There are many, many ways to make more money with your music. While concerts and the sale of CD’s are more direct ways, below are some indirect ways you can make more money and support your ministry:
- Cover Popular Songs – For some artists, this is distasteful. However, when you sing a song people already know, it can put you, and your original songs, on their radar. Be creative. I saw an artist recently who used the underlying melody of the original song, and made the song her own while she sang.
- Record Holiday-Themed Music – Christmas music sells really well around Christmas time. Maybe patriotic songs around the 4th of July would sell as well? Don’t forget other holidays such as Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day. No one really sings about those holidays. Put heartfelt lyrics in your songs related to the holiday theme and be sure to name your songs with easily searchable words.
- Searchability – Put words that people are searching for in your title, album name, etc. so that your songs show up when people search in iTunes, eMusic, etc. Make sure that your song’s genre category shows up on your blog page, Facebook page and in any reviews written about you. Think like the audience. What would YOU type in Google or Bing to find your song?
- Enter a music contest. Entering a songwriting contest is a way to have your “voice” heard. Not only could you potentially win money and prizes, but your song could receive attention from people in the music business. And entering a contest such as the International Songwriting Competition 2016 (November 4, 2016 deadline) could get your song heard in the international arena. An added bonus is winners are usually included in the promotional campaign of the contest.
- Provide music for corporate videos. Start locally by offering your services to friends and family for PowerPoint presentations. Then, once you have some experience, look for videographers to team up with to make videos. If needed, offer to do the first one or two for free in order to develop your corporate video portfolio.
Covering popular songs, recording holiday music, making sure your song and album names are not to complicated, entering contests and providing music for corporate videos are just a few ideas to make money with your music besides selling CDs at shows and putting your songs on iTunes for download.
Although you may feel called to minister to others with your music and you may not be doing it to get rich. It’s still very important to make a healthy revenue and even profit from your music in order to sustain your ministry and relieve financial pressure on your family. You may even want to quit your 9-5 job one day to focus more on your ministry.
Awesome list. This is definitely one worth bookmarking to come back to. There are just sooo many ways to make money these days, especially with the internet. It’s actually something I’m considering doing myself. Thank you so much!