42 Revenue Streams
by the Future of Music Coalition
http://money.futureofmusic.org/40-revenue-streams/
Intro to the Music Industry: Course Readings
Dr. Stan Renard | Fall 2019
42 Revenue Streams
by the Future of Music Coalition
http://money.futureofmusic.org/40-revenue-streams/
I never knew how much there is to the music industry. I had no idea you had to get licenses and copyright on almost everything. In particular a synch license. Upon reading the website that was given, I never knew that any existing movies or video games needed a license. The article is helpful for beginners with no aspect of the industry.
Here is a link to understand more about a synch license
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-sync-license-2460940
I found this article to be interesting in the fact that it listed the different types of revenue generated by different categories in the music industry. This article is very informative for people who don’t know much about the music industry because it explains that not all the money earned from copyrighted music is just given to the musician or musicians. Instead, the revenue generated from the copyrighted music is distributed between many people who have contributed to the creation of that music rather than being given to just one person. You can find more information about revenue streams here: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/all-your-music-revenue-sources-and-how-to-collect-the-money/.
This article is very friendly for anybody who is interested in learning how to make money in the music industry. Plenty of people assume the only way for a musician to make money is by being a “superstar” but actually this article shows us 45 different ways to make money in the industry. If you’re a songwriter or composer this article gives you an example of mechanical royalties which is the amount of royalty you earn by the reproduction of your music whether it be digital or physical. It even tells us about streaming royalties which is the amount of royalties you get when your song or piece is played on on-demand services like Spotify or Rhapsody. Lastly, it reminds us that songs have two different copyrights which is the actual writing of the composition such as notes and lyrics, the second one begin the actual live performance of the sound recording.
Here is a link that helps understand music royalties
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/understanding-music-royalties-2460924
I do agree that when people think the only way you are making money as an artist is if you are super famous and well known. There are other components it takes to be able to be in the music industry that you can profit off of as well. Your link was very helpful with going over and describing the different kinds of royalties.
I knew there was a lot of ways to make money in the music business I just didn’t think it was that many. It was very interesting to learn about the different revenus that the music business can bring to the table. What I really would like to know is from an actual musician’s point of view of the money they make in the music business. So, I developed my own research, and come to find out that out of those 42 revenues being presented in the article musicians manly only use half of those revenues.
Here’s a link on how a musician made money in 24 ways
http://www.musicentrepreneurhq.com/15-ways-ive-made-money-in-the-music-industry/
After reading this article and looking over the list of ways that money can be made in the music industry amazes me. Having no knowledge of the music industry before this class, I would have only thought there would only be a handful of ways to make money in the industry. There are really no limitations on what and how you can generate revenue. It is not only limited to producing music and singing, you can market, teach, compose, stream, the list goes on. While reading over the list, I realized that there are many different ways you can make money off of royalties. Here is some more research I have done about licensing and publishing. https://heroic.academy/understanding-music-industry-music-publishers-synchs-licensing/
This article is every informative on how can artist can make money off from their song by compositioning it. It’s give a lot of ways that artist can generate money through different ways, not only this is for song writer but also for recording artist. You can take many route in music, like teaching or producing. As for me I am more focusing on compostioning and performing, so I found an article that talks about how this top 10 major songwriters make their money with hit songs like “California Gurls by katy Perry”.
This article is pure gold. Not many people that work in the industry even know of all these possible streams of income. It’s interesting how we see the ways of sync licensing growing more and more, especially on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. I think that sync licensing is one of the more attainable ways to create revenue because the demand is there, if your music is good, from large movie productions to small YouTube creators wanting to use your song to cover.
However, a lot of things are easier said than done, but the article I found gives great advice to help an artist approach doing something like this.
https://newartistmodel.com/music-licensing-3-things-make-money/
After reading this article, an additional job mentioned that didn’t have much detail was becoming an arts administrator, I don’t know much about it myself so I decided to review what it’s exactly about. Arts administrators combine the business side of art. If you’re an art administrator at a theater your day will consist of reaching out to artists, performers, organizational staff, and supporters. You’ll be promoting events, all the way down to the budget. This job requires at least a BA, but if you want to move up a higher level of education and experience is preferred. I could see this job perfect for band managers who are tired of touring and have lots of experience with the business side of art.
