How Music Licensing Pays My Bills
What if I told you that music pays my bills?
Imagine if you could pay your bills as a musician through the money you earned selling your music?
Or if you made enough money selling music to donate to your favorite charity?
Imagine if you had a little extra money left over at the end of the month to buy a pitcher for your friends?
Well here’s how. Licensing your music is not rocket science. It’s earned me over $10,000, and I’m just an average guy working part time making music in his living room.
Want to learn how you can money on the side with your music? Take my free course!
All you’ve got to do is take the first step.
Honestly, that’s the hardest part. I struggled so much with whether or not I should license my music. I was worried about whether it was good enough. I was worried about being a sellout. I was lazy.
I was scared.
Since I started selling music online last year, I’m now able to consistently pay my bills for my major expenses each month (I’ve earned as much as $2,000 in one lucky month). And there’s always some extra money left over to donate to charity.
It’s not like I’m going to retire on this anytime soon. But the passive income I earn from licensing my music pays for my electric bill (why does that always seem to be going up?), my water bill (why does that always seem to be going up?), my cable bill (why does that always seem to be going up?), and my internet bill (why does it always seem to go up?).
(Also, to be clear, I’m not talking about some anthropomorphized version of music coming to life, logging on to my bank account every month, and making sure that the cable company hasn’t overcharged me before cutting a check, automatically, to each company. That is not how music pays my bills!)
It feels great to know that month in, month out, I have enough money coming in to not to have to worry about these bills. And having another source of income allows me to relax more and focus on song writing and performance. In fact, once you start selling stock music, you’ll find it creates an incentive more songwriting and music production!
Read this article to learn how to start licensing your music.
Imagine what it would feel like if you didn’t have to stress out about finding money for your bills?
Imagine if you weren’t completely dependent on your job. Instead you earned multiple streams of income.
Month in, month out music pays my bills or music pays for my gear.
And that’s why I’ve created these detailed monthly earnings reports to demonstrate how music pays my bills. I want to show you that licensing your music is a real job, and that there are tangible rewards if you put your mind to it (in addition to the reward of getting spend time making music!).
In addition, I always first I set aside 10% to donate to a charity. Being paid to make music is a gift. I still can’t believe it, sometimes. Being fortunate enough to get paid to make art is a gift that I feel obligated to reciprocate (that’s also part of the reason why I made this site).
So come on, I challenge you to do even better a selling your music online than I have. This video will walk you through the process.
Start small, and keep writing music.
Take that first action step right now.
Head over to Pond 5 and sign up for an account.
(Note that this is a referral link, meaning I get a commission if you purchase anything from the Pond 5 - but I don’t not get a referral for recommending that you sign up as an artist. It's just my honest belief it's the best site for folks new to licensing)
From a Frustrated Producer in a Ragtag Bedroom Studio to Major Placements on TV Earning $1,000s!
My name is Evan, and I've been making music since around 3rd grade. I'm from San Diego, California, but I've lived in Washington, DC for the last 20 years.
While I still have a full-time day job, I have created systems that have allowed me to produce dozens of songs a year in my spare time.
My songs have been on Netflix, TV shows like the 90 Day Fiance, an award-winning indie film, and NPR’s “All Thing Considered.” They've also been streamed millions of times.
In addition to being a music producer, I am passionate about teaching people how they can make professional-sounding music and earn money licensing it, all in their spare time.
Thousands of musicians, like yourself, have trusted me to guide their musical journey. My YouTube videos have been watched nearly a million times. And my story has been in Forbes, Side Hustle Nation, and the Side Hustle School.