There are a lot of different ways to make a living as a modern musician, and it’s fair to say that most professional musicians make their living from not just one job, but from many different jobs. Diversifying your income streams is important to a lot of different professions, and the musician business is definitely one of them.
In this article, I talk about the following types of musician jobs. Click a job to jump ahead.
- Teaching
- Original Music
- Selling CDs
- Cover Bands
- Symphony Orchestras
- Musical Theatre (Broadway) Musicians
- Cruise Ship Musicians
- Freelance Musicians
See also, Top 10 Gigs You May Not Have Thought Of.
Teaching Private Music Lessons
Teaching income rates vary widely, from $18/hr at a local music shop, to $150/hr for the most highly trained and sought after teachers. Rumor has it that the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic charges $200+ an hour for lessons. When I was a kid, my teacher charged my parents $12 for a thirty minute piano lesson.
I knew a concert pianist in Chicago who charged $75/hr, and I recently heard from a composition teacher in Manhattan who charges $100 for 50 minutes. These rates and the rumored rates of the NY Phil concertmaster represent the upper tier of lesson rates, and these musicians can only sustain this income because of their level of training and success. The average musician, teaching beginner and intermediate students, can probably expect to make $30-60 an hour. It all depends on training, experience and your perceived value in the community you teach in.
A full-time teacher can have upwards of 50 students a week. I’ve never heard of someone having more than 60 students, but its possible, especially if the lessons are all 30-minute sessions.
Say you have 30 students, with 25 of them in 30-minute lessons and the rest in 60-minute lessons. Lets say you charge $20 for 30 minutes, which I would say is more than reasonable if you are experienced and educated.
((30 x $20) + (5 x $40)) x 52 weeks = $41,600 a year
That is roughly a gross income of $40,000 a year for 17.5 hours of teaching a week. Travel and prep time are not included in that figure and will vary depending on the job and location (in-home lessons, for instance, will naturally require a lot of travel time). Nevertheless, the amount of time musicians spend teaching lessons is scalable (you don’t have to take 30 students, of course) so many musicians teach part time and spend the rest of their work week performing with other groups, practicing, recording, etc.
Lets move onto the next category, which will take much more time to discuss: performing.
Performing and Recording
Let’s break this down into two categories: performing original music and performing someone else’s music.
Original Music
Performing your own music is, of course, a very personally rewarding thing to do, but making money at it can sometimes be challenging. You’ll need two things to make a living playing original music.
- You’ll need to be able to write music that people like to listen to so much that they would pay money to hear it over and over again. That ain’t easy.
- You’ll need to find some way to get lots and lots of people to hear your music. You could try to get it on the radio, or featured on a commercial (Apple commercials are especially popular for this recently), on a movie, etc. You could also try to land a gig as the opening act to a touring band. These days, its also possible to get exposure for your material entirely through the internet (See Jonathon Coulton, internet superstar).
Once you have these two things (good music and fans), there are two ways to make money off original music. First, by performing it. If you play it at a bar or club for a group of friends or fans, you can make anywhere between $5 and $800 a night. I would say that $100 per performer could be considered a good night for a live, original band. Remember, though, that this nightly take might be split between you and all of the people that made the night possible (a manager or talent agency that booked the show, the bar owner, the sound man, etc.).
For an interesting read on this subject, I recommend reading Cameron’s article, The Truth About Booking Shows for Musicians in New York City.
The other way to make money playing your own music is to sell recordings of it. Recordings are sold everywhere these days, not just as concerts and record shops, but in Wal-marts and Starbucks and all over the internet. The traditional 20th century record label business model has all but collapsed since the digitization of the record business, and this has made the distribution and sale of recordings available to anyone with an internet connection and a PayPal account.
If you have music that people want to buy, selling records is probably the easiest way to make money as an original musician, because it takes much less effort and expense than performing and touring. Sometimes it seems like musicians perform primarily to showcase their music to large crowds of people in the hopes that these people will like them enough to buy their recordings.
So let’s get down to real numbers. Say it costs $5,000 to record and press your album (assuming you press CDs and record in a studio). If you sell the album for $10, you have to sell 500 to break even. You should be able to do that, even if it takes a little while. After that its pretty easy. People can buy your album online without you even having to ship anything to them. People pay cash for it at your concerts. Say you sell 100 albums a month online or in stores and another 20 at shows.
((100 online x $10) + (20 live x $10)) x 12 months = $14,400 a year
Its not enough to live on, maybe, but after you’ve recorded it and broken even, it doesn’t take a lot of effort. And as you build a fan base, that number is bound to increase.
On a side note, if you get a record label involved with this process you are almost guaranteed to sell more recordings, but you are not guaranteed to make more money, as record labels often take a lion’s share of profits. There’s a great deal of literature written about that phenomenon. Look up Donald Passman’s books for more info on record labels.
Personally, I highly recommend researching cdbaby.com if you are considering selling your music independently. They are a fine organization and have helped thousands and thousands of musicians sell their music with very little hassle and maximum profit.
