The world is so big and vast and learning how to earn is an essential skill but most of the time people say that earning from a particular field such as music is a hard thing.
Learning how to earn as a singer is as much of a creative journey as finding your style in music. The more you explore and study the fundamentals of entrepreneurship the more you will realize how much it has in common with being a creative individual. Through study and practice you will find various ways to earn both as a singer and as an individual.
There are a lot of specific things you can do that are mentioned below. Most of the suggestions provided are indeed suggestions, read with an open mind about what is possible and always ask how you can improve and give value to other people.
Depends on How Much
The first thing that I’d like to talk about is in this new age of digital technology and how we’re living online, there really is no limit to how much and how one can earn.
Once this is understood and you have actually internalized the idea of ‘abundance’ we can start to look at everything else through this lens.
The other way to look at this will send us into analysis paralysis because it’s not allowing us to know what to do because the possibilities to do something are endless!
But in reality, sticking to one thing doesn’t mean that you have to be bound by it, and doing multiple things doesn’t mean that you’re not good at multiple things.
There are so many things to do but one thing you have to realize as monetary viable as all things may be, even limited to just singing, picking, and curating what to do for money can serve you well if you are willing to design a system that supports your goals. Because you don’t want to run out of fuel when you’re building something.
For example, you can have a website where you sell something but you will also have an Instagram account talking about the same thing so that people can go and find the product that you are trying to promote.
Most preferably anything that you’re trying to sell, books, courses, or whatever that you’re promoting needs to come from your own creation or expertise so you can genuinely tell people the pros and cons of owning something and which route they can take in order to make it easier for themselves.
The more people you can tell this about the more you’ll convert.
You’ve just realized that there is actually no limit on how much one is able to earn. Isn’t that something?
The sooner that limit is taken out of your mind and the myth is broken, that is when you will start to look at earning money differently and your creative juices will start to flow to help you see things.
Also, every good thing takes time to build.
As you go on making your name in the industry and keep persevering by creating value not just for yourself but also for others, money will surely follow.
Authenticity
A lot has to be said about how authentic and original you could be. If you are the kind of person who laughs at everything but you don’t when you’re in front of a camera, this won’t fly.
Same with what you’re promoting, if you haven’t tried something and you’re trying to sell it, it won’t happen. Be authentic, if you’re out there trying to help people I am sure you will be able to help one way or another.
You should genuinely be able to say something and you don’t have to sound like a sellout but you also shouldn’t sound like someone who does it for the sake of things.
A balance of knowing where that line is will help tremendously.
Various Streams of Income
I just want to talk a little bit about the importance of having various streams of income because there is so much to do there are also a lot of dynamics in any given environment.
In other words, the need for you to have various incomes is made more profound because of the way that technology is progressing. Technology can easily make some of your income streams redundant overnight.
Various stream of income makes sure you are covered.
While you can be in the music industry and still be a singer there are always ways to diversify your income from various sources so that you are not only relying on just your band and your teaching but also on your various skills which are also worth getting paid for.
Creativity Pays
You’re in a creative field. Music in itself is a creative field.
The best way to monetize on something is to develop a way the people either understand better or do something better than they could before. The best way to go about it is to look at things being done at the moment and see what and how would it be possible for you to better teach people so that they understand something better or perform better.
All singing courses do that if you think about it, but these courses will teach you how to sing. I must say that online courses are the way to go these days.
One of my friends told me when I asked him why doesn’t he teach online and all he looked at me and said, ‘I can’t teach something new, all I can do is teach something 1% better’ and I looked at him and said, ‘That’s what teaching is!’
While you may not be limited to just teaching as we will discuss further, there are other options out there. You also have to realize that being creative in your endeavors whether it’s teaching or presenting yourself for making content on social media, creativity pays.
People are willing to look and give attention to things that are new and if you are a creative person now would be the best time to showcase that and make it come out on social media showing people what you’re capable of doing and what others can learn from you.
That’s how easy it is and how you can muster the strength to be bold about your own creativity and go on and become better and I honestly think the world is heading towards a place where highly creative people will be sought after.
Freelancing
You might be a bit confused when I talk about singers being freelancers but the reality is that, as I said before, you need to set up things in your singing life that will promote your end goals.
One of the end goals for all musicians is, as I’d like to believe, learning how to produce music. But, for now, let’s get back to singer-specific freelancing.
Freelancing jobs for singers can include singing for someone else, doing voice-overs, teaching someone, or anything else that comes to your mind. Singing a specific genre, writing lyrics for someone, or wherever your creativity takes you. The road is as wide as your ability to think.
There are really good websites like Fiverr and Upwork which you need to spend quite some time on to get going but if you are willing to work through it, remember this is one of the various income streams that you need to have, then working towards it and refining your profile and trying to get clients in this way is going to prove very beneficial for you.
It’s also going to keep you on your toes and keep you up-to-date on the industry and where it is heading you’d be surprised how many people are getting hired online to do very odd things but very highly creative things as well.
If you are one of those singers that can rent out your voice to other people and are willing to get featured on other people’s songs for money I think you should really look into it.
Work is work.
You can also become of freelancing teacher you can also freelance as many other things and you can give a genuine experience by having a personal interaction.
It essentially allows you to open to the possibilities of your clients bringing in more opportunities as you are freelancing through them and still active in the music industry. Who knows what will come out of it?
