Making a Living Performing Music

It's possible to make a living playing music if you consider all types of venues.

Music is so often a hobby in this culture, people forget that you can make a living in music. I remember a student saying to me: “I can’t imagine making a living in music.” To which I responded:  “That’s funny. All my friends do.”

If you don’t know anyone who works in music, it seems unreal. The fact of the matter is that music is a business and an industry, and as such, has the same potential for income as any industry. Opening a restaurant or grocery store doesn’t guarantee income. It takes what all business takes – work, marketing, sales, cash flow, reinvestment, etc.

That being said, how do you make money in music? It’s a good idea to break the business down into categories: what you’ll do (ie, playing or singing); where you’ll play (what venues); and what you’ll play (the genre). 

1) Playing or singing. It takes two things to pursue performance: Enough skill to be marketable and enough perseverance to find the work. You don’t have to be a virtuoso to make money. I started making money when I was 14. I certainly wasn’t as accomplished then as I am now! But this fact didn’t stop me from finding opportunities. The only work I was qualified to do at that time was seventh grade dances and church fairs. But I did work, and I did make money. Not a princely sum, but it was a beginning.

2) Where you’ll play. Opportunities are all over: Wedding bands, clubs, restaurants, senior communities, house parties, coffee shops – the list goes on. In order to make money, you must have a repertoire of performable songs. The type of songs would be based on your projected market. Certainly, different songs would be appropriate in different situations. What would go over at a senior center could be quite different than what would go over at a fraternity party.

3) The style of music. Rock, Country, Singer – Songwriter, Jazz, Standards, Polkas, Religious music, R&B, Classical, Old Time, Bluegrass, etc. All forms of music have audiences.

Your decisions are: which styles do you want to perform, what songs do you want to do, and who will be your audience? That being decided, learn the songs, find the work, and go make money. Is it easy? No. Can it be done? Yes.

In the next installment of this huge topic, I’ll discuss other ways to participate in the music industry if you’re not a player or singer.