5 Ways To Make Money Playing Music in a Secondary Market

I'm lucky enough to live in Nashville, home to some of the best musicians in the world and a big chunk of the music industry. I really enjoy a lot of aspects of Nashville, but I was financially successful at music when I lived in a smaller market, too (St. Louis). He are my five best tips for earning a full-time music living in a secondary market:

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When & Why To Sell Your Influence

Almost every week I receive an email like the following: 

 

Hi Eric,

I hope you're having a nice day.

We are interested in sending over a quality and relevant article/product/advertisement to your site
ericwbarfield.com as a contribution. Is this something you might consider? If yes, I can email over the details asap. Rest assured that it will be subject to your review. Please note that we'll also add references to our client.

Aside from the article/product/advertisement, we will also pay an administrative fee worth $XXX.

Please email me back if this is something that might interest you.

Looking forward to hearing from you, Eric.

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The Ultimate in Music Business Advice: Get Noticed Course

Want advice on how to develop your career as a musician? Don’t ask me. I’m still trying to figure out how to cram practicing, touring, and all the other stuff into an average week, while occasionally sleeping. 

 

My friend Steve Grossman is the man I go to when I need career advice. With a 30+ year career as a session and touring musician, he’s been wildly successful with a number of bands, and even got a Grammy Award along the way for his work. 

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Stealing Vs. Sharing

Last week a reader and pianist Ken wrote me some great tips about how to improve my rhythm, including using a DAW to check for timing errors. It really worked- I messed around with it in the studio, and noticed some areas I could improve. I told a few other musicians about it, and they’re all using the method now, too (don’t worry, I’ll share my thoughts on it in a blog when I get better at it). 

 

There’s a fine line between stealing and sharing. Good (and bad) ideas are sticky, and we tend to share them easily. We’d never charge for them, because they’re not ours. 

 

Insecure musicians are obsessed with people stealing their ideas. They’re worried that if they share their tricks, techniques, and contacts with others, we’ll figure out what the secret is and leave them behind. 

 

What insecure musicians miss is that almost all ideas are really, really hard to actually steal. 

 

It’s not the idea itself that makes something possible, it’s the massive amount of work, grit, and practice that creates something beautiful and marketable from a theory. Ideas lend themselves well to sharing because the more ideas you give, the more likely you are to receive ideas. 

 

If you are worried about someone stealing your trade secrets, perhaps you should give them all away. You might be surprised what amazing things people will give back.

 

(Note: I am not advocating that you shouldn’t charge for your work, time, or teaching. Part of giving away your ideas may include you making a lot of money through educating others. The important part is not how you give away your ideas, but that you share them and practice receiving ideas from others).