✅ Join the VGM Alliance Waitlist Now (+ FREE Instant Download of my Guide "Secrets to my 6-Figure Video Game Music Business" ($17 value): videogamemusicalliance.com
All been said already, but this video is phenomenally helpful. I've never seen someone literally pick through their actual income statements to show what freelance is like but it's extremely interesting and contextualized every one of your points brilliantly!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I wanted to make this video as valuable as possible, putting myself back in the shoes of my former self starting off in business. My goal was to tackle my biggest questions about how to actually earn real money.
Bold but valuable move showing the spreadsheet at the end, it makes me as a viewer geneate trsut with you in a mini world like UA-cam where everyone is only trying to clickbait you and beg for a subscribe
1. Custom music 2. Patreon 3. Music production for other people 4. Composer assistant 5. Teaching music 6. Instrument recording 7. Music licensing 8. Music education and tools (courses, sample libraries etc) 9. Affiliate links 10. Manage other composers
I think the most important thing for new music composers is to have a plan for increasing their skills. Maybe that means learning a new song every week or composing one every week. Then posting said progress on social media. Going straight to business seems like a bigger step because most people are not going to start off knowing people in the business. Gotta spread the word. Maybe another video could be how to make contacts in the music industry? I thought this video was very informative with how composers make their living.👍
Oh my god, this is one of the most helpful videos I've ever seen in my life I always thought that I could never make any money with my music, but now I'll at least have the motivation to try Thanks so much!
In light of your newest video, I'm going back and rewatching some of your older videos I might have missed and I have to say... I think your channel as it is, in a lot of ways, is what I want my channel to be, albeit with somewhat different visuals. But the substance and quality of content is all there. Kudos, Steven!
This is by far one of the greatest video that I have watched in regards on how grow your music business. Thanks Steven. I was just wondering, how can we get a session for a personal coach about this matter.
I've been doing about $150 per finished minute of music for the last 7yrs. Is it a good idea to boost that up? My only concern would be that I'd lose my existing clients.
£6000 a month that’s insane!!! Have you got 10 kids or something!!!!! I would be really, really glad to earn £1000 a month as a musician, maybe £1500 if I had kids!!!!!
Hey there thanks a lot for the video it was so helpful ! I had a question concerning music rights and licensing ! With my band, we are affiliated to collection societies for our country because we have quite a bit of shows, radio and TV and we write music for film so we get income from that. However, I was looking into finding places to get our music licensed so it can get into adds or series, but the companies I looked into like epidemic sound ask you not to be signed with a collection society, because it's "license-free" . What companies would you recommend sending our music to so we can keep our rights?
Great to hear! Try striking relationships with music editors at TV networks or the music suppliers for TV shows / ads / movie trailers. You can reverse-engineer this by looking up the credits for any of your favorite / preferred shows, ads, or trailers and reaching out directly with a short demo reel that demonstrates your proficiency in that style.
I don’t see any links of your music. It’s kind of hard to know what you’re talking about. Looks like you got a lot going on elsewhere besides producing music.
How does one know when BMI or whomever is responsible pay you out on the royalties? How does the exact process work? For instance youtube content, if monetized, how will one know when and how to collect your royalties? Is it first copyright the music, then stream or what would be the science in process?
If you’re registered with BMI, you (or a music library who write for) must submit every track that you want in their system. Then when someone uses your music in a commercial setting (TV, film, radio, etc.), the creator is required to pay a license to you / your music library directly or to BMI. BMI pays quarterly and you can see the exact dates on their website. If you’d like to collect payments for “rogue” UA-cam music (uncollected and due to you), register for SoundExchange for free.
@@StevenMelin Thank you Steve you're the man. I graduated 4 year's back in the music department but in order to budget my studio had to hustle side money by some of the factors you mentioned giving classes and whatnot but now I've been able to squeeze in more time in the studio. I'm gonna turn the piece soon for your competition I saw on your site it's been a fun experience overall. Thank you for such invaluable information.
