If you're one of the struggling artists, then there’s a good chance you want to know how to make money from music—you're at the right place, pay attention to all the points listed. Whether it’s your full-time job or a lucrative side hustle, if you're an artist then selling music online and offline is a creative way to make money doing something you love. Most SA artists don't know how to make money with music, and not because it's some crazy impossible paradox, No!! It's because of the lack of knowledge. So we hope this informative article will be helpful, 10 Tips you can use today and tomorrow to generate income leading to wealth. If you love the article, don't forget to share.

How to make money with music in SA, Threads 📍🔥

1. Collect Royalties From Streams, Radio play & TV play

We begin here as this is one of the most common revenue streams associated with Independent musicians at the moment.
Streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music can provide a source of income to musicians.

Increasing your Spotify streams takes a bit of work and long hours, but it is worth it for both growing your music fanbase, as well as making money from multiple streams. This method of streams is called "Passive Income", the money seems small at the beginning but later in the years you'll get paid while just chilling and no longer doing music. It does take a substantial amount of streams to generate a decent payday. Getting your music playlisted on Spotify is a great way to get more out of these streaming services and give your music career a boost. Try to get Playlisted on Spotify, iTunes and Even YouTube, and get paid without doing any long promo work. If you manage to get your music on Radios make sure you're registered on RiSA & CAPASSO in order to easily collect your royalties.

2. Make Money From Your YouTube Streams or YouTube ads.

There are many ways to monetize your YouTube channel if you have a strong audience. One of the most common is via Adverts. You only need 1K subscribers for you to monetize your channel on YouTube. Ads pay a lot of money than streams, the more clicks you get on the ads that pop up on your YouTube videos the more money you'll make. Go learn about advertisement, and see what type of advertisers you should approach. Apart from Adverts or Clicks, YouTube music also works just like Spotify, if you distribute your music with the right DSP, you'll get paid for Streams on YouTube just like you'll get paid on Spotify. YouTube has lots of money making ways because you can create a whole different type of content not just music but videos of you doing anything.

Scroll down to find out how to make money from other social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

3. Play Live Shows & Performance Gigs

Whether you go on tour or just play a living room concert, monetizing live performances is one of the oldest methods of making money in the music industry. Actually, Performance Gigs have been the top best way to get filthy rich. Usually mainstream artists put money into pushing their music streams and views, and as they reach millions of streams their brands are growing which gives them Hype and that hype gets them Gigs and performances. Gigs pay a lot of money, and if the artist is on Peak, they can be seen doing over 5 Gigs a day. This Method is called Active income, where you have to work each time in order to get paid, unlike Passive income where you work once and get paid forever. With Gigs, the more your brand grows, the more your booking fee increases.

And Yes, if you're not getting booked there's something called live streaming these days. Host an online concert and charge R5 or R10, the more people you get to watch your online concert the more money you make. But note that there's nothing better than a real live concert where your fans are there to see you live. Online performances are just like watching BET performances on TV.

4. Selling Merch

Selling Merch as an artist can either be for brand-building or as a form of income stream. Here we are talking about why it is an income stream, why you see Big artists doing it.
Merchandising plays a big role in the musical business. The idea of merchandise selling began a while back in Europe when artists, managers and promoters realised that there's another way they can quickly earn money during their tours — This is when they started printing out products that resonate with their brands. By Merchandise we're not only talking about T.shirts and Caps; we are including all types of products that an artist can sell; from branded cups, juice bottles, phone covers, skin tones, masks etc. So if you're an upcoming artist and you need proper income, you should eventually start with flashing out your products during your performances or make announcements of your products after your performance. Product stores online are becoming easier and easier to use and it doesn't take long to create some awesome merch or stylish t-shirts and sell it online to your fans. If you love the threads so far, please share the post and continue reading.

5. Synchronization for Artists or Selling Samples, selling Features or Selling Your Beats if you're a producer

Record companies and artists don't only earn the most income from their public performances and broadcast of their sound recordings, no, they also earn more from the synchronization of their sound recordings. Synchronization in simple terms is like giving authorization for the use of your song, if a big brand wants to use your song in a commercial TV and you can sell them the rights to use the song. The fee is negotiable, it depends on the artist and the brand. You can make so make so much money by choosing to sell your rights for a huge amount. The same goes for Samples, writing off samples is not easy, if you by any chance sample someone's song or beat that person can come for you to take down the song unless you pay them a huge sum of money. Negotiation takes place. Sell your use rights to big movies and TV shows.

Some Music artists are making money from selling Features, if you're good enough or big enough, you can start selling Features. Also Top producers and beat makers are making money from selling beats or remote mastering to artists overseas.

