are,” Brillhart said. “So we’re trying to do more vlogs and lifestyle videos, but incorporate our music. And we want to show the behind-the-scenes of an independent musician’s life because we think that's something that really isn't shown.”?

Longevity as an Independent Musician

The answer to the question “How do you make money as an independent musician?” is complicated because the truth is you might never make money. Or you might need to supplement your music earnings by creating online content or finding another job. But that is OK.

Kaye has been in the music industry for 16 years. She said longevity in the music industry requires being “eternally curious and eternally uncomfortable.”

“Not uncomfortable in a way that is painful, but I think there's always an element of uncertainty when you're trying something that you've never done before that is essential to breaking new ground,” Kaye said.

It might be easier to chase what is popular, but it is not worth it if it isn’t creatively fulfilling. You could hop on a trend, and it still doesn’t work. So trust your intuition.

“You'd be surprised at the doors that open for you when you listen to that weird instinct within yourself,” Kaye said. “I've always found that the things that resonate the most for me are things where I'm like, ‘Well, I'm whooping and yelping like a wild animal in the song and this is just for me, and it's going to be a little weird, but this was what wanted to come out.’ It's about letting go of that control and that cerebral idea of what you think is going to hit because no one knows.”

Top Takeaways

Making Music Your Career?

• Making music is expensive, so do not feel shame in having day jobs or side hustles to fund your music career.
• Social media can be a useful tool in building and maintaining an audience. Upload content consistently to grow your online presence.
• Do not enter the music industry only to become famous because it is rare and difficult to achieve.
• Avoid burnout by pursuing creative expressions outside of music.
• Achieving longevity in the music industry is less about keeping with trends and more about following your creative instincts.