Copyrighted Music
The second category of performance income is money made off of music other people wrote. This includes all kinds of performance jobs – not just cover bands, but lots of jazz gigs (playing standards), musical theatre jobs, cruise ship jobs, big bands, Vegas jobs, amusement parks, symphony orchestras – all kinds of work!
Cover Bands
First, cover bands. These gigs can be a good source of income, and wedding bands are probably the best example of this. These bands often have hundreds and hundreds of songs memorized. If the bride requests a song, they better know it! Wedding bands are usually pop rock bands or big band swing jazz bands (the jazz bands have written music, they usually don’t have to memorize songs). Wedding bands can charge $1,000 – $10,000 on one wedding, depending on what’s needed. There are weddings every weekend of every year. Let’s say your band makes an average of $1,500 on a wedding and you work one wedding every other week (26 weeks a year).
$2,000/wedding x 26 weddings = $52,000 a year
Bear in mind, though, that that money is usually split between every one involved (musicians, booking company, etc.). If 8 people are involved in the band (6 musicians, 1 booking agent, 1 sound guy), an even split would be $6,500 each year. Perhaps not a lot, but also consider that many cover bands work much more often than every other week, and $2,000 is on the low side of the potential wages.
For a real-world example of cover band rates, check out the website of DC-based band Oracle – specifically the How Much Does Oracle Cost? section.
Generally speaking, you’ll make a lot more money if you manage the band yourself and book the gig yourself. If you work for a booking agency as a hired “sideman” musician, you’ll probably make more like $100 – $300 a wedding. On the other hand, you’ll book more gigs through an agency.
Symphony Orchestra
There is a great range of salaries for orchestras around the world. Positions, at least in union orchestras, are typically full-time with benefits. The lowest paying orchestras start their members at around $22,000 a year, and the highest paid orchestras starting at $130,000. A full list of orchestra salaries is posted at www.icsom.org, but here are some examples of base salaries around the U.S. (all example are from the 2006-2007 seasons and available at icsom.org):
New York Philharmonic: $112,060
Kansas City Symphony: $39,359
Utah Symphony Orchestra: $57,720
San Francisco Opera: $63,021
These wages don’t include pension, healthcare, extra services, or premiums for doubling and principles. For example, pension contributions can be an additional 8-12% and the concertmaster of an orchestra traditionally earns twice the orchestra’s base salary.
Another good, if depressing, site about orchestra salaries, including salary history, is:
Musical Theatre
The income potential for theatre musicians can vary widely. To start, lets say you play with a regional theatre company that pays $75 a performance. They put up 5 shows a year, and have 60 performances of each show.
$75/performance x 60 performances x 5 times a year = $22,500 a year
The next level is touring musical theatre. This can be a hard life, but the money can sometimes make it worthwhile. Touring sidemen can make $500 – $1,000 a week on non-union tours. $600 a week plus a $300 a week per diem is a good wage for a touring non-union musical theatre sideman (this includes per diem and assumes hotels and transportation are paid for). Musical theatre tours typically work from fall to spring, mirroring the school year.
36 weeks x $900/wk = $32,400 a year
Music directors and conductors can expect to make 30% more than sidemen. This seems to be true across all musical theatre gigs.
See also How to Become a Musical Theatre Music Director.
The best musical theatre wages are found, of course, on Broadway in NYC, but also on union tours of Broadway shows (which can sometimes pay the same). Starting wages for Broadway and union touring musicians is around $1000/wk, but after doubling fees is usually more like $1,500, plus health insurance, pension and per diem. These wages are all negotiated and standardized by the American Federation of Musicians.
Union tours often work more weeks a year than non-union (sometimes non-stop).
42 weeks x $1500/wk = $63,000 a year
Cruise Ship Musician
As in most traveling jobs, housing is provided on cruise ship jobs. Cruise jobs also provide excellent food and opportunity to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world. They also pay you!
Hardly anything!
Just kidding. (Not really.) When I worked on a ship in 2004, I was paid $50/day to be the keyboardist in the show band. I understand that recently (2008) wages have been raised to $65/day.
Because of the other benefits to the job, it doesn’t really matter what they pay. People will always want the work.
Contracts are usually four to six months. If you work on ships year-round, the typical schedule is 6 months on, then 1 month off. For ease of example, let’s take a 12 month period where 10 months are spent working.
$65/day x 7 days x 40 weeks = $18,200 a year
This may not seem like much, but nevertheless, expenses are very low and it can be easy to save money while on a ship. Musicians often come off of ships having saved thousands of dollars.
For more information on this gig, see our comprehensive guide on this subject, Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Musician. For a more detailed look just as the salary of a cruise ship musician, see Average Pay for a Cruise Line Musician.
Freelance Musician
As I mentioned before, few musicians are able to devote all of their time to just one income stream. Many work as self-employed freelancers in a variety of musician jobs. In fact, according to a study done by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Endowment for the Arts (available here), 44% of professional musicians in the U.S. are self-employed.
