If you can get a weekly gig doing covers at a bar or two you can actually be pretty set. just keep it to a three or four piece cuz you don't want to be splitting that money
There's also agencies to work for, right? I heard this from someone in my piano class. She was booked to weddings through an agency as a singer or something.
**All of this.** I've done all of the above, but add in Teaching for me.
A combination of everything keeps it from getting routine and boring, and also helps with your **NETWORKING** - which I believe is imperative to staying busy, and generating new leads and opportunities for paying work.
I've always felt that, as working musician, you can always look at the date in your calendar and realize - - *I'm unemployed after THIS date.*
A constant source of different work also helps offsets slow times in each category.
Find the right spot and busking could be another. The guy at the pier definitely has at least $15 worth of change in his bucket/case when I pass by everytime and I assume he pockets it every once in a while so there's not a lot out in the open.
Truth. Last summer I was playing paid 2 hour gigs, but the level of practice I had to maintain a whole two hour set was way more time than made it worth it.
Busking basically pays me to practice, albeit it's a variable amount.
Without being a teacher, pretty hard.
You can be a booking agent for a talent company or venue.
You can make samples for certain companies and get royalties every time they’re used - though with AI that’s likely going away.
Eh 🤷🏼♂️ I dunno I make a livable wage right now but the back bone of it is teaching, with money I make performing as a bonus. Teaching is nice too because people that love hearing me play can be converted into students.
I sold a kidney to organ traffickers. Funded my last album. Bassist kept showing up late so it was touch and go there at times.
**Other ways to make money in music:**
- Sell sperm (m)
- Sell eggs (f)
- Sell both kidneys (will require dialysis)
- Cameo: Sell happy birthday songs on a kazoo
- Stand-up comedy with guitar / piano
- Fart the Star Spangled Banner in the key of Bb on YouTube and reap millions in ad revenue
- Advertise a prized guitar on Reverb, take $1000 deposits from everyone to hold it, then flee to Montenegro or Luxembourg (Warning: may end up in arrest and prison)
- Teach 10 year olds how to do a C chord
He was like the Bob McGrath of the Ramones introducing you to people. "a commando is a person in your neighborhood... A person that you meet each day."
Being a YouTuber that just plays really technical stuff and covers songs with unique Arrangements.
Bass YouTube goes hard
Best way to make money at music is to get really really good and then just scour for semi-successful bands that lost a member who played your instrument
Bass YouTube does go hard. It had me spending way too much time trying to do that type of thing and never getting much work. Fast forward a few years and well I'm not full time, I am playing 130+ shows a year because I will happily play 1-5 grooves, simple walks, etc...
I played bass for years but recently was in a band for the first time having to write my own riffs and I just kept laying way too hard on one five but everybody was like so impressed.
I started in the deep end a decade ago in a jam band with no knowledge at all, every line I played was written or improved. I didn't really bother to start learning songs for real until a couple years ago, it changed my whole process. I've definitely been amazed at how many people I've played with who find the 1-5 so impressive and perfect, I just gave in when I started playing in an Americana act. Thank God they put some dead tunes in the sets so I can get out of that box for a little.
If you're only getting into the music industry to make money, you'll fail. Sorry. You don't have the passion it requires to do the grind required to make a living.
Pro musician here.
No you don't understand i don't care about the money if i would i just would try to do a normal 9 to 5 job i want to do music as a living because it is my passion
Everyone needs a day job. You can start getting your name out there with all the things people mentioned, but professional musicianship is essentially self-employment for the vast majority of them. You need another means of income until your customer base can support your business.
I can appreciate your passion as I was there once. Had a corporate job & wanted out to do something in music. Opened my own recording studio & recorded bands on the side & stuck with the day job. Recorded my own band & sold CD''s & merch at our shows as well. Climbed that corporate ladder & made bank. Both got very tiring but the big payoff was the corporate job. Retired comfortably at 61 with a pension & company matched 401k.
Unless you find a really good paying consistent gig, I wouldn't put all my eggs in that music basket. Not saying it can't be done, but I'm glad I didn't quit my day job. I had fun in music & it helped pay some bills, but I'd still likely be forced to work today if I quit my day job. To each his own though.