Hey steven this might be a stupid question, but I was going to ask why are the buisness expenses so high? I always thought that the advantage to this type of buisness models was that the costs are generally pretty low. I was just wondering what exactly constitutes as buisness expenses, since it can take up 80% of the gross income.
Yuu Great question - business expenses can certainly be lower, but I generally hire out when possible & have about 10 monthly subscription services to make my job easier: Adobe Creative Cloud, Squarespace, Microsoft Office, ConvertKit, Epidemic Sound, Amazon Prime, etc. + things like gear maintenance & office supplies. It adds up to around $1,000 per month for me. When bringing on team members, it can quickly escalate to much higher numbers (assistants, videographer, editing, etc.), but the increased income is far greater with a team.
Love this guy! Been following him ever since I discovered his course on game music on Udemy. He's a genuinely nice guy who will give you a straight up answer if he finds the time, even on his old stuff. Really enjoy watching his channel explode! Does anyone know what that yellow book behind him is at about 19-20 minute mark?
Hi.How r u? Can you help me about music's festivals? I want to grow up my experience and my Cvs.I dont know how to finde free music festivals for composers or producer.You know any websites about online music festivals for sign up? I work just one horror short film and that win rewards.I know I can grow up in any type of musics but I dont find festivals.Thank you for helping me🙏❤
Ugh that's so much to have to do at once to be able to support myself... I really do need to marry rich that would be so convenient then I could just have fun doing the thing I love and not have to worry about all this
That’s one solution! Or you could work hard and build passive income sources that pay the bills; that will free up your time so you can focus on your craft / not worry about money and do it for the love of the craft!
I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt until you said teaching is one of the easiest ways. No, no, no. If it was easy everybody would be doing it and it certainly is nothing like easy. You have to have a ton of skills, experience, knowledge, persistance, resilience, patience, intelligence and creativity to do ANY kind of teaching, be it one to one or groups, informal or formal education. It’s taken me about 10 years just to even get started.....Maybe I’m living in the wrong place but where I live people want everything for nothing or they have fortnightly lessons as thats all they can afford. Even then, they OFTEN quit because they haven’t space in their heads to even think about music because they are just trying to get by ya know....
I know right?! He kinda makes everything sound so easy! When he talks about like producing people, ummmm they never have any money! Custom music for Indy films is low no or deferred: you’re usually doing it for free. Library tracks are mostly rejected due to volume. Teaching is brutal af. But okay, ;lets make 11k per month! Hiring assistants? Lol. Where do you find an assistant for 80 to 200 per track? But what do I know.
He’s right. You’re a marketing entrepreneur. You’re slick and you’re a salesman telling musicians working at Walmart what they want to hear. Libraries are over stocked. Indy films don’t pay shit. Teaching is what it is. Hiring assistants is hilarious unless you’re a million dollar composer in LA/NY … you’re just upbeat and make it sound like it’s so doable to earn up to 11k a month. Dude
@@StevenMelin dude, can you honestly see a hopeful musician tryna do all of this in their life. They’d have a coronary. And die wondering why they weren’t able to support their family like the guy on the internet said. Not to be a negative Nancy, but after training at Berklee, my pro tools set up and recording facility, my reality won’t be 11k per month. Unless you do a studio film, yoire not making much because artists don’t have money.
Not where I live mate! You cannot charge hundreds for anything where I live, let alone original music or production!!! Music is a luxury and its always (in my experience) the FIRST thing to go when there is any sign of trouble in peoples lives. What planet are you on? Planet California or somethin......sorry but it sounds like u live in a completely different universe. Tell u what though if people can be this greedy then it does give me a bit of hope that I could earn some pocket money doing what I love??
