Dec. 26, 2025

Who Actually Makes Money in the Music Business?

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 a lot “right” but still doesn’t understand how anyone actually makes money in the music business.
He’s 29.
He’s been releasing music for five years.
He has 40,000 monthly listeners, songs with 500k+ streams, tours occasionally, sells merch, and licenses music for small projects.
From the outside, it looks like success.
From the inside, the numbers don’t add up.
Streaming barely covers costs.
Shows are inconsistent once travel is factored in.
Merch only works in the right rooms.
And every opportunity seems to come with another percentage taken off the top.
Managers.
Agents.
Distributors.
Marketing.
And the question that keeps nagging him:
Is the music itself ever supposed to be the main source of income?
Or is that just something artists are told early on?
In this episode, I break down:
• Where money actually comes from for independent artists
• Why “looking successful” doesn’t equal being sustainable
• When building a team makes sense financially — and when it doesn’t
• Why do so many artists survive on adjacent income
• How to avoid building a career that stays busy but never builds leverage
• What a realistic, grown-up music career actually looks like
This is a practical conversation, not about fame or blowing up, but about stability, clarity, and understanding the business before it’s too late.
Have a question about the music industry?
Go to https://MatthewRix.com. Include as many details as possible so the answer can help you and others in the same situation.

Listen to Mattrix Minute for daily Music Business insight without the music industry hype.
Spotify
Apple Music
Amazon Music
YouTube

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.600
Hey, this is Matthew Ricks, and today on the Music

2
00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.400
Business newsletter, we got an email from a guy who's

3
00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:08.039
done everything and he's wondering where the money's at. But

4
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.039
before we dive into that email, I'm gonna go ahead

5
00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:12.759
and ask you to subscribe to his channel if you

6
00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:14.759
don't already do it. And if you have a question

7
00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:16.760
on the music industry that you'd like for me to answer,

8
00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.480
just go to Matthewicks dot com click submit your question,

9
00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:23.199
give me as many details as possible, and we will

10
00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.399
answer it here on the channel. But now for the email,

11
00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:28.920
he says, Hey, Matthew, I'm writing because I realized I

12
00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.359
don't actually understand how the music business works anymore, not

13
00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:36.679
in a theatrical way, but in a real practical sense. Okay, well,

14
00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.960
we will try to help you. Let's continue with the email.

15
00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:45.520
He says. I'm twenty nine and I've been releasing music

16
00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:49.000
independently for about five years, and I feel like I'm

17
00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:53.399
constantly being told there's money and music. There can be

18
00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:58.960
money in music. It's not overnight. I remember this was

19
00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:05.519
man years ago. Guy hit me up on Instagram DM

20
00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:09.760
and he was just like, Spotify is a scam. Apple

21
00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:12.920
Music is a scam blah blah blah blah. And I

22
00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:15.920
was like, what's going on? You know? I thought it

23
00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:21.079
was gonna be a they don't pay enough thing. He

24
00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.239
goes on to tell me how. He's like, last month

25
00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:27.280
I did I don't know, one hundred thousand streams on

26
00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:30.920
Apple and Spotify combined, and I see it on my

27
00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.120
tune corn. He sends me the screenshot of his tune

28
00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:35.799
Core and I'm like, hey, man, that's great. What's the problem.

29
00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:37.319
He's like, I haven't been paid yet. And it was

30
00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:40.040
like three days into the new month, and I was like, dude,

31
00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:42.120
it's gonna be like two three months. He's like, what,

32
00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.079
they should pay me as soon as it's over, and

33
00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:47.200
I'm like, they're not in a hurry. That money sits

34
00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.959
in Spotify's account for a while, collect some interest, then

35
00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:54.640
they kick it over to Tune Corp. Sits in their

36
00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:58.799
bank accounts collect some interest. And he goes, well, mine's nothing,

37
00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:03.680
but if you take a hundred million songs and you're

38
00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:07.719
sitting on interest, that's pretty good money right there. But anyways,

39
00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:12.080
rants over, he says, but no one ever explains where

40
00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:14.639
it actually is or who is seeing it. He said,

41
00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:19.680
here's my situation. I have around forty thousand monthly listeners

42
00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.919
on Spotify, forty thousand. I have a few songs over

43
00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:29.000
five hundred thousand streams, so a half a million. Okay, Look,