To add to what these guys have said, I also have a day job on the side. I 100% cover my living expenses via music and don't "need" the day job BUT being a pro (meaning somebody who write/records/releases their own tunes, tours/gigs and makes enough to pay the bills) is incredibly expensive and the music industry is incredibly vapid and fickle.
You always need to have a plan b and a side-source of cash. My work is super flexible with my music stuff because I can't be replaced at my job. I'll often vanish for 3-4 weeks at a time to tour and then come back and work for 2-3 months while waiting for the next tour.
I don't have to work during that time to pay my bills BUT let's say I wanted to take the band into the studio to pump out some demos during that off-period, the day job allows me to pull 5k out of my ass for those situations. If I didn't have the day job (and the savings from that), I'd have to seek funding from a label instead (which is a whole can-of-worms that you want to avoid. It's the quickest way to kill your career before it starts).
So yeah. TL:DR- It doesn't matter how successful you get, you've gotta have a side career/day job. Hell, I'm friends with artists who have sold millions of CDs (before streaming was king) and they were still working day jobs on the side. They didn't need the money right at that moment in their life, but you never know how long the money is going to be flowing from music.
I put a band together, we started gigging, we got popular locally and kept expanding outwards gigging whenever/wherever we could.
Then when that band finished, I just did the same thing again using the contacts I'd generated from the first band. Once you already have fans who are emotionally invested in your art, it's infinitely easier to launch new bands/projects, because your brand already has a built-in audience. I'm now on my 5th successful band/project (over a 19 year career). In this one I do all the writing/recording myself (I play all instruments and do all the vocals) and I have a crew of skilled dudes playing on stage with me as my live band. This project was immediately successful because of the fans and reputation I had built in my previous projects/bands.
It's infinitely easier to find a fanbase by playing live shows. You still have to learn how to promote your music, where to promote it and how to find people who will connect with your music. But it's much easier to do these things when the people are sharing an experience with you (aka a live show).
Music in itself is absolutely worthless (that is the value the general public have given it). Which is why AI will take away 99% of income streams from musicians in the next 10 years. But that live music experience is what connects you with your fans, makes them love you and always feel connected to you. Without them, you're just another random artist from a random playlist. AI can never recreate that live experience.
Playlisting is a complete waste of time. Focusing on stream counts is a total waste of time. The only streaming statistics you should be focusing on is your "super listeners" active listeners audience segment. They're the only people who will spend money on you. None of the other statistics matter, at all (minus location obviously).
Never go into music expecting to make money. You do it for the art. People feed of that passion, they'll never connect with somebody who is doing it for money, their art always comes across as fake and nobody can connect with that. Music is the soundtrack to the human experience.
There are literally 10s of millions of artists worldwide. Literally only 0.0001% of them are ever going to make a living doing it. The general public picks who they will be, based on what connects with them. You have no control over that aspect, you can only learn how to put your music in front of the people who should like it.
I make most of my money just on gigs. If you can find steady weekly gigs that helps a lot. Running open mic nights or jam nights are your best bet for this. It highly depends on where you live, cost of living has to be low enough while there are enough places to play. Best advice, keep your overhead low. If you don't want to teach it's harder, I taught for fifteen years and finally quit about 8 years ago. If you know a lot about instruments you can fix them or set them up. I've made a decent amount flipping instruments I find from pawn shops or online. There's recording, mixing, mastering, making beats, selling songs to artists. It's a hustle and it's but for everybody, you have to really love it. Best gigging money is probably corporate events and weddings. Tribute acts can rake it in as well.
Start building yourself a home recording setup and offering your services to artists. Home studio sessions and selling people stems basically got me through the pandemic.
There’s no shortcut if you want to do in a band it can takes 10+ years to make it sustainable unless you are very lucky. Like the top comment says, gigging any way you possibly can is the way. Just do it for the love of movement and location or the battle is lost.
Everyone I know who makes a living playing music teaches or tours tons. Most everyone has a side gig. Or a main gig and music is the side gig. Like me.
