Jan. 13, 2026

Losing Money on Every Music Release

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I read an email from an independent artist who’s doing everything “right” releasing consistently, investing in quality, tracking expenses and still losing money on every release.
He’s spending $1,200–$1,800 per song, releasing every 6–8 weeks, and pulling in 20k streams per release. On paper, that sounds like progress. In reality, the numbers don’t add up.
Streaming revenue barely dents the cost. Shows pay $100–$150. Expenses never stop.
And the hardest part? Everyone keeps telling him he’s “doing well.”
In this episode, we break down:

Why streaming numbers don’t equal sustainability
The dangerous myth of “consistent releasing”
When investing in quality actually works — and when it doesn’t
How artists confuse progress with momentum
The difference between building leverage and burning cash
When to slow down, reassess, and change strategy

This is not a motivational episode. It’s a reality check for artists who are serious about the business side of music.
If you have a question about the music industry and want me to answer it not just to help you, but to help other artists in the same situation head over to https://MatthewRix.com and send it in. Please include as many details as possible so the answer can be useful to others.

Listen to Mattrix Minute for daily Music Business insight without the music industry hype.
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Hey, this is Matthew Ricks, and today on the Music

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Business newsletter, we got an email from an artist who's

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losing money with every release and he wants to know

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what is he doing wrong. But before we dive into

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that email, if you have a question on the music

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industry that you'd like for me to answer, go to

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Matthewricks dot com click submit your question, give me as

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many details as possible, and we will answer it here

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on the channel. Now for the email, he says, Hey, Matthew,

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I'm writing this because i feel like I'm doing everything

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I'm supposed to be doing and somehow I'm still moving

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backwards financially. He says. I'm twenty eight based in Phoenix, Arizona,

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and I've been releasing music independently for five years. I

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write and record everything myself in a small home setup,

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then outsource mixing and mastering because I know my limits.

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Good for you. Good for you that you know what

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your strengths and your weaknesses are. Most artists either they

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outsource everything or they outsource nothing, and they should be

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in that happy medium like you are. He said. Each

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single usually costs me somewhere between twelve to eighteen hundred

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dollars all in when you factor in production and artwork fees. Okay,

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twelve to eighteen hundred dollars to master, to mix and

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master a song, because how much are your artwork fees?

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Let's say let's say you're paying one hundred dollars for artwork,

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which is too much money. Then you could be paying

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seventeen hundred dollars for somebody to mix and master your

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your one song as an indie artist. That's way too

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much money. But let's continue, shall we. He says, I

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release about one song every six to eight weeks. He says,

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I try to stay consistent, post content around each release,

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and push people to Spotify and Apple Music. On paper,

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it feels responsible. A new song every six to eight

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weeks and you're not clearing eighteen hundred dollars from that,

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And then you say you try to stay consistent. You

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post content around each release, So are you are you

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doing a build up here or are you like three

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days before the release you're posting up to three days

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after and then you just kind of move move on.

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On paper, it feels responsible, not if you're paying seventeen

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hundred dollars have a song mixed and master that's not responsible,

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he said. But here's the math that's killing me. Most

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of most of my releases land around twenty thousand streams

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total across all platforms over their lifetime. Yikes. He says.

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That sounds decent when people hear the number, but the

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revenue barely covers anything. I'll make maybe one hundred and

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twenty dollars per song after months and months of streaming. Yeah,

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you can't be putting. Okay. So here's the thing. Your

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cap right now is twenty thousand streams. You don't tell

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me what your monthly listeners are, but you got to

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get that number up. If every six to eight weeks

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you're releasing a new song that you're doing everything yourself,

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besides mixing and mastering, you're sending the same song to

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the same mixer and master for seventeen hundred dollars because

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I'm giving you one hundred dollars for your artwork, which

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is which is I think way too much. If that's

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what you're paying and you're getting twenty thousand streams, you

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don't say, but did you have a did you ever

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have a song that hit thirty thousand or forty thousand

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or fifty thousand, Like, did you have one that broke

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out and while it was climbing the mountain? You just like, well,

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Sound released another song. It's called the Illusion of Action.

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I gotta be doing something here, he says. Meanwhile, I'm

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paying rent, I'm paying for software subscriptions, I'm paying for

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visuals and promos. I'm paying for gas to play shows

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that pay a hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars. Okay,

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so you're so you don't say if you have another job,

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you would have to have another job if every six

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to eight weeks you're making one hundred and twenty dollars

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from that song. Now you also don't tell so many

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songs you got You could have three hundred songs out

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there and each song is making you one hundred and

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twenty dollars, which isn't life changing money, but it is

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better than what you're saying right here. How much gas

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are you? Like? Where are you driving for shows that

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pay one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars? That

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you got to include gas money? I mean, if it's

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fifteen minutes down the road, that's okay, You're you would

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you would you would use that much gas to go

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to the movie. Okay, he says, I'm not reckless with money.

