Whether you’re an indie artist or a part of a major label, you deserve to make money too! The first step is to decide whether or not being a part of the music industry is just a hobby, or a talent you want to nurture and craft. If it is just a hobby, you can still get paid, but it will cost you…time, effort and money. If it is a talent, the same applies, but you will make money doing what you love to do.

The next step is to make sure your paper work is correct. There is nothing worse than to spend so much time and energy in your career only to get zero back in return. Why have your music played on the radio if you can’t get paid? Why perform live at shows if you don’t get paid for it? Why put out thousands of mixtapes on the streets if nothing can be gained from doing so?

Get your paper work done. Every artist needs a performance rights organization such as ASCAP or BMI. These organizations collect performance royalties on behalf of the publisher and the recording artist. If you perform in a live venue, add it to your performance log and you will get paid. If you have an album in stores, add it to your works catalog and you will get paid. It’s that simple.

Every artist needs SoundExchange to cover digital royalties. If you have a song in rotation on an internet radio station such as Southern Xsposure Radio, or satellite radio stations such as XM or Pandora, you will get paid if you are registered with SoundExchange.

Every artist needs a custom website design. Sure you can promote on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. But do you really want to be limited with all the restrictions of character counts, restricted tagging, the inability to post your music or videos, or having your content scattered across networks? On your own website, you can promote what you want as much as you want. You can even sell music from your own website.

Still want to promote on Social Networks? You can link your social networks to your website. Stop saying, find me on IG at IAMSomebody or Facebook at facebook.com/somebodylovesme and on Twitter at moneyispower123 because with all those addresses, your fans can’t really keep up with how to find you. Make it easier on your fans. Give them a one stop shop for music, news, videos, photos, tours, events, and more.