Counseling
If you have any experience in music education or being in a college or even as a teacher and if you can lay down some wisdom in any subject for other people, then you can take up counseling on the basis of your experience.
You can guide people in certain aspects and not just teaching but with questions like (not limited to), which college they ought to get their education from how much they can expect to pay, and how they can proceed with their life in terms of their singing career and if you some specific people how they can help them further.
Even helping them prepare for auditions for college if you’ve done them yourselves.
If you’re worried about certifications there are a lot of opportunities for you in that sector as well with short-term diplomas being on the rise.
With counseling, you ought to have your information right and one misinformation about something can lead your clients to an undesirable path. Which obviously won’t look good.
I firmly believe that even if you can counsel someone on a particular thing you ought to do it because it helps people other than you to make a decision in life that they wouldn’t be able to make it otherwise.
People can get a chance to experience something that they’ve not and imagine choices and possibilities that they couldn’t even fathom if they were left to their own devices.
So, helping people out as someone who can counsel them is a great and fulfilling thing to do. It may really work in your favor if you’re the kind of person who likes to give away knowledge.
Online Business
Everything has already moved online. Even businesses that require physical labor have gone online (obviously not wholly).
Having a website is definitely a must these days you don’t have to work that hard to get a domain, hosting, or anything else at all. You can sit back, relax and enjoy whatever it is that you would like to make your website about even if it is about yourself.
One that you have to understand with online business is that you can create an online business around anything. Give your freelancing services, blogs (like this one), affiliate marketing, or anything else you’d like.
The more research you do, the more books you read, and the more courses you take the more you will be able to offer people the services you have and be able to monetize them.
The more niched you’d like to be, for example being in the music industry, the more research and talking with other people you’d likely have to do. A business is made profitable by providing services to people.
I took the example of the music industry because you’d be surprised by how much you are willing to expand and do things and what other possibilities for you exist not just as a singer but as a musician as well.
I mentioned learning how to produce music, the more you do it the better you’ll be. I believe that it’s one of those things that you don’t even need to leave your home for and 99% of music production can happen from your laptop these days.
Becoming a music producer, mixing, or master engineer is going to allow you to give your services to people to hire you without ever meeting them. All the while making yourself a really good producer so you can record, mix and master your own songs too.
So don’t bash online businesses just yet, the future is here and if you haven’t made a move online yet I believe it is time to do so always remember, the most reliable way to make money isn’t doing business but providing value to other people.
Courses
There are pros and cons to courses.
The pro is that it’s a one-time thing and they can provide a lot of money. Most of the time if the courses are really done well you will not have any complaints about it.
The cons are that I think the market is saturated with a lot of singing courses and in order for you to stand out you ought to have a lot of research and the video quality needs to be top-notch and the way it’s delivered ought to be really well done.
Everything is mostly a one-time investment, you just need to get everything right once, and then it’s a matter of selling. The selling will depend largely on how you’ve marketed your stuff and how well you can get people to do certain things.
Of course, you can hire people to do this but I firmly believe that you ought to be able to do something by yourself, it may take longer but it is something you can do by yourself.
Branding
You have to remember that when you are trying to create something online that has something to do with money a lot has to come down to the brand you’re portraying to other people.
If you let that go and if you don’t understand the weight of having a brand or if you are not willing to work towards building a brand and expecting people to just trust you and so you can just make money without making them trust you in any sort of way then I would highly suggest that you change your attitude towards people because the only way to make money is providing people with value.
While I do also believe that creativity pay I also believe in understanding how the market works.
You need to be aware of what the situations and the needs are around you and I still believe in the fact that creativity pays, now it’s time to see how.
If you’re creative with your solutions which you need to, just being able to find a solution is going to allow you to do is look at something that is not addressed in the music community.
Even if you may be someone who has solved a particular problem you need your patience to teach that and show that you can be trusted. Creating a brand can be a secondary thing but without one, even if it’s your personal brand, the solution has nothing to stand on.
Find solutions and believe in yourself, it doesn’t have to be an inauthentic approach. Someone out there is asking the same question and you should be the one with the solutions.
Voice Over Artist
You can, of course, choose to become a voice-over artist.
It’s when people will send you lines or dialogues that you ought to deliver in a particular way and you will record your voice and send the audio files back to your client.
You’d need to have a basic audio recording setup where you can record yourself and send the files back. Quality control will force you to record the best audio you can and in turn also force you to have a wonderful home recording setup.
Books
Courses and websites aren’t just the only thing that you can do you can also look at writing books or guides among various other things that will allow you to fetch some money.
If you’re the kind of person who likes to give their solutions to the world through the written word and likes to explain them in high detail then maybe writing a book and hiring a graphic designer to help you explain things will definitely go in your favor.
Community
If you’re someone who likes to have a group of people and have a lot of solutions and products lined up, then perhaps creating a community is what you’d be interested in.
A community can start with a very low amount of people who would like to be involved not in just how you’re developing your products but also in terms of what ought to be the next thing.
Sounding Too Entrepreneurial?
It sounds almost like I am talking about starting a company and managing it so that you have autonomy doesn’t it?
The reason for that is because it is, I believe that understanding how and why people buy the things that they do and how they function is something very important that needs to be understood if you’re interested in making money.
If you’re willing to work hard while understanding the problems around you then you will be successful.
There are tons of books out there and I am sure you will be able to achieve whatever you’re aiming for.