Making music comes naturally to a lot of people. Learning an instrument, writing some tunes, and maybe even playing them live – it all makes sense. But making money as a musician? That can be the hard part.

That leap from garage band or bedroom producer to working musician can be a long and complicated process, involving all sorts of different organisations and revenue streams that can easily trip up an emerging artist who just wants to get their music out there to as many people as possible.

In an effort to tear away some of the confusion, we’ve asked some industry experts for some advice on exactly what you need to do as a musician to get your music out there, and make sure you get paid.

Part One: Starting Out

It may seem like all a band needs to do is concentrate on the music, and the rest will take care of itself, but for anyone hoping to work as a musician, there are a lot of aspects that need to be taken care of right from the start.

For some advice on starting out, we’ve enlisted the help of industry veteran Neil Wedd, who currently mentors emerging acts, works as a booker for The Thornbury Theatre, and provides advice for musicians on Indie Initiative.

It’s A Business, Not A Hobby

Get It Right From The Beginning

“It is a business – you need to know about your business. Most people invest in their businesses. Learn how it all works, and have the right people around you. If you think you have a chance of being successful, you need to get this right from the start, before poor patterns set in.”

Get The Paperwork Sorted

“You need to have a signed formal agreement with everyone in the band, that covers songwriting, royalties, and everything else you can think of. The great examples of why bands broke up usually have to do with disagreements over royalties, so get it clear from the very beginning.

“You need to register the band’s name – that’s obviously important – and you need to register the business name as well, with an ABN. You cannot get paid without an ABN! The tax office is actually trying to help small businesses these days. If you think you’re going to be halfway successful, ask them about registering for GST, and charge it – that way you can get the money back, and every bit helps.”

Build Your Team

“The manager, should you appoint one, is an employee. They do not have access to your bank account, they present you with an invoice and you pay them – after you’ve checked over all of the figures, or have an independent person handling the money.

You may need two bank accounts – one for GST, and one for general funds – and this is where having an accountant will be invaluable. You need to trust your team, but also have checks and balances.”

Invest In Your Business

“When you’re getting started, look at having everyone in the band put money in – maybe $20 a week – because then in a few months time, we’ve got $500 and we can do a decent recording. These days, you need to have a good recording. Take the time to go into a studio, spend the money, and actually get a producer to help you.”

Build Your Brand

Engage With Fans From The Start

“Build your socials! You need to have very strong social networks, so that you can still get across to people without the play on triple j. If you’ve neglected the ‘fanclub’, you’re in trouble. Make sure you’ve got your mailing lists, and think about what you can give people to keep them interested.

“Make sure you give something back to people – if you can hold onto fans for years, and they grow with you, they’ll keep coming back to you.”

Get Your Branding Right

“If you want to have a career, do not play any sort of ‘Battle of the Bands’ – or if you do, come second! You usually get very commercial industry people there who pick the more commercial bands, but if you look back at big competitions over the years, the bands that don’t win are usually the ones that succeed.

“Look and dress the part, be what you are, and work out how to stand out from other bands. Film your shows, or your practice, playing it as if you’re doing a show live onstage. They used to put big mirrors on soundstages so you could watch yourselves perform – who pulls sex faces, and who does stupid things. See what works, and what doesn’t.”

Self-Promote Like Crazy

“Think about where you want to start. A lot of bands just want to get on triple j, but usually you need to have an audience first. You can pay someone to push a track to triple j and others, but always the best way is to get a really good live following.

“To get a live following, someone in the band will usually need to promote you, and you’ll start out with getting your mates along. Hopefully you’re good enough that within three or four gigs your mates are fans, and they’ll tell other people. Start by looking for a gig in your local area. Take the worst night of the week, and bring 50 people.

“You have to work reasonably hard at promoting yourself. Read local press, look for reviewers who cover bands like yours, and offer to pay them to come down and give an honest review of your gig. If you can’t pay them, at least make sure they get drunk on your drink cards! But it’s really about getting a credible review as early as you can.”

Build Relationships

“Be polite to the people that run venues! And the booker – bookers are the most important people, because they either give you a gig, or they don’t. You need to schmooze a bit, and learn who the players in the business are. It helps to be able to recognise someone, so that if you bump into them when you’re walking down the street, you can say hi.

“Be nice to everyone, really, as you never know who you’re talking to. Word gets around! If you’re going to be a turd, and are seen as difficult, it’s hard to get shows. You can have all the ability in the world, but it’s easy for people to turn you down at the start. By having good relationships with people – and not being a pain in the arse – you’ll get shows.

Making The Most of Your Gigs

Starting Out

“Live shows are so important. You can only sell your music a few ways – digital, vinyl, and maybe cassettes for hipsters – but you can sell a live performance over and over again, and hopefully a few tee shirts and records along the way.

“When you start out, always include one cover at least, and try to make it your own. Early on, people don’t know your songs, but they know the hits!”

APRA Is Important

“Register for APRA as soon as you can, and after every show, write down every song you played – you get paid for each one. If you’re supporting someone big, play lots of songs, not just three or four!

“When King Salmon and the Surrealists supported U2, they made more money out of their APRA fees than they were paid to play the gig. If you don’t play as many songs, you don’t get paid for as many, so be The Ramones! Play medleys!”

Merch, Merch, Merch

“The importance of merch at a gig can’t be overstated. A song will only make a tiny amount of money each time it’s played, but if you sell a tee shirt, you’re making five or ten bucks at least. Set your merch desk up in a visible area, and head over to the desk after your set to chat to fans and hopefully make a few sales.