Regarding freelance income, geography has a big impact on one’s income potential (but also on one’s expenses). Living in a small town in Montana may not net you the volume of work that would be available in a large population area. That said, although one might associate music careers exclusively with only the highest population centers (New York, LA for example) it is still possible to make a living as a musician in a smaller population centers. I have met musicians living and working comfortably in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, Orlando – even St. Paul, MN and Richmond, VA. I do not mean to suggest that one could make the same living freelancing in St. Paul as one could make in New York City, as that is not true. I only mean to suggest that towns like St. Paul may have enough volume of work for musicians to make a living.
In my experience, how well you can make a living in a given area seems to have at least a partial link to the population and median income of the area. This is just my own approximation, but I estimate that a working musician can make at least $30,000 a year living in a population of at least 400,000 with a median income around $55,000. Again, this is my own evaluation based on what I’ve seen in several different cities in recent years.
For help keeping track of freelance music income, see also Freelance Musician Excel Spreadsheet.
Summary
My point here is that it is possible to make a living playing music, and that its more possible than we’ve all been taught to believe. From these figures, its clear that you would not make a LOT of money. I certainly don’t mean to suggest that working as a musician would ever make someone a lot of money. Chances are good it never will. But if you had the choice between making enough doing something you loved, and making more than enough doing something you didn’t love…well, for me the choice is obvious, and I think its that way for a lot of working musicians.
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
Thank you so much for making this! In my math class, we’re doing a project on a careers and how much money they make. I chose musician and I needed to see how much money they made in a year, so this helped a lot. Thanks again! :)
hey thanx for valuable info , i am aspiring musician .
I have been a full-time musician here in Australia for 20 years now and I randomly just typed into google, ‘how much money does a full-time musician make’ (knowing that they’re are so many avenues).
You nailed it and expressed every path of music so well. I have played everywhere from bloodbath pubs to posh weddings to swingers clubs..but you certainly said it how it actually is.
Talk to you soon :)
Adam
I think I found an insignificant error in your calculations.
you may already know about it, but just in case, I’ll point it out so you can correct your text if necessary.
here’s what I believe is your erroneous text:
—————————————-
A full-time teacher can have upwards of 50 students a week. I’ve never heard of someone having more than 60 students, but its possible, especially if the lessons are all 30-minute sessions.
Say you have 30 students, with 25 of them in 30-minute lessons and the rest in 60-minute lessons. Lets say you charge $20 for 30 minutes, which I would say is more than reasonable if you are experienced and educated.
((30 x $20) + (5 x $40)) x 52 weeks = $41,600 a year
—————————————-
the error (I believe) is that you are double counting the 30 extra minutes for the five hour-long students.
the correct equation is either:
((30 x $20) + (5 x $20)) x 52 weeks = $41,500 a year
or
((25 x $20) + (5 x $40)) x 52 weeks = $41,500 a year
—————————————-
Hi there, superb article – have learnt alot from the comments also :) I am in my late 20s pro keys player desperately trying to become a full time musician. Anyone have any advice on the typical lifestyle of a musician – are you working round the clock? Is it mainly evenings that you work? do you constantly have to chase work? How long roughly does it take to be fully established? Curious Cat ;o)
You’ve come to the right site. Click around and you’ll find hundreds of articles that address your exact question. Start with this one:
How To Get a Job as a Pianist
Thanks David that was a great read :)
i am a guitar player & learner since last 4 yrs. i want to be a composer & background scorer. so with playing guitar is it good to learn keyboard playing or it is not good at all.
pls reply soon.
Regards
Soumojit
guitar is fine. make sure you learn the right programs and you’ll be fine. keyboard helps, but not needed.
thank you jon ji for your kind reply.
i have another query & that is a palpitation working on me while i am playing on stage {only played in few stage performances }. the fear is for “correct playing”. i know i will play correct things but the palpitation some how make me weak on stage. how i will get out of it?
have you ever feels that way any time?
pls reply soon.
Regards
Soumojit
Great Job on the info David !
I have been in Music all my life.To quote my 1st teacher Romeo Cascarino at Combs College of Music in Philadelphia (RIP to both)
” We are in this because we Love it, there can be no other reason”
(ART vs Business like Oil & Water) However, one must become proficient at both and with time & experience cultivate a good career and with some good luck, carve out a living !
Back in the day when I joined the AFM the motto for any musicians success was if you can SUSTAIN work for 42 weeks out of the year, you were considered a successful musician !
That was the year in which the AFM convention was held in Miami and they allowed agents to legally take 20% for commissions !
That of course is another subject. Point being, SUSTAINABLE WORK not how much ones makes. It’s a funny business Dave.
Thank you for this great article.
Musically Yours,
Mike
I’m wondering if you’ve given much thought to how musicians make money through the on-line cloud based services like Spotify? Where they are getting some type of royalty per play (after jumping through the hoops of getting their music onto the services).
Selling on spotify will never make you money, it’s like 0,026 cent per play if I remember correctly [could be 0,26 or 0,0026 as well], so that’s a ridiculous low amount. Selling your music on Itunes is quite bad as well as you will earn 9 dollarcent for every song you sell…
Streaming your music as a partner on youtube would give you much much more [aprox 0,2-0,5 cent per view].
I don’t see how Spotify could possibly be helpful to independent, regional musicians.