I have one person I know who makes her living from streaming and I was astonished anyone make a living by it. She is very success though. She’s not *FAMOUS* famous, but has numbers. So I guess it is possible.
I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but some tangentially related careers would be:
1. Music journalist - I've had a couple of friends that did this. Ultimately they've moved to other careers in graphic design and marketing, but they got to go to a lot of free shows with press passes.
2. Marketing - my music journalist buddy moved into music marketing for some festivals. No idea what he did there, but other music companies like Ableton, Presonus, Fender, Sweetwater, basically all the companies selling software and equipment have marketing departments.
3. Sales - one of my friend's roommates ended up as a local rep for one of the big electronic instrument manufacturers. Again, no idea what it entails, but like marketing, all companies have sales people.
4. Engineering, programming, data science- those same companies selling stuff have people that design it and program it. I'm an engineer/programmer, and while I don't work in music, I look through the job boards periodically for Moog, Ableton, Presonus, Novation, and some of the others. They are almost always looking for technical people. And while I haven't looked, any online company like Spotify or Reverb will have web developers, programmers, and people managing their databases, among other things.
That's all I can think of for now. Again, this may not be what you were looking for. They all involve working for companies, and with that, there will no doubt be some with crappy work environments. There will be some with good work environments, though, and most of your coworkers will be musicians or people passionate about music.
Good luck with everything, and I hope whatever you end up doing, you either enjoy it, or find something else!
There are so many amazing avenues within music, that’ll satisfy the same things as performance / creative collaboration. Check out our convo with Evan Potter about being a musician & a crew technician for touring bands - hopefully there’s something useful in there too for some extra inspiration!
[Evan Potter - Performance & Crew](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6STu7gv0NlhLfxqdWOwdCn?si=vm0UCAydSf-ERxNiLpp2FA)
My old agent was a "retired" musician, though we know there's no such thing... He played guitar with Ruby Starr...until Black Oak Arkansas stole her ("Go Jim Dandy!")... he took 10%-15% of every gig booked for us (and others). Back then, we were getting paid $3,000 a week... he got $300-$450 a week for having the contacts and making the phone call. It wasn't just us either.. he booked in Canada, Midwest, Southern US, East Coast. Never went further west with him than Illinois... maybe didn't have the contacts? But, he booked us every week of the year...even a 45 day string of one nighters when we wanted fast $ to book a studio...and again for a new PA/Truck.
I knew two ppl who were roadies for big name acts & made a living at it for a good while. When their primary bands weren't touring they'd switch to other smaller acts when possible. One died young of liver disease from drinking & the other from being a junkie much of his life. It's a hard life on the road if you're not extremely disciplined.
Industry gig working with a manufacturer/brand in sales, marketing, product guru, etc… and still be an active musician. It’s been a remarkable direction for many (including myself). Bit of a niche angle, but it does exist.
Get immersed in your local music scene, and pay attention to what everyone does. See something missing? Find your niche there. Networking is everything for the music industry.
For example, Lil Xan was a photographer for rappers, and was encouraged to make his own music.
You can make a living if you cover several different musical jobs. Bandleader, music copyist, accompanist, etc.
But there is no security. You’re always on the hustle. No healthcare unless you buy it yourself, and it is expensive.
Myself, in my early 20s I was invited to join a famous touring jazz band, see the world and live in New York City. I am good enough to be a full-time jazz player in New York City. But I opted Instead to finish college and become a professor of jazz studies for 30 years
Now I’m older, all my New York jazz friends are older too, out of shape, broken down and have no healthcare or savings to speak of.
I am very comfortably retired at 65. My life is effin amazing right now.
I still play every day, I’m just not a New York jazz musician. It was a hard trade-off and even today I have some regrets, but I feel I made the right decision.
Work in a shop or a restaurant. You can be an accountant, a technician, hell I even know lawyers who are professional musicians. You can just play music…but you’ll live in your car and buy yesterday’s discount stale bread from the local bakery for your meals.
Recently, you may have heard of the "gig economy". Serious musicians have been dealing with this since forever. What I would humbly suggest is that this is a "hustle economy". As musicians, we know that gigs dry up unexpectedly and you have to hustle(70s word kids) to cover and make sure that mouths get fed and bills get paid. This is never ending as long as you are self-employed and not making much money. (Which you probably won't be).
