Most of us have thought about some way of making a living from playing Music. For some people, it is a closely guarded secret but others have found ways to keep their love going for it by opening up a small studio or teaching music but anybody that is looking to earn money from music can find themselves struggling to do it as a full-time job. With that in mind, here are a few approaches that can help you keep that spark.

Make It an Evening Job

Lots of people have no choice but to do other jobs while also pursuing their music career and/or passions in the evening. There are lots of bands who have no choice but to hold down a day job, but the question is, what type of day job would suit you best? The Band Those Damn Crows were working jobs during the day and then planning their creative journey in the evening. The drummer, Ronnie Huxford, had bought his own business, a tattoo shop. Buying a business may seem like an extreme option, but if you have a look at a website such as Franchise Direct you can find a variety of businesses that align closely with your passion.

Be in a Covers Band

Lots of people use the pretence of a Covers Band as a way to play songs that they love while also keeping their chops. Lots of musicians try to stay away from being in a covers band because they feel like this is draining their creativity, but there’s a lot to be said for being in a covers band, especially if you can work on promoting yourself in a very specific local area. Some musicians hate the idea of playing pubs, but if you can get over that and find the right venues that allow you to be a bit more creative with your covers, for example, weddings rather than opting for workingmen’s clubs, it can be a pretty rewarding part-time career.

Tutoring 

This is another solution for so many musicians who are working at making a solid living purely from music. There are so many musicians who teach at sixth-form colleges and have spent a long time in bands. If you are someone who’s thinking about what it takes to earn a living from making music, you can’t just look at playing gigs as the sole solution. Instead, think about tutoring because this is a very lucrative practice and can be very flexible. The great thing about tutoring in colleges or schools is that you have your evenings free. This allows you, of course, to start plying your trade in pubs or clubs.

Anybody who’s starting out needs to have a short, sharp dose of reality because purely playing music, unfortunately, is not a lucrative career choice anymore. It’s only those who have big record deals that can make a living from it, and even those who are signing to mid-level record labels have to put more effort into the business side of things. If you want to earn money from music, it’s more important than ever to be a jack of all trades.