44
00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:31.879
first of all, if this number is, if these two

45
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:38.039
numbers are correct, that is forty thousand monthly listeners is

46
00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:47.120
outstanding and you should be seeing money. Um, that is

47
00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:50.240
a huge number. And a song with a half a

48
00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:54.840
million streams, I mean, that's that's huge. Man. I have

49
00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:57.759
a matrix minute song right now that's sitting at like

50
00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:02.120
nine hundred and forty five thousand streams on Spotify, and

51
00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.360
every day it goes up because you guys listen, so

52
00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.520
thank you for that. I'm just waiting for that meter

53
00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:09.759
to roll over to one million. I don't know why,

54
00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:12.520
I just I just want it so bad, and then

55
00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:13.879
I'll get in and just be like ooh, I thought

56
00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:16.120
it'd feel different, because that's what happens with me with everything.

57
00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.919
He got to continue. So he's got forty thousand monthly

58
00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:22.479
listeners on Spotify, five hundred tho, he's got a couple

59
00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:24.800
of songs with five hundred thousand streams. He says, I

60
00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.680
have a small but active fan base online. If you

61
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.680
got forty thousand monthly listeners, my guy, you got a

62
00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.599
little bit bigger than a small but active fan base,

63
00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.759
he says. I tour occasionally, sell some merch and license

64
00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:46.520
my music for small indie projects when I can. My

65
00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.039
grandmother used to say that if this guy gave you

66
00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:52.400
a check for a million dollars, you'd complain that you

67
00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:54.599
got to go to the bank. I think this might

68
00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.159
be this type of situation, because if all of this

69
00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.199
is true, we're touring, we got a half a million

70
00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:04.840
streams on a song, we got forty thousand monthly listeners,

71
00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.879
We're touring, we're selling some merch, we're licensing our music,

72
00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:15.159
and we're not happy, he says. From the outside, people

73
00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:19.759
assume I'm doing well. Yeah, you should be. Now, are

74
00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:23.000
you buying a Bugatti with it? No? But you should

75
00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:26.879
be making some money here, he says. But when I

76
00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:29.600
actually look at the numbers, it feels like everything is

77
00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:34.800
spread thin. Streaming money barely covers anything. You got forty

78
00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:40.120
thousand monthly listeners, you should be I mean, if you

79
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:46.399
got forty thousand monthly listeners, let's say they they all

80
00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.199
listen to five songs. I mean, that's two hundred thousand

81
00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.879
plays right there on Spotify a month. I mean, bro,

82
00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.079
you're talking that's that could be. Now, I don't know

83
00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:00.959
where you're from. You don't tell me where you're at

84
00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.639
in the world, but in the US, man, that could

85
00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:09.399
be twelve to fifteen hundred dollars a month. And you're

86
00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:12.399
saying it barely covers anything, unless it's a lot of

87
00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:18.199
free plays, non premium plays, because then forty thousand plays

88
00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:23.639
is like four bucks. But anyways, let's continue, he said.

89
00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:27.680
Merch helps, but when the room is right, shows are

90
00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:31.800
hit or miss once you factor in travel. I mean,

91
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:37.160
so you're going to shows, you're driving touring. I don't know,

92
00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:38.839
you don't see you're in a band or a solo

93
00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:41.839
artists or whatever. But so you go and you drive

94
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.160
to a show and it could be awesome or not.

95
00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:50.199
So you're a touring artist. Merch helps, but only when

96
00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:53.759
the room is right. I mean, dude, if you got

97
00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:56.839
forty if you're legit and you got forty thousand monthly

98
00:05:56.920 --> 00:06:04.360
listeners and you're playing good shows, those good shows that

99
00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:06.120
you do, now, the bad shows are bad shows. It

100
00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:10.839
happens to everybody. But you might go into a poor market.

