Money-Saving Tips For Musicians
Remember all those TV shows you used to watch as a kid that told you to dream big because you can be anything you want if you put your mind to it?
Well, turns out they were right. What they forget to tell you was how expensive some of these dreams can be.
For the brave souls in this world who want to be musicians, I want to start off by saying I applaud you.
Music is an industry that requires a lot of upfront investment before you can start making that money back.
You have to pay for promotion, gear, and studio time, all while keeping up with your basic living expenses.
These five Money-Saving Tips For Musicians will give you some ideas about ways you can save money and focus on your passion.
Create A Budget
As cliche as it sounds this is the first step to any great financial plan. Realize that as a musician you are a business and all businesses have a budget that tracks their income and their expenses.
As a musician, this budget needs to include how much money you spend per month on gas, food, gear maintenance, and savings account growth.
When most people think of a budget they only think about the expenses that they don’t have full control over like rent or gas, but the most important part of your budget will be how much money you set aside to put into your savings account.
You always want to have a consistent amount of money you deposit to your savings account each month in order to prepare for emergency situations.
Maybe you need to repair your amp or guitar, or what if your car breaks down.
Instead of going into debt because something went wrong, start a savings account and let that be your safety net instead.
Don’t Stress Over Gear
If you think that you need a $3,000 amp to start making money with music or a $2,000 microphone to record songs you don’t.
Bryson Tiller recorded “Don’t” which has over 1 Million streams and pretty much launched his career with a Rode NT1-A and a Scarlett 2i2 interface.
These two pieces of equipment can be purchased for under $500 and if you know how to mix you will be able to make music any time you want for free and sell this service to other musicians.
Learning how to use your gear is much more important than buying the newest most expensive option.
Not only does this waste money but it also wastes time. The worse cycle to be in as a new musician is chasing something “magical.”
This means telling yourself you will be successful once you attain something that you don’t already have.
Keep it simple, all you need is the basics and once you master those you will be ready to take on the more advanced gear and shine with that too. How about that for Money-Saving Tips For Musicians.
Network
In simple terms, this means be nice to people and show interest in others. Networking is the most valuable skill for an indie musician at all stages of their career.
Spark up a conversation wherever you are and try to find out if you have a common interest with the person on different topics of the music industry or business.
You can find good connections this way and if they can’t help they might be able to connect you with someone who can help you.
One key tip to remember when networking is to try not to make it all about yourself.
Think about what you can offer to help the other person and they will be more likely to help you because the relationship is mutually beneficial.
Cut Back Temporarily
Most of the time we have more money than we think we do, we just don’t realize it because of our spending habits.
If you like to go to the bar every weekend and drink or eat fast food every day these small habits can add up to a big bill in the long run.
As a musician, this money can be used towards investing in your career or other business opportunities that will increase your income.
The good news is that you don’t have to give up Big Macs and Heineken forever.
Once your music starts to kick-off and the royalties come in you might get sponsored by Heineken and get all the free beer you want.
Think Of Yourself As An Entrepreneur
The final tip has to do a lot with your mindset but this is crucial to your success as a musician.
When you are starting out and don’t have anything to show off, it is easy to get discouraged and want to hide the fact that you are a musician from the people you know.
You don’t want to get laughed at or judged and that’s understandable.
But think about why someone would get that feeling.
Being a musician is just as much of a job as being a doctor or working for someone else.
But a lot of people don’t take musicians seriously and if you are not careful you can start to not take yourself seriously.
This might make you have doubt so you won’t take your budget seriously or you might be lazy when you practice because you think “it won’t work out anyway so why does it matter?”
But let’s think about it from a different perspective.
You are a business owner.
You sell a product to consumers which is your music and you sell a service to other musicians ( features, instrumentalist, mixing engineer, etc..)
As any other business owner would do you need to promote your business to other people. Friends, family, acquaintances, and anyone else who will benefit from your product or service.
This level of marketing will act as free promotion and save you tons of money because your fanbase will start building organically.
Now I’m not saying this alone will make you a star, but word-of-mouth goes a long way, and in the social media age, enough support from a small audience will increase your reach to get in front of new potential fans.
In Conclusion
I hope these Money-Saving Tips For Musicians help you save money as a musician and I want all of you to be successful.
To join in on the conversation, comment below some things you do to save money as a musician, I would love to hear them.