“The legend goes that U2 had a deal where Bono and The Edge said “we write all the songs, so we’ll take all the money”, and left Larry Mullin Jr and Adam Clayton the tee shirt sales and the merchandise. They soon realised you don’t make as much out of songwriting as you make out of merchandise, so it didn’t take long for them to renegotiate that deal!”

Don’t Neglect Country Areas

“triple j is immensely influential because it helps you to play in country venues – that’s the big thing most people overlook. If you make enough money in the city, spend it to go to the country areas, rather than just doing festivals. You need to be smart about where you’re playing. If you’re heading to Perth, play in Bunbury, or Geraldton, or Kalgoorlie.

“You don’t make a lot of money, but even if you break even, you’ll sell some records and some merch, and the audience love you. If you go back again, do it a couple of times a year in each town, and the money and fans start to add up! Look at North Queensland, or Tasmania. It’s hard to find the promoters out there, but it’s worth it.

“The other positive is that you learn to tour. You’ll have to drive rather than fly, and you learn to get on with people – including your bandmates. If you ever go to the States, you’ll be prepared! It can all add up to another five to ten weeks of playing each year, so if the shows aren’t paying the bills at home, people in country venues will still come to watch you play even if you haven’t made a hit yet.”

Is That Support Slot Worth It?

“If you’re going to support a major artist, work out if it’s worth the money it’ll cost you to do the show. Sometime it is – the idea is that you steal some of the headliner’s audience. That’s why you support someone, not to make money. And remember, they may be using you as well, as they might not have a big enough audience on their own.”

Part Two: Getting Paid

So you’ve got a few gigs under your belt, some fans on social media, and a few decent recordings – now for the complicated part. Everyone is familiar with the basic idea of ‘royalties’ – paying an artist when their music makes money  – but there’s a lot of detail that every working musician should understand.

To clear it all up, we’ve asked David Nash, the Copyright & Royalties manager at Native Tongue Music Publishing – an independent music publisher with offices across the world that works with artists like Courtney Barnett,The Amity Affliction, Cut Copy and The Waifs.

Understanding Royalties

Mechanical Royalties

“Mechanical royalties are the grandfather of the family who has seen and done it all and still lives to tell the tale. These royalties stem from the sale or reproduction of the work.

“This can be in many formats these days with digital downloads and streaming taking over from the more traditional physical sales, which long took over from print sales that still exist but remain a small portion of the pie. Whenever a transaction like this takes place, the writer of the work sold is entitled to publishing royalties from that sale.”

Performance Royalties

“The ever reliant mother of the family are performance royalties, as they form the backbone of a published writer’s income. This is a royalty paid out for whenever a work of theirs is ‘performed’.

“That performance could be broadcast on TV or radio, played live by the original artist or someone else, heard at a restaurant, in a cinema and all the way through to being played at a sporting event. Basically, if your work is being played you should be getting paid.”

Synchronisation Royalties

“Finally, synchronisation royalties are very well known these days as the more popular and attractive cousin in the publishing family. This is due to their more instant nature and chance to be a larger sum of money.

“These can be earned whenever an audio work is matched up with visuals, for example TV shows, films, video games and advertising campaigns to name a few.”

How To Collect Your Royalties

The Importance Of APRA/AMCOS

“If you are in a band or performing solo and write your own songs, you should look into collecting royalties NOW. Every artist deserves the right to earn income from their work if it is in the public arena. If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage you to join APRA/AMCOS, and read the FAQ sheets they have available.

“In Australia & New Zealand, we are very lucky to have one of the best performance and mechanical rights societies in APRA/AMCOS. We are also very lucky to have a legal framework that spells out what each use of a piece of music is worth.

“For an unpublished writer, APRA/AMCOS can help collect royalties owed through its relationships with everyone using music locally and internationally. APRA/AMCOS licenses direct with all TV stations, radio stations, live venues, cafes, restaurants, streaming companies, iTunes, major and independent record labels, plus many many more.

“Therefore, in most cases, they will be responsible for accounting and collecting royalties from music users and making sure the correct royalty is then passed onto the writer of the work.”

Working With A Music Publisher

“A music publisher helps the royalty collection process both locally and overseas. It is very hard to expect APRA/AMCOS to do everything it can for the thousands of writers it represents. We therefore come on board as part of the team when a writer is at a point that warrants needing a publisher.

“A music publisher’s principle role is to protect and promote its composers’ copyrighted works. That copyright lies in the lyrics and music of the song and therefore opens up many doors for its use, both authorised and unauthorised. It is our job to not only seek out those opportunities for our writers but also protect them against any uses that are being exploited without their permission.

“A general day in a publisher’s office will include registering composers works, collecting royalties, seeking out songwriting opportunities or cuts for existing songs, pitching music to briefs for advertising or screen jobs, as well as putting out any fires in relation to unauthorised use and answering composers’ queries.

Local vs. International Publishing

“Locally, a music publisher will be able to work with APRA/AMCOS to register all a writers works and make sure all uses of the works are being picked up for collection. This includes registering works, submitting cue sheets and developing direct relationships with music users to enable the flow of information to be as fluent as possible.

“Internationally, a music publisher has its own extensive network of sub-publishers that are on the ground in all major territories around the world. This is especially important as not every country is as lucky as we are in having very helpful societies.

“Therefore, it is increasingly important to have people who are able to get in touch direct with both the societies and third party companies to make sure all accountings are paid through as they should be. The role of a music publisher is also to increase opportunities for our writers and their songs. We love to serve our writers by bringing new life to their work and extending the life of those songs.”

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