101
00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:15.360
But if you're playing, like you know, if you're touring

102
00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:20.920
and you're playing good sized rooms, you should have good

103
00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.360
merch sales unless you have crap merch or you have

104
00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.639
it overpriced. Nobody knows who you are and you're selling

105
00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.680
a shirt for fifty bucks or something. But merch helps,

106
00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:34.079
but only when the room is right. I mean, if

107
00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.360
you if you dude, you you're telling me you got

108
00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:41.839
a half a million streams on songs and you're touring regularly,

109
00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:45.600
and your merch is a bust and probably sounds like

110
00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:49.720
a merch problem, he says. And every opportunity seems to

111
00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:52.720
come with someone else taking a percentage. Welcome to the

112
00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:57.439
music industry, he says. Managers want fifteen to twenty percent,

113
00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:01.920
agents want ten percent. Distributors take their cut. Marketing costs

114
00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:07.439
never stop, Okay, managers want fifteen to twenty Yes, I

115
00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:10.079
don't know what I mean unless your manager is like

116
00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:13.439
helping you, like license your music for projects. I don't

117
00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:17.360
really know why you need a manager. I just I

118
00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:20.720
don't an agent getting ten percent. Yeah, but they're the

119
00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:25.519
ones getting you your shows, right, they should be distributors

120
00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:30.519
taking their cut. I mean, if you're with Ditto or

121
00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:37.160
Tunecore or distro Kid. They don't take a cut of distribution,

122
00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.040
Cedie Baby, I don't know if they they used to,

123
00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.920
I don't know if they still do. I don't know

124
00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:48.079
what the orchard takes. But those three that I mentioned,

125
00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:50.600
they don't take a cut of distribution. You just pay

126
00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:53.519
an upfront fee every year. So I don't know why

127
00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:57.439
distributors are taking a cut marketing costs. You don't tell

128
00:07:57.439 --> 00:07:58.879
me what the marketing costs are. I don't know if

129
00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:02.160
you're running ads or if you're paying for services to

130
00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.160
help you reach that forty thousand monthly listeners. But I

131
00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:07.639
don't know what marketing costs you would have. And then

132
00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.040
also on this list here, you don't put touring costs.

133
00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.360
So I'm a little confused by all this. You don't

134
00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:17.680
really give me a lot of information on this one.

135
00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:22.120
But we'll continue. He says, I'm not complaining. I love

136
00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.759
these emails from artists that all they do is complain.

137
00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:26.959
Then they go, I'm not complaining, and then they continue

138
00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:30.079
to complain. Yes, you are complaining, he says. I know

139
00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.480
this is a business. I just don't understand how people

140
00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:36.039
move from this level to something sustainable you got forty

141
00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:41.440
thousand monthly streams. You tell me you're touring regularly. You are. Actually,

142
00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:47.399
if you're an independent artist and you're licensing your music

143
00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:52.279
to projects, you're getting paid for that, you are. I mean, bro,

144
00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:56.240
you're in the one percent of artists. If you are touring,

145
00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:03.720
licensing your projects forty thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, songs

146
00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:08.879
with over a half a million streams, you're not. You

147
00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:13.159
are not the typical artist who emails here. Usually we

148
00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:15.080
get like the worst stories, like hey, how do I

149
00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.440
turn my life around? But then you get the art.

150
00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:19.279
You get the emails from the artists who are they

151
00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.440
got four thousand monthly listeners and there's nothing wrong. I

152
00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.879
love those emails. The guys who you know, they're just

153
00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:26.600
trying to get a they're trying to get a gig.

154
00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:29.120
But you're doing all of this and you're not making

155
00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:37.080
any money. That is interesting, He says. What confuses me

156
00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:39.519
the most is that everyone around me seems to survive

157
00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:43.320
by doing adjacent things producing for other artists, writing for

158
00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:50.600
other artists, music, teaching lessons, running studios, creating content. Well,

159
00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:56.000
if you're touring, you really can't do lessons. And I

160
00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.960
know some artists who do producing when they're not on

161
00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:03.799
the road, but that's not really a thing writing for

162
00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.759
other artists. Writing for other artists is a gamble because

163
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:10.559
you can write for other artists, but you don't know

164
00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:14.240
if like the label's gonna pick it up, or how

165
00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.039
much they're gonna gut the song. I mean, you might

166
00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:19.480
originally brought a song and you own seventy percent of

167
00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:21.440
the publishing, but after they had the other writers and

168
00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:24.639
they change it and they they you know, shorten it

169
00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:26.720
or make the chorus better or whatever, you could be

170
00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:33.039
down to fifteen percent. I've seen that happen. Actually, there

171
00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:35.919
was a there was an artist I was working with

172
00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:38.840
this artist, up and coming artists. We did her song.

