Top tips for artists to monetise their music

As an emerging musician, it can be challenging to navigate how to monetise your music, especially in today's competitive industry. However, it doesn’t matter if you’re a bedroom producer or a master at mixing, there is ample opportunity to earn money from your craft.

It’s now become more common for budding musicians to work a part-time job to supplement their music aspirations. But why not explore alternative ways to earn money without stepping away from the industry you love?

Streaming revenue might seem like the obvious choice, but to take a slice of the cake, you need to be one of the top artists. In 2020, 90% of streaming revenue went to the top 1% of artists, and if your track receives less than 1,000 streams, you will not receive any royalties. This is where artists need to think outside the box to collect payments for their music.

Whilst it may be a challenge as an emerging artist to begin to think about receiving money for your music, monetising your craft is well within reach, and it only makes sense to earn money from your talent, passion and expertise. These tips will help you achieve that

Finding a streaming platform which offers equitable royalties

Getting a fair cut of your streaming royalties can be a struggle. Well, a struggle to achieve unless you’re on Mixcloud. The online music streaming service is revolutionising how DJs connect with industry professionals to grow their careers.

Their platform makes it incredibly accessible to monetise your art and help build a fairer music ecosystem for creators. In terms of royalties, Mixcloud pays royalties for all audio shared on the platform, and has deals with all the major record labels, Universal, Sony, Warner. As well as over 250 independent labels such as XL Recordings, Ninja Tune, Mad Decent and others via the Merlin digital licensing organisation. These deals allow the music of artists under these umbrellas to be legally played via mixes, radio shows and podcasts on Mixcloud.

They have built a comprehensive system that guarantees Mixcloud pay the royalties owed. Their custom in-house built content ID system, using audio fingerprinting technology, helps identify individual tracks within every show, allowing them to pay royalties to the underlying artists and songwriters whose music has been played.

However, artists capitalising on the Pro subscription model for Mixcloud can earn money via tipping and creator subscriptions. Tips enhance the community a DJ can build between their fans, as those who listen can show their support for their music, with 80% going to the artist. In terms of creator subscriptions, the creator can set their monthly subscription fee for exclusive content, downloads, and restriction-free playback, with 65% of that fee going to support the underlying artists and songwriters whose music is played in the mixes or shows.

GigPig spoke with Caroline Leeming, the Senior Creator Marketing Manager at Mixcloud, about how their models for monetising music are benefitting the industry. She said: “At Mixcloud, we have had licences in place for over 10 years; we spent three years negotiating with rights-holders and record labels to make sure that creators can upload content without having to worry about it being taken down. That's always been foundational for us. We want to empower creators to express themselves and play other people’s music however they want.”

One of the many beneficial ways to monetise your art on Mixcloud is through the tipping model. On this, Caroline said: “Creators use tipping a lot when they livestream; fans can tip through the chat function. Whether for fundraisers, one-off events or festivals. Creators are either giving that money to charity or able to reinvest it back into their music career or projects, which is nice to see.

“Tipping can work better for smaller creators as I think there is an awkwardness about asking for money amongst creators who are starting out and don’t want to ask a monthly fee from their fans. But even if they did a one-off live-streamed event, they could generate quite a nice sum of money.”

Artists using the GigPig platform can now benefit from 10% off a year's subscription to Mixcloud Pro. By using the code GIGPIG10, artists can capitalise on receiving tips and channel subscriptions, live-streaming, high-quality audio on their shows, and profile statistics.

Mixcloud is changing the game for DJs and musicians by making it easier to connect with industry pros and monetise your art while building a fairer music ecosystem.

Mixcloud pays royalties for every track shared on its platform and has agreements with major labels like Universal, Sony, and Warner, as well as over 250 independent labels. Their advanced content ID system ensures that every artist involved gets the royalties they deserve. But Mixcloud doesn’t stop there. If you subscribe to Mixcloud Pro, you can earn money through tipping and fan subscriptions, with 80% of tips going straight to you. Plus, you can set your own subscription fee for exclusive content, with a portion going to support the artists whose music you play

Caroline explains, “We spent years negotiating with rights holders to ensure creators can upload content without fear of takedowns. We want to empower creators to express themselves and share their music however they want.” The tipping model is particularly beneficial for emerging artists, allowing them to earn from live-streamed events or fundraisers without the pressure of asking for monthly fees from fans.

