Sell your music online: How to make a living with your art : Blog

The long-run idea of a starving artist, suffering to just make their daily bread, doesn’t have to be true anymore. When you sell your music online by making your own music promotion, you can earn money and continually improve yourself and your production. But why should I promote my own music and not just wait for the big break? Think of it this way: by earning with your music from the ground point, you are able to invest in it and focus on continually improving yourself. You can buy better equipment, start knowing your public response to your production, etc. For that, we can use the internet as our biggest ally. There are many tools available for our many goals, and this includes already making your music reach your target public from the start. In this article, we’ll show you different ways you can promote and sell your own music and boost your career with your own management.

Sell your music on online services

It doesn’t matter if you’re releasing an entire album or just a single, you must have a plan to sell your production. And the first way to do that is by putting them on your own website and, also, in online stores. These are a must-do for independent artists.

The importance of a website

A website is a place where you can fully control your music data, such as fans' experience and interaction with your music. Think of a website as you own territory, where you have all the ground controls to sell your music the way you intend to. It’s a zone where your fans can fully support you, and it connects directly to you. Visual aesthetics that match your brand, selling your music directly from a platform that is yours, selling your merchandise: all of that in one place. Nowadays, creating your own website is simpler than it used to be. Platforms such as Magroove can even help you build a customizable website to match all your needs as a musician. You can also collect your own listeners' demographics and emails that signed up for your content… these are some of the many advantages of having a website of your own.

Digital music stores

Another way to sell your music online is through digital music stores. While it’s true that streaming platforms are a great way to put your music out there for your fans and new listeners, digital stores – such as iTunes or Amazon – retain the so-called “old school consumers”. This public will prefer to buy music directly from a place that can sync with their vast music library and already have their preferred payment method saved, so they can only buy what they really want to listen to. And, in order to both make your website and put your music on digital stores, you will have to use a music distributor, like Magroove itself. Imagine a scenario where you can both manage your beautifully made website and see how your music is performing in the stores. Music distributors are an excellent choice for the independent artist because they provide all the information in only place. A music distributor helps you send your music all over the internet for the many listeners out there that might like your production. And they also retain all of the information platforms in only one place, which facilitates a lot of your self management.

Livestreams and Patreon to sell online

Let’s follow a quick line of thought from now on. Imagine that you are an independent artist and decide to manage your own music. You already have your website, your music is in all of the digital stores available. You’ve made your part and your music is starting to sell itself. But how can you actively continue to promote and make money from your creation? Here’s the answer: livestreams and Patreon are the next step for the independent artist. For that understanding, we have to remember the importance of building a hype around your production.

Livestreams to reach new people

Updating your social network is a key step to engage your fans and warm up your release for them; but doing live streams is a great strategy too. When you promote your music by doing live streams, you are using major social platforms, such as Instagram, Youtube or even Discord, to play your own music for your fans, but also potential new listeners and people that are searching for that kind of content. We must use social media in our favor today. Live Streams help us get more views, because we can encourage our fans to share what they are seeing and hearing at the same time with their social circles, and people like to engage on what is happening at the moment.

Patreon for the die-hard fans

Another great way to earn a living with your art is with the help of a Patreon service. Thsis way, you can offer a chance for your settled fans to support you directly. With a Patreon account, you can offer exclusive contents for the biggest and most fanatic fans, that simply just like your art and want you to keep making content. Besides, you can create your members-only area and monthly subscriptions, filled up with behind-the-scenes content that you can produce to feed your Patreon while you keep the focus on making your music. And the best way is that you can mix up these two ways – live streams and Patreon support – to boost up your earning even more. When you do a live stream on social platforms, you have the space to show off and online sell your music any links that you would like your viewers to click, such as your Patreon account. In other words, you get your viewers while doing live streams, and those views, when they reach a certain amount, can eventually turn into money. But you can also call them to your Patreon platform to donate and see your exclusive content, and even subscribe to your monthly subscription and become a member of your Patreon.

Physically sell your music

I know you think this sounds counterintuitive; “why would I sell my music through physical media in the age of the internet?”, many people may think. But it’s not a very accurate line of thought. CDs and vinyls are making a comeback, as their selling through the music industry is growing again. People who really enjoy music content tend to buy their liked products in physical media, along with the digital form, in order to have their collectibles outside of the internet. And you don’t have to have a contract with a major record label to sell your physical content. With the help of an online music distributor, you can also put your merch on your website and other online stores that you wish for and deliver them to your fans.

Distribute your music to streaming platforms

All of the steps above are a key part of making a living with your art and selling your music online and out of it. But the major path is, with no doubt, putting your music throughout streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and many more. With streaming platforms, people can listen to your music anytime they like, within the reach of their hand. And with the help of a music distributor, such as Magroove, for example, you guarantee that your content is in more than 40 streaming platforms worldwide. And there are only a few easy steps to distribute your music with Magroove.

How to distribute with Magroove

The first step to sell your music online with Magroove is creating your account with us for free, which is simply filling out some information. Then, you’ll have to select and upload your creation, and that can be an entire album, an EP or even just a single. The next step is filling up some basic infos, such as your song ISRCs (if you don’t have it, we'll generate a code for you), cover image, and, also, the copyright of your release. In this step you can also set a release date for your music and enable the pre-save option on your Spotify for artists account. After that, you're finished! You’ll just have to submit your release. Once you click submit, it’ll go through our moderation process. Your release will be available online in 4 weeks or less! But Magroove can help you not only by putting your music throughout all of the major streaming platforms, but also with all of the steps above! That’s right, you can create a website, put your music on digital stores, make more easily available links that redirect your fans to your live streams and Patreon account, and even sell your in physical copies in a merch store only one place. Magroove concentrates all of that so you can easily create, manage and better strategize your earning as an independent artist!