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I track everything, and that's part of the problem. The numbers,

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the numbers don't lie. I'm investing far more than I'm

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getting back. You're an artist, You're an up and coming artist,

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and this is this is what happens. The problem is,

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I don't know where you're coming up with this. I

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need to really a new song every six to eight weeks,

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because honestly, as a new artist, you don't give us

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any numbers besides your financials. But as a new artist

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throwing something out every six to eight weeks that you're

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paying twelve to eighteen hundred dollars per song, it's just

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a lot because you're not letting you're not letting a

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song marinate in the algorithm. You're not letting a song

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kind of see what takes off, what people are gravitating towards.

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Twenty thousand streams per song is not bad. But if

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this is your only means of financial income, which you

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don't say but it sounds like it is, but then

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you're paying rent, so you're not paying rent one hundred

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and twenty dollars every eight weeks. I don't know you're

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paying for visuals and promo. You don't say what the

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visuals or promo are. You shouldn't be paying for that.

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You say, I'm not reckless with money, but you are

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paying eighteen hundred dollars for mixing mastering a song. He says,

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what messes with my head is that people keep telling

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me I'm doing well because they see the twenty thousand

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mark number. So when they go to your Spotify and

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they see that you got twenty thousand plays on a song,

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that's a big number. I mean, we released the Matrics

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Minute back in September and within a month it did

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like forty nine thousand streams or something. And a typical

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Matrics minute for us is it hits one hundred thousand,

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then we release a new one. Except for this year,

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we're releasing one every Monday, and I tell people, I'm like,

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this one bombed. It did forty nine thousand streams, and

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everyone's like, how can you say it bombs? It had

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you know, almost fifty thousand streams, and I'm like, yeah,

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that's not a good number for us. A typical Matrics

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minute over a year, one track will usually do about

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a quarter of a million plays, which thank you, by

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the way, for everybody who listens to the matrics minute

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on Spotify and Apple Music and everything. But they look

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at that twenty thousand and they think that you've made it.

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They think that you're being greedy. I think that if

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you have a song doing twenty thousand plays, you got

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to write it out longer than six to eight weeks.

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You got to see what happens, because I think you're

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probably putting too much music out. And then if you

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are hitting up Instagram, which you don't give us Instagram numbers,

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it's just like becomes white noise. It's just like, oh yeah,

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Bob's releasing another song. He said. Other artists compliment my work.

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Friends say they are proud, and I even get messages

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from strangers saying my songs helped them through something. I mean,

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look that last line about getting emails from strangers about

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how your song impacted them. I know you can't take

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that to the bank, but that is an awesome feeling.

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He says. That part feels real. The financial part doesn't.

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He says. I don't want to be rich. I just

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want to feel like I'm setting money on He says,

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I just don't want to feel like I'm setting money

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on fire to prove I'm serious of action. Right there,

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you're putting out music every six eight weeks, so you

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can prove that you're doing something that you're serious about

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your music. Meanwhile, you're flooding the market and you're just

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kicking stuff out there, and you're not really giving any

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time for fans to find their favorite song, discover other stuff.

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Because there's a song, the algorithm might start picking up

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and then you're gonna throw something else out there, he says.

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So here's where I'm stuck. Do I keep releasing at

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this pace and accept the losses as the cost of building.

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I think you need to figure out why you're spending

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eighteen hundred dollars to mix master a song and have artwork.

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That number should be cut in half. I know you're

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not going you know, you shouldn't be going to you know,

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some hot shot in La or New York. You can

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find some guy, and I mean you're in Phoenix. That's

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a pretty good market. You can find some dude who's

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got a good air, who's up and coming for a

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couple hundred bucks. That number should be cut in half.

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If it's eighteen hundred bucks. Nine hundred might even be

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too much, but it's better than eighteen hundred. And I

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would I would slow down. The pace every six to

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eight weeks is ridiculous. That's a lot of pressure on

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you to keep going, he says. Do I slow way

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down and only release when there's a bigger plan. I

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think you slow down until you come up with a

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number that makes sense. And so if you're doing twenty thousand,

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you should be slowing down right now and keep promoting

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a song until it gets to thirty thousand, and then

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when the next song gets to thirty thousand, you do

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the same thing until the next one gets to forty thousand.

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You don't just keep just like, Okay, here's another song.

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It's been six weeks, he says. Am I overspending on

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quality before there's a demand. Well, you don't tell us

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what the visual and promos you're paying for and what.

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Like I said, you're paying too much for mixing and mastering.

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You just are, he says, or am I just in

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that brutal middle stage nobody talks about. Well, so you

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do have the artist who don't do anything, and then

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they wonder whether they're not making money you're putting way

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too much money into stuff and you're not making any

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money for it. So you got to slow that down,

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and you gotta cut your You gotta cut your expenses,

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just like you would if, you know, if you were

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a family and you're like, we're spending way too much

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money on all these streaming services or whatever or going

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out to eat. We gotta cut back. You gotta cut

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back until until the demand is there. Find a find

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a guy in local in Phoenix, or you know, go

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up to Vegas or go over to San Diego or whatever.

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Find a young guy, good heir who's gonna do you well.

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Price is gonna be cheaper, probably would love the work,

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probably love to pay too, and you do you probably

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get you probably get this all in for a fourth

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of what you're paying right now. He says. I also

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feel pressure to level up, bigger visuals, better promos, and

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maybe even hiring a PR team. No stop, stop, yikes, yikes, Okay, one.