This article is very convenient for anyone with a passion for music trying to make it a career. Sync licensing is definitely something not a lot of people have a good understanding with, and this article does a great job and not only explaining, but giving us insight on exactly where our money would be coming from. I really liked this article because it shows the reader that you do not need to be well known in the general public eye to be able to make a living off of music. This article was very detailed when it came to lisencing and royalties so i went ahead and found more information but for a better understanding in the beginners level.
https://www.dwt.com/insights/2010/03/the-basics-of-music-licensing-in-digital-media
This article just form the title itself shows how often the music industry is advancing. From when this article was published till now it has increased with 3 new ways in how to earn an income in the music industry. There were some that were thought of right off the bat, such as much writer, royalties, etc. yet, on the other hand some were long forgotten such as a music teacher which could be more than just school teacher. They even had ringtone charges, which may not be relevant now but, it goes to show that the music industry has a lot more horses in the race than one may expect.
Here is an article that explained ringtones and their values at their peak.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/08/steve_gordon_ringtones/
Coming into this course I thought my knowledge of the music industry was decent. However, this article is an example showing that my knowledge is just the tip of the iceberg. One topic mentioned in this article that I found interesting was about digital performance royalties as music streaming has become wildly popular. Summarized, digital royalties are law-required fees paid by service providers such as Pandora and SiriusXM for streaming music. In addition, I found this detailed explanation of digital royalties written by SoundExchange, the company that these fees are paid to.
https://www.soundexchange.com/artist-copyright-owner/digital-royalties/
This article was very enlightening because the music industry is commonly misunderstood on where revenues are generated. The article shows that streams and physicals might seem like the most lucrative sector in the industry but is in fact licensing and live sound. It is important to know revenue streams in any industry to be successful in it, especially since it is more advantageous to utilized multiple in your career.
Article posted is the assigned article expanded with helpful prefixes. –> http://money.futureofmusic.org/revenue-streams-existing-expanded-new/#key
Thank you for these resources! While I knew the music industry has many careers to offer, the beauty of this article was the way it outlined and provided options for many fields within the business. I was encouraged, and yet slightly overwhelmed, as I read the many ways one musician can create multiple streams of income for herself. After reading this article I decided to google “What can I do with my music degree?”, the results were inspiring an led me to look further into my field of audio technology. Although I am only minoring in AT – I hope to continue on a path similar to one laid out in this link. https://www.calu.edu/academics/undergraduate/bachelors/commercial-music-technology/what-can-you-do-with-a-music-technology-degree-1.aspx
I learned there are many steps, people, and businesses that go into the music biz. It makes sense that there would be, music is in everything we watch, listen to, and feel. I wish this article included the percentages each artist, composer, and publishers made to better explain the money that goes into this business.
Heres a link that goes more into detail about music revenue: https://youtu.be/kRpQgvWKuk8
As a musician I found this article very helpful. Of course as an artist we always hear that the support of a record label is very important. In this article it talked about record label advances and tour support but the problem with this is that it is a loan. In the case that you have little return you now owe this label back which is why it is so hard to trust large labels. I really appreciate how this article showed the other ways to make an income in the music industry and a lot of them are things you can do as an independent. Ads and branding is the one that stood out the most to me. I have found that connecting with brands and venturing into other aspects of the entertainment industry can allow for a growth in support/following which can also allow you to have a very versatile career. Below I added an article that highlights how branding can expand a music career.
https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/02/how-artists-can-drive-brand-partnerships.html
I found this article to be quite comforting for me because I want to be a singer/songwriter but I frequently wonder if I would be able to support myself doing something like that. This article shows that there is a lot of work that goes into setting up the different revenue streams, some would even say as much work as is actually done perfecting the craft. As much work as it is, it also portrays making a living in a certain occupation in the music industry as entirely possible with the right knowledge and connections. I found the section about the different streams of revenue for songwriters and composers to be particularly hopeful. I think the composers deserve a considerable amount of the revenue because I believe that the quality of composition and arrangements is the most important factor in the success of a song. I found an article that gives tips to songwriters for how to copyright your songs as well as the advantages to publishing your songs through a major publisher.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tips-songwriters-credits-copyrights-coauthors-29833.html
This article is a great resource for musicians who want to find as many ways as possible to make revenue off of their music. Many of these revenue streams are things that most people would never consider, like having your music in a video game. I also think its important for artists to be aware of all the different licenses that exist to make sure that they’re getting the royalties for everything that they should be. The revenue stream that I found the most surprising was lyric display, because I had never considered that musicians could get paid for displaying their lyrics.
