Cue Dire Straits – Money For Nothing. Passive income is the holy grail. Who doesn’t want to earn money for doing nothing?! Well, that’s not usually the case, so get that silly thought out of your head. You want to earn? In some way, you’re going to have to put in the work. The goal, however, is to do the work now and collect the rewards for years to come thereby opening up time and financial freedom to do whatever the heck you want. Hopefully, some of that time and money is spent working on your craft and moving your music career forward. Read on for some ideas and programs that can help you generate income online.
- In the internet age, you can create income by participating in affiliate programs.
- Recommend products and services you believe in to your fans and earn commissions on purchases and streaming.
- Amazon Associates Program – Use powerful linking tools to earn money whenever someone purchases a product you recommended or bounties when your fans stream your music or sign up for Amazon Music.
- Apple Music Premier Partner Program – pretty much the same as Amazon, but you can also create a QR code to link straight to your music and post previews of your tunes on Twitter.
- Deezer – Same idea, but you can also get a free Deezer HiFi account.
- Subscription models also open doors for recurring revenue.
- Patreon and Bandzoogle offer this in their core services, but many website platforms include subscription models in their offerings as well.
- Music placements and sync licensing – you did the work when you recorded the tunes, get them placed to monetize that work beyond simple sales or streams.
Okay, so, most of these income-generating ideas aren’t really passive sources. If you want to crush at referral links and affiliate programs, you can do so with minimal ongoing work, but you should still actively manage the program a little every day or week making tweaks to make the best use of the platforms’ algorithms. Subscriptions are great for locking in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR, look it up), but you still need to produce the content the fans are subscribing to receive. Please, above all else, recommend products and services you actually believe in to stay authentic to your brand or risk losing street cred and fans!
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