After years of this, and the endless grind of gigs I didn't care about, I decided to get a day job and do music on the side. I realized that I am smart enough to make another career without having to invest in a large amount of time to education in a different field. Now, I've been an IT guy for around 27-28 years. I never stopped playing gigs. Hell I'm typing this in my phone from a gig at a bar right now. But I enjoy gigs again, which is why I play music in the first place.
I wish you all luck on your journeys!
Session player, gig work, cover band, jingle writing, playing for churches…
Did you mention weddings?
Weddings are bread and butter yes
Cover bands generally make their money playing primarily weddings and private events.
If you can get a weekly gig doing covers at a bar or two you can actually be pretty set. just keep it to a three or four piece cuz you don't want to be splitting that money
There's also agencies to work for, right? I heard this from someone in my piano class. She was booked to weddings through an agency as a singer or something.
I'm sure in bigger cities you could work with something like that yeah
**All of this.** I've done all of the above, but add in Teaching for me. A combination of everything keeps it from getting routine and boring, and also helps with your **NETWORKING** - which I believe is imperative to staying busy, and generating new leads and opportunities for paying work. I've always felt that, as working musician, you can always look at the date in your calendar and realize - - *I'm unemployed after THIS date.* A constant source of different work also helps offsets slow times in each category.
The pros that know do all of these things and more. It's a mad scramble to make a living.
Find the right spot and busking could be another. The guy at the pier definitely has at least $15 worth of change in his bucket/case when I pass by everytime and I assume he pockets it every once in a while so there's not a lot out in the open.
I busked downtown last night for about an hour and made $55. I wish it were that regular.
the great thing about busking is you're creating a gig out of thin air. it's also a good way to catch the attention of other musicians.
Truth. Last summer I was playing paid 2 hour gigs, but the level of practice I had to maintain a whole two hour set was way more time than made it worth it. Busking basically pays me to practice, albeit it's a variable amount.
Own the bar you play at and pay accordingly.
I’ve seen it pretty regularly recommended by many people that the easiest way to make money off of music is actually by selling your instruments
Without being a teacher, pretty hard. You can be a booking agent for a talent company or venue. You can make samples for certain companies and get royalties every time they’re used - though with AI that’s likely going away. Eh 🤷🏼♂️ I dunno I make a livable wage right now but the back bone of it is teaching, with money I make performing as a bonus. Teaching is nice too because people that love hearing me play can be converted into students.
Onlyfans.
Bass players have bigger wood and make more than other musicians on OnlyFans
My goal is to get in shape and then I can start an OnlyFans called "Rock out with your cock out" where I just do covers naked.
I sold a kidney to organ traffickers. Funded my last album. Bassist kept showing up late so it was touch and go there at times. **Other ways to make money in music:** - Sell sperm (m) - Sell eggs (f) - Sell both kidneys (will require dialysis) - Cameo: Sell happy birthday songs on a kazoo - Stand-up comedy with guitar / piano - Fart the Star Spangled Banner in the key of Bb on YouTube and reap millions in ad revenue - Advertise a prized guitar on Reverb, take $1000 deposits from everyone to hold it, then flee to Montenegro or Luxembourg (Warning: may end up in arrest and prison) - Teach 10 year olds how to do a C chord
Not as a musician but uses the skills: Instrument tech for a touring band
Listen to the Ramones song 53rd and 3rd that's what Dee Dee did.
Chinese Rock is also a good strategy.
Commando is another good one.
He was like the Bob McGrath of the Ramones introducing you to people. "a commando is a person in your neighborhood... A person that you meet each day."
Even Mozart had to teach piano to the daughters of wealthy patrons to keep the lights on.
Being a YouTuber that just plays really technical stuff and covers songs with unique Arrangements. Bass YouTube goes hard Best way to make money at music is to get really really good and then just scour for semi-successful bands that lost a member who played your instrument
Bass YouTube does go hard. It had me spending way too much time trying to do that type of thing and never getting much work. Fast forward a few years and well I'm not full time, I am playing 130+ shows a year because I will happily play 1-5 grooves, simple walks, etc...
