Streaming your music allows you to reach a wider audience but do you know how you can monetize it?

This article will give you tips and tricks to earn money from streaming your music. But first, let’s have a look at the ongoing trend of live streaming.

Why is live streaming so popular?

Streaming started to gain popularity in the early 2000 for its use on computers and smartphones. It is convenient because it enables the delivery of sound without the need to download it. Live streaming helps individuals, organizations, and entities gain recognition through broadcasting their work.

The trend is on the rise due to the audience outreach and resultant revenue. According to Nielson, a global measurement and data analytics company, Americans listened to an average of 32 hours per week in 2017. It also said that this number is constantly increasing.

Streaming services are due to witness more growth in the coming years due to the portable designs of mobile devices and affordable internet services. According to a study, even streaming giant Netflix has started to face competition.

Let’s now look at how you can make money by streaming your music online.

Establish online presence

Your work will only have value if it reaches your online audience. Before you begin with the streaming, creating your profiles on all social platforms can develop a strong fan base.

If you already have a fan base, engage them with your content and information of future events. Remember to include as many links to your online content as possible and encourage your fans by responding to their comments on your posts.

Upload content on all platforms

Make sure that your content exists on all major platforms, such as YouTube and Spotify, to name a few. Be mindful of the user playlists as these can spread your content quickly.

You can also reach out to different bloggers to ask them to write about your content.

Utilize resources for streaming

You can increase your viewership significantly by connecting with musicians and new talent to spread the word. Once you have established yourself, it is time to make money from your streaming.

Let’s now look at some of the methods you can use to earn more and more bucks from your content.

The pay-per-view method

One method to do so is to opt for pay per view that asks the fans to pay a certain amount for accessing the hidden content. Depending on the strength of the fan base, you can ask the users to subscribe to a monthly payment plan to continue viewing your content.

The most common site for this is Patreon, which allows people to subscribe and gain access to your channel for a monthly payment. There are other sites such as By Me A Coffee or Ko-Fi, which offer similar services.

Sponsors or affiliate programs

Sponsor programs simply work by allowing a link to a sponsor’s product on your video. You will get a share on the purchase every time a sponsored link is clicked and the product is bought.

Donations from fans

Another great way to earn revenue from streaming is through your fans that make donations while watching your video. Several video streaming services offer a reward system that allows the viewers to send gifts to the performers.

Live performances

According to an estimate, the live music industry’s growth rate will touch $30.55 billion by the year 2022. This strongly suggests that performing live can help earn decent money through the sale of online tickets or a video sponsor.

Live festivals are also a good way to not just showcase your talent but earn a lot of money.

Where to stream your videos?

While there are dozens of streaming services available online, we will look at those with the most user base.

YouTube live

YouTube Live is one of the most sought after streaming services online. Official statistics from February last year show that viewers watch one billion hours of content on the broadcast platform every day.

You can earn money from your content on YouTube in the following ways:

Ad Sense: To earn through advertisements on your channel, you need to link your account to Google Ad Sense.

Channel Memberships: To access this service, you need to have at least 30,000 subscribers.

Merchandise Shelf: This feature requires that you have at least 10,000 subscribers on your channel.

Super Chat: The only requirement to access this feature is that you live in a country where Super Chat is available.

YouTube Premium Revenue: To earn money from this feature, you need to have your content watched by a YouTube Premium subscriber. All of the above services require that you are at least 18 years old and follow the community standards and guidelines.

Spotify

Spotify is also a useful place to earn from streaming your content. Statistics suggest that the streaming website will have about 265 million active users by the end of 2019.

Spotify pays from $0.0006 to $0.0084 per stream to the owner of the video whom it describes as the “holder”.

Deezer

Deezer is a French online music streaming service that offers its subscribers more than 56 million tracks. It also offers a premium service, which lets you listen to your favorite tracks even without a Wifi.

Deezer also allows you to create playlists from the tracks and personalize them. As of January, the streaming platform recorded seven million subscribers worldwide.

iTunes

People still buy music from iTunes which means each time someone pays for it, you get a cut of it. The going rate for an album is about $6-$7, which means you get a little more than half of what the user is paying. This goes the same for Amazon Music, CD Baby, etc.

Check out Distro Kid or CD Baby to learn more about how you can distribute your music on many platforms simultaneously.

Conclusion

The aforementioned tips can help you earn money from monetizing your streamed content. There are many streaming services to choose from but you can pick one that is easy to use and offers the most features. Going live with your music is simpler than ever plus it is highly profitable in the digital age. So, start now!