6. Sponsorships & Brand Deals

If you want to be Wealthy and not just Rich, then Pay close attention to this one. If you're smart and do it well, you'll be set for life. Sponsorships, Brand deals and Collaborations are all parts of revenue making schemes. Both Online and Offline, your partnerships will determine where you'll be in the next 5 or 10 years. Make sure that any sponsorships or partnerships you agree to falls in line with your own brand ideals because if not, this can cause a huge problem to your brand and you can lose all your fans as quick as thunder. Don't only take brand deals because of money, first digest it and see if it fits your brand. as a musician and don't confuse your audience. Some Sponsorships only provide you with products and not money, you also need to value such sponsorship. Get free clothes so that you don't have to buy clothes anymore, get free products you need such as music equipment and more.

These brand endorsements are crucial and you're going to need to push these brands maybe at live shows, TV platforms or on your social media channels. Some even ask you to mention them in your songs.

7. Make Money With Donations or Performance Tip if you're a DJ

The industry is changing and we see artists succeed in monetizing their work in different ways. Nowadays you can set up a Donation link for your fans and supporters to help you meet a certain goal or target. You never know who's rooting for you to win, you never know who's willing to help you succeed. Music albums don't cost a lot, someone rich has been buying all your albums but what you don't know is that person wants to give you more but doesn't know how. Put out a donation link with a great message on why they should help you. Someone might just send R50k to you or multiple people can send thousands of Rand's to you just because your music motivates them or calms them down when they are sad.

We have been seeing videos of DJs getting huge amounts of Tips when playing at a live events. This can happen to any artists, you just have to know the best way to ASK YOUR FANS something.

8. Make money on Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)

Social Media platforms are now all paying Content Creators, and being an Artist means you're a Creator. All you need is to have a great solid audience in order to make more money, you need engagements and comments to standout. Twitter which is now known as X is paying Creators to just post on the platform. If you get great engagements you can make a lot of money, same goes for Instagram if you have great engagements on Insta you'll be rich in no time. Brands usually pay Instagram creators or TikTok creators more because they get more sales from those platforms than Twitter and Facebook.
Another way to make money on social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram is the FAN GIFTS or GETTING STARS. Gifts and Stars are like money, the more stars you receive the more money you make. Start asking your fans to give you Stars or Gifts. Another way is making other artists pay you like R100 for you to post their links or work on your channels. Charge people to post on your account if you get great engagements. On Facebook, you can also apply for Bonus Programme which pays you just to post. The more engagements you get, the more money you make IN DOLLARS!!

Another way is the more people use your song on their Stories, you get paid just like in Royalties. So ask your fans to use your song when they post a Facebook Story or Instagram Story.

9. Writing For Music Publications & Blogs

Musicians and songwriters are creative beings, and their talents often don't stop at their instruments.

If you are knowledgeable enough about a particular genre, scene, or aspect of the music industry, you could provide written content for popular music blogs in the industry, local press, music business publications, and more in the form of album reviews, live gig reviews, and guides.

Since we're talking about writing, maybe you should also consider writing for other artists. So many talented vocalists who can't write a full song. Write for them and get paid.

10. Get A Record Deal or Music Funding

For those who want quick money, quick soft life or quick results. Try to get signed by a label, this way you could make money from a record advance, a very very huge amount of money very quickly but it is not easy to get a record deal because almost everyone wants a deal. A record label will do everything for you on that budget, they'll invest in your music recording, marketing, music videos, social media, advertising, and touring. And they'll be the ones to make more money from all the things we mentioned in this Thread. But at least you'll live a soft life...and a very stressful life as well. Being signed is not pap & vleis. You will work and work and work, you'll suffer and you'll see how much money you're making the label. Doing over 7 shows a day, you'll feel like a slave but it's worth it.... Remember there's passive income and active income. One income stream kills you while the other one doesn't but it's very slow. Slow progress is better than Nothing right? Please share the thread if you have not.

Let us add an extra one under this one.

Video Game Sound Design - As technology around video games becomes more and more sophisticated and more sales are being made, video game production companies frequently have a healthy budget to throw at the experience. And yes, this means music. If you are a gamer yourself as well as a musician, it can be a really unique and satisfying way to earn money by creating inviting soundscapes for video games.

How to make money on Twitter (now known as X)

Making money on Twitter is more the same as on YouTube. Nowadays on Twitter, creators can monetize their posts and place ads in their live streams. All you need is 500 followers, and you must be verified, so to verify is easy you just have to pay about R150 a month and you'll be verified. You can make over R10K or R20K a month if you post a lot and your posts get to be seen by a lot of people. If you use the right hashtags the right way you might see yourself making money without putting in so much effort.

Many people on Twitter are making good money through ads, especially the ones that share jokes, memes, and other similar content. Such posts get a lot of impressions. Stop sleeping on money, don't just consume content, make sure you earn while on these platforms.