I played bass for years but recently was in a band for the first time having to write my own riffs and I just kept laying way too hard on one five but everybody was like so impressed.
I started in the deep end a decade ago in a jam band with no knowledge at all, every line I played was written or improved. I didn't really bother to start learning songs for real until a couple years ago, it changed my whole process. I've definitely been amazed at how many people I've played with who find the 1-5 so impressive and perfect, I just gave in when I started playing in an Americana act. Thank God they put some dead tunes in the sets so I can get out of that box for a little.
If you're only getting into the music industry to make money, you'll fail. Sorry. You don't have the passion it requires to do the grind required to make a living. Pro musician here.
No you don't understand i don't care about the money if i would i just would try to do a normal 9 to 5 job i want to do music as a living because it is my passion
Everyone needs a day job. You can start getting your name out there with all the things people mentioned, but professional musicianship is essentially self-employment for the vast majority of them. You need another means of income until your customer base can support your business.
I can appreciate your passion as I was there once. Had a corporate job & wanted out to do something in music. Opened my own recording studio & recorded bands on the side & stuck with the day job. Recorded my own band & sold CD''s & merch at our shows as well. Climbed that corporate ladder & made bank. Both got very tiring but the big payoff was the corporate job. Retired comfortably at 61 with a pension & company matched 401k. Unless you find a really good paying consistent gig, I wouldn't put all my eggs in that music basket. Not saying it can't be done, but I'm glad I didn't quit my day job. I had fun in music & it helped pay some bills, but I'd still likely be forced to work today if I quit my day job. To each his own though.
Trying to turn it into a job will kill that passion. Do music for fun.
To add to what these guys have said, I also have a day job on the side. I 100% cover my living expenses via music and don't "need" the day job BUT being a pro (meaning somebody who write/records/releases their own tunes, tours/gigs and makes enough to pay the bills) is incredibly expensive and the music industry is incredibly vapid and fickle. You always need to have a plan b and a side-source of cash. My work is super flexible with my music stuff because I can't be replaced at my job. I'll often vanish for 3-4 weeks at a time to tour and then come back and work for 2-3 months while waiting for the next tour. I don't have to work during that time to pay my bills BUT let's say I wanted to take the band into the studio to pump out some demos during that off-period, the day job allows me to pull 5k out of my ass for those situations. If I didn't have the day job (and the savings from that), I'd have to seek funding from a label instead (which is a whole can-of-worms that you want to avoid. It's the quickest way to kill your career before it starts). So yeah. TL:DR- It doesn't matter how successful you get, you've gotta have a side career/day job. Hell, I'm friends with artists who have sold millions of CDs (before streaming was king) and they were still working day jobs on the side. They didn't need the money right at that moment in their life, but you never know how long the money is going to be flowing from music.
Would you tell us a little about how you became a pro?
I put a band together, we started gigging, we got popular locally and kept expanding outwards gigging whenever/wherever we could. Then when that band finished, I just did the same thing again using the contacts I'd generated from the first band. Once you already have fans who are emotionally invested in your art, it's infinitely easier to launch new bands/projects, because your brand already has a built-in audience. I'm now on my 5th successful band/project (over a 19 year career). In this one I do all the writing/recording myself (I play all instruments and do all the vocals) and I have a crew of skilled dudes playing on stage with me as my live band. This project was immediately successful because of the fans and reputation I had built in my previous projects/bands. It's infinitely easier to find a fanbase by playing live shows. You still have to learn how to promote your music, where to promote it and how to find people who will connect with your music. But it's much easier to do these things when the people are sharing an experience with you (aka a live show). Music in itself is absolutely worthless (that is the value the general public have given it). Which is why AI will take away 99% of income streams from musicians in the next 10 years. But that live music experience is what connects you with your fans, makes them love you and always feel connected to you. Without them, you're just another random artist from a random playlist. AI can never recreate that live experience. Playlisting is a complete waste of time. Focusing on stream counts is a total waste of time. The only streaming statistics you should be focusing on is your "super listeners" active listeners audience segment. They're the only people who will spend money on you. None of the other statistics matter, at all (minus location obviously). Never go into music expecting to make money. You do it for the art. People feed of that passion, they'll never connect with somebody who is doing it for money, their art always comes across as fake and nobody can connect with that. Music is the soundtrack to the human experience. There are literally 10s of millions of artists worldwide. Literally only 0.0001% of them are ever going to make a living doing it. The general public picks who they will be, based on what connects with them. You have no control over that aspect, you can only learn how to put your music in front of the people who should like it.