See Cam’s article for more: Spotify From a Musician’s Perspective
I enjoyed this article completely. i am 17 and a senior at my school. i want to be a musician more than anything, i just need the right tools and methods. so far its just me and my bestfriend in a band. if i could get tips that’d be great.
thanx.
You’ve come to the right place! Click around the site, you’ll find a ton of information that is useful to you. Start here:
http://www.musicianwages.com/musician-articles/
Play as many shows as possible, it’s the best possible possible practice even if it’s just an open mic
I disagree. That’s probably tue worst paying musician job. Trained musicians should target the higher paying work described above.
$20 is on the low side for 30 minutes. But if that’s what you’ve got to do, do it.
I started doing in-home lessons for 20 bucks and hour 10 years ago. Now, I do in-studio lessons for 30 and at home for 35 or 40 depending on their neighborhood.
I live in San Diego, CA and teach in the northern wealthier part of town. (but i don’t live up there.)
it’s not a bad way to make some dough. but man, sometimes when you roll up to these people’s houses, you feel like a peasant.
Do not feel like a peasant!
First of all you are a musician,AND a teacher,
two occupations that are very well respected within
society,I teach up to 200 young guitarists a week
up to college level,absolutley exhausting,yes…
but at least once a week,I feel like a king!
I miss the cruise ship gig though!
Good luck to all…
Al,England.
i’m ok being a peasant. a peasant with a master’s degree. i don’t know if i agree that musician and teacher are respected in american culture. everybody wants to be a a star.
Interesting comment ! Peasant meaning a working musician earning a modest wage ? I hope not the European version (Middle Ages)
You can look at it two ways: 1) Your a serious musician that finds fulfillment in the work or 2) Your are striving commercial musician wanting to get to the top of the heap !
There is no correct version, it depends upon the individual.
Respect for our profession begins with each of us and how we conduct ourselves. If you teach and have good professional ethics success comes from your reputation in the community. If you are a full-time player, then it comes from your peers and those knowledgeable clients,employers,management etc.
An example: my dealings as a serious full time musician that has a work history in; teaching,producing,recording,performing and contracting, I find that other Professions such as Doctors,Lawyers,Professors,Teachers etc. give much credence to our profession versus Joe the Plumber or Jack the Truck Driver ! Not to say that some other professions don’t appreciate musicians however if they are self employed like most of us then, they have some idea with appreciation for musicians.
You are always going to get some wise ass saying; Do you have a real job ? My best comment has always been, ” No, I gave it up for Lent and besides Real Jobs today are over-rated !” LOL
Unfortunately there has been some bad press on our profession throughout the years because of some immature actions of those irresponsible individuals that have cast a shadow on all of us ! We change all of that personification through our personal examples and behaviours. It is an ongoing mission !
Hope this is helpful. Good Luck
I just mean that when I roll up in to a gated community with security gate and park my 1994 mazda, walk up to a 1.5 million dollar house, I feel poor. Financially. I know about the rest. I did choose this. Many times, actually.
Everybody wishes they could play. I’ve only met one person in my whole life who didn’t wish they could play.
My first teacher at Combs College of Music (defunct) in Philadelphia was the late great Romeo Cascarino. At my first lesson back in 1971, I asked him about his take on the music profession and here was his reply, “The only reason we are in this is, because we love it. There can be no other reason ”
POINT: because someone has 1.5 million $ house doesn’t mean that they are any happier or fulfilled than anyone else, it just means they have more taxes to pay than you and more stuff in their life while you may have more flexibility etc ! One can never measure success in strictly monetary terms because to live rich only requires great appreciation of life and a willingness for adventure !
Of course to acquire monetary success can have it’s comforts too but as long as you do it on your own terms then you are truly prosperous ! Don’t get me wrong, I am a capitalist and independent however, I have learned what’s really important in this life having come close to the end several times especially last year ! Stay focused and mission oriented while surrounding yourself with good people and taking care of your family and friends and good things will happen.
Hope you find these words helpful.
Musically Yours,
Mike McAnally
Mike McAnally,
My piano/theory teacher Gerald Price taught me precious jewels of wisdom in Philly as well. I am in total agreeance with you.
Live your life like it’s all you have because besides music it is all you have.
To appreciate life, you open doors to all its wonders.
Love and music,
Diva JC
Wow Joan what a great musician Gerald was.Why must we lose so many so young? Another Wilmington/Philly connection with Clifford Brown ! You were lucky to have such a great master! Many years after College I hooked up with Dennis Sandole to continue Jazz studies.There I met MANY PHILLY GREATS like Rufus Harley.With Dennis many of us realized the unique individual approach to esthetics in music while allowing us to flourish as individuals as did the great John Coltrane under his guidance.(the main reason I became a musician)
Thanks for sharing.
Somehow, I knew you knew Gerald. Philly was a great proving ground. I got to rub elbows with so many great musicians like Shirley Scott, Trudy Pitts, Philly Joe Jones, Bootsie Barnes and many more.
Remember Ortlieb’s Jazz Haus ! Home to Shirley (The great Scott)Bootsie,Mickey Roker and many others ! Some great memories from those days.
