How Do Independent Rap Artists Make Money
As an independent rap artist you’re always looking for ways to make money. After all you’re not big enough as yet to sell out arenas, get paid for appearances, or sell millions of albums.
You have to get creative with your hustle as an indie rap artist in order to make a decent living. The more creative you get, the more money you can potentially make.
In this article I will go over the different ways you as an independent rap artist can generate a steady income. Some double their efforts and generate enough for them to live in a good home, buy a few nice cars, and live comfortably.
Build A Solid Fan Base
Before you can ever even start making money as a rapper you have to build a solid fan base. The reason for this is that your fan base are going to be responsible for the income you generate through music.
No fan base = no money. Someone is not going to give you money if they have no idea who you are! Only fans will spend money buying their favorite artist’s music, merchandise, and concert tickets.
This whole site gives advice on how to build a proper fan base, and how to become a successful rapper, so I won’t get into all that. It would be best for you to search the site and locate those articles. But I will say that once you establish a following it makes it easier to sell your music to someone who actually wants to buy it.
This is how it works with any artists, entertainment, or business. You have to get the people to fall in love with your brand before they dish out cash for a purchase of what yous sell.
Sell Your Products To That Fan Base
Okay so now that you have a solid fan base it’s time to capitalize on your popularity. In order to sell your music to your fans you need a system set up. You need your music, a way to promote your release, platforms that carry your music, and monetary collection methods.
I always advise artists to use every platform possible to sell your music and merchandise because a fan who purchases your music on Spotify probably doesn’t have access to Tidal. Or a fan who purchases your music on Amazon does so because he doesn’t have access to Pandora.
Do you get what I’m saying? Not all your fans are on Itunes searching for your music. Some are on Rahpsody, while others or on Tidal. Your fans are all over the place purchasing your music on different platforms, you will miss out on making money if you only place it on Itunes.
You should also sell your music on your own website. The more platforms your create to sell your music on, the better. By the way, this not only goes for music this also goes for merchandise and tickets to your shows.
License Your Music
As an independent rapper licensing your music to company’s can generate you a lot of income. For example I personally know a lot of indie rappers who currently license their music to independent films. They make thousands of dollars every year from their placements. Indie rappers are always aiming too high, wanting their music in big production films.
To be honest it’s extremely rare that Universal or Lions Gate will seek out an independent rapper and place their music in a big multi-million dollar film. It just doesn’t happen! Instead learn to start small by seeking placement in independent films or tv shows.
When seeking placement you will be contacting music supervisors who are hired to place music in these films and tv shows. Before contacting the music supervisor you have to know what type of music the film is looking for first.
That way you can take that specific music in your catalog and send it in to fulfill their needs. Do not send them any random music it will get thrown in the garbage. Find out what type of music they need and meet their requirements.
Sell Your Merchandise
This one is an obvious one but used by so little indie rap artists. Merchandise can be as simple as a t-shirt, belt, fitted or hoodie. There are several companies that can put your name or label on the merch for you at a cheap price. A quick google will lead you to tons of stores that will help you create and sell merchandise.
Use Marketing Tools
In Order to reach a wide audience and promote what you are selling you need the right marketing tools. These tools will make your life much easier because they can be ran on auto-pilot. This way you can focus on doing what you do best, and that’s making good music.
The ultimate tool that we found has helped artists over the years is Fanbridge. Check out our Fanbridge Review it will help you understand the power of their services.
Get Paid To Do Shows
If you are an independent artist blowing up and are in high demand then chances are you are already getting approached by venue owners and promoters to put on a show at venues. If you are an up and coming rapper with little cloud I would suggest you go back to phase 2 and that is learn how to grow your fan base.
As an indie artist you can still get paid to do shows but not up front like major artists. You can get paid by the venue licensing your music for play or performance. All you have to do is fill out a Form PA or a Notice of Live Performance Form and wait for the money to roll in.
Every country is different but you are basically looking to fill out forms for getting paid after you do a performance. Your Performing Rights Organization will have these forms.
Build A Membership Site
A music club is like a private membership club that you and your fans are a part of. You can charge your fans a monthly membership fee and give them exclusive music, concert tickets, pictures or merchandise.
The fee of the membership will be up to you but always remember to charge a reasonable amount. If you don’t know how to set up a music membership site Google can be your best friend to find ideas.
You can also hire someone to set things up for you. You should preferably place the membership site on your artist site to make things easier for you. the membership site will be a nice lucrative monthly income for you, and as your fan base grown enroll them into the site so your income can keep growing.
There’s a lot of up and coming music rap artists that are looking for different ways to give their music more exposure. A lot of them are struggling with branding and promoting themselves online on platforms such as music blogs, podcasts sites, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Youtube.
Finally there is a way to promote yourself as a rap artist the right way. You will be guided step-by-step on how to become successful; potentially earning thousands a month.
What Is A Performing Rights Organization
5 Steps To Achieving Your Music Goals
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