This guy is a marketing guru who reads books on marketing. This is not reality. Klaus Badelt scored Pirates of the Caribbean. His first big job given to him by Hans Zimmer because he was too busy. After it came out and was a hit, Klaus didn’t get another composing gig for half a year! It’s not as easy as this guy is telling you
Not right now, but thanks 🙏🏼 Tbh, I only hire people that are in my phone contacts (people who are already in my circle) - the business world runs that way!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
✅ Join the VGM Alliance Waitlist Now (+ FREE Instant Download of my Guide "Secrets to my 6-Figure Video Game Music Business" ($17 value): videogamemusicalliance.com
Dude this might be your most valuable, well-produced piece of content on UA-cam. So good.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 thanks dude! Much more to come :)
I wish I could like this video 400 times. Hands down one of the best videos I’ve seen on UA-cam.
Thanks so much! 🙏🏼
This is the most helpful channel I've ever watched! Thank you, Steven!
All been said already, but this video is phenomenally helpful. I've never seen someone literally pick through their actual income statements to show what freelance is like but it's extremely interesting and contextualized every one of your points brilliantly!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I wanted to make this video as valuable as possible, putting myself back in the shoes of my former self starting off in business. My goal was to tackle my biggest questions about how to actually earn real money.
Bold but valuable move showing the spreadsheet at the end, it makes me as a viewer geneate trsut with you in a mini world like UA-cam where everyone is only trying to clickbait you and beg for a subscribe
Your speaking/host voice is incredibly professional. The cadence is perfect.
1. Custom music
2. Patreon
3. Music production for other people
4. Composer assistant
5. Teaching music
6. Instrument recording
7. Music licensing
8. Music education and tools (courses, sample libraries etc)
9. Affiliate links
10. Manage other composers
great TLDR :) also check out the article for this episode: www.stevenmelin.com/earn1000
@@StevenMelin Hi Steven, the link didn't seem to work for me. Keep up the good work!
Updated link! www.stevenmelin.com/earn1000
I think the most important thing for new music composers is to have a plan for increasing their skills. Maybe that means learning a new song every week or composing one every week. Then posting said progress on social media. Going straight to business seems like a bigger step because most people are not going to start off knowing people in the business. Gotta spread the word. Maybe another video could be how to make contacts in the music industry? I thought this video was very informative with how composers make their living.👍
Oh my god, this is one of the most helpful videos I've ever seen in my life
I always thought that I could never make any money with my music, but now I'll at least have the motivation to try
Thanks so much!
You got this!!
This is a really well-made video, great job!
In light of your newest video, I'm going back and rewatching some of your older videos I might have missed and I have to say... I think your channel as it is, in a lot of ways, is what I want my channel to be, albeit with somewhat different visuals. But the substance and quality of content is all there. Kudos, Steven!
I’ve decided to keep my current channel, but rebrand in the new VGM direction!
this is definitely Patreon content. it should not be free on youtube like this. I really do appreciate it. It was a ton of help.
Great content though! Thank you for sharing this!🎉
Excellent stuff Steven. Just now going through all this on your website. Awesome that you are sharing this with everyone.
I’m glad this is helpful for ya! 16 yrs of hard work to learn these avenues 😅 I hope this guide can shave some years off your journey!
really love your stuff, well done.
This is by far one of the greatest video that I have watched in regards on how grow your music business. Thanks Steven. I was just wondering, how can we get a session for a personal coach about this matter.
Thanks so much! I hope this gives you some practical ways to start earning real income. Coaching details: www.stevenmelin.com/coaching
Thank you! Great content!
From color sorting game music to Shazam to how to make money as a music composer ,this is how I reached here😀
Still practicing your social distancing or you figured out you were had yet?
This is great Steven! Super helpful and encouraging as always :)
Fantastic video, thanks a lot
Great Video, I like your spreadsheet template
Duane Buford Thanks! I’m glad this is helpful.
Epic!
Awesome! Thanks!
I've been doing about $150 per finished minute of music for the last 7yrs. Is it a good idea to boost that up? My only concern would be that I'd lose my existing clients.