Great article. My husband is a musician (Paraguayan harp) and I have been promoting his work for many years.
In our community, booking fees haven’t increased in the past 10 years. In fact, many places are wanting to play less than they did a decade ago. It also seems there are fewer private party gigs – a decade ago a lot more people were hiring musicians for graduations, dinner parties, etc. I think people are now making playlists on their ipod or computer systems. Finally, people aren’t buying CDs like they used to and he doesn’t sell many downloads (CD sales were often a spontaneous purchase when people heard him play). Some bands sell merchandise (t-shirts, etc) which may work for certain types of musicians, but probably not a harpist! :-) Are any other point of sale items replacing CDs? I have seen download certificates, but I’m not sure why anyone would by them in advance unless to give as gifts. Thoughts anyone?
Hi, I am a co-lead vocalist of my husband in a Christian band,playing our original compositions. We started recording the songs and plan to sell it ones we are ready. we also target to copyright the song.we got our funds through solicitation in our community. However, I foresee a problem because the band members started to mention about the future income.they wanted to have an equal share with my husband who is the composer of the songs. May I know what is the proper sharing of income inside the band including the composer?We were not prepared about this because our original plan was to use the income for another recording project and use it in the ministry such as feeding programs and evangelism, and not to get personally benefited on it, but an honorarium will be given after the set priorities are met. Please do help me with this issue. we don’t have a manager and a producer, for we thought we would not come up this far.
Well … we are a christian band(rock and some slower),no screaming! We agreed to split the makings across the board,because without the rest of the band,the band would not be.We all add somthing very original to our band and we do sound differnt.No we do not have a web page yet.Of course this is somthing we/I got out on the table early,just incase things go really good for us.just like any new business you need to put monies back into company to make sure it does well and is able to continue making money,for yall it would be recordings,band equipment,cd’s,etc… .
Simple. Composer/co-composers traditionally receive 50% of all music revenues for a recorded song. The other 50% goes to the production company from which musicians may be paid a royalty percentage going forward depending on the contract. Get yourself “Music Law” by Rich Stim. It will answer nearly all of your questions. If band members want an equal share, then let them try writing a song. Players think it is SO easy to write a song because a song may be easy to play. Just remember the parable of the talents: you’ve got ten (the ability to write), and they have one (the ability to play). You should get back according to your talents. BTW, Christian musicians are no different from other musicians: they are petty, greedy, and think they deserve a portion of someone else’s hard work (think “the Little Red Hen”). Good luck!
Stan, when you say “music revenues” I think you mean “publishing revenues,” right? Recorded songs basically carry two sets of rights:
1) Master recording rights which are owned by whoever owns (and usually paid for) the recording. Traditionally this would be a record label.
2) Copyrights for the underlying composition, which belong to the songwriter and if applicable, a publisher (split 50/50). If four member of a band co-write a song, they split the songwriters 50% while the publisher receives the other 50%.
And finally, just to stick up for sidemen, if you don’t pay your band, they’re going to move on.
In my band, it’s my responsibility to monetize my songs and recordings. I use that money to pay my band. If I’m not selling enough CDs, then I might have to pay my band out of pocket.
Conversely, when I’m playing in somebody else’s band, I don’t expect revenue from their CD sales or songwriting, but I expect to be paid as their guitar player for live shows and recording sessions.
Hey, Cameron!
When a recording is sold, the composer/lyricist receive 50% of the revenue and the publisher receives the other 50% (BTW “publisher” does not mean a printer of sheet music, but rather the company that produces the music). The costs for recording, promotion, CD replication, etc. come out of the publisher’s 50%. There are no “master recording rights” that get a piece of the money. There IS the copyright for the recording that is specific to the band, but if they didn’t write the song, they only get paid a small percentage of the publishing percentage IF they have a contract with the publisher stipulating it. The value of this copyright is twofold: (1) to prevent movies and television programs from using recordings without paying royalties to do so, but those royalties go to the composer/lyricist and the publisher of the recording (this is how all of those 60′s, 70′, 80′s, and 90′s bands got screwed on the revenues from their recordings). This is also why it is so important to be a composer/lyricist: they get 50% of the recorded composition revenue. (2) What the band DOES get is the right to play the recorded composition in concert without having to pay a royalty to do so. This is where players make their money. I do know a bassist who has played on recordings for everyone big over the last thirty years who gets a nice fat ASCAP check twice a year for the teeny tiny royalties he gets from every recording he’s ever done. But he gets these royalties because it was part of his recording contracts. Get “Music Law” and Donald Passman’s book “All You Need to Know About the Music Business.” These two will help you understand the simplicity and the complexity of the music biz. Best Regards!
Oh, and one other thing. Just because a musician plays on a recorded composition does not mean that he/she becomes part composer. If you wish to pay them for their participation in the actual recording, work out an arrangement with the publisher to make sure that the players get something: either a one-time fee or a small percentage royalty as the music sells. If not, then you will have to pay your band to cover your songs whenever they perform them.
Hi Stan,
Thanks for the discussion. I actually haven’t heard of revenues being divided the way you describe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that has happened before or if it happens now.