Here is an article that talks more about making money from displaying lyrics online:
https://performermag.com/band-management/licensing/lyricfind-lyrics-revenue-interview-darryl-ballantyne/
I really enjoyed perusing this website because it provides a more holistic view on ways to monetize music. I think many people tend to believe music provides a narrow and limited path for those who choose to pursue it, however this article completely dismisses that. I think that pursuing music just requires more ingenuity and multi-tasking compared to most career fields. Another thing I found interesting was the revenue streams that are fairly new, such as the “YouTube Partner Program.” Facts like these just show how the music industry changed rapidly and adjusts pretty well to technological advancements.
I was curious about this Partner Program, here is an article that provides more information and links: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/business/keys-earning-money-youtubes-partner-program/
This article is very informative about how diverse the ways that an artist can make money are. I knew the basic forms of artist revenue like selling merchandise, CDs, and streaming. However, after learning more about how jobs in the music industry are broken down, there are a plethora of opportunities for artists to make money. One point from the article that I didn’t realize, was that every song has two copyrights (musical composition and sound recording.) I don’t think I grasped that concept at first, do to the fact that one of my favorite band films and documents the entire writing and recording process for their albums. One article that I found online that relates to artist revenue is this one about taking advantage of the hype of Black Friday sales, or else they risk losing up to 20% of extra potential revenue. Article: https://indepreneur.io/blog/artists-20-revenue-november
This article provides information on many of the different careers you can have in the music industry and the ways you would earn money. This makes it a very convenient article for anyone looking to have a career in this particular industry like myself and many people in this class. Before reading this and taking this class, I only had knowledge of a few careers and jobs you could have but this has helped open my eyes to many more possibilities. It was also very helpful to see all of the different ways you can earn money in this field.
Here’s an article that shows you 26 careers in the industry including some for non-musicians and the estimated wages.
https://www.trade-schools.net/articles/careers-in-music.asp
It’s amazing to see just how much goes into monetizing a single song, let alone a music artist’s entire career. This article broke down every component you could imagine as to how artists and those who help create music earn their keep. One thing I would’ve liked to see in this article, or hopefully in the remainder of this class, is how money can be made doing public relations in the music industry. As someone who intends to do this himself, I want to know the pros and cons of doing PR in the industry, and determine whether or not it’s worth it. For anyone else interested in doing the same thing, I’ve attached an article depicting things to know before diving into the PR side of music.
https://www.grand-pr.org/blog//public-relations-in-the-music-industry
I find it really interesting as how this article gives a great insight as to how somebody can make revenue through the music industry in regards to different jobs that a person can pursue in their lives some day. For somebody who loves music and wants to be apart of the culture surrounding music, the article gives me great insight to a few career ideas. For example, the article gives information about a record label support who is given money from the label for recording or tour support. Another career option is an arts administrator who is paid to specifically manage the administrative aspects of a group you are a member of.
Here is a link on more information about record label roles.
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-record-label-2460614
Here is a link on more information for a arts administrator.
https://study.com/articles/Arts_Administrator_Job_Description_Duties_and_Career_Outlook.html
I’ve been a professional musician for 30 years and this article does a good job of giving a list of the possibilities to make income as a musician. However is leave off information on how to collect from these revenue streams. Below I list 3 articles that give some info regarding collecting from common revenue streams.
https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/all-your-music-revenue-sources-and-how-to-collect-the-money/
https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/06/collect-all-the-revenue-your-recorded-music-can-earn-pt-i.html
https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/06/collect-all-the-revenue-your-recorded-music-can-earn-pt-ii.html
2nd Sentence was a type-o. Should have read as: However the article leaves off information on how to collect from these revenue streams.
There is so much behind the scenes in the music industry that I didn’t know about. It is amazing how much money you can end up making with just having your song being played on the radio or in a club. All those copyrights/royalties must really pay off. But something that comes to mind is if this article is still up to date. As mentioned before in class, record labels pay everything up front and own everything that was made by the artist him or her self. Or is this just a way of showing what happens after being bought out by a record label?
Heres a little inside of how record labels turn profit.
https://www.recordingconnection.com/reference-library/recording-entrepreneurs/how-do-record-labels-turn-a-profit/
I always knew about copyright but I didn’t fully know how it completely worked. I didn’t realize how much goes into it and what other avenues you can take in the industry to make money from your music. This definitely gave me more insight on how money is made and how it’s dispersed. There are many local bands that I wish knew about these different avenues of revenue. I hope to use this information one day and help future artists become aware!
