Making a living from being a producer?

[two oh one]

Make pop music.

I often hear tunes on the radio and think I could do better, but this is probably because I don't like most of the current pop music...

Well, that's the thing. If you want to make money, don't try and do it writing some fringe of electronic music. Electronic is mainly fringey stuff as it is and a fringe of a fringe isn't going to make you crap. Sell out.

Do something with vocals, is my 'advice'. Vocals make something more palatable to the unwashed masses. That human touch, especially if they're singing about something rather than just spouting nonsense can sell pretty well. Especially if it's catchy. Get it under the nose of marketing knuckleheads who're looking for the next big thing. Get an agent, if you can stand their slimey parasitic wankery.

Just make sure what you write can't easily be replicated by a guy with a keyboard tie and a collection of 100% ElektoDanceTrancePartyGrime sample loop CDs.



Or, failing that, get yourself a bunch of loop CDs, a keyboard tie, a mullet and convince small film and video companies that you know all the latest soundz and teenage dance crazes. Offer competitive rates, do your first couple of jobs for free as you establish yourself.

[setspeed]

at current rates, you'd (i'd) have to be selling 2000+ units a month just to get by.

That's quite a lot by the sounds of it, I guess if you were playing gigs also you wouldn't need to sell as many tunes...

If there I site which has sales figures of current releases?

no.

But let me tell you that 2000 sales for any release is BIG: there are probably 4 or 5 producers in dubstep who manage this. And I'm sure none of them do that every month.

That said though, those producers can also charge several hundred for a remix which is handy.

re radio play, yes they (mainly) do pay per minute, and at present it doesn't matter what time of day, although i think that's changing soon. Radio 1 is the only one you need concern yourself with: most of them work out at about a quid a play, if that. Radio 1 will get you 50-odd quid a play. So that can really help if someone drops your tune a couple of times.

[lightshapers]

Radio 1 will get you 50-odd quid a play.

last time i looked radio 1 pays about 17£ per minute doesnt it?

[86.]

create an alias that can't be easily traced back to you, and make streamline pop music...

but then on the side make your actual music.



lol

[vivace]

I've lived off my music for 10 years now and I JUST woke up

[crytek]

Short answer : No.

Bullshit! Yes you CAN make a living as a producer, but don't expect it to be easy, especially if you are doing stuff like making jingles for commercials or TV sitcoms or anything like that. In these cases, there are deadlines to meet. You have to be able to come up with a minute of two of music and fast. Your clients won't accept the "I'm suffering from writers block atm" excuse.

There's always a way anyone can make money, especially doing what they love. It can be done, you just have to think outside dance music.

[Sub South]

Tiesto (though i do hate him) is a fucking millionare... he's got sponsors from coca cola.. he's done an opening set at disney land Florida.. so he has proved that you can make a living from producing.. He probably struggled like a bitch at the beginning... but now :O

[Phase Down]

tiesto was mainly a DJ and was dj of the year multiple years if i can remember right.. not really making a good point mentioning massive names, tbh.

realistic answer: yes ofcourse it is possible, but take any music related job you can and dont limit yourself to one specific area, also do not expect to make any money of releases..

[jaimelee]

Could take what you learned from producing your own stuff and using those skills in the market?

i.e. Sound Enginering, film music etc

[Keys]

Okay i know it must be hard to get well known as a producer, but say you stick a release on youtube and it racks up like over a couple of million views im not saying everyone is good enough to get that many views but say if you did manage it because the release was so good, surely you could start making money then? take Mt Eden for e.g. well probably not the best example seen as though everyone hates him/them but one of his video's has like 11 million views nearly so surely hes making decent money now? from like playing gigs and shit like that? so if you make popular, dirty dubstep you can make a decent living? like all the producers on UKF ?

[Duffman]

Why don't you try and get a different music related job, like a sound engineer. Keep your current job and do something like a music technology course at night.

[FluidMoShun]

Yee, I'm going to school for Sound Recording Technology right now. Its a bitch of a program, but a major like that teaches you everything you need to know about studio production, DAW usage and whatever instrument you major with (for me, guitar). Even if I can't make enough money off my own music/gigs, I'll most likely have a job in some music field.

I am wondering how the field is for a mastering engineer. Does anyone know how much they can make?

