In addition to talent and hard work, musicians need money to record tracks, purchase instruments and recording software, distribute their music, travel for performances, and market themselves. All of these costs add up to a lot of money, often far more than a musician can afford on their own.

Independent musicians today often have to cover all costs of their music career (recording sessions, equipment, distribution, travel, marketing) themselves. So while being a signed artist to a major record label can mean financial support for their work, it also can mean that the artist has less creative control over their work than an independent musician. And it certainly means that the independent musician is 100% financially responsible for their work.

Remember, a sustainable music career doesn’t have to rely on breaking the bank to fund everything. With the right knowledge of essential costs and smart funding, it’s possible to avoid getting into a situation where you struggle to manage your finances.

Start With a Clear Project Budget

A recording budget will typically include costs for studio rental, production, mixing, mastering etc. Typically a musician may record at a few different studios and have their tracks mixed and mastered. They may also use the services of session musicians and require the cover artwork for their album(s) to be designed and printed etc. In addition to these costs, there will also be the costs of distribution, both physical and digital. When touring, a musician will have additional costs, for example, transportation, lodging, meals, insurance, venue costs, merchandise, and emergency repairs. Promoting a musician will also incur a number of additional expenses, for example, photography, music videos, public relations support, digital advertising, and a playlist campaign etc. It is therefore very important that

A recording budget would include items like studio rental, production, mixing and mastering, session musicians, cover art and distribution. A touring budget would include items like travel, accommodation, food, insurance, venue rental, merchandise and for emergency repairs. Promotion would include things like photography, music videos, public relations support, online advertising and for a campaign on playlists. For promotion online, you would have to budget for social media content as well.

This can also include costs for promotion and advertising such as photography, music videos, public relations support, digital advertising, playlist campaigns, etc.

A budget is useful to differentiate between essential expenses and optional costs to enhance a recording. Even the most ambitious of albums will be of greater value if it is completed rather than remaining unfinished due to an unrealistically low budget for the project.

Keep around 10% of the budget for unexpected expenses such as equipment breaking or extra studio time. Some artists have a large contingency fund which can provide a cushion of money for a while should nothing be coming in for a while. Other artists have no contingency fund at all, relying on friends and family to bail them out when things go wrong.

Use Current Music Income When Possible

Reinvest current income: This is the safest method of funding a musician’s career. There are many sources of current income for musicians including live performances, streaming of their recorded music, sales of merchandise, teaching others, licensing of music for use in films, TV shows and commercials, session work for other musicians and fan-based membership sites and subscriptions.

Grow your career without borrowing money or losing control of your business. Instead of putting all of your music money into one expensive recording, save some of the money that you’re already earning from your music. Set up a career fund and use a portion of the money that you earn from your music to fund future recordings, tours and other projects.

Once income is earned from musical performances, from royalties from the online distribution of recorded music, from the sales of merchandise, from teaching music, from licensing music for use in films, television shows, or commercials, from paid work as a session musician, or from other musical sources, the artist can reinvest the money in new music related projects. In this manner the artist can grow their musical career slowly, but safely, without having to borrow money, take on debt, or give up ownership of the music that they have created.

It does not matter how the money is generated to support your music career, the important point is that it supports your career. For some artists, income from a part-time or full-time job may generate sufficient income to support a recording project, or even a tour and promotion of the resulting release.

Consider Crowdfunding and Direct Fan Support