Start A Career In Music Today With These 6 Simple Steps

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career in music

When I started my career in music, I had no idea what I was doing. 

It took me 10 years to figure out what I needed to do.

So I clearly learned some lessons along the way. And I want to share what I’ve learned.

If you’re wondering, “How do I start a career in music?” — this post is for you.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

Plan out your career with this FREE worksheet…

One-Thing-A-Day worksheet

Why Do Musicians Fail?

career in music

Musicians fail all the time. But what does failure even mean? 

Is it not going full-time? Is it not ever releasing an album of original songs? Have you failed if you don’t get enough followers on social media?

It’s none of those things. 

Just as each of us chooses our unique path to success, “failure” means different things to different people. 

My idea of success is to make a full-time income as a musician and music educator. But your idea of success might be to play gigs every week after your day job. Or to make extra money to help pay off debt. Or to be a full-time touring artist. 

Failure is when you give up on your idea of success. 

So why do musicians “fail”?

Here are some common reasons…

They have no plan (or a bad one)

I spent the first 10 years of my music career with no plan. Well, it was a loose plan that was so poorly constructed it was barely a plan. 

I would release music, play a handful of local shows, repeat the process, and wonder why nothing was happening with my career. 

With no plan, I wasn’t able to be intentional. I had no focus, no goals. I didn’t know what success meant for me.

Operating as a musician today with no plan is a concoction that will surely lead to failure (i.e. giving up on music).

But after I created a plan for myself, everything changed.

Now I have focus, I know where my career is going, and I’m moving toward my success.

They don’t know where to start

Imagine I said to you, “Go start a food truck business.”

Now, unless you own a food truck or you already plan to open one, you may feel overwhelmed. 

You need a business plan, a menu, all sorts of licenses from your city and state. You need to form an LLC, you need to hire extra hands. Oh yeah, you also need a food truck. 

If you’re not sure where to start, it’s going to be harder to actually start. 

This is what it’s like with your career in music. Because you’re an indie musician, you’ll have to do everything. Being a DIY musician requires the same mentality as an entrepreneur. 

You need a plan, a way to make money, and a schedule. You need to understand royalties, song rights, and you need to be familiar with marketing strategies. 

And you need to create the best art possible.

My point is, you need to know where to start before jumping into pursuing a career in music.

They burn out

Once you have a plan for your music and you know where to start, you’ll be less likely to burn out. Many musicians give up on music, and most of us fight the temptation on a daily basis.

I feel burnout creeping in every now and then. But you know how I extinguish it? 

A plan that helps me take small steps each day — “baby steps,” as Bob Wiley would say (see: What About Bob?). 

It’s the single most helpful thing for avoiding burnout, giving up on music.  

They’re following the wrong career in music

Part of making a plan is figuring out what your success is. 

When you picture your music career five years from now, what do you see? What do you want long-term?

The first decade of my career in music involved me following the wrong path. It was the wrong path for me. 

From the get-go, you need to know what you want from your music.

Music Industry Jobs For Part-Time Musicians

career in music

I’m going to walk you through how to start your career in music in the next section. But first, I want to suggest some music jobs you can pursue that will help you figure out your long-term plan.

These are sources of income you can build on the side, so you can pursue music while still doing what you need to do during the day.

And good news: these are all music careers that don’t require a degree.

Music teacher

My friend used to give guitar lessons regularly. And he made about $40 an hour. No joke.

Plus, he had enough students that he nearly made a full-time income (he had a day job so he couldn’t commit to lessons).

It’s normal for music teachers to make at least $20 an hour. As long as you’re exceptional at your instrument and you know how to be patient, you’ll do well. 

On top of spreading the word online and in-person, you can partner with a company like Musika Lessons (I’m on their roster). They find the students for you (which means they will take a cut). 

Giving lessons is nice because you can do them online if you need.

Music advice content creator

This is my main source of income currently. I write for awesome sites like Musician On A Mission, Audio Issues, and Flypaper. 

And if you know enough about music — especially if you have a niche — you can get into freelance writing. 

I make a living writing, so I know it’s possible.

If you’re a performer or you’re comfortable presenting, you may want to consider YouTube instead.

I haven’t gotten into this income source, but I know if you consistently create great content, you can grow your audience and start earning ad revenue.

Here are some musicians who seem to make a living from YouTube, judging by the number of subscribers they have and how many views their videos get:

Session musician

Being a successful session musician nowadays is more than just showing up at a studio. It means you also need to know the basics of recording — remote collaboration is happening more and more. 

So, if you’re good enough to give music lessons, you’re probably good enough to get paid to play parts for other musicians.  

You can make $40-60 an hour or $75-100 per song. That’s about what I’ve paid musicians to play on my current music project.

If you live in a music city — like Nashville, Austin, New York, or Atlanta — that’s even better. You can do both remote work and in-person work.

If you’re great at your instrument, you’ll be in good shape for being a session musician.

Corporate gig performer

Playing corporate gigs is one of those jobs in music that’s secretly awesome. My buddy makes his living playing corporate gigs.

These mostly include weddings, but it can also involve luncheons and retirement homes.