173
00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:44.240
It was a phenomenal. Then a bigger artist actually caught it,

174
00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.480
like they heard it and they wanted it, and we're like, oh,

175
00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:47.840
we got to do this, like this is gonna be

176
00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.200
great publishing for you, be great publishing for the company.

177
00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:54.759
We're gonna you know, and everybody agreed. They went and

178
00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:00.080
did like ten rewrites on this song, and let's say

179
00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:04.000
the song's name was alien by the time they got

180
00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:07.399
done adding all the songwriters. Because everybody, the artist has

181
00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:08.960
to get in there because they want some publishing. The

182
00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:11.000
producers got to get in there because they want some publishing.

183
00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:13.879
Sometimes your A and R guy wants some publishing, so

184
00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.440
he'll add to the song as well. I never did that,

185
00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.799
but that's that's that's a that's the thing that A

186
00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:22.480
and R directors do. The song went from like let's

187
00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:25.120
just call it alien went to like you know, man

188
00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:29.240
on fire. It was like all they basically left was

189
00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:33.960
the melody and the original artists, you know, I think

190
00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:37.200
got like twenty percent publishing. Now, what they did was

191
00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:39.200
they flipped them just they just released the song on

192
00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.039
their own, which is what they would you know, because

193
00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:44.720
they all you're gonna get. All you're gonna have at

194
00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.279
the end of the day is somebody. You didn't sell

195
00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.120
it to them, You just let them use it. So really,

196
00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:51.200
at the end of the day, off both songs blow up,

197
00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:53.120
all you're gonna do is get accused of like stealing

198
00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:56.919
their melody line, which happens all the time. Running studios.

199
00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:00.879
I mean, yeah, there's there's some producers who are artists

200
00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:04.000
who tour, who run studios creating content. As an artist,

201
00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.279
you should be creating content anyways, and if you're doing

202
00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:09.159
it right, you could be getting monetized on Instagram or

203
00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:14.039
YouTube or TikTok, and that just kind of runs parallel

204
00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:16.240
with your music and touring. But I don't guess you're

205
00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:19.480
not doing that, he says. I'm sitting here wondering is

206
00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:21.799
the music itself ever supposed to be the main source

207
00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:31.080
of income? You dude, you have forty thousand monthly listeners,

208
00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:34.840
You have songs over a half a million streams. You

209
00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:38.960
tell me you're touring regularly. You tell me you've sold

210
00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:44.039
your music to projects. But see, here's the thing. I

211
00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:46.600
don't know where you live. I mean, you might live

212
00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.360
in San Francisco or New York City or London, which

213
00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:54.600
is really expensive to live, or you could be in Jackson, Mississippi,

214
00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:56.679
where it's pretty cheap to live. You just don't tell

215
00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:59.240
me where to live. But you should be making money here.

216
00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:05.000
If you have a manager that's taking fifteen to twenty percent,

217
00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:10.440
that's okay. They should be making you know, they should

218
00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.720
be getting you work to make up for that. Same

219
00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:14.720
with an agent. I mean, but your booking agents probably

220
00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:17.559
getting you all your shows anyways. I just don't know

221
00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.320
where you're not making any money. With what you're telling me,

222
00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.120
unless you're you're driving the shows. You're getting paid five

223
00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.759
hundred bucks for a show, and you're paying a you know,

224
00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:31.240
one thousand dollars in expenses with band and everything. If

225
00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:34.440
you're a solo artist and you're bringing a band down

226
00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:36.360
and you're paying them per show, that's gonna that's really

227
00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:39.720
going to hit into your budget. If you are in

228
00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.120
a band, you guys are splitting it up a couple

229
00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.000
of ways. You still should be making some money here.

230
00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:48.200
I'm not saying. Yeah, I'm not saying you're a millionaire,

231
00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:52.080
but you shouldn't be sending this email. Something's not something's

232
00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:56.360
a missed he says. Or is this or is that

233
00:13:56.519 --> 00:13:59.120
just something we tell ourselves early on. No, you should

234
00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:02.759
be making money with what you're doing. You should be

235
00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:07.279
making money, he says. I'm not chasing fame, I'm chasing stability. Well,

236
00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.639
you're an artist. You're never gonna have stability because you know,

237
00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:13.879
you could you could be the biggest artist in the

238
00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:16.240
world and then have to go on vocal rest and

239
00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.759
have to cancel a whole tour. You could be signed

240
00:14:19.799 --> 00:14:22.399
to a label and your an R director gets fired

241
00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:23.840
and you got a new an r director who can't

242
00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.679
stand you or like your music or whatever, and they

243
00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:28.919
show you like there is no stability in music. That's

244
00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:30.960
a myth. I don't really think there's a stability in

245
00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.080
a lot of life. You know, you go get a

246
00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:38.679
nine to five that the company could close tomorrow, you know,

247
00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.519
you get hit by a bus tomorrow, and there's you

248
00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:44.120
know that all the stability goes out the window. He says.

