This route to me sounds like taking all the worst aspects of being an artist (pandering to the lowest common denominator, constant marketing of yourself, spending a lot of time on non-creative aspects) and concentrating on them. In the end you probably end up doing these menial tasks that are necessary to make it on with YouTube or Patreon or as you would if you had just a day job and made music on the side.
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Disagreed. Marketing (although I hate that word) is a vital part of it all. Any business needs it otherwise people won’t find you. It’s as simple as that. The trick is to do that work as efficient as possible. So learning how to automate things and keeping a tight schedule for non-creative stuff like administration, is just part of being a professional. Doesn’t have to be fake or plastic either. As long as the focus stays with the creative aspect. It’s all about finding the balance.
Creating videos is creative as well. Sharing knowledge is fun and you learn a lot from it. Gear reviews , patreon etc. Is not necessary. Just sharing your pasion with like minded people or people that like your music is very important. From creating content you can then venture into earning something on the side with creative things. Great combination imho.
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To me, particularly in regards to music, influencer culture seems to revolve primarily around either reviews or tutorials. And then there are the creative types that just flat out post jams.
In my mind, the goal is always being an artist. At the end of the day, whatever you do to make coin will sap the energy out of you away from your own personal creativity, whether that’s musical or not.
So in some ways I think it’s still about balance, any method for making cash will take up all your time if you let it, but if you manage to achieve that cross point where it’s actually composition or performance that’s making you the bulk of your income well, huge win. Pressures might come with that tho, in their own way.
You can feel like a bit of a hobo bum just tapping out and doing 3 shifts a week, finding some cheap accoms and making tunes on most of your other days off. I like the sound of it to be honest. I’ve had that life before, and after a couple years in a full time gig, and coming up for 40, I’m about ready to pull the pin and get back to it.
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Totally right. And do not listen to supermen/superwomen who will tell you kind of things like “if you want, you can”, “if you can’t you are the only one responsible”, “you always can find the power to move mountains even if you’re tired”,… all this happycracy thing that ruins people more than it helps them.
Sometimes you don’t have time, energy, faith, whatever, to achieve something.
Trying to go against it makes you feel most of time guilty, frustrated, because happycracy that prevails these days forces to be positive, at any price.
You can’t finish your track? can’t spend time on something you like, on something you wanna achieve?
It’s ok, leave it beside, forget it, and go back to it later (of course if it’s not a deadly danger 
)
Don’t feel like shit. Tomorrow will be maybe better, or not, but you will have probably learn something through it.
That’s why before going full time music maker, try to save enough money to not be in a state of emergency because you have to pay bills, rent, food, whatever.
It seems you have time for it so it’s nice.
I tried years ago to live of my music, but had no money, no job, no family who could help me. Everyday was like “well, how will I pay my rent next month? Let find some good receipes to cook for 15 days with 10 euros in my pocket!”. So I had to forget the idea of living by my music, and focus on learning a job by myself.
I managed it pretty nicely and after years finally could feel a bit less stress about modern life basic needs. But never wanted to try to go back to pro musician. I live good with that as I can find time to make music as a hobby 
I would keep this in mind, and as people write here, try to have multiple areas in which you feel good (doesn’t have to be creative only). Focusing on only one can be nice, but if it doesn’t go as you would like, it can be harder to live.
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Hey,
I am currently in same doubt. I always wanted to be pro musician, but I am afraid of it, I have strong cliche programmed inside me like : this is not a real job, you cant live of music, you’re too old… I past last few years trying to deconstruct all of this, and now I am part market gardener (job that I love), and part musician. I don’t know if I will “suceed” (to be define), but at least I learnt, and I am learning a lot on me through this process.
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Traditionally your label would do the bulk of it, your job is to network with other creative professionals more than to actually buy ads or design banners. You might hope to keep your focus in the creative aspect, but now the market is so saturated that you need A LOT of work to even get noticed, which means more and more resources spent on the marketing & pandering side. Sure at some point, if you manage to have something go viral it gets easier but that’s quite rare.
Well the question is, do you want to be a musician or a media freelancer / entrepreneur? Because that’s what a YouTuber is, a media entrepreneur. You have to handle all of the different aspects of it yourself, which means knowing quite a bit about everything from search engine optimization to graphics design. Not a whole lot left for actually making music, or at least not enough in my opinion. I’d rather keep my cushy day job and make music without any pressure in my free time.
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You don’t have to be an expert marketer. Just have to create interesting content and share it in the correct groups. The label thing was 30 years ago. Doesn’t work that way anymore. What I like to do is create content that brings me new knowledge as well. This way I create content, learn, and even create music in the process.
I’m a performing musician, and release music as well. But like you said, the market is saturated and as an artist the pay for performing is incredibly low. And from Indi releases you won’t earn a single dime. So doing things on your own through band camp is actually a better way of doing things. That is unless you have the contacts and talent to be a super star. Which comes with a whole lot of creating a persona and selling yourself. 
It’s really not that black/white. It just takes a lot of work and dedication. And personally I don’t dream about becoming a super star. I’m happy where I am, creating music, performing, teaching , creating videos. It’s possible to combine those things.