I found a great article on Rolling Stone that dove into the ways people make money in this industry. Basically a long overview of all that we’ve read: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-musicians-make-money-or-dont-at-all-in-2018-706745/amp/
This article is very useful information on different revenues in the music industry. I like the fact that they give you so many options on how you can earn money opening the horizon to some options that you never would of thought of. It is important to know different on how an artist can profit on the new evolving ways on how your audience consumption of music. Streaming is very popular but vinyl is making a huge comeback to the music industry. YouTube is big revenue on showing music video’s and having adds in video’s. The list goes on for an artist to get out there
Here is a link to where you are giving more information about some of the revenues.
http://blog.sonicbids.com/6-musician-revenue-streams-youre-probably-forgetting-about
It’s so interesting how this article easily breaks down the different flows of income that can come from working in vastly different parts of the music industry. The article also talks about how with the different opportunities and places to make money in the industry, people who are involved with the same music are paid differently based on their specific role. Like it explains in the article, there are 2 copyrights for every recording, 1. the musical composition and 2. The sound recording or the performance. Here’s an article that gives some more detailed information on music copyrights:
http://www.gcglaw.com/resources/entertainment/music-copyright.html
This article shed a lot of light on how the different aspects of licencing and producing music are paid out. There are advantages and disadvantages to each position, but as we’ve discussed in class the money is in live music. Included in that vein is administration, which is something that this article included that we’ve not yet taken a closer look at. It was a welcome addition as it is a possible career path that I am seriously considering an advanced degree for after my performance undergrad.
This is a brief description of what a job position like that looks like published by the Princeton Review.
https://www.princetonreview.com/careers/108/performing-arts-administrator
I thought that I had a good enough understand of how to make money in the music industry, but I was so wrong. It’s crazy how many avenues there are to make money off of music. One that surprised me because I didn’t really think of it is “Lyric Display”. I never really think about how lyrics sites would have to give the musicians money to use their lyrics. It makes sense now that I think about it. Here is an interview with LyricFind’s CEO that I found interesting: https://performermag.com/band-management/licensing/lyricfind-lyrics-revenue-interview-darryl-ballantyne/
It never crossed my mind that artist and record comapnies can generate revenue through lyrics. Companies like LyricFind partner with other companies to make money off lyric display. ” If someone hears the song, they do a lyric search. If the content’s in the database and licensed, people find the artist and it creates a royalty.” Thinking about this makes me wonder if other companies such as Genius with a massive lyric community of free users makes any sort of money by displaying Lyrics that anyone can submit.
Here is the article I found of LyricFind.
https://performermag.com/band-management/licensing/lyricfind-lyrics-revenue-interview-darryl-ballantyne/
There are truly so many different ways to make money in the music industry that I wasn’t aware of. With advancements in technology many people are now able to make lots of money through the internet by some means. It is clear that there are many other ways to be involved in the music industry besides being an artist. Here is a list of the highest paid music professions in the industry. ————–> https://www.thefamouscompany.com/article/high-paid-music-jobs/
I found this website interesting particularly because I am seeking to making merchandise for my music, and I was exposed to a background full of useful information that I will need in the future. I had no idea that such small jobs or tasks can make a lot of money, for instance a session musician or a position in a record label. This website is gold for upcoming artists who know little of the music industry, or perhaps people who want to know more about what they are doing in the industry in depth. I found this article that recommends the best websites to sell your merch as a musician/artist.
https://www.sugomusic.com/10-online-merch-store-solutions-for-bands/
I only thought there was a few ways the music one makes would pay off. I was surprised to find out that there’s so many ways to reach royalties. From streaming, I wanted to see what song particularly had the most streams. https://spotifycharts.com/regional/
I was blown away by the tremendous amount of careers in the music industry. I was especially surprised when I saw that ringtone creators also generate a lot of revenue for something so small, in my opinion.
I decided to look up how to create ringtones and how to promote myself within this article. http://money.futureofmusic.org/40-revenue-streams/
This article is very informative of every aspect of how an artist can recieve royalties. I never knew there was so many ways that an artist gets royalties, and there are many aspects all along the way. The part I found most interesting was the synch licences. Before reading this, I have never heard of a synch licence but here is a link that further explains how a synch licence works for an artist: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-sync-license-2460940
Until now, I legitimately thought that making it big in the industry (revenue wise) meant that one was very popular with their audience. While that is the case when fan clubs come into the scene, we often never shed light on how many other talents and people it takes to make a successful career in the music industry. After reading and doing my own research on Youtube Ads, I came across an article that states someone can get paid anywhere between $600-$7,000 for 1 million views. In this case, every 1,000 views will give you at most, $3. Depending on if YouTube stars are “sponsored” with different companies, a video about a product can get them even more money in their bank account. As much as some people consider YouTube “stars” illegitimate, you have to give them props.
