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We always hear about rockstars making millions? Where does their money come from?

Back before we had the internet musicians made money in different way than they do now. In the prior to the mid 2000s record labels held a tight grip of the music industries money. The internet has removed the record label train off its tracks and is giving more control to the artists and the fans. We have a new revolution for music and things have changed.

The idea that you as a musician need a record deal in order to be "rich and famous" is just false. There are actually examples of artists you probably know whom of which represent themselves with no record deal or label. They have used the power of the internet to replace each job that the record labels had a grip of. One good example is Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and how they won 4 GRAMMY awards with no record label.

American duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis received seven nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, winning four categories, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Album (The Heist), Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance ("Thrift Shop").

They won awards and their networth now totals over 20 million dollars. So how exactly did they make money? Well now that we have streaming platforms dominating the internet, it makes "going platinum" in the business really difficult. But fear not there are other ways to make money within the industry and all the professionals are taking these actions themselves instead of giving a record label control of their business.

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Your music project should be separated in 3 different businesses to start with. Each of those businesses having their own system.

1.You get paid to stream and upload videos

Yes. You get paid for those Spotify or Pandora spins. So to have your music streaming for "free" doesnt exactly mean you dont get paid for them. This is what a distribution deal normally consists of and having your music played on the radio is not much different. You receive royalties for the people that you bring onto these platforms to listen to your music. Not to mention your music videos will get you paid. If your videos on Youtube are advertiser friendly, you will be able to put ads on the fronts of your videos giving you payment for that ad revenue.

2. You get paid from your shows and performances

Whether you are organizing your own events or you are working with an event coordinator to put together your shows, you should be getting some sort of revenue for performance. This usually doesnt come with good work or good organization but I have made upwards of $7000 for one show in my unsigned career. This should be one of your larger incomes.

3. You get paid from merch sales.

Now that we have the internet your merch is much more than just merch. Its branding. I have seen bands and artists make millions of dollars off their merch business alone. Clothing a fashion are a big deal in society and usually pretty paid attention to within each music scene. so your merch business needs to be on point. This will be another quite large revenue stream for your business.

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Getting paid as a musician doesnt happen overnight.

Music takes time to create. As does business. It takes times to work out kinks within your system. It does not happen overnight so do not be upset if you dont see Rome built in a day. It just simply wont happen. Work hard AND work smart and you will further ensure that you will have success as an artists. 90% of artists are lazy and will never make anything of their career. Be a hustler and get your shit done.