We can make sustainable and profitable music brands without always leaning on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. 

Building a marketing mix and business model that can help you grow financially as an artist is imperative.

Social media platforms are tools and distribution points to help you get exposure to your music.

However, it would help if you turned that value that they bring your brand into monetization.

For most artists, these platforms need to be viable sources for monetization. For most, it will never be. 

Many of us have hundreds to tens of thousands of fans and admirers on social media. 

However, if we turn on the monetization systems on these platforms right now, most artists wouldn’t make anything that bats the eye.

For example, Spotify has a reported 8 to 10 million artists on the platform.

Accordingly, about 184,000 artists make about $ 1,000, and only about 13,000 earned at least $50,000 in 2020. 

For most, making a sustainable living from music solely off these platforms isn’t an option. 

Thus, look at things you can control and drive your fans there.

Here are some ideas:

  1. A website and a newsletter are essential. Traffic on Spotify and social media is borrowed traffic. These platforms usually won’t share proprietary information like names, emails, and phone numbers but only basic analytics. You want to be able to know who your fans are, connect, and communicate directly to sell tickets to shows or give essential updates.
  2. Set up an online storefront with sites like Esty and WooCommerce. Use a print-on-demand service to have your merch without carrying or making a significant investment into the product. 
  3. Crowdfunding is perfect for getting funding for projects or creating monthly peer-to-peer subscriptions. Sites like Patreon, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo are great ways to engage with your fans, give them value for your projects, and receive support. 
  4. Produce in-person and online events. It is a great way to connect with people in your brand community, make money from ticket sales, get access to sponsors to partially or fully fund the event, and sell merchandise.
  5. Affiliate marketing programs are abundant. For example, you could review Pro Tools in a newsletter, blog post, and YouTube video. Suppose someone consumes your content and decides to purchase by clicking your affiliate link through a call to action. You brought a new customer through your content to Avid, and they’ll send you a commission for that sale. 

All of us could make more money and have a higher return on investment than depending on .0005 of a cent on a stream. 

Though I mentioned five ways, there are thousands of other avenues we can do this by.

Build a marketing mix that encompasses things that make sense to your artist brand.