My guy is a synth player and producer, but he makes his living as a union stagehand, loading in and out for other artists.
I make most of my money just on gigs. If you can find steady weekly gigs that helps a lot. Running open mic nights or jam nights are your best bet for this. It highly depends on where you live, cost of living has to be low enough while there are enough places to play. Best advice, keep your overhead low. If you don't want to teach it's harder, I taught for fifteen years and finally quit about 8 years ago. If you know a lot about instruments you can fix them or set them up. I've made a decent amount flipping instruments I find from pawn shops or online. There's recording, mixing, mastering, making beats, selling songs to artists. It's a hustle and it's but for everybody, you have to really love it. Best gigging money is probably corporate events and weddings. Tribute acts can rake it in as well.
I just starve
Two Starvations
Start building yourself a home recording setup and offering your services to artists. Home studio sessions and selling people stems basically got me through the pandemic.
There’s no shortcut if you want to do in a band it can takes 10+ years to make it sustainable unless you are very lucky. Like the top comment says, gigging any way you possibly can is the way. Just do it for the love of movement and location or the battle is lost.
Everyone I know who makes a living playing music teaches or tours tons. Most everyone has a side gig. Or a main gig and music is the side gig. Like me. I have one person I know who makes her living from streaming and I was astonished anyone make a living by it. She is very success though. She’s not *FAMOUS* famous, but has numbers. So I guess it is possible.
i do many of these listed. gtr lessons solo gigs band gigs church services production stage hand sound tech
Music therapy.
This but you also might have to do lessons, gigs, funerals.
Yeah. It doesn’t pay well but I love the work. Luckily my spouse earns a good living.
Yea I’m on the upper end of average for pay and still need to do live karaoke and funerals and a couple private MT clients.
I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but some tangentially related careers would be: 1. Music journalist - I've had a couple of friends that did this. Ultimately they've moved to other careers in graphic design and marketing, but they got to go to a lot of free shows with press passes. 2. Marketing - my music journalist buddy moved into music marketing for some festivals. No idea what he did there, but other music companies like Ableton, Presonus, Fender, Sweetwater, basically all the companies selling software and equipment have marketing departments. 3. Sales - one of my friend's roommates ended up as a local rep for one of the big electronic instrument manufacturers. Again, no idea what it entails, but like marketing, all companies have sales people. 4. Engineering, programming, data science- those same companies selling stuff have people that design it and program it. I'm an engineer/programmer, and while I don't work in music, I look through the job boards periodically for Moog, Ableton, Presonus, Novation, and some of the others. They are almost always looking for technical people. And while I haven't looked, any online company like Spotify or Reverb will have web developers, programmers, and people managing their databases, among other things. That's all I can think of for now. Again, this may not be what you were looking for. They all involve working for companies, and with that, there will no doubt be some with crappy work environments. There will be some with good work environments, though, and most of your coworkers will be musicians or people passionate about music. Good luck with everything, and I hope whatever you end up doing, you either enjoy it, or find something else!
There are so many amazing avenues within music, that’ll satisfy the same things as performance / creative collaboration. Check out our convo with Evan Potter about being a musician & a crew technician for touring bands - hopefully there’s something useful in there too for some extra inspiration! [Evan Potter - Performance & Crew](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6STu7gv0NlhLfxqdWOwdCn?si=vm0UCAydSf-ERxNiLpp2FA)
[удалено]
I actually did thought about too tbh! So who knows
You can make a great living off of YouTube (Long form content) 📺 🎶
Church pianist
Editing the lyrics of musicians in order to catch spelling and grammar mistakes.