Here’s an article I found that explains in detail how YouTube ad revenue works.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032615/how-youtube-ad-revenue-works.asp
It is very simple to understand how the copyright gets split in two: musical composition and sound recording. It is actually pretty fascinating when you find out that the person who sound recorded the song, majority of the time, did not actually compose the song. There are many instances of that. One artist I can think of who composes a lot of songs but doesn’t record them is Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds.
Here is an article on the many songs belong to Babyface on the composition side of copyright: https://wtlcfm.com/2125122/songs-you-probably-didnt-know-babyface-wrote-and-produced/
This article is a profound read, not only for performing musicians, but people who work behind the scenes in the music industry. The fact that it goes in depth for every part the song and streaming process, allows us to understand that there is more than making money through just simple streaming, retail sales, and performing. One of the parts that caught my attention was how many musicians and recording labels use brand related revenue to spike up their sales, especially the YouTube partner program, as I never would’ve thought of musicians’ labels actually becoming partners with YouTube, rather only using the platform for streaming. Here’s an article I found that describes how this partnership may not always work out for the label’s behalf, but entrepreneur artists who start out with a zero following : https://www.forbes.com/sites/cheriehu/2017/10/25/how-youtube-entrepreneurs-in-their-20s-are-disrupting-traditional-record-labels/#26630310182a
One of the many beauties of the music industry is the creativity. It’s great that there are so many so many ways that you can get paid for that creativity. Here’s an article I found about how much a person who makes jingles gets paid.
https://work.chron.com/much-jingle-writers-paid-16789.html
I find this article very informative for anyone interested in entering the music industry. It must be very frightening at first for upcoming artists as to where and how they will get their money, as this industry is very cutthroat, but reading this helps simplify the different sources of revenue for artists. The article is very user friendly as it breaks down the different categories of business opportunities in the industry such as being a songwriter/composer, musical performer, teacher, recording artist, and more. Each category lists different sources of revenue streams which make it easier for upcoming artists to see how they can make money in the business. I love how helpful this post is and I will reference it for future references in this career I’m choosing to pursue.
Below is an article about music producers, their salary, and details of what their job entails:
https://blog.udemy.com/music-producer-salary/
I think this blog is one of the most important assets for aspiring music industry professionals. The incomes to be earned in this industry are all entrepreneurial at their core, such as how to earn royalties from songwriting. After doing some research on how famous songwriters like Bernie Taupin earn their royalties, i found a link to a website that anyone can use to buy and sell royalties with some good information on the process as well.
https://www.royaltyexchange.com/
This article was very informative to all aspects of the music industry, especially focusing on musical composition and sound recording. There is a general cliche that anyone involved in the music industry should have a “backup plan” in case they don’t get discovered or become successful in time. My opinion has changed to disagree with this completely. This article reveals many ways to earn a living from music, weather that be songwriting to composing or even teaching to producing. The link below reveals 8 more ways to earn a living through music in this day and time.
https://undergroundhiphopblog.com/news/8-ways-to-earn-money-through-music-in-2019/
This article is yet another article that reveals something to me I had not known before; there’s more ways than most people think to earn money in the music industry. For example, I was unaware that payment to the artist must be made to translate their music into sheet music that companies then go and sell to consumers. The companies also have to license these works, which grants the performer even more money. Here’s another article on the same topic: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-musicians-make-money-or-dont-at-all-in-2018-706745/
What I find interesting about careers in the music industry is how many jobs are related to law and copyrights, and how those kind of careers have only been growing. The amount of samples used in hip-hop creates its own industry of people trading rights to songs and producers having to clear their samples before they can use their beat. The even crazier thing about this is that despite this being a relatively young practice, artists like Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne, and J. Cole have already began a revolt against these rules by just releasing their music for free in order to get around the laws. Soundcloud and Datpiff have given smaller artists without the resources of a large label a way to get their music into the world without clearing their samples.
Here is an article about how the hip-hop scene has evolved to avoid legal problems by releasing free “mixtapes” https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7669109/mixtapes-money-hip-hop-shadow-economy-mainstream
It is understandable as to why a song requires two copyrights, the musical composition and the sound recording. On a broader spectrum, songs and all other musical compositions are able to bring in revenue across what was 42, and just became 45, streams. These streams fall under six, pretty specific categories. It makes you ponder on how much revenue one really good song can bring in. If the artist is good, and is talented enough to perform and is capable of selling out live shows, a lot of people can benefit off of one musical production. Here is an article that goes into depth about who is capable of benefiting off of one good musical production.
https://www.tunecore.com/guides/how-do-my-songs-make-money