I used to work at Universal Music Group, and while each artist agreement was a little different, they were basically as described in my previous comment. The record label owned the master recording rights, and the costs of the album were paid for by the artists, out of the artists share (which was always much less than 50%).
Publishing rights for the underlying composition were something different altogether. I’ve recorded many cover songs myself and I pay the statutory rate of $0.091 (as determined by the US Copyright Office) to the publisher for every copy I distribute. That royalty is split between the publisher and the songwriter.
On the other end of the spectrum, when artists release their own album and are their own publisher, then they maintain all the rights and every penny of profit is theirs.
There are all kinds of deals and variations of rights (such as Creative Commons) in between these two examples. So I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just want to make sure readers understand that there are different types of deals out there and they should understand the laws and read every contract before they sign anything.
Hey Cameron,
It’s an historical thing. In the early days, a recording company would approach a songwriter (like Irving Berlin) and would offer the songwriter half of all revenues generated if he would allow the company to record the song. If he agreed, the recording company would then hire musicians for a day rate and have them play the song for the recording. The recording company would then market the song and the revenues would be split 50-50 with the songwriter. The musicians would play for the day rate and would receive no royalties. That mindset has remained in the industry for over 80 years. Nowadays, there are multiple exceptions to this rule, and recording companies have had to adjust the way they do business in order to keep their business; but, the 50-50 principle is still the standard. PUBLISHER is a legal term that has been used for decades to indicated the recording company. The fact that sheet music can also be “published” (the common term), i.e printed, creates confusion. Usually, sheet music is printed by a printer under contract to the recording company.
U.S. Copyright law §102 is specific. A copyright for a song can be either a “musical work, including lyrics” or a “sound recording.” In both cases, the songwriter owns the entire copyright (unless he signs it away). If a recording company approaches a songwriter about recording a song, it makes a deal with the songwriter that has traditionally been 50-50. If a songwriter (usually a band or band member) approaches a recording company, the deal will usually be weighted heavily toward the recording company and most first-time songwriters sign away much if not all of their rights to a song for the opportunity of getting the song recorded. I do not know whether or not the Universal Music Group handled primarily new acts, but established songwriters, like Carol Bayer Sager, Burt Bacharach, David Foster, Babyface, etc., usually get the 50-50 treatment because they have track records of success that the record companies would like to leverage for their own gain. It’s a sliding scale with no hard, fast rules; but, the general principles remain unchanged.
In any event, the term “master recording rights” may be used by a company to describe the copyright they acquired to a song, but it exists nowhere in copyright law. Seriously, check out the two books I mentioned earlier and download the U.S. Copyright law. I guarantee that you will be glad you did. Keep rocking!
Here’s a look at what an independent artist makes from selling their music today, across various formats:
What an Artist Really Gets Paid
As somebody who sells my music through similar channels of distribution, I know these figures are accurate. The amount you actually sell depends on how much people like your music (obviously).
wow this article is so retarded. lol hahaha…. lol… this is not even correct…
Please clarify your condescending remarks in regards to Davids article. What is retarded in your view ?
Are you a full time musician ?
If yes, how long in the business ?
AND…..what is not correct?
Just curious to know why someone would make an unwarranted statement without reason !
Enlighten us? What is not true?? Or are you a disgruntled musician, that got kicked out of your band? : ) .
I would say, due to the anonymous user handle, poor grammar, and no homepage link, that this is most likely a troll, and probably a young kid, at that. I’d suggest to Dave that this be placed in the “spam” category and should be deleted, since even if he truly is a top pro musician who makes millions of dollars, he did nothing to further the discussion. Same with Thomas below.
Dave, might I suggest some way to report spam on your site?
this is just spam. automated spam. it doesn’t reference the article. just some kid having fun learning to spam and hopefully hack someday.
Well, I was going to put it in the spam folder, but before I could get to it you guys starting sticking up for me, ha. I thought it was kind of cool of y’all, so I let it stay.
I’ll get rid of Thomas below. No self-promotion here, y’all. If we allowed that the site would be overrun with it.
We get a lot of spam. We get to all of it eventually, but it’s harder when we’re all gigging regularly.
Musicians are at the top of the food chain.
The farmer’s child becomes a teacher.
The teacher’s child becomes a doctor.
The doctor’s child becomes a lawyer.
The lawyer’s child becomes a musician.
Our responsibility as musicians is to bring the message of peace, love, hope and joy into the world.
Do your job and you will be duly rewarded.
Love and music,
Diva JC
This was great! Thanks!
And often true.
so, ya get to the top and then start over again. ;)
yup. my dad was dirt poor. became lawyer. he has four children. a social worker, a musician, a teacher, and a theater major.
guess we’re just spoiled.
or realized it was good to follow your passion.
I don’t think you are spoiled. You are loved and blessed!
JC
Love this. I’ve heard that the Chinese say it takes 10 generations to make a musician. I dig that.
David,
If that’s true then WE have arrived!
Love and music,
Diva JC
Cool discussion here. Another fellow Floridian! Thanks for the quote above.