249
00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:46.639
I want to know what's a realistic growing up music

250
00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:50.399
career actually looks like, whether the path I'm on leads

251
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.559
there or just keeps me busy forever. I mean I

252
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:56.960
I dude, I've said this ten times already. You should

253
00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:02.639
be making money. You should be I mean one, you

254
00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:05.679
put that line in there about you're not doing content creation,

255
00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:08.639
so you should be doing content creation and reaching the

256
00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.919
goal where you can start making money from TikTok, YouTube, Instagram,

257
00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:17.840
making shorts, reels, all of that, promoting your music, promoting

258
00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:22.000
your upcoming shows, whatever. I don't understand why your merch

259
00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:26.279
isn't making more money if you're doing forty thousand monthly listeners.

260
00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.159
I don't know where you're not. I wish you would

261
00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:32.240
have told me when you told me you had forty

262
00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:34.200
thousand monthly listeners. I wish you would have told me

263
00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:39.200
how many streams you have all in every month. Another

264
00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.000
question I would have if we were just sitting here

265
00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:46.960
talking to each other, is who handles your money? Do

266
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:49.200
you get all the money and then you pay everybody?

267
00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:52.440
Or is somebody bringing it in taking their cut, giving

268
00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:54.000
you the rest and then you got to pay the

269
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000
rest of the people. I'm just wondering about that because

270
00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:00.039
you should be making some money. Here, he goes, the

271
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:05.200
question is where does music realistically come from? For independent artists? Shows,

272
00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:10.799
streaming merchandise, but you doing that, but then you also

273
00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:14.200
have your music licensed dandee projects. You need to once

274
00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.720
again get on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, try to get monetized

275
00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:21.799
doing that. That's where your money comes in independently, same

276
00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:23.720
thing it does when you're a major artist. It all

277
00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:27.279
comes from the same place. It's just the stages are bigger,

278
00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.919
the size of the crowd is bigger, the more merch

279
00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:33.000
you sell. But it's all the same place. It's just

280
00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.679
on a smaller scale, he says. And at what point

281
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:40.000
does a team actually make sense financially? Well, if you

282
00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:42.480
just told me you're paying a manager fifteen to twenty percent,

283
00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:47.039
and that's where your money's going going out. I mean,

284
00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:50.679
I'm a big believer that no artist should get a

285
00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:55.840
manager unless it's like we need you to negotiate a

286
00:16:55.879 --> 00:16:59.200
deal with a label, handle, licensing deal, stuff like that.

287
00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:01.080
But a lot of artists get managers is because they

288
00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:03.159
don't want to do the little stuff and they're just

289
00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:06.279
giving away their money. Some actually give away they're publishing too,

290
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:10.640
which is ridiculous to give to a manager. He said,

291
00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:14.319
how do artists avoid building careers that look comperassive but

292
00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:16.640
don't pay. You're giving too much of your money out

293
00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:20.400
to people, which I think as we're as we continue

294
00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:22.960
in this email, I think you're probably giving a lot

295
00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:25.720
of your money away, or you're not watching where your

296
00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:28.079
money's going, and somebody's given it away or taking more

297
00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:33.599
than they should, skimming off the top. Because these numbers

298
00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:38.680
just don't You should not. You should be like you

299
00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:40.640
should be with what you're doing. If you're telling me

300
00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:44.359
the truth, your emails should be where do we go

301
00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:49.200
from here? Not how do I make money? That is crazy? Yeah,

302
00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:51.599
I would, I would probably say I would look to

303
00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:55.240
see where your money's going because it's probably got some

304
00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:58.720
legs of its own, he says. And how do you

305
00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:00.960
stop feeling like you're doing a lot of work without

306
00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:04.559
building leverage? I mean, you got forty thousand monthly listeners

