Ways To Make Money As A Indie Artist

1. Become A Hot Commodity For Booking

The best way to estimate your performance value as an
artist is to aim your efforts at bringing out 100 people for
$10 each.

Promoters will pay top dollar for an artist who can
guarantee a crowd. If you have a small to medium size loyal
fan base you are in a great position to start pitching
yourself as a paid performer.


An artist who is able to bring out 100-250 fans to see you
perform also has the opportunity to host your own show.

Hosting your own show will allow you to profit from all
ticket and door sales. Secure contracts with the venue
owner, book a DJ, and charge 3-4 DOPE upcoming local
acts to take part in your show. Think quality over quantity
when charging acts to join your lineup.

2. Make Your Music Available For Streaming

Distribute your music to Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify,
Google Play, Tidal, Amazon etc. to get paid for your streams
and downloads.

Here is a list of companies that will distribute your music
and set up accounts for you to be paid whenever your music
is streamed or downloaded. This is known as Mechanical
Royalties.

CDBaby
TuneCore
SongDrop
BandCamp
Empire Records

3. Collecting From YouTube Views

As your fan base grows, Youtube offers advertising
opportunities to channels with 10,000+ views. Sign up with
Google AdSense to receive monthly checks from YouTube

based off of the traffic your channel receives.

Beware of giving your videos away to WorldStar and
videographers with a high subscriber count. I know this is a
popular practice to drive eyes and ears to your music but in
the long run you are giving away the revenue from those
views in exchange for exposure to their fans.

4. Learn To Produce

Producers have the opportunity to sell and lease beats to
artist on a daily bases. Future royalties are also up for grabs
long after the beat is sold if the proper paperwork is in place

for licensing, publishing, and syncing.

When learning to produce, become a student of this craft, do
not take it lightly. Rappers who can produce save and earn
money at the same time.