I’ve seen it many times before. People making independent music worrying about the state of the music industry and how they’re going to make money from it. A natural first reaction is how can they prevent MP3 downloads from happening, but once they realise that that’s not going to happen they start to wonder if the music industry can ever earn them a healthy amount of money.
The thing is however, many people over look to one of the most basic (And still effective) ways of making money from your music: Gigging!
Gigs have always been a great way of making money from music from as far back as I can remember, and this isn’t bound to change any time soon. While people have got used to downloading people’s songs for free online, there’s no real replacement for the buzz and excitement you get from going to see your favourite acts live. Yes you can see video clips of their live performances on Youtube when ever you want, but can you feel the vibrations on the floor as you favourite musician plays one of their biggest hits? You you feel the adrenaline from both the crowd and the performer on stage? Can you take your own pictures of the show and later get an autograph from one of your idols? No, no you can’t.
Because of this, live gigs will always be a great place to make money from your music career. Many musicians don’t gig either because they’re too focused on getting songs recorded, or because they’re nervous about going on stage in front of people. What ever the reason is, if you want to make money from your music career you need to get over it. Gigging is an essential part of a successful music career, so embrace it fully! All the best with your gigs.