Great Article . I am an 8th grader taking a college and career prep class and im interested in becoming a musician . My assignment was to plan out my lifestyle money-wise and my lifestyle would cost around $90,000. I will have a husband so I can split the cost half and half with him. So I’ll need to be making around $45,000 yearly . I want to study music in college, but I wanted to ask if this sounded like a realistic lifestyle . I know how to play the flute , and how to sing . I am currently learning guitar and piano . I love music but the thing im worried about is money . i want to be able to give my waaaaaaaay future child more than what my parents are giving me . My question is, do you think becoming a musician will be able to support my lifestlye?
Absolutely. Have a look at another great article by Dave where he examines one way a musician could make $50,000 a year:
How To Actually Make $50,000 a Year as a Musician
Priscilla,
You have some high expectations for your financial life and that is a good thing however, instead of focusing on a particular number perhaps focus on what you want to do with your life. This starts with a first class education. Many of us professional musicians acquire this through experience and study either privately and/or institutionally !
Music may not be the way for you however, if you feel the calling then you must give it a try. It’s the only way you will know if this is right for you.
Practice is the key here however, no matter how good you are there is always someone a little better so you must stay humble and learn that disappointments will come with the territory. Learn to manage your business with great attention to ethics. When you deal with people you must have honesty and integrity working for you because you reputation is in your name and that becomes your marketing plan.Love of music is a given but you will need much more to be successful. A great Jazz drummer once told me that to make it in this business you must have, ” Stick- to- it- tive-ness !” That was the late great Philly Jo Jones back in the day. So stay focused,work hard,surround yourself with good people always and develop a good business plan and sponge ideas off everyone; Musicians,Teachers,Professionals,Self-Employed folks,learn from everyone. At the end of the day you don’t feel the calling any longer, you can always study Law or Finance and play music for hobby or a part-time professional, (Week-end warrior) it’s all good! Good Luck and I wish you well.
Thanks a lot, I really will take all of this to heart. And it’s actually kind of funny you said that i should study law , becoming a lawyer was my first choice because my teacher wants me to make my powerpoint assignment as realistic as possible, but at the end of the day, i thought that music would be more satisfying than law! :)
Priscilla,
You sound to me like your way ahead of most your age ! How about studying Law as a Major with a minor in music and your specialty can be Entertainment Law ? Best of both worlds. You will still have music (night gigs) as well as a day job helping people like myself and other artists !
If I had to do over I would have studied Law because that’s what it all comes down to !In my vast years of experience with contracts both signing and writing them for performance,recording as well as publishing etc. I always used an Entertainment Attorney which was instrumental (unintended play on words here) in keeping it all real as well as protecting my interests. Union Musicians always rely on attorneys that work for the American Federation of Musicians (AFM)in dealings with labour and management issues IE.
Broadway musicians (Local 802) Hollywood musicians(Local 47) and of course Classical Orchestra’s like Philadelphia Orchestra (Local 77) and many others as well.
So the good news is, there is a bright future for someone like yourself. All you have to do is apply yourself hone your skills and always thing positive. Good things will happen.
Keep us all posted on your progress.
Mike
Studying law may actually be more risky than music these days. I have several friends, a couple of whom were at the top of their class, who just couldn’t find work for 2 years after graduation. It’s a slim market out there for lawyers. At least as a musician you can busk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?pagewanted=all
James,
In all my tears I have never seen a poor lawyer however I have seen a poor musician and was there once myself !
Your friends may have had the academic skills however, that is not enough. One must make good contacts through networking not digitally but through interface with the old fashioned handshake & smile ! That’s how it’s done.
The old proverbial,” It’s not what you know it’s who you know” Unfortunately somethings never change. 1) The Human Condition & 2) Politics.
I accidently replied on ‘jon jii”s comment. My reply to you is there . :)
Learn guitar and piano to a level at which you can teach. Combine that with flute and voice and you can teach four instruments. This keeps it more fun, and easy to fill up your schedule.
Using some current numbers.
40 students, $25/half hour = $1000/wk.
20 hours per week actual teaching time.
$52,000/year minus your vacations, your students vacations, sickness, and soccer tournaments, you will make 45,000 or a bit more.
If you travel to student’s houses, it will take longer, but you can charge more. You can arrange it to come out even.
If you are settled, you can teach out of your house.
If you choose to have kids, you will be around them more.
These are real numbers. I have done exactly this. I have made more, and I have made less.
I also play gigs and do studio work.
The most I have ever made in a year, working perpetually, was $54,000.
Currently, I charge more than $25/half hour.
And you will too, with a degree, and inflation by the time you get out of school.
All this being said. Keep your options open. Study everything in High School and especially college. You never know what might spark your interest.
Only study law if you love the attributes of that profession. Same with being a doctor. Only do it if it your passion.
The other suggestions made in comments are valid, but, you will have to make your own choices.
I have worked on a farm, every job in a restaurant, a salesman, a computer technician, and a musician. I have had jobs making more than $1000/wk, which I left. I have been a full time musician for over ten years.
Life as a musician is difficult. But life as an anything is tough.
Keep your mind open to many things, study, explore.
To answer your question, though, yes, you can make $45,000/year.
ps. you will not starve. and busking stinks. does not pay well in the United States.
