This is part two of my series on how to make more money from your music career. If you missed it, you can see part one here. That looks at the different ways in which you can earn money from gigging.
Today though, I want to look quickly at the power of recordings songs for holiday events such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and the like.
So, have you ever recorded a song based around a seasonal event? If not, you could be leaving money on the table! The thing is, these kind of songs bring a consistent and reliable income for many musicians. Both mainstream musicians and independent artists are taking advantage of this, so if you’re not, read on to find out why you really should be.
As you may well know, the regular life cycle of a song goes something like this:
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Birth - This is when you first come up with the idea, record it, and get it ready for market.
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Maturity - This is where you start promoting the song, and it reaches the highest sales peak it’s going to see.
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Decline - This is where all the hype around the song dies down, and sales and demand slows down. After this you can still make money from the song, but it’s more often than not very slow moving, unless you do ongoing promotion for it.
This matches the typical product life cycle which applies to many products in all different industries:
Image by www.12manage.com
That said, if you were to record songs around a specific season or yearly event, the life cycle of your product could potentially change up drastically!
I’m sure you hear the same songs over and over again at Christmas right? This is because there are select songs which get on all the compilation CDs, radio shows and playlists around the Christmas period. And guess what? The writers of these songs are making money every year from these plays! This leads to consistent royalties for the people involved in making the song, and a elevated pay day at the same time every year.
The great thing about doing these kind of songs is there is still room for you to get your song on the yearly rotation list. I’m not saying you’re going to record the biggest Christmas song ever and get rich (although it is possible, I won’t count you out), but it is possible to get a slice of the pie. Alongside the classic holiday songs, you always hear a few new songs popping up every year on the playlists and in shops playing festive music. While some of these songs are written by established pop stars, there are also a lot by independent musicians. Musicians like you!
I won’t drag this on, as more words won’t get my point across any better. The long and short of it is that you should be recording songs based around Christmas and other holiday seasons, as they can be very profitable. Once you’ve done that, work on marketing them to the people who put compilations together, holiday themed companies, and any other business who may be interested in using your song around the festive season.
So if you haven’t released a holiday based song in 2013, then make sure you get on the case in 2014!
If you want more tips for creating a more profitable music career in 2014, you may also want to check my study on the difference between how to make money from music and how to gain more exposure. This can save a lot of wasted hours doing the wrong things, so be sure you’re doing the right things to match your aims.
If you found this guide useful, please share it around with other musicians. And if you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a good one. :)
Shaun Letang.