Speaking of services, if you want me to edit the color and exposure (and maybe image stabilization) on your clips, I can do that :)
£6000 a month that’s insane!!! Have you got 10 kids or something!!!!! I would be really, really glad to earn £1000 a month as a musician, maybe £1500 if I had kids!!!!!
beardblade fun game with this composer music
Super helpful
Hey there thanks a lot for the video it was so helpful ! I had a question concerning music rights and licensing ! With my band, we are affiliated to collection societies for our country because we have quite a bit of shows, radio and TV and we write music for film so we get income from that. However, I was looking into finding places to get our music licensed so it can get into adds or series, but the companies I looked into like epidemic sound ask you not to be signed with a collection society, because it's "license-free" . What companies would you recommend sending our music to so we can keep our rights?
Great to hear! Try striking relationships with music editors at TV networks or the music suppliers for TV shows / ads / movie trailers. You can reverse-engineer this by looking up the credits for any of your favorite / preferred shows, ads, or trailers and reaching out directly with a short demo reel that demonstrates your proficiency in that style.
I don’t see any links of your music. It’s kind of hard to know what you’re talking about. Looks like you got a lot going on elsewhere besides producing music.
Whatcha mean? www.stevenmelin.com
11. Music UA-cam channel
How does one know when BMI or whomever is responsible pay you out on the royalties? How does the exact process work? For instance youtube content, if monetized, how will one know when and how to collect your royalties? Is it first copyright the music, then stream or what would be the science in process?
If you’re registered with BMI, you (or a music library who write for) must submit every track that you want in their system. Then when someone uses your music in a commercial setting (TV, film, radio, etc.), the creator is required to pay a license to you / your music library directly or to BMI. BMI pays quarterly and you can see the exact dates on their website. If you’d like to collect payments for “rogue” UA-cam music (uncollected and due to you), register for SoundExchange for free.
@@StevenMelin Thank you Steve you're the man. I graduated 4 year's back in the music department but in order to budget my studio had to hustle side money by some of the factors you mentioned giving classes and whatnot but now I've been able to squeeze in more time in the studio. I'm gonna turn the piece soon for your competition I saw on your site it's been a fun experience overall. Thank you for such invaluable information.
@@Metalpazallteway That’s awesome to hear! I look forward to hearing your track.
thank you
How do you find clients?
Check out my 10 Steps guide! www.stevenmelin.com/10steps
Hey steven this might be a stupid question, but I was going to ask why are the buisness expenses so high? I always thought that the advantage to this type of buisness models was that the costs are generally pretty low. I was just wondering what exactly constitutes as buisness expenses, since it can take up 80% of the gross income.
Yuu Great question - business expenses can certainly be lower, but I generally hire out when possible & have about 10 monthly subscription services to make my job easier: Adobe Creative Cloud, Squarespace, Microsoft Office, ConvertKit, Epidemic Sound, Amazon Prime, etc. + things like gear maintenance & office supplies. It adds up to around $1,000 per month for me. When bringing on team members, it can quickly escalate to much higher numbers (assistants, videographer, editing, etc.), but the increased income is far greater with a team.
Steven Melin aahh i see now. Thanks!
@@StevenMelin I was about to ask the same question! Glad I read the comments ;)
Step 1: have and audience
question - did you EQ the audio on this by boosting the bass? It sounds WAY too boomy... :/
Nah, this was a lav mic so I could walk around, so the audio quality suffered a bit
@@StevenMelin bummer, it was very bassy. :/
Love this guy! Been following him ever since I discovered his course on game music on Udemy.
He's a genuinely nice guy who will give you a straight up answer if he finds the time, even on his old stuff.
Really enjoy watching his channel explode!
Does anyone know what that yellow book behind him is at about 19-20 minute mark?
