Double Your Music Business Income (Without Working Any Harder)

Want more money from your music business?  Sure... But that would involve a lot more work, right?

Not really...  In fact, you probably are already doing the work; you're just leaving money on the table.  I find this to be the situation with almost every band I work with, at least on some level.

What I'm talking about here is something that can easily double the money you make from your music business.  In fact, if you use it right, you'll be able to increase your music business income a lot more than that.

Every business, whether it be a service industry, such as airlines, or a product-oriented business, such as a record company, has "money on the table" from aspects of the business which aren't being used.  Some businesses are onto this, such as the airline industry, which uses extra space on its airplanes to ship packages, or the record business (and I'm talking vinyl records) which can sell returned goods or unsold product for recycling.

And if you're thinking, "David, there isn't a vinyl record business anymore," you're wrong.  But the book industry, which is basically the same business and runs on the same model when it comes to returning products, operates the same way, selling returned books and unsold product or recycling the material themselves, for the manufacture of other books.

Again, every business has these elements.  And yes, that includes your business.

If you're in a band, for example...

If you're not selling the original demos you made of songs, you're leaving money on the table. 

If you're not selling recordings of your rehearsal sessions, you're leaving money on the table. 

If you're not selling recordings (both audio and video) of your live performances, you're leaving money on the table.

If you're not getting video of yourself in the studio, showing "behind the scenes" footage of your album being created, you're leaving money on the table.

Want an example of somebody who is doing it right?  Lovers Electric sells both an "album" and "bedroom demos" of their songs.

Think your fans wouldn't go for that?  You're wrong.  Nobody will go for everything you do, but depending on how you frame things, "demos" can be very popular.  And Lovers Electric does a great job of setting expectations.  From their site...

"Like the packet says, this was recorded at our home studio (aka bedroom), it has a lot of the original versions of songs from our debut album, but with a few different tunes... For those who'd like to hear a bit of Lovers Electric history..."

Again, not everybody is going to go for everything and some of the things you do will sell better than others, but if you're only for a single album for $10, that's the most you're going to make from even your biggest fan.  You can easily double or triple the amount you make from your top fans by releasing things like demos or rehearsal sessions, things you're already doing and letting go to waste.

Want more ideas like this?  You're in luck...

I've got a book called Never Leave Money on the Table - How to Grow Any Business and Get Really Rich with 10 Simple Marketing Strategies. This isn't a book about music, it's a book about business.  More specifically, it's a book about how you can grow your business and make more money with it.  Same business, more money.

A lot of musicians find it hard to believe they can actually make 2-3x more money than they are now, without doing any extra work, but it happens all the time.  Airlines which ship packages in passenger flights aren't flying any more miles?  They're simply looking at every little bit of space they have and making the most of it.

You can do the exact same thing with your music business.  The money is there, you just need to reach down to pick it up.  So do it!

Feel free leave comments and share your "money on the table" stories below...

Comments

[Michael Annotti]

Thanks David - I hope all is well with you, I recently have been working on getting live video of performances put together on a dvd, also on releasing recordings of the sessions and unmixed acoustic versions of the songs on my new album, thanks for the great article, peace.

[Desiree]

Hi David,

This is so true. I think sometimes artists underestimate what their fans would buy from them. The key word is monetization here. Artists should review the entire process of what they do and try to monetize the ones that are of most value to their fans. How would they know what their fans like? All they have to do is just ask them.

[Desiree]

Great post David.

Many artists and other creative professionals need to start looking at their process and production lines and think 'How can I monetize this?'

Then by asking their fans what they'd want, they can work out which items are of value and sell them direct to them. A win/win for everyone for sure!

[Jhony keys]

That's a great Idea David! we musicians really focus a bit too much on ourselves, we need to really please our fans with any little bit of Info they want about us and make money doing it too. Thanks again, God bless!

[Jeff Celentano]

I completely agree. I actually help musicians and entertainers promote,market and monetize themselves on the internet with video enabled tools that help connect them with thier audiences in a more personal way. Instead of the usual boring text email campaign, why not use video email? You would rather talk than type and your audience would rather watch than read. Also, what about webcasting your writing and/or rehearsal sessions and charge a small "access fee" for participating in the creative process with the band? How about personalized video email greetings from you to the fans? If you have even a small list, you can monetize that list with cool, intereactive, personal and inexpensive items that could dramatically effect your bottom line. Anyone interested in learning more about any one of the above mentioned services, please feel free to drop me a line at jeff@jeffsounds.net

[Jackie Henrion]

These are some way cool ideas. I tried one of them recently at a festival by creating a cd of the demo versions of my new songs and buying the cd entitled the buyer to a free full production cd when it comes out. This way I got e-mails as well. Since I performed the new songs, the demo album was sold as a hand-crafted limited edition. People loved it.

[Matt Skitzki]

David, thank you for your comments. Almost every musician I know is a musician first and a business person later, myself included. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated!

Also found your tips for a CD release party useful - I received those through Oasis. Thanks again!

[Shane Jackson]

Hi, saw a interesting product for musicians that have product for sale. It's from a company called square up and the product is called square. Its a little free from the company credit card reader that plugs into a iphone, ipad or android phone headphone input. Square then allows the musician/artist to take credit cards while charging a fee of 2.75% + $0.15 per transaction. The money is wire transferred to a checking account of the musicians choice when the balance => $10. The link for anyone interested is http://squareup.com. Im not affiliated with square in any way just thought it would be a easy convenient way for musicians to be able to accept credit cards for cd's merch etc...

[Nate]

The music industry is such a precarious business. You have to be on your toes to keep up with it. Thanks for sharing these information. I never get tired reading your posts because it gives me perspective on things.