[Ldizzy]

depends of a multitude of factors really...

people up here have been giving valuable piece of info

hwv i think it all comes to how one handles their business... even 3-4 equally famous singles, two artists could make very different type of money.. depends on how they handle their business.. contractwise and shit...

however, im not savvy in that field.

yet, i know a bunch of people who were able to feed a couple mouths with music.... so, here's some things some friends of mine do that gets them by... but keep in mind those things depend on various factors (eg : the place/scene u evolve in, the skills u have, the money u put in, the social network (friends, family, associates, competitors, clients etc) u have, etc) and they all require a lot of self promoting and effort... basically : hard work...:

these are things people i know have done, that worked out for them, no warranty tho :

-pop music (even on a somewhat local scene)
-a whole lot of live gigs (band, solo, dj), with all the hustle of being booked
-ghostwriting (need to hustle for contacts)
-ghostproducing (same)
-giving booked lessons, teaching in camps, kids, private, etc.
-opening a legit music school
-djin in a club playing mass appeal music
-djin in a booty club (very easy to get a job in a titty bar tbh)
-being a live gig techy
-promoting nights, events, gigs...
-hustling with funds and subventions
-running a studio (recording or-and engineering)

a combination of a few of these could get u running a decent living... seems like a lot of artists who still didnt ''make it'' think its a matter of getting a hit or two.. yet once ur part of the music business, it seems to me like u have to hustle as much, if not more, to have a long living career.

still very feasable if ur dedicated.

[GV1]

Ok, I am going to go against the tide here.

I work in Internet Marketing and have done for a number of years. I get paid when I sell, or make a conversion. To make a conversion I need targeted traffic. Traffic can come from Facebook, Digg, article sites (eZine, ArticleBase, Hubpages ...), YouTube, search engines etc. This is the very simple glossed over lamans terms.

But, apply that to music.

Everyone uses YouTube, but many fail to to understand the power of YouTube. I have methods and techniques to boost videos in numbers and get them seen by more people. A top video will get masses of traffic to your video. It's not just about uploading your video and leaving it.

Your aim is to get good conversion ratios. 1 sale in 100 would be good. That's £20 odd quid for every 1000 people that view your video. Use video techniques to get the user to buy. There are lots of marketing methods and techniques.

If you're only making £3 a day from sales, work on more music. Work on your marketing efforts. Scale that **** up. If you make £3 a day from 1 track, make 10 tracks and make £30 a day. £3 a day is pretty poor, but you can also work on singles, albums, mix cds etc.

If you are a good writer and a good teacher, write videos about producing music, using synths etc. And then write a book and sell it for $97 on Clickbank. I'll leave that can of worms closed. It's a whole different topic. But, once you got a name as a producer, and people enjoy your music, and you have lots of subscribers, you can then teach, and sell your knowledge online to people that respect you.

How many people would spend £50 upwards on a video course on how to produce Dubstep by Rusko? Shit loads I can tell you that! Same would go for anyone with a name in Dubstep.

I've sold things online for marketing networks that other people couldn't sell because they failed to. Just think outside the box.

Hope that helps others

[futures_untold]

From my observation all the people I know who earn their living in music graft hard to make ends meet. Many of them have different kinds of work within the field too, like teaching and playing gigs at the same time, or doing live engineering and regular recording studio work + gigs.

And many of them have a other work outside of music to support them while they 'break' into the music industry.

Every single one of these people work really really hard to make ends meet. They also all share one thing in common, pure unadulterated passion for music. They live it through and through as they make ends meet doing what they love.

Having observed people organising both successful and non-successful club nights, I can also attest to the amount of time and energy required to pull off such an event. The people involved relied heavily on their social networks to get things moving. Some of the artists being lined up weren't at the pinnacle of their career yet, but still earned several hundred pounds for their hour long sets. The take home profit after expenses for the organisers was in the region of several hundred which is good for a small unestablished night.

While DJing and club events make some money, I also know musicians who play in bands and earn peanuts (if they earn anything at all)...

To earn a living not working for the man, I think it is essential you know the skillset you're offering thoroughly as well as the market you wish to operate within. As mentioned above, success relies on your ability to spot opportunities and hussle rather than having talent alone. By knowing what you have to offer (your talent and knowledge), your ability to spot profitable opportunities and hussle should become easier.

