Over the past 7-8 months, we have all watched helplessly as the live music industry, theatre and all performance arts have slid into an ever-deepening hole. With pubs and music venues under heavy restrictions or even facing closure, and touring at all levels stopped in their tracks, most musicians, technicians, engineers and all supporting crew have not earned a single penny since the COVID 19 breakout. Financially, this has had a devastating effect on most music and audio professionals and I’m not sure that we will ever be able to measure the resulting mental health issues that will continue to grow from the varying levels of lockdown.
This blackout on live entertainment is also having a huge influence around the wellbeing of live music lovers. According to a study by Patrick Fagan, an expert in Behavioural Science and Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths University, showed that a “Fortnightly gig attendance could extend life expectancy by NINE years” and “Wellbeing increased by 21% from just 20 minutes of gig-time, compared to just 10% for yoga and only 7% for dog-walking”.
The UK live music industry is valued annually at over £5.2b and that is without all of the associated income around food and drink, music tourism, advertising and more. And how is the UK government supporting our industry and in particular, the professionals that work within it? Well, I think that we all know the answer here…
But it’s not all bad news. Many creative minded musicians have used the lockdown as an opportunity to explore more online opportunities to engage and build their fan base and even find new ways to earn some mucheneeded cash. So, over the coming weeks we are going to offer up a number of ways to help engage and build your fanbase and to earn during and beyond lockdown.
Let’s start with 3 ways to earn money from your existing talents:
Potential income:
Fees will obviously be higher if you are a respected musician or singer. But as long as you can deliver a great performance and sound you should be able to achieve anywhere from £75 per track upwards. The artist or producer will no doubt come back to you if you offer a great performance with a reliable service whilst working to a deadline.
NB: Take independent legal advice on your performance rights and maybe having a standard agreement in place for your clients.
Potential income:
I have seen mix services from as little as £30 per track, but you can start at whatever price that makes sense to you. Don’t undercharge, you may regret it when you’re inundated with work but are still not meeting your earning potential. Also watch out for those fixes.. “The bass drum is not loud enough”, “Can you bring the lead vocal up a bit?”. It’s also worth offering deals on multiple tracks (EP’s, albums etc.).
NB: Take independent legal advice if dealing with record or publishing company’s and maybe having a standard agreement in place for your clients.
Delivery
There are 2 main ways to deliver your lessons. The first is live one-on-one music lessons via a video service such as Zoom or Skype. The second is to video a series of lessons and then market and sell them online as a downloadable product or on a subscription basis. But note, the latter would require a continual stream of new monthly content and will require a lot more effort.
Potential income:
From £10 - £50 per hour for one-to-one lessons depending on demand. And from £10 up for downloadable tutorials.
I hope that this has been of some use and maybe inspired you to look at the possibilities. Meanwhile, look out for part 2 soon where I’ll offer up more opportunities for you to think about.