I speak with musicians, singers, and songwriters almost daily and many are wondering what they can do to make more money with their music other than just gigging more or selling more albums. A lot of us aren't in our 20s anymore...or even 30s and we have families and careers to consider. Here are some ideas that I usually present to singer/songwriters that I work with...

Sources of income for a songwriter, singer, musician, or band       

• Record deals with major and independent labels
• Selling albums
• Touring – local / regional / national / international
• Merchandising
• Licensing to other recording artists
• Music Publishing - Single song deals
• Music Publishing - Multi-song deals
• Music Publishing - Staff writer deals
• Video game deals
• Film placement
• TV placement
• Video placement in commercials
• Video placement in corporate videos
• Video placement in training videos
• Video placement in promotional videos
• Jingles, slogans, branding
• Multimedia, CD, & DVD promos
• Broadway, theatrical release
• Music libraries - Individual submissions / Staff Composer / Producer
  
• Music compilation CDs (Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc.)
• Sheet music sales (including schools, churches, etc)
• Ring tones (cell phones)
• Lyric reprints in books
• Karaoke CDs
• On hold music
• Misc: musical greeting cards, music boxes, musical fountains, toys, etc. 

A song generates money for the writer(s) when it appears on an album, gets played on the radio, is used in a video, commercial, TV show or movie, is sold as sheet music, and even when it is used as a ring tone on a cell phone.

When the song is part of an album or is sold as sheet music, the writer gets a mechanical royalty. When a song is used in a movie or TV show, or played on the radio a performance royalty is paid to the writer(s)

Additional income sources for a singer:

• Voice over work for video (commercials, public service announcements, narrations, animation, podcasts)
• Sing other songwriters’ songs for demo purposes so that the songwriter may market or license his/her song.
• Sing background vocals on other songwriters’ songs

Additional income sources for a musician:

• Perform as a studio musician and/or composer for other songwriters / musicians / performers
• Perform as a studio musician and/or composer for audio for video (soundtracks - commercials, public service announcements, short films, animation, Web sites, podcasts)
• Collaborate with other songwriters to create songs for demo purposes to market or license together