Why Aren't I Making Money Out Of The Music Industry?

In this video I discuss a subject I am often asked about, how do I make money in the music industry, I can't make any money from Spotify. There are so many avenues you can go. Or go mad and go down every avenue and see which one works best for you.
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[@threethievesmusic]

Great points. I make living from, DJing, Streaming, Sync placements, Audio repair work, DJ lessons, music workshops, vocal mixing, selling vinyl. If you're hungry it can be done.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Fair play to you, I respect that.

[@ryde2012]

Wow great info 🔥💯had to bookmark this 🔥🔥🔥

[@beatbuildersstudio]

That’s a good mix of jobs that relate to music. I think most people focus on one source of income because people only talk about one source of income. As creative people we want to make the most money from the thing we like the most.

[@threethievesmusic]

@@beatbuildersstudio Don't get me wrong, its a grind and often you're pulled in many directions at once. Sometimes you have allocate all your focus on one project, then switch back.

[@FRANKMUSIKOFFICIAL]

Talent stacking all day long. Great advice all round here.

[@ItsWesSmithYo]

Preach 🤙🏽😎🖤 and maximize these things for sure. Also don’t waste your creative music energy on things you don’t like doing. You’ll end up hating making music. Better find a way to make money doing something that doesn’t rely on total chaos. Then focus on the parts of music you love. You’ll make your best work like this and get the best results. Good luck 🍀

[@nagchumpalot]

All this advice makes me love the fact I enjoy this as a longtime life long hobby.. I had my payed DJ Days and they were great back when it was Vinyl.. But now I´m lucky to have a day job I like.. So I just love having high Quality audio Gear and making music purely for pleasure.. I´ve had offers to have music realised and it's actually a pleasure to say no thank you this is for my own passion it's a great feeling to keep it pure!. Saying that I wish anyone trying to make money from music the best and would definitely advise Djing or LIVE Performance or act for actually making some money and having a great experience.. Cheers.

[@ItsWesSmithYo]

You probably stand a better chance at stardom than the ones trying 😂🤙🏽😎🖤🐓

[@TigroGumi]

Going with money for streaming and selling these days is like depending on KZbin ad revenue. It's only good when you have millions of subscribers... but to get to that level and stay at that level you will need other streams of money from the platform to get there and maintain it. The ad revenue is only a sub-stream. So you need to find other things personal to yourself more so than depending on that. That is a side note that is a happy little extra but it should never be your main source of profit. As a producer, and great avenue is creating music for TV, games and films... for KZbin channels also. For KZbin you could then included making the background music and ensuring all the rest of audio is perfect. That can be supper fun if you love sound. KZbin is another avenue and then seek ways to get sponsored responsibly, wisely and honestly... then seek ways to ad affiliate links etc etc etc... merchandise through companies that will print a t-shirt when they sell it... it's so easy now. You don't need to even waste your money investing into merchandise these days

[@Audiojunkk]

Thanks for dropping the game!!

[@NRVE8]

The problem with making beat for rappers, is majority of the time they have friends who already make beats and they end up stealing or copying your beat because they don’t want to pay for it or have anything to do with you. Seen it happen with so many times.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

They don't sound like friends

[@infojunkie4989]

It is a big tragedy for musicians and producers that streaming has undercut the margins that they would make in the old days of selling vinyl/tape/cds etc. Streaming fees should be at least 3x what they are today. To give artists and producers a fair crack at making a good living from their craft. Yes there are all the diversified drum loop, sample pack, mixing and mastering side gigs that can be added to increase income. But lots of it is basically feeding into the same junk recycling market of selling pre-packages things to other artists who can’t do it themselves. Bit like a pyramid scheme. Personally I decided not to bother. I want to create and make art. For a ‘job of work’ I decided long ago to make money another way. I now have a studio better than I could ever dream of had I made music for a living and I’m starting to help local artists who don’t have a hope in hell of achieving the same facility. Maybe one day I’ll hit pay dirty and help the ‘next big thing’….. but one thing you missed Paul. For artists and musicians who (bit like the DJs that you did mention). Play gigs!’ I’ve not payed Pink that artist more than £5 in streaming ever the last decade. But paid £160 for a concert ticket for her tour next year. That’s where the real money is. Live shows and merch! In the meantime I’ll enjoy it as a hobby for the love of it. But am seriously considering hiring an engineer to use all the gear to ‘mix and master’ on a day to day basis. But to me that would simply be asset sweating. Good business sense sure. But not what I want to spend my free time doing or learning how to do on fee charging basis. My (non music) day job luckily lets me buy outboard like candy. Oh and Paul, remember the consultancy angle we spoke of a few years ago? I’d have paid 2k a day for an experienced engineer to help my journey. But finding someone who was interested was next to impossible!!! So I taught myself and spen the fees on kit 😂😂. All 17 racks worth lol.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@infojunkie4989 streaming royalties on Spotify will soon be zero for not hitting a cap. A little like youtube, you have to hit a cap in order to be able to monetize your channel. Doing so should push royalty percentages up for people who hit the cap. Dolby Atmos streams are paying more royalties than stereo streams. Designed to encourage people to release Dolby atmos. Producers and artists could make more money in music back in the day for a few reasons. Less saturated market and consumers used to spend a lot more money on physical CDs, Vinyls and downloads. These days, a £15 subscription gets you access to every song ever made. In theory if the cost of a subscription was 10 times the price, royalties would be 10 times greater. But let's be honest who's paying £150 a month for a subscription.