Gigging in the Seed Sector

The seed sector is a term defined by GigPig to label the sub-section of the live music industry, which is a step before grassroots venues, where DJs, bands and soloists perform in bars, restaurants, pubs and clubs. By actively gigging within this sector, artists can earn, on average, £2,079 per month or £24,948 annually, per GigPig’s Live Music Index. Whilst financially, it is an alluring avenue to enter, regularly gigging can help musicians hone their craft, gain their stripes and build a community around their music.

Gigging was sometimes perceived as a temporary or precarious occupation. But, it is increasingly a rewarding primary or secondary career choice, where 80% of artists think gigging in the seed sector is a worthwhile career, and 59% use gigs to top up their income from another job.

GigPig’s co-founder Kit Muir-Rogers inspired the next wave of artists at Liverpool Sound City, in which he discussed the staggering benefits that regularly gigging can have on your career. Kit said: “By gigging, you are earning a living by doing what you love whilst earning your stripes and honing your craft to start releasing your music.

“There are barriers to entry at every step, and we want to give the power back to the artists. But by getting involved in gigging, whether in a bar or pub, you can build a community around your music.

“Knowing how to monetise doing what you love can be tough for artists. Cutting out a path for yourself can sometimes feel lonely, and getting involved in gigging and getting in the room to build that community can massively help.”

Collaborate your music to build a community

Collaborating on tracks can reach a wider community and build your following. Regardless if it’s a back-to-back or sampling a track, collaborations can significantly leverage your fanbase. Mixcloud has added a new feature for Mixcloud Pro subscribers, Host Tagging,  that allows radio shows, labels, magazines, and any other profiles who regularly post mixes to collaborate on uploads by adding hosts.

Mixcloud understands the strengths of building a community, and this feature is another way the platform is making the industry equitable for artists, as users can benefit from combined networks and reaching new audiences. Creators will begin to see an uplift in their streaming numbers after connecting with new listeners.

This was a topic of conversation that was constantly linked back to when speaking to Caroline, which shows how ingrained it is into Mixcloud’s ethos. “For a long time, we were pushing to build fairer ecosystems for creators and how Mixcloud can play a part in helping creators sustain themselves. But now, we want to help build connections through music, and our new tagline is 'Music Connects Us'. The Host Tagging feature aims to support the foundations of the music industry, and we want to see those communities flourish,” Caroline added.

“Mixcloud also prides itself on engagement. We are here to help socialise music communities by building loyal fan bases and two-way connections. Our subscription model helps that,  as creators can send messages directly to your community of subscribers, creating this close-knit community, and it’s a nice way of building that deeper connection.”

Selling Merchandise

Once you have established a community around your music, now could very well be the time to look to sell merchandise. This doesn’t have to be unimaginative t-shirts with your artist's name, it can be physical or digital and encompasses vinyl, fanzines, stickers, and even beer mats. You know your audience the best, so give them what they want. Iron Maiden brewed beer, Daft Punk released Get Lucky condoms, and Wavves sold grinders. It just requires a bit of thinking outside the box.

Whilst you should definitely be selling merch when you perform live, your social profiles can become the shopfront for your merch by directly linking it to websites such as Shopify and Artists Shop or even your own personalised branded website. Setting yourself up with a print-on-demand service is a great option for selling music merchandise, as it eliminates the need to bulk buy and prevent boxes and boxes from stacking up of unsold hoodies.

Sync Licensing

Those songs you hear on commercials, video games or TV shows are very much attainable. Sync licensing, in short, enables artists to earn money by having their music featured in visual media and as a great passive source of income whilst you concentrate on creating more tracks.

Artists will get paid an up-front sync license fee and subsequently receive public performance royalties, and the greatest part is it isn't tailored to the major artists. Grassroots and seed musicians' music is often in demand as many productions don’t have the budget to license a major label track. Whilst it can be difficult to set up, it can be a highly profitable avenue, which allows the creator to gain significant exposure. For example, Orville Peck’s Dead of Night experienced an 812% increase in streams after being used in Euphoria.

There are a few paths to take if you want to enter this side of the industry, with one of them signing with a sync rep or agency. A reputable sync rep has access to production houses, music supervisors, and directors, who pitch your music to them on your behalf to be used in TV or film.