There comes a time in a guitar player’s life where you must decide to keep playing guitar and music professionally to support yourself, or to take on another job, and play guitar as a side source of fun and income.
It can be a little discouraging and depressing when this reality hits you, but here is a list of some of the many ways possible to earn income in the Music Business. Take this list and shove it in your friends’ and family’s faces the next time they tell you that there’s a job opening at their neighbor’s telemarketing firm. Our favorites are highlighted.
Sources of Income:
• Motion Pictures
• Television
• Ringtones
• Sampling
• Home video & DVD
• Greeting Cards
• Sheet Music
• Dolls, Toys, Music Boxes
• Playing guitar for Interactive Video Games
• Multimedia Audio Visual Configurations
• Special Products Albums
• Streaming
• Foreign Countries
• Performances
• Advertising (Writing Jingles for Local Businesses, etc.)
• Lyric Reprints
• Karaoke Background Music
• Theme Parks
• Compilation Albums
• Record Sales
• Production
• Songwriting
• Trailers
• Limited Edition Collectibles
• Downloads
• Broadway/Off Broadway Plays
• Video Games
• Podcasting
• Subscription Services
• Webcasting
• New Media
• Video on Demand
With the music industry and technology changing on a daily basis, many opportunities will arise for musician. Those that are savvy and can market their talents and skills are the ones that will be successful.
For example, with subscription services and webcasting, why not give virtual lessons to a broad range of students via a monthly subscription. If you have a certain skill to offer, let’s use two-hand tapping a la Justin King or Stanley Jordan, you could set up a website where people pay you on a monthly basis to learn how to tap like these guys. How awesome would it be to have a recurring income for teaching hundreds to thousands of people around the world how to play guitar. The trick to making this kind of thing work is to offer them something unique. The internet is filled with guitar instruction sites, mostly bad ones. If you can brand yourself in a way that is appealing and compelling to others, then you have already won half the battle.
Check out this video to see how one guitar instructor did a launch off his website and made $18,000 in the launch month.
After his initial launch his monthly revenue is averaging $1700 per month.
http://productlaunchformula.com/case19/
Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra $1700 coming in every month for work you have already done, or that you love doing?
Oh yeah!
As always, if there are any questions or more details you would like to know, respond or email me at jeff@guitarplayerzen.com
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Brev Sullivan // Apr 9, 2008 at 8:34 am
Nice article Jeff. Went to their site and unfortunately the service seems to be discontinued.
2 Jeff // Apr 9, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Thanks Brev. Yeah this guy is the king of product launches. His latest service is now closed (makes it more exclusive and more scarce, thus raising the price and value). It was a sort of learning program teaching you his methods. Quite expensive, but he he has LOTS of FREE case studies where you can get an idea of how to launch products (or maybe CD’s, etc.?).
Try
productlaunchformual.com/blog
to access them.
Or, if anyone has any questions about marketing yourself and your music with some of the new effective trends being used in other markets, feel free to shoot me an email!
3 Jeff // Apr 9, 2008 at 12:51 pm
oops that’s productlaunchformula.com/blog
4 Riley // Apr 9, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Nice idea. It’s good to get musicians thinking outside of the “need to get signed and become a rock star” box.
5 jimmy mac // Apr 13, 2008 at 11:11 am
Making a living playing Guitar or living to play Guitar . I couldn’t make the living i wanted to playing guitar anymore. I was burnt out doing “cover” material and getting more calls for fiddle/violin gigs. I started writing for Pop singers and had a little success- my partner Dave B went on to “BIG” money working for Queen Latifah,NBN, Coolio and Disney – boy done good!
I went back to school. Dumped music almost completely except for Classical Recitals ( seasonal) and teaching a limited amount of guitar and fiddle students. I’m in medicine now and i’ll tell you i have met some Doc’s who are really good players. Allan Sloan from Steve Morse’s Dixie Dregs is a Doctor.
Read a Jazz Magazine called Just Jazz Guitar and you see quite a few duel career professional guitarists.
Touring is a young man’s job and is fantastic but it gets old as does the human body and diversification is a good thing. Three of my former guitar students are Physicians and one is a Wall Street executive ( that guy had a bad attitude !) I found that my playing vastly improved when i could focus on writing and playing music i enjoyed and not constantly doing gigs just to make ends meet. I got calls to do studio work and wound up meeting and working with great musicians. I went on to record and produce 5 CDs ( 3 solo projects and 2 with Three Point Play) they all did pretty damn good. Never stop learning new things. Remember Life changes and if you can’t adapt well do you want fries with that burger?
peace and remember its only entertainment.
-j
6 bob hardison // Apr 16, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Right On Jeff. Far too many musicians think in one direction, when actually their talents would fair much better in other areas of the music business … success isn’t always found at the top of the charts.
Not every singer is a song writer and not every song writer is a singer. So to, is it for the guitarist. It’s all about finding “your nitch” and making the best of it, which serves everyone’s best interests.
Thanks for all the Info, man!
7 Reza Manzoori // May 14, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Its amazing to see that when one gives up the “getting signed” mentality there is a wealth of tools and information available as well as opportunities and support.
Eye Opening!
Thanks
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