[@infojunkie4989]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio all good points. The factors have been well debated and documented since Napster came on the scene 25+ years ago. The Atmos ruse is simply a way for the industry to try to grapple some control. It is a one of a 100 format gimmicks that the industry has seem over the last century. Show me a single punter who’ll go and see an artist because they have ‘a great Atmos mix’. You could fit their audience in a phone box. How is Atmos going to translate to a live venue? Most FOH live engineers struggle to get a mono signal to sound 1/2 decent lol. (Not their fault in a huge tin box - i get it). Whilst technically impressive on a home surround setup. Is Adele going to sell 2x as many streams or downloads because the top register of the piano is panned in 360? Anyway. Ai Will be the next killer punch. It will democratise the final bit of creative art. Talent! Lol You see a lot of these videos by various YT channels. I chuckle a little as it boils down to…. Can’t make money acting? Try only fans and escorting 🤣🤣🤣. (I jest of course).

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@infojunkie4989 with regards to the atmos mix. This wouldn't be used for live shows. But instead, atmos allows the industry to somewhat hit the reset button. To set a standard of quality and specifics for deliverables with quality and dynamics in mind. Going forward in regards to atmos live shows this will be a thing of the future. You've only got to look at the 3d immersive sphere in Vegas. These will one day become a special experience venue around the world. For live show its not about the music so much being immersive. It's everything else that is part of the live show being around you. Artists incorporating sounds and effects into the experience. As atmos grows the music will be produced with it in mind.

[@mattmerty2025]

Awesome video. Extremely valuable. Thank you!

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Great to hear it was useful

[@therealdanguitar]

Great video 🔥

[@toumbas]

noooo, please no more djs on this planet, there are enough!

[@scarvello]

Honestly just about everything is over saturated nowadays.

[@Andrew-rz7qt]

If you look at the figures, EDM is only 4% of all music consumed worldwide and is decreasing. Rock and country is on the rise but pop has remained at a round 27%

[@BenC95]

Question fairly related to this video: been mixing & mastering for around 5 years now and building a regular client base is a constant challenge due to artists not having a lot of spare income to pay for it. Any tips on growing an already average client base into a consistent one?

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I would the aim should be to attract clients with budgets for their music. If you are working with more established artists who do live shows or DJing for instance, they are more often than not professionals who are doing this as their main source of income. These artists will have the budget and understand how important having the best sound song possible is. If you are working with people who are just spending their spare cash on getting their to sound the best it can, then as the economy takes a hit and cost of living goes up your work will decrease. We work a lot in the film industry which has large budgets and lots of money to be made. These clients send through 30-60 songs a month each. This is an area we'll worth exploring.

[@BenC95]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio thanks for the reply it’s much appreciated!

[@annamal7243]

Good vid. Not pessimistic not novice either.

[@prongscool]

Tbh....works well in the west like in the US, UK and other European countries. Come here in India, we do random shit. I do sound design & mix for films along with my filmscoring/music production career.

[@siddantsharma3681]

how much ram and cpu core would u recoomend for streo mixing mastering as well as atmos

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

This really depends on the session size. A mac m2 ultra with 64gb of ram runs very smooth all the way up to 100 stems. For small sessions, a standard m1 with 32gb is perfectly good enough.

[@feionyor]

Very Informative and helpfull video thank you 🎹

[@DanAdlingtonOnline]

I know this is off topic. But how do you cool your studio room? The hardware can heat the room up and especially in the current weather.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

I'm not a fan of air con, so I didn't install aircon in any of our studios. I use two fans that circulate air around the room, best to use silent fans if you are going to get some. Then when not working open the door to the studio where outside is an extractor that will remove the warm air.

[@SG-4u]

What I did on one of mine was add a portable AC unit (which will require a small duct for hot air to go out). They are loud, but these things come with a remote control. So you can pop it on when you step out or in moments when you aren’t doing critical listening or recording. I also added an exhaust fan in the ceiling, and the fan is an inline fan that I could place in the attic far away from the opening so you couldn’t hear it in the studio.