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LOL, the vocalist for this shitty metalcore / rap band Attila has an onlyfans, he’s a fat, drunken slob basically so I checked some of it out from a message board or w/e (DID NOT PAY) and it’s hilarious, he just basically makes out with / fucks these young girls on camera who obviously getting paid for it and makes pretty good money probably. 2021 is the worst. This is him:
I only have some anecdotal stuff to add but I was speaking to a couple of guys from LA when I was visiting the US a couple of years back. They were both fulltime in the sync business. One was a composer and the other was editing and syncing projects for various media companies. Anyway, they brought up Andrew Huang and said they were shocked to find out how little he makes compared to how many man hours he was putting into his work. Long story short, I really don’t think there’s much money to be made in the YT, IG game unless you’re near the very, very top. Same goes for having thousands of plays on Spotify - this needs to be backed up constant gigging, where the real money is at. But, essentially, all the real, survivable money is in sync work for film/TV, doing music for adverts (or having your songs picked up for them), or being an integral part of making such work a reality such as being the guy editing things together, etc.
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Eh, it works for some people, but yeah most musicians have always had to work when they’re not touring. Being a youtube personality is simply a side job, it’s music related sure if you’d rather do that than something else, but it’s still not “being a musician”. But more power to you if you’ve made it work and enjoy it, that’s the main thing. I’m sure I wouldn’t, and I play shows and release music too. Most of us have day jobs, be it youtube or library.
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Certainly. I have a day job as well. Working towards going full time. With a focus on teaching and mixing. The YouTube thing is for fun and with it i have build an audience as well. That’s where social media can be great imho. Because of it i have been able to start as a teacher which is a side job as well of course i much rather do that then sitting in an office though (which I still do 3 days a week)
If you are in a position where you can built a following without any social media, that’s very luxurious.
Yeah, like game streamers who have hundreds of thousands of hits on their videos have to work 10-12 hours a day every single day to make what, an average salary or a little bit more? And if they take a break, they immediately lose all revenue and most likely a large part of their viewers. And not only do you work a lot, you also have to be in front of a camera for hours every day. Some people like that, but it’s definitely not something most people would want to do. It’s a calling, you really need passion for it to do it for months or years on end.
Sounds like hell to me, but eh I have a cushy job.
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Surely not without social media, but there’s a difference between plugging your band on instagram with reposts & memes and filming, editing & starring on 20-30 minute videos on youtube every single day.
There’s also a big area in between. Like I said it’s not as black and white as you paint here. That’s why I responded to your post earlier.
I agree though that just reviewing gear is something different. I guess I mean building a YouTube channel as part of music making and creativity.
To be fair, it is if you want it to be your sole source of income!
It doesn’t have to be though. That’s my point
Of course not, you could have a day job. But since the OP was precisely after quitting his day job to make money with his music, I specifically said that in my opinion, going for the YouTube / Patreon route is not worth it as your sole source of income. So I guess I don’t disagree with you, it doesn’t have to be your only source of income but rather I wholeheartedly agree with you, it even shouldn’t be your only source of income since it’s so hard to make money from it.
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Cool yeah guess we agree then 
Definitely best to take multiple ventures that generate income all revolving around creating music as the main focus. If creating music takes a back seat then indeed it just became a hobby again.
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…making a living on THIS, is always challenging…and remains so, in most cases…
…be ready to feel like a rich man, half the year…and facing the other half of the year, that ur poor…
but in fact, u can call urself a rich man anyways, once ur creative freelancing efforts are paying the bills somehow…and that is a huuuuge FREEDOM factor on everybodies 21st century satisfaction list for sure…
but…keep in mind…the only real money in this game comes from live shows and sublicensing to other official audio/visual productions…
at least as long streamingfarms don’t switch to user centrified pay models…
but the stats look good, that we don’t have to wait for this too long anymore… 
aaand some diy efforts in selfpromoting wonderland via tech reviews and stuff as u mentioned already…
while podcasts are the new radio…
come up with a fresh content concept, stay steady in actual realisation…and it might take u there… never give up…
all fingers crossed…
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I thought I would like to be a professional musician when I started messing around with electronic music in the early 2000’s. Pretty quickly I came to realize that I would always be struggling financially if I attempted to go that route. Artists that I admired, and couldn’t “compete” with in my wildest dreams, were still working ordinary day jobs and barely scraping by.
Honestly, I think it’s worked out for the best. I worked a job that could be creative, at least occasionally, and also made music on the side, with no concern about the commercial aspect, deadlines, networking, touring, etc. Call me a square, but I like having health insurance (in the US - pre-ACA era), a pension, and a steady paycheck.
I would advise most creative and artistic people to work, earn, save aggressively, invest in low-fee index funds, and live frugally and simply for 15-20 years. Still do your art in your spare time, and do it exactly as you want to, with no regard to external financial pressures that might make you compromise your integrity. Life happens in the meantime, and before you know it, you might be in a position to retire early and shift from work that you have to do (day job), to work that you want to do (music, art, etc.).
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