First and foremost, let me just say this – I don’t think anyone should tell you how to run your life. I am going to propose an idea – that’s all. I’m not saying it will work for everyone, or that doing something else is pointless. This is a thought exercise… based on personal experience.
Do you want to be a musical artist? Nothing is stopping you. You decide to make music, and then you do it. Poof! You’re a musical artist. But if you want to make a living at JUST doing your MUSIC alone, well… it’s possible because some people have done it. But the vast majority of people who want to make a living doing their own music end up doing a lot of other things to pay the bills.
Let’s take the case of (Semi-Famous YouTube Musical Artist.) I won’t name them, but this general description fits a lot of them. They sell their own music and sometimes they do gigs, and they might even tour. They make money on YouTube by generating content about them doing music. The YouTube ad revenue helps pay the bills. Sometimes they might do gear reviews or have Amazon-affiliated links. So there’s additional money coming in from that.
So far, we could be talking about me (except for the touring part.) But they go beyond the above stuff. They might have a Patreon where their fans can directly support them. And let’s be honest – their fans on Patreon are often fans of their YouTube channel first and their music second. They might also have an online course or courses where you can learn to play keyboards, or how to sing, or play guitar, or mix music, or write songs. They might give online lessons.
In 1983 I read the book “Making Money Making Music.” Great book. It said “if you want to make a living in the Music Business, you can! You just need to have multiple streams of income from gigs, lessons, instrument repair, studio recording, etc and so on.” Now it’s 2025 and it’s the same deal. You want to make a living making your own music? Sure, you can do it. Just remember to do the online lessons, write the courseware, shill the gear, generate the content, content, CONTENT! And whatever else you can do to make money when you’re not writing songs. But you’re not REALLY making a living making your own music. You’re making a living generating content for other musicians.
I could make the case that I spend just as much time on making my own music as many of these YouTubers, and I have a full time job as a web developer. The biggest difference is that unlike having to hustle and maintain multiple streams of income, I just show up to work every day, make cool web pages, and go home. Programming is my second favorite hobby, so I’m doing one of my hobbies as my day job.
As an artist, I have to be in the right frame of mind to sit down and compose. If I had to constantly hustle to keep all of my streams of income going, that would worry me. It’d definitely be stressful. So I’d probably be less productive, or at a minimum the work I did would reflect my state of mind. But that’s me – some people LOVE being their own boss and they’d be stressed out if they had my day job. So there’s no right or wrong answer here. It all depends on the person.
Either you have a day job, or you do multiple streams of income. I’m trying to suggest that they’re not all that different in terms of how much time you put into actually making music.
Here’s a disclaimer – if you want to be a pop star, you do NOT want to get a day job OR do full time music multiple streams of income. You need to be young, good looking, an amazing singer, a talented songwriter, and just GO for it. If you HAVE to wait tables, do it in a way that won’t interfere. And move to Nashville or LA or New York. Your window is small. You don’t have time to give guitar lessons. Oh… and you will in all likelihood fail, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the shot.
But being a musical artist is different. You don’t need millions of fans or even dozens. Make your art. If it’s good, someone will notice. You won’t make a living at it (probably) but someone will like it. I have 6 albums out and I’ve had music licensed. There was one summer where, if you went into a Walgreens or a Krogers often enough, you would have heard my song “The First Time.” Hardly stardom, but I put that song out when I was 42 years old.
Maybe instead of killing yourself online to pay the bills, those folks might want to find a stable career that they kind of enjoy. It’s a loooot easier to buy that new amp when you’re making real money.