307
00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.759
on Spotify, you you got your music, You're licensing your

308
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.759
music out to projects, you're touring, you're selling merch Like,

309
00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:18.720
what else do you want here? You're building, You're doing

310
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.920
stuff right now that artists who watch this what give

311
00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:25.039
their arm for? You know, Yeah, that's not enough. But

312
00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:28.319
I'm not complaining, I promise, he says. I'm not burnt

313
00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:34.240
out yet. Really, guy, he says, I'm just confused, And

314
00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.039
I'd rather understand the business side now than wake up

315
00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:40.480
in ten years and realize I misunderstood the game. I

316
00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:42.039
think you need to figure out where your money's going.

317
00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:44.680
I think you need to figure out what that forty

318
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.240
thousand monthly listeners. Is it premium plays or is it

319
00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:51.680
a lot of free plays? Because if it's free plays,

320
00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.079
you're not gonna make any money. But also you got

321
00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:57.359
to try to you know, typically bots our free plays.

322
00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:00.240
You mentioned marketing money. I don't know. You never mention

323
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:04.920
what you're paying marketing for. You mentioned paying for distribute distribution.

324
00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:11.160
I don't know why you're paying for distribution, so I

325
00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.720
would I would see where your money's going. You might

326
00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:16.400
have some really bad deals, you might have someone stealing

327
00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:18.519
your money, but I don't know why you're paying a

328
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.880
monthly fee for distribution. I don't know why you got

329
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:26.279
forty thousand monthly listeners on Spotify and you're asking me

330
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.279
how you understand the game. If your numbers are correct,

331
00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.680
if you're if you're not playing me, this doesn't none

332
00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:40.799
of this makes sense, he says, I appreciate your perspective, Bob. Well, Bob, yeah,

333
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:44.160
I would look to see where your money's going. Something's

334
00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:48.599
not right with your money. Something If if everything is

335
00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:50.240
on the up and up, then your numbers aren't as

336
00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:53.480
real as you're telling me. There's no way you're doing

337
00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:57.519
forty thousand monthly listeners on Spotify and you're broke. I'm

338
00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:59.359
not saying you're rich, but you shouldn't be sending this

339
00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:02.599
email with forty thousand monthly listeners. This is an email

340
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:05.519
and artist with four hundred monthly listeners or four thousand,

341
00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:08.640
not even four thousand, four hundred, but you got four

342
00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:10.920
You tell me you got forty thousand night doesn't include

343
00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:13.839
any links to anything. But we'll take him at his

344
00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:18.039
word because why would he lie to me? But yeah,

345
00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:19.559
you got to figure out where your money's going. If

346
00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:20.759
all of this is true, you got to figure out

347
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:24.240
where your money's going, because your money might have legs

348
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.319
on it and it's just walking away from you. But

349
00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:32.960
you seem like you're just giving marketing distribution. You don't

350
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:35.279
tell me what your tour costs are, So come up

351
00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:37.559
with a budget. You know, like, if you get paid

352
00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.880
a thousand bucks, you need to leverage that into you know,

353
00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:44.720
that show needs to get leverage into another show. So

354
00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:46.759
you have two shows that are paying a thousand bucks.

355
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.960
Maybe your cost is seven hundred bucks and you get

356
00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:56.880
thirteen hundred after everything. But if you're paying, if your

357
00:20:56.920 --> 00:20:59.480
distributor is taking a cut and you're not signed to

358
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.519
a you need to switch that distributor. I don't know

359
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:06.480
what marketing you're doing, but that doesn't need to be

360
00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.240
that doesn't need to be happening as well. And lastly,

361
00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.599
like I said earlier, I don't know if you're getting

362
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.640
the money and then you're paying everybody out or somebody

363
00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:16.359
else is getting the money, and then they're paying you,

364
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.720
and then you've got to pay everybody out. But figure

365
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.680
out where your money is going, because this just doesn't

366
00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:22.839
make a whole lot of sense. But good luck and

367
00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:24.720
thank you for the email. And if you haven't a

368
00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:26.440
question on the music industry that you'd like for me

369
00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.759
to answer, just go to Matthew Ricks dot com click

370
00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:31.359
submit your question, give me as many details as possible.

371
00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:34.400
We'll answer it here on the channel And until next time,

372
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:36.119
I will talk to you later.