If you’re a performer and can DJ a dope setlist, that makes you even more desirable. 

You may not see these gigs as cool and flashy like a sold-out tour. But these are high-paying events — one event can pay $200-500, or more for experienced performers.

So you can have more freedom to make more music when you’re not working. 

Interested? Check out this guide on playing corporate gigs.

Composer for film and TV

Creating music for films, commercials, and TV shows can pay big bucks.

There are two main ways to do this as a career: 1) make custom/commissioned music and 2) submit your original songs to sync licensing libraries and music supervisors.

Here’s how to get started as a film composer, meaning filmmakers hire you to create custom music for their project:

  • Network so you can meet filmmakers (online and at in-person events)
  • Agree to free or low-paying projects just to get some portfolio items
  • Create a website that features your film-friendly music

I’ve gone the sync licensing route. So I have music in a few different libraries where people license my songs.

I basically give people permission to use my current songs in films/shows/commercials/podcasts/etc.

To start licensing your music, check out my complete guide here.

How To Start A Career In Music: The 6 Steps

career in music

Now let me walk you through how to start your career in music. These steps should dissolve your overwhelm and give you focus.

Step 1: Make a plan

Nothing else I talk about will work if you don’t create a solid game plan. It’s the thing that gave my career focus. You need a plan that takes your end goal and breaks it into tasks you can do today.

How do you create this type of plan?

First, you figure out what you want long-term. What does your ideal career in music look like? 

For me, it’s 1) writing and recording songs, 2) running this blog, and 3) producing other artists. 

Second, you need to create output-based goals that will move you toward your ideal music career. So look at your big picture and split it up into these goals.

Depending on your big picture, examples of goals could be:

  • Release 10 songs this year
  • Play 5 shows this month
  • Film 4 YouTube videos this week

Third, break down those goals into tasks you can do today. These would be things that take as little as 15-30 minutes.

Using the example goals from above, some of your daily tasks could be:

  • Record part of a song
  • Reach out to venue managers about booking a show
  • Work on the script for a YouTube video

Lastly, keep track of the goals you’ve accomplished.

Comparing yourself to others is the worst idea ever if you want to stay motivated. Instead, compare yourself to yourself from the past. 

What things have you accomplished? How is your career in music growing?

When you have a plan, you know where you’re going, you know how to get there, and you know how to move forward today.

One-Thing-A-Day worksheet

Step 2: Pick your income streams

Part of your long-term plan needs to involve ways for making money. And instead of going after all the possible income streams, narrow it down to a few. 

I created something called The Rule Of 2s to help you focus on just a few income streams.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Divide your ideal music career in half — what two aspects will mark your career in music?
  2. Decide on two income streams for each of those halves
  3. Brainstorm two daily tasks that will move you toward those income streams

So you’re left with:

  • Two main career aspects 
  • Four income streams to pursue
  • Eight tasks you can do on any given day

This method keeps you focused on what really matters to you. And, if you do it right and give it time, it will help you build your career.

Step 3: Start well

Once you’ve got a solid plan and you know what income streams you’ll be pursuing, you have a much better chance of starting well.

How do you start well?

Here are some tips:

  • Keep your plan handy and look at it often
  • Be okay with doing only one task per day
  • Schedule your music time and hold yourself to it
  • Acknowledge that building a career in music will take time and patience

The way you start is how you will continue. So start well.

Step 4: Find a community

I get songwriting feedback from my fellow songwriters.

My patrons react to exclusive content I share, and it helps me see what resonates and what doesn’t. 

I get mixing feedback from the mastering engineer I work with. 

My point is, you can’t do this alone. You need a community. 

If you don’t know many musicians and you want to connect with people online, here are some places you can check out:

Step 5: Avoid burnout

Two of the main elements of a successful music career are persistency and consistency. This is especially true if you’re building your career on the side. 

And burnout is a real thing. How do you avoid it? How do you keep from quitting music?

Here are things I do that keep me from giving up:

  • Remind yourself of how far you’ve come
  • Aim to do one small thing a day
  • Schedule your music time and stick to it
  • Keep track of the goals you’ve accomplished

They’re simple ideas, but they will keep you going. 

Step 6: Keep learning

Don’t ever think you know it all. You will never know it all. I don’t know it all.

We all learn different things from each other.

I help musicians start and grow their music careers. I think about it a lot, and I believe I have a lot to share with people.

But I’m always learning new things.

Like, mixing music is a deep ocean that I’m only free diving in. I’ve only gone as deep as I can while holding my breath. No oxygen tank yet.

Or performing — I don’t perform, so lots of musicians could teach me a lot about playing live.

The point is to never stop learning. You will be learning new stuff until the day you die, so let’s all accept that fact. 

Take Action Today (FREE Worksheet)

Now that you know how to start your career in music, it’s time to take action. 

The single most helpful thing for me has been the One-Thing-A-Day worksheet. It gives you a template for creating a plan for your music career. 

It helped me figure out my long-term plan, set attainable goals, discover what I can do today to move forward, and it keeps me focused and encouraged.

And I want you to have it for FREE below…

One-Thing-A-Day worksheet

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