--------------------------------

Here is a list of careers within the audio industry (that I've copied and pasted from this thread on studying audio). Some of the roles don't involve creating music directly, but they are connected to the field of audio non the less. Maybe you have the skills and energy to earn a living in one of the auxillery fields?

Studio artist
Touring artist (not exclusive with the profession listed above)
Session Musician
Band musician
Singer (Choir/opera)
Director
Songwriter
Producer
Recording engineer
Mastering engineer
Duplication engineer (Mastering & duplication of CD's & vinyl)
Live sound engineer (Live gigs, festivals, theatre & events)
TV & radio broadcasting engineer
Radio DJ
Club DJ
Private hire DJ
Promoter
Venue owner/manager
P.A. / soundsystem hire
Festival organiser/events manager
Roadie
Artist Management
Copyright management (Performing Rights Society [UK])
Label owner
Sound designer (Folley sounds, sample bank collections)
Sound artiste (avant garde 'out their' stuff)
Commercials & radio jingles producer
Producer for TV shows, film & multimedia (games)
Sound engineer for film (Boom operator, field sound tech person)
Music sales (cds, mp3s & vinyl)
Sheet music sales
Music tech sales [hardware & software both web & bricks & mortar])
Instrument hire
Music gear repair (piano tuning, fixing old Moogs etc)
Music hardware developer
Music software developer
Acoustic engineer (preparing audio environments with acoustic treatments [clubs, studios])
Industrial audio engineer (helping heavy industry manage sound from heavy machinery etc)
University/scientific researcher within the acoustic field
Telecoms engineer (telephony, communications devices [TV, hifi units, Voice Over Internet Protocol, satallites etc] military comms {cryptography, field devices, ECM, audio weapons R&D)
Linguistics & Philology (Involving field work for research)
Audiologist (Working in hospitals testing hearing and fitting audio devices)
Speech therapist
Music teacher
Youth arts worker
Accountant
Lawyer
Media buyer
Schedule organiser
Graphic Designer
Photographer
Videographer
Dancer
Duplication plant worker
Coach driver
Caterer

[paravrais]

Okay i know it must be hard to get well known as a producer, but say you stick a release on youtube and it racks up like over a couple of million views im not saying everyone is good enough to get that many views but say if you did manage it because the release was so good, surely you could start making money then? take Mt Eden for e.g. well probably not the best example seen as though everyone hates him/them but one of his video's has like 11 million views nearly so surely hes making decent money now? from like playing gigs and shit like that? so if you make popular, dirty dubstep you can make a decent living? like all the producers on UKF ?

I seriously doubt most of the producers on UKF are making a living off their music. People like Skrillex, yeah, but not the ones that crop up once or twice and you never hear about them again.

[GV1]

Everything requires hard work. Those that bang out release after release are the ones that have a passion for what they do and are not chasing money.

As producers we are the "kids that want to play for the premiership". Very few will do it, and a large percentage will grow up to awesome football players but will never get nowhere because real life gets in the way of their passion. It's the same as us.

But in all honesty, I could sit here for years and make music without wanting money. As long as I can play the electric, put beans and toast on the table and keep the roof over my head I am a very happy man.

I've recently changed my work schedule to part time to focus on production. I don't want money.

[aeser]

not to be discouraging, just realistic, making a living off music is difficult to impossible as an artist. other aspects of the music industry can make more money but as an artist even if you have a couple big records, they fade and that money is gone. the best i've heard of is the big name dj's who get paid $5k-$10k a gig and get bookings constantly, and then you live on the road as your job (which can be cool in and of itself but can also get bored never being grounded anywhere).

the other thing to think about is you're most likely not going to be 50 years old producing and playing out and still making awesome money at it, and there is no retirement plan with this shit, you just run out of money and have to go get a day job like everyone else with nothing on your resume the last 20-30 years but being a small time rockstar, which is not a very good position to find yourself in.

the people i know who i'd call most successful with it have good day jobs, and do this for fun as a hobby but have records out and get bookings worldwide, so they essentially get free vacations to awesome cities worldwide where they get to play for people and make decent extra money, but still go home to some stability and a fat day job paycheck.

i know a couple bands and artists on major labels (warner brothers) and while they make decent money off their band they all still have dayjobs. one of them actually quit one of the bands (freezepop) because his dayjob at harmonix developing games like rockband was a shitload more money and stability than being in a band signed to warner brothers (which most people would kill to do).