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The level up thing, it's a myth. That's your illusion

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of action right there. That's you going, I gotta do

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something here, all right, nothing's working, so let's throw more

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money at something. That's a terrible idea. Bigger visuals. You

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don't tell us what your numbers are. Like, I don't

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know what your Instagram numbers are. I can't tell you

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to do bigger visuals because you're not telling me anything.

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I mean, are you monetized on Instagram or TikTok? You

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don't tell me better promo? What better promo? A playlist placement?

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And then to hire a PR team. What is a

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PR team gonna do for you? Your songs are doing

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twenty thousand streams to date in the lifetime of it.

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You're making one hundred and twenty dollars on the life

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of a song, and you're gonna hire a PR for

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what so they can send a press release out that

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nobody's gonna pick up. It's a terrible idea. Stop stop

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with the illusion of action, he says. I guess my

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real question is this, how do you know when investing

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in your music is strategic When you don't pay eighteen

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hundred dollars for mixing a mass strain on a song

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and wanting to level up by hiring a PR team, Okay,

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that's just stupid. I mean, you know, obviously you've watched

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my videos or you've listened to the matrics minute because

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you found me and you emailed me, And I always

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just wonder when you guys are like when I'm like,

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don't do promo, you don't need PR, don't put it

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in playlist, and you're like, I'm gomost send an email

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and ask him if I should do playlists, Like this

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is just redig. This is where your money's going. You're

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paying for promo and it's probably this this crap here

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with like a PR company. It's nonsense. You're wasting your money,

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he says. How do you know when investing in your

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music is strategic when you don't pay for all that crap,

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he says, versus when it's just subsidizing a dream that

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isn't paying you back because you're you're throwing good money

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at bad things. And now and then this leveling up

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thing shows me that this is ego because nobody should

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be happy where they're at. You should always be striving

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for more, you should always be striving for growth. That's

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a very endable thing to do. But to level up

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to what who are you in competition with? Because the

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only person you should be in competition with is yourself.

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The only person's numbers that you should be doing better

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than the last release is yours, not any other artists.

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That's what I'm saying. If you're doing twenty thousand streams

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in the life of a song, go for thirty. It's

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like what I tell artists to do with shows. You know,

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if you're playing one hundred and fifty people, try to

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get to one hundred and seventy five. Try to get

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to two hundred, then to twenty five. Don't be worrying

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about what this other band does. You stay in your lane,

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you worry about yourself. You'll always be better off that way,

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he says. Uh. I love making music. I don't regret

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the time. I'm just scared of waking up at thirty

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five realizing I've never changed course when the warning signs

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are already there. The warning signings are that you're spending

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your money like a fool. That's the warning signs. The

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warning signs are it would take a ten second Google

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search to realize that an independent artist with twenty thousand

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should not be paying eighteen hundred dollars for mixed mastering

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and artwork on a single. That is that is so

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reckless with your money. And then you're like, I'm not

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making any money. I'm going in the whole because you're

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paying eighteen hundred dollars for mixed mastering and artwork on

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a single, and now you want to level up to

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something and hire a pr team to do publicity on

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an artist that your best song has been twenty thousand streams?

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Who does this make sense to? He says, I don't

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need motivation, I need clarity. The clarity is stopped spending

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your money. The clarity is stopped being stupid with your money,

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leveling up, leveling up to what? Oh I could level

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up and find a mixed master to pay thirty eight

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hundred dollars per song. You can level up that way too.

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Don't mean you're gonna get more than twenty thousand streams.

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You got to figure out why you're only getting twenty

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thousand streams per track. You have to what's the cutoff?

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Look at your grass? Is it? You know? Is the

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song starting to pop off at week six? You're doing

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this and then you put a new song out and

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it drops because the new song is getting everybody's attention.

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You don't know. And when you're putting that much music

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out and you're doing everything yourself, you can't even see

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the pattern of what people like. There's no trend. I'm blessed.

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I have a team. They watch everything. They watch videos.

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They this video did well, this Matterric's minute did well.

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Then they then they harass me and tell me to

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keep making the same stuff over and over again, which

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I'm not gonna do. But you're doing all this because

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you want to level up with bigger visuals and for

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what you're getting twenty thousand plays a song. Figure out

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how to get to thirty thousand before you're gonna hire

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a freaking pr company. But cut back on your expenses

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when it comes to mixing and mastering. He said, thanks

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for reading, Bob. Well, Bob, when you're spending you know,

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you're spending money like a drunken fool, as my mom

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would say. But good luck this. This is not a

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blatant ego, but there's a lot of ego here, and

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it's causing you to spend a lot of money doing

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the illusion of action. Because if you have any downtime

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and you don't want to do the little work, you

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don't want to post, you don't, so you want to

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hire somebody to do it, hoping that it gets you

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to the front line. Quicker, and it doesn't work that way.

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Nothing in life does. But thanks for the email. If

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you have a question on the music industry that you'd

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like my help with, go to Matthewricks dot com click

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submit your question, give me as many details as possible.

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I am Matthew Ricks and until next time, I will

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talk to you later