How I Made Money From Music in 2021

I want to show you exactly how I make money as a part-time musician. 

The goal here is to prove that you can make money as a musician and to give you ideas on how to actually do that. 

In 2021, I made just over $6,200 directly from music.

This is a huge jump from last year’s total of just under $2,000. 

(See how I made money from music in 2020).

As with last year’s case study, this one does not include income from writing music advice content, coaching other musicians, or profits from online products/services I offered through Musician With A Day Job.

Why? Because most musicians are not looking to make money from those things. 

You want to make money directly from the music you make. So that’s what I’ll be covering in this post.

(Although if you do want to earn money from writing about music, see this guide). 

I divided my music income into these categories:

• Sync Licensing
• Music and Audio Production
• Patreon and Fan Donations
• Streaming, Merch, and a Performance

Now, here’s how I made money from music between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021…

Sync Licensing

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Last year was an awesome year for me in sync licensing. From sync payouts and royalties alone, I made more than all of my 2020 music income. 

My music was on NBC’s Chicago Fire, in a promotional video for Chewy, and in hundreds of indie film projects. So this category includes the income from those placements plus the associated performance royalties.

Here’s the breakdown of this category:

• Chewy placement (via an indie filmmaker I know): 52% of sync licensing income
• Music Vine (indie film projects): 21% of sync licensing income
• BMI royalties (mostly from the NBC placement): 14% of sync licensing income
• NBC placement (via Crucial Music): 10% of sync licensing income
• Pond5: 3% of sync licensing income

Music and Audio Production

This category includes anything audio-related, like producing music for other artists and editing podcasts.

In 2021, I recorded acoustic guitar on four songs for another artist, thanks to SoundBetter. 

(I also began production on two songs and an EP for three different artists, but those projects are not included here as I haven’t gotten paid for them yet).

As with last year, I edited a client’s podcast. In 2021, I also edited the audio version of a client’s magazine.

Here’s the breakdown of this category:

• Audio editing: 64% of music and audio production income 
• SoundBetter: 36% of music and audio production income

Patreon and Fan Donations

Patreon has been a nice way for me to earn consistent, albeit small, income. 

Fans pledge to support me on a monthly basis and in return get my music early, unreleased songs, and any other exclusive stuff I share.

I had 8 patrons at the start of 2021 and didn’t gain any new ones, so my income from Patreon was pretty much the same as in 2020. 

And with fan donations, my supporters (as always) will randomly PayPal me money. I really appreciate these people. It shows that my music deeply resonates with them. 

Here’s the breakdown of this category:

• Patreon: 74% of Patreon and fan donation income
• Fan donations: 26% of Patreon and fan donation income

Streaming, Merch, and a Performance

This is sort of like a miscellaneous category. 

I combined these three income sources into one category because my streaming royalties and merch sales were so small. 

And I booked a private event performance, which I don’t normally do and don’t actively seek out. But someone I know invited me to play a cocktail hour and they paid well, so I accepted. 

This is why, after you’ve figured out your direction forward, you still need to stay open to other possibilities that could benefit your music career. Even if it’s not an income source you’re actively pursuing.

Here’s the breakdown of this category:

• Private event performance: 71% of this category’s income
• Merch: 21% of this category’s income
• Streaming: 8% of this category’s income

A Graph of My 2021 Music Income

It’s graph time.

Below is a doughnut graph I made of my 2021 music income… 

The breakdown of my 2021 music-related income by percentage:

• Sync licensing: 76.3% 
• Music/audio production: 8.9%
• Streaming/merch/performance: 8%
• Patreon/fan donations: 6.8%

Final Thoughts

I hope this case study on how I made money from music shows you that, yes, you can make money as a musician. 

What I’m seeing is, moving from part-time musician to full-time musician is a gradual process. It requires consistency and a clear direction forward. 

So first, find your direction. Then keep going, doing at least a little bit each day.