Mike,
Thankyou, I’m 13(: . And Majoring in Law, and minoring in music sounds perfect . :)I’d have to look into Entertainment Law, I Don’t know too much about it . But I definatly think that I would never get bored if I would be going along with that schedule .
All in all, Thankyou very much, you helped clear things up a lot, believe me . :)
Priscilla
Wow 13, you have time on your side. For many of us time becomes our enemy so we can only focus on the most important things !
Best wishes & good luck
Mike
Thanks for the advice, but the thing is, i’m not really too great at teaching. I’m better at playing. And me being as young as I am, its not the greatest I promise you .
And I think music is my passion. I love to play it more than really do anything else. But when I was on a debate team, i noticed i got really hooked too, so i think that law would be a close second, but I will need to make the money so I will hopefully become a lawyer.
Thankyou again. :)
nobody is good at teaching at 13. cute.
good luck on your journey.
On Spotify I agree with David !
Sometime ago I had asked all my affiliates BMI,AFM,& my library site Audiosparx to look into the operation of Spotify. As a composer and producer it makes no sense giving their disposition of royalty payments to artist. It really is counter-productive and why would you give it away when there are other avenues to travel in regards to optimizing your streams of income ? Back in 1998-99 when I went digital and launched my projects via internet, there was the Napster pirates of which after investigating some 2,500 downloads of my music of which I received nothing ! The lie was that if you give free downloads it will help sell your CD along with marketing exposure ! And Pink Pigs Fly at Easter ! This happened to many artist when joining music sites that leaked into Napster. There were many lobbies on Capital Hill about copyrights,artist rights and of course intellectual property rights of which the AFM,BMI,ASACP and many others fought to keep our rights intact however not always successful unfortunately. Below I took the liberty to copy a Criticism from Wikipedia it’s worth the read.
(The service has come under fire for failing to compe
nsate independent artists fairly. Helienne Lindvall of The Guardian reported that “indie labels… as opposed to the majors and Merlin members, receive no advance, receive no minimum per stream and only get a 50% share of ad revenue on a pro-rata basis.”[86] Swedish musician Magnus Uggla wanted to pull his music from the service, stating that after six months he’d only earned “what a mediocre busker could earn in a day”.[87] Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported in 2009 that record label Racing Junior had only earned NOK 19 ($3.00 USD) after their artists had been streamed over 55,100 times.[88] According to an infographic by David McCandless, an independent artist on Spotify would need over four million streams per month to earn US$1,160.[89] Luke Lewis of NME points to problems with the Spotify business model, saying he was “convinced the ‘free’ aspect of Spotify is unsustainable” and that if “Spotify is to have a future, it needs to be a viable business”.[90]
In September of 2011, Brooklyn-based independent label Projekt Records entered a public disagreement with Spotify, stating “In the world I want to live in, I envision artists fairly compensated for their creations, because we (the audience) believe in the value of what artists create. The artist’s passion, dedication and expression is respected and rewarded. Spotify is NOT a service that does this. Projekt will not be part of this unprincipled concept.” [91]
A 2011 blog post alleged that the higher 320 kbps bitrate supposedly available to Premium subscribers was in reality only available on around 30% of tracks.[59] A large majority of the content was actually streamed in 160 kbps.[59]
The usefulness of Spotify for listening to classical music has been criticised, because playback is not gapless (there is a slight pause between tracks), which affects much classical music, and searching is very poor.[92] This is also a problem in other types of music, including popular music, where some albums are intended to be listened to without gaps. [93]
Spotify has also been criticised for bugs in the Android version, which prevents the use of offline playlist functionality on Honeycomb-based devices.[94]
Spotify also faces new issues with the introduction of requiring a Facebook account. [95] )
Very informative. I read several of the articles. I am most impressed with Cameron’s article, The Truth About Booking Shows for Musicians in New York City.
I’m a church musician. I play the keyboard during Mass and train the choir for free. But I’m having financial difficulties right now. Is is reasonable to start charging a fee?
Absolutely. The church has been one of the most reliable employers of musicians for hundreds of years – that will never change. I know music directors of churches that make $75k+ a year. I had a church gig for years that paid $100 a service – for me it was 2 services a week. But the church next to mine hired an organist for 7 services a week, also $100/service.
Thanks David for the helpful information. I didn’t charge a fee in the past because my service is an offering. But then, I want to concentrate on this music which means I have to drop my other sources on income that didn’t have any sense of purpose to me.
God bless you and your endeavors!
Hi, really helpful article. I am a musician by hobby but am also consulting for a chain of restaurants.
I am curious to know what is the going wage for a jazz or classical pianist playing at an upscale restaurant. It would be a 3 hour gig and take place 4 times a week. The pianist would not be required to sing. Thank you so much
This website has helped my so much! I just graduated college and I’m picking up all kinds of work in Atlanta and the areas around it. Using some of the formulas you mentioned has helped me budget a little and gauge what I should charge for a lesson and what I can hope to ask for a performance: I just booked a gig with my cover band for $100 a person. Anyway, THANKS SO MUCH for posting such helpful info!