How to Take Your Music Career to the Internet
Being a musician on the internet can feel like a minefield. What is your music? What is someone else’s? What if someone steals what’s yours? What if it goes viral without you?
We can’t say we have the answers to all of these questions, but we do have suggestions of ways you can use music on the internet. Some of them have blockages like this, some don’t. Take a look at our suggestions to see what you’d be into.
Music producer
Marketing yourself as a music producer is like marketing yourself as just about anything else, so we’ll start with that.
Social media is definitely the space for this, where users go hunting for the next biggest thing. Keep your social medias up to date and take them as seriously as you would a record label and you’ll earn yourself a steady income.
Don’t be put off by the sting behind the term “Soundcloud rapper”. A lot of massive names today started online, like Lil Nas X, Lizzo and Billie Eilish, and lot more that aren’t as big but have respectable careers. Get started on your Soundcloud and Spotify channels and toss a TikTok and YouTube in there for good measure. Gain an audience with lives of your music, tapping into trends like music to fall asleep to, music to help you study, or simply having someone else in the room.
When it comes to making money, look into platforms like Patreon, Fanhouse and Ko-Fi for places that you can receive donations or subscriptions for exclusive content.
And remember that the name of the game in music and marketing is collaboration. Make music with a new friend and syphon off of their audience as much as they are syphoning off of yours.
DJ
The perk of being a DJ or getting into EDM is that your music is mostly made in the moment. Copyright isn’t going to come too close, since everything you’re using is copyrighted, but remixing them into something new comes under fair use.
Of course, if you were to start profiting off of a song, the more you earn the more likely you are to be sued if you don’t have the copyrighter’s permission. In the meantime, as long as you’re changing the song drastically, you should be alright.
So, that means that you can host your own little online raves for everyone to enjoy. Live stream yourself making music in your room or save them as a pre-recorded Spotify track and watch as others tune in for some fun. This virtual DJ tutorial can show you how to get started once you have all your tech.
Radio host
Now, due to the problem of copyright, this is particularly limiting. But, if you have a love of music and the gift of gab, you can use that to reach listeners all around the world on the internet.
It hasn’t been done often due to copyright, but big radio stations are live streaming their time on their own platforms. If you were to stick to showcasing indie and local talent, you could put together a catalogue of music for your listeners to tune in on, with you serving everything else the radio is known for, like the news, commentary, and of course, your sparkling wit.
Of course, there is also the concept of a music podcaster, which isn’t quite the same thing but uses a lot of similar skills – and copyright isn’t as much of an issue because you’re not playing the full song.
Get some pals together and discuss the latest releases, the hottest artists, and interview the locals in what is the closest equivalent to radio hosts on the internet.
Critic
If you have more of an analytical mind, you can look into being a critic. Critics are rife on YouTube, with the likes of Todd in the Shadows and Anthony Fantano becoming household names, but critics can be anywhere.
Starting a blog is likely to be the most lucrative option, as you can then get into affiliate marketing. Brands can pay you a commission depending on how much traffic you send to their site via a link in your blog post. It’s a simple way to make income and indulge what you love. And the best part about music is that it has a million different avenues to go down. You can write about mainstream music, a certain genre, gigs, demographics, etc.
Everything else
Just about everything else on the internet needs music. It’s a loud place, where silence can be awkward and very serious, but music can lighten things up, or set any other mood you can think of. This is why every content creator out there is looking for uncopyrighted background music. A lot of them stick to the stuff that comes free with YouTube, but the ones that want to stand out are paying to use your background music. It won’t make you a star, but it will make you a steady income. You can add “commissions open” to your bio and see creators across the spectrum of YouTube, podcasts, TikTok and Instagram ask to use your music, or if you can create something original.