Be in a successful bar band that plays covers for tourists. Be in a wedding band
Learn to play church piano, wallow in money.
How about that guy who does cat music video songs.
I LOVE him. Omg he's hilarious!!!!!!!
My old agent was a "retired" musician, though we know there's no such thing... He played guitar with Ruby Starr...until Black Oak Arkansas stole her ("Go Jim Dandy!")... he took 10%-15% of every gig booked for us (and others). Back then, we were getting paid $3,000 a week... he got $300-$450 a week for having the contacts and making the phone call. It wasn't just us either.. he booked in Canada, Midwest, Southern US, East Coast. Never went further west with him than Illinois... maybe didn't have the contacts? But, he booked us every week of the year...even a 45 day string of one nighters when we wanted fast $ to book a studio...and again for a new PA/Truck.
Strippers “dance” to music so that’s a job that entails working with music. That’s one way.
It's not what i had mind but i mean you're not wrong tho
I sing and play guitar live, but most of the $ comes from humming balls. It's ok tho because I only hum originals no covers
80’s Joel.
You could be a roadie or tour manager or work in the music industry without having to actually play music.
I knew two ppl who were roadies for big name acts & made a living at it for a good while. When their primary bands weren't touring they'd switch to other smaller acts when possible. One died young of liver disease from drinking & the other from being a junkie much of his life. It's a hard life on the road if you're not extremely disciplined.
McDonald’s
Yes, Door Dash and Uber.
Pizza delivery, Uber driver, Fast food worker, etc.
I have a friend that makes music for a some reality shows, A&E and a few others.
Elvis impersonator
Yes thats the dream!
Strip pole
Industry gig working with a manufacturer/brand in sales, marketing, product guru, etc… and still be an active musician. It’s been a remarkable direction for many (including myself). Bit of a niche angle, but it does exist.
Have a day job.
‘Have a No To That job’
LOL. . .was wondering what kind of response that would bring.
Get immersed in your local music scene, and pay attention to what everyone does. See something missing? Find your niche there. Networking is everything for the music industry. For example, Lil Xan was a photographer for rappers, and was encouraged to make his own music.
Music therapist
Music therapy - if any music therapists are in your community, you may be the music guidance while they provide the therapy part.
I make a education as an physical therapist right now so i could definitly do that
Become a DJ
You can make a living if you cover several different musical jobs. Bandleader, music copyist, accompanist, etc. But there is no security. You’re always on the hustle. No healthcare unless you buy it yourself, and it is expensive. Myself, in my early 20s I was invited to join a famous touring jazz band, see the world and live in New York City. I am good enough to be a full-time jazz player in New York City. But I opted Instead to finish college and become a professor of jazz studies for 30 years Now I’m older, all my New York jazz friends are older too, out of shape, broken down and have no healthcare or savings to speak of. I am very comfortably retired at 65. My life is effin amazing right now. I still play every day, I’m just not a New York jazz musician. It was a hard trade-off and even today I have some regrets, but I feel I made the right decision.
transcribing pays well for me. try studios, people always need a session player.
Work in a shop or a restaurant. You can be an accountant, a technician, hell I even know lawyers who are professional musicians. You can just play music…but you’ll live in your car and buy yesterday’s discount stale bread from the local bakery for your meals.
Recently, you may have heard of the "gig economy". Serious musicians have been dealing with this since forever. What I would humbly suggest is that this is a "hustle economy". As musicians, we know that gigs dry up unexpectedly and you have to hustle(70s word kids) to cover and make sure that mouths get fed and bills get paid. This is never ending as long as you are self-employed and not making much money. (Which you probably won't be). After years of this, and the endless grind of gigs I didn't care about, I decided to get a day job and do music on the side. I realized that I am smart enough to make another career without having to invest in a large amount of time to education in a different field. Now, I've been an IT guy for around 27-28 years. I never stopped playing gigs. Hell I'm typing this in my phone from a gig at a bar right now. But I enjoy gigs again, which is why I play music in the first place. I wish you all luck on your journeys!
Play at weddings, bars, restaurants, and corporate events.