The book in the bg is my book Family-First Composer! Check it out: www.stevenmelin.com/ffc
Hi.How r u?
Can you help me about music's festivals?
I want to grow up my experience and my Cvs.I dont know how to finde free music festivals for composers or producer.You know any websites about online music festivals for sign up?
I work just one horror short film and that win rewards.I know I can grow up in any type of musics but I dont find festivals.Thank you for helping me🙏❤
Ugh that's so much to have to do at once to be able to support myself... I really do need to marry rich that would be so convenient then I could just have fun doing the thing I love and not have to worry about all this
That’s one solution! Or you could work hard and build passive income sources that pay the bills; that will free up your time so you can focus on your craft / not worry about money and do it for the love of the craft!
my flute teacher has already said she can't hear my vibrato or tone via online music lessons so it's trickkkky :(
I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt until you said teaching is one of the easiest ways. No, no, no. If it was easy everybody would be doing it and it certainly is nothing like easy. You have to have a ton of skills, experience, knowledge, persistance, resilience, patience, intelligence and creativity to do ANY kind of teaching, be it one to one or groups, informal or formal education. It’s taken me about 10 years just to even get started.....Maybe I’m living in the wrong place but where I live people want everything for nothing or they have fortnightly lessons as thats all they can afford. Even then, they OFTEN quit because they haven’t space in their heads to even think about music because they are just trying to get by ya know....
True . He sounded fishy .
I know right?! He kinda makes everything sound so easy! When he talks about like producing people, ummmm they never have any money! Custom music for Indy films is low no or deferred: you’re usually doing it for free. Library tracks are mostly rejected due to volume. Teaching is brutal af. But okay, ;lets make 11k per month! Hiring assistants? Lol. Where do you find an assistant for 80 to 200 per track? But what do I know.
This is pure BS.
Uh, how so?
He’s right. You’re a marketing entrepreneur. You’re slick and you’re a salesman telling musicians working at Walmart what they want to hear. Libraries are over stocked. Indy films don’t pay shit. Teaching is what it is. Hiring assistants is hilarious unless you’re a million dollar composer in LA/NY … you’re just upbeat and make it sound like it’s so doable to earn up to 11k a month. Dude
This channel is dedicated to showing the truth of the industry, no BS :) Just experience and real stories.
@@StevenMelin dude, can you honestly see a hopeful musician tryna do all of this in their life. They’d have a coronary. And die wondering why they weren’t able to support their family like the guy on the internet said. Not to be a negative Nancy, but after training at Berklee, my pro tools set up and recording facility, my reality won’t be 11k per month. Unless you do a studio film, yoire not making much because artists don’t have money.
Do you need a degree to be an anime music composer?
Not where I live mate! You cannot charge hundreds for anything where I live, let alone original music or production!!! Music is a luxury and its always (in my experience) the FIRST thing to go when there is any sign of trouble in peoples lives. What planet are you on? Planet California or somethin......sorry but it sounds like u live in a completely different universe. Tell u what though if people can be this greedy then it does give me a bit of hope that I could earn some pocket money doing what I love??
where do you live?
@@emanuel_soundtrack Yorkshire, UK
This guy is a marketing guru who reads books on marketing. This is not reality. Klaus Badelt scored Pirates of the Caribbean. His first big job given to him by Hans Zimmer because he was too busy. After it came out and was a hit, Klaus didn’t get another composing gig for half a year! It’s not as easy as this guy is telling you
Bro
Yes? 🤨
This is absolutely disgusting. Shame on you.
What don’t you like about this? Real question. I’m confused by your response.
This sounds fishy
How so? My budgets don’t lie…
Well if your looking for another composer assistant. Let me know ill give you me contact info
Not right now, but thanks 🙏🏼 Tbh, I only hire people that are in my phone contacts (people who are already in my circle) - the business world runs that way!
And this is what most of us hear on a daily basis, genius Marketing guru: NO … shame on you for giving such false hope for people.