I Don't Want To Earn Money With My Music Anymore.

[Gijs]

I decided I will never attempt to make money with music/art anymore. I promised myself to refrain from any actions that might hold the promise of making money with music/art.

I came to this drastic conclusion, because I realized how much my longing to make a living from music was pressing on me. My musicmaking progress would usualy follow the same path. I would start out realy loving making music, but as the days go by I feel more and more pressed to try to make money. Since it's so frustrating to do so with out compromising I felt more and more irritated, even to the point of me feeling apathic towards others when I was occupied with music. By this point I would stop doing art for a few days. I would feel much better and then return to making music. The process continued again till I felt I had to stop. I couldn't realy figure out what the problem was. I recently realized I would feel like this because of the frustration of working my ass of without any kind of possibility to make something out of it.

Do you recognize this? If so, how do you handle it? And if not, how come?

I decided to get money out of the eqaution. I feel greatly liberated, but also a bit sad, since I will never life from art. I have plenty of other options, so my choose doesn't require any major changes. Still, I ended a dream. A very frustrating one, but still a dream.

[john]

My answer is planning, and when appropriate I have made my money elsewhere so that money from music was not essential to me making a living, Due to other commitments (Songstuff ranking high) I get less time on my music than I would like, but it has not always been so. I resolved to make music for the love of it, but still work within a framework that makes it easier to make money when the song is done. I seem them almost as distinct things. Yes, I sometimes write a song for commercial reasons, but that only gives me creative guidelines. Yes when I have written something for TV or corporate usage I have worked to a timeline pressure, but that was limited to those specific projects. When it comes to making the music I do that for the pure joy of it, I enjoy the moment.

When it comes to making money from writing songs etc I switch into marketing and marketing creativity. I enjoy that too, but it's not making music. By keeping them as separate as possible I find it helps give room for unpressured music activity, By not making it my sole source of income, yet again the pressure releases.I hope that ramble makes sense! lol

[Mahesh]

When it comes to making money from writing songs etc I switch into marketing and marketing creativity. I enjoy that too, but it's not making music. By keeping them as separate as possible I find it helps give room for unpressured music activity,

Bingo! You can make music as freely as you want. But when you want to make money out of it,you apply proper marketing techniques,points that will surely help you leverage your music sales better(which I am in the process of learning). Again,its not EXACTLY related to your music but yet you are making some money by using something that you love to do! Personally,I love learning anything that is vaguely related to music. I just dont mind at all

[Vlady]

This topic is such a pain. I'm making decisions this year. Studying music, recording.... I feel so confused when it comes to that money making thing. I've got ideas but everything seems so unclear that it's hard to plan ahead.

My planning from a top view is: "I will undertake several huge risks and try to do smart things if I get enough publicity"

Is there a marketing topic on the forum?

Edited September 14, 2012 by Vlady

[john]

Well there is a marketing board, and two marketing groups

Additionally Songstuff is likely to be bringing out some music marketing products in the very near future. look out for an upcoming poll ask members what problems they need solved. There will be a couple of very useful freebies being given away to those who fill out the poll. Apart from that we have several music marketing articles and you can always ask specific questions on the boards and I am sure you will get some useful answers.

I started the Songstuff Music Marketing group a few months ago but I have done very little with it so far. I was diverted by the unplanned server move. Then of course I had to catch up! Now I have I will be doing more to push that group ahead.

[john]

It sure is Jim. You really have to be prepared to do more than write songs. Now more than ever. Songwriters have really had to adjust to the changing musical landscape, more than any other role in the music industry. And it wasn't exactly easy before! Easier if you perform your own material.

That said there are far more tools now available, and the flow of information has improved. Standing out from the crowd is the issue, and it's made writers and performers and managers raise their game in some ways. Yes it's an exercise in keeping up with trends and techniques, yes it involves understanding contracts, yes it involves online and offline work, and yes the various tasks are much improved with tools... but then it comes down to how effectively you use the tools, and how well you plan. Did I mention promotion? lol The list goes on.

Three main issues I know many musicians struggle with are:

1. stretching a limited budget to it's max
   
2. knowing when to outsource and what
   
3. clear music business understanding, giving them a clear direction
   

There are certainly more ways for musicians to make money now, but at the same time much of where they did make money has been reduced.

The secret is, and always has been, in using tools and knowledge effectively... I think much of the feeling of being lost at sea that many artists feel is simply that we are all far, far more aware of how much we still don't know on any subject! Facebook and other social media remains a great way to interact with fans, but it is too easy for artists to get sucked into wasting hours. All the more so when they only have a vague idea of what they should be doing to use those to help their music.

My own music on the web is woefully short of the mark, as it's just not been my top priority for one reason or another. I have lots of songs languishing waiting for me to properly record them but I don't want to upload half assed work. Still I spend a lot of time helping others and still talk to a number of friends who are still actively making a very good living from their music. It's certainly something I intend to get back to as soon as I can so I am very much keeping up my contacts and my knowledge of what bands, labels and publishers (including "self-released" music set ups) are doing, and what works. It'll happen soon. I give the world fair warning! lol