[@EfNerva]

Thanks, lot's of great ideas

[@jetlag_beats]

You said the whole answer to the vid's title question already in the first 12 seconds: "PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING". In this world there are people who complain and there are people who produce. The ones who complain never get to the point where the ones who produce are automatically: at an exiting road full of fantastic adventures, failures, ridiculous try outs, crazy coincidences, collaborations and successes, eventually all leading to the goals as they have been said upfront. STOP COMPLAINING. Get shit done. ✅

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Well said.

[@dlichtenberg]

Very helpful video man

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Glad it helped

[@ianbrown3304]

Why aren't you making money. A. Because its a hobby. B. There are other people better, smarter, more connected and prettier than you. C. You are niche, or D. Shit happens.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

A. Because it's a hobby - if that's all you want from it then you have no intention to make money. But the best thing in life is turning something you enjoy into a full time job. B. There are other people better, smarter, more connected and prettier than you - all things you can get better at the more you develope your skills and perfect your craft. All but prettier part. But that doesn't really matter. C. You are niche - everything that is now popular was once niche. Be the pioneer of the genre. D. Shit happens - all sounds like excuses for not wanting to work hard to me.

[@ianbrown3304]

Yeh fair point. Not my finest hour. Apologies.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@ianbrown3304 all about motivation and positively. I always love it when someone comes back to me years later and says you gave me the inspiration to start my own business and I'm flying. I hope you too come back saying you were right I turned my hobby into a business and I feel like I haven't worked a day since. It's the best feeling.

[@grimzino]

🎬🚀

[@nicefish10]

You are 100% correct about having your own website and creating your own hub. So many people take the easy way out and all they do is put up a Facebook account or an Instagram account and they say that’s their web presence. When you do what everyone else does your lost in the shuffle, but I having your own website and your own storefront, you separate yourself from all of the other lazy assholes out there.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@@nicefish10 100% spot on.

[@S7V7N_SEAS]

Can you make videos about the 1951 & 1954 and walk us thru your chain?

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Yes. This one will be coming soon. Just need to find the time

[@riktascale4]

Aye Paul, l uploaded a track for you to master a couple days agoand clicked Nick in error.😂 But it's all good👍 Great advice as usual.

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

Drop us an email with your order number. I can switch the order over to me if you would like. Studio A is our primary stereo mastering studio if you would like to stick with studio A. Entirely up to you.

[@RAZALAHORI]

hey paul im looking for 1 compressor that can work on individual stems like piano guitar vocal drums ect and on entire mix i dont master i just mix my own stuff which one would you suggest manley vari mu or wesaudio ng bus i can only afford 1 for now and im looking for something that give me most value i'll appreciate your help

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

If you are 100% in the box now a compressor like the wes audio bus comp or bettermaker compressor would be a great option as you keep 100% instant recall. The SPL Iron is a great compressor that works with everything.

[@RAZALAHORI]

@@AudioAnimalsStudio thanx brother

[@bassc]

Ditch streaming and go bandcamp and work up a following on social media/YT. People will still pay for good and interesting music.

[@freddy2t]

from investing every penny earned into walls of gear

[@Andrew-rz7qt]

Is it because EDM only accounts for 4% of the music sold in 2024?

[@atibakojo3478]

Thanks

[@bonafrato]

There IS a lot of money to make in the music industry..

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

A hell of a lot. Just a case of knowing where it can be made.

[@ewr34certxwertwer]

music business is dead, avoid it at all costs

[@AudioAnimalsStudio]

@@ewr34certxwertwer well it isn't. I stand as a testament to that fact.

[@nicefish10]

There is no money in music any more. Very very few make full time dollars. I’ve been fortunate for the past 38 years to be a full time audio guy. I make a great living and I have a full blown commercial recording studio, and I run a lot of concerts. However technology has sucked the value out of music. Music has become to easy so now everyone can do it…. So everyone does . The good music is swimming in a sea of mediocre or shit music. So much do that the good stuff has a hard time rising thru the top….. just because you make music doesn’t mean it’s good. In all seriousness, the music is worth what the marketplace will pay for it. I went back to doing concerts a few years ago coming out of Covid and people still love live entertainment, but trying to make it as a producer, when every 13 year-old kid has fruity, loops and logic, you’re competing against millions of other people.

[@dyonissiszoes3747]

And after taxes, you even have enough money to buy some ice cream for your girlfriend 😁. Oh shit, she dumped you for a lawyer. He’s never there for her either but at least she doesn’t have to listen to the same 8 bars all day long. Sorry mate! Life is cruel 🫣