When I was writing up my Honors Capstone Proposal at SUU, the first thing I did was tell the brief story of why I didn't pursue music as a profession right out of high school. I explained that at the time my parents were under the impression (and correctly so) that I had to be one of the very best of the best in my piano skills if I wanted to make any money and that the cost, time and effort it would take to do so might not be the best idea to pursue it as a career. They also believed - and this was partially true at the time - that even if I did become one the truly “cream of the crop” pianists sufficient to make an income for a family that it would also require me to “get in bed with” the wrong crowd, morally speaking, to make a decent living as a musician.
I'm going to age myself here and say that almost 25 years later, the lyrics in my song “It's Worn” that say “I feel like I've lived ten lives in one” has definitely comes to pass and the world of music business has also gone through some drastic changes. During my time off this most recent semester at SUU for Thanksgiving Break, my parents were in town and my dad became quite inquisitive, in connection with the Commercial Music Degree I'm finishing this Spring, about the legal and logistical details of making money all these later in music.
A few things I shared with him about how I actually run my business included:
- How I've built a residual income stream with growing my volume of sheet music arrangements through Hal Leonard, who publishes to Sheet Music Plus, Sheet Music Direct and MuseScore Pro.
- The process I went through over the last few years building up my home studio and determined my pricing framework.
- The lessons I've learned about social media marketing and the 1000 follower rule (which I will address further below)
- The sheer amount of time and practice, both instrumentally and in recording, mixing and audio editing, I've put into improving my craft.
When I summarized how easy it is to work for and with artists from a distance today with today's virtual capabilities of music production, he seemed both surprised and relieved that the financial, social and moral requirements to make a good living in music aren't at all what they used to be.
What has struck me about the last point I mentioned was how often it has been repeated in my music business classes at SUU. In the Musical Entrepreneur class I took, several of the guests our professor Zoomed into participate in some Q&A sessions echoed that idea - which is that you really don't have to have millions of followers, fans, streams on Spotify, have your music played every day on the radio, go on a major tour, do tons of concerts or sell boatloads of merch to make a comfortable living income. All you need is 1000 consistent loyal fans. 1000 people - whether that be people buying your sheet music, subscribing to your Youtube monetized Youtube channel, paying for insider access to what you do every day, a consistent flow of a few artists who regularly come to you to have their music recorded and produced, etc. - is all you apparently need to make a good living. Rob Landes, a drummer (whose name I can't remember at the moment), and few others who our professor invited all seemed to echo this with their own business. 1000 loyals fans.
With the work I've been in over the last few years and the budding fanbase I've been able to establish, it really doesn't seem super far out of reach for me to get there now! I think one of my New Year's Resolutions is going to be to reach 500 subscribers on one of my social media channels… and maybe reach a two hundred titles in my sheet music arrangements (currently just over 70). I've been running this whole operation as an official registered business since 2022 and once I'm graduated and have the time focus on it full time, I have no doubt I can get there in good time. And guess what, if you want to and you're willing to put in the work, so can you!
While you're here, check out some of my new titles on my sheet music page and jam to some new tunes from my music page. Here's my most recently single I wrote for Christmas (which you can also find on my sheet music page.