Being able to have an income doing something I am passionate about has been super important to me ever since I left the corporate world in 2015. I was an Account Executive in sales for 5 years prior to leaving and while I had been making a lot of money, I was not happy or fulfilled because I didn’t have music in my life. When I parted ways with my last company I decided I would focus on ways to monetize my passion for music and I’m going to share with you in this post how I make money singing from home. If you are a singer who wants to learn ways to make money singing from home, keep reading! As usual, if you don’t feel like reading it go ahead and click on the video!
WAY #1 TO MAKE MONEY SINGING FROM HOME: BE A VOCAL COACH.
If you are a really strong singer with solid technique and knowledge of how the voice works, this could be a great way to build up a good income for only a couple of hours a week. You can offer voice lessons in person at your home or at your student’s home, or, you can offer online voice lessons. The majority of my vocal students are online students and as long as I have my mini keyboard with me I can teach from anywhere! This is also a super fulfilling way to give back. It is so gratifying for me to help singers develop their voices and confidence in their voice. I feel like it’s a special gift and feel so honored that I get to do it. Here’s what you’ll need if you want to start teaching voice lessons.
What you need to teach voice lessons.
· Knowledge of how the voice works. It’s important to have an understanding of the mechanics of what’s happening when you sing so you will want to have some Vocal Pedagogy under your belt. I graduated with a degree in music (vocal performance concentration) and still didn’t have the confidence to teach people how to sing so I took a course called Become A Singing Teacher and felt super confident to begin teaching after that.
· Studio space and tools for teaching. You will need your own studio space, a keyboard, knowledge of how to play scales and chords, a computer, a device to play music on, and be registered with a platform for online teaching (Skype, Facetime, Zoom are super reliable and free. I personally use Zoom!).
WAY # 2 TO MAKE MONEY SINGING FROM HOME: BE A SESSION VOCALIST.
Again if you are a really strong singer, and/or have a unique sound, you can be a session vocalist! This requires you to have your own studio set up and if you don’t have one, check out this post where I tell you everything you need to set one up!
What you need to be a session vocalist.
· Studio set up or a place to record vocals. See this post to learn what you need to set up your own home studio.
· Solid voice and ability to sing consistently the same. In session work you are going to be doing a lot of doubling and you need to have a strong ear and the ability to sing the same phrase the exact same way.
· Samples of your work. I get a lot of work because I already have a presence online of my talent, demonstrating my capabilities. I have songs on soundcloud.com/thisshari and I have videos on youtube.com/sharivideos. If you don’t have any original songs, make covers and add harmonies and doubles to your vocals. This is an efficient way to get practice in while building a portfolio! Most of what I have online right now are covers.
· Platform to get leads. I currently get all of my work through a platform called Fiverr.com. They are a website for freelancers to offer their services. All transactions are done strictly on Fiverr.com and customers are not allowed to contact me outside of Fiverr. I'm also not allowed to work with customers from Fiverr, off of the platform. My profile is listed here: fiverr.com/thisisshari There are others like Soundbetter.com and Airgigs.com. Choose one or hop on all three!
WAY #3 TO MAKE MONEY SINGING FROM HOME: WRITING AND RECORDING SONGS FOR PEOPLE.
Another way you can make money at home is by writing songs and recording them for producers. This is a situation where a producer will reach out with an instrumental and ask you to write music to it. They may be looking to submit music for other artists to sing, in which case you want to look into making sure you get your publishing for the song. Or they may want to keep your voice on the track.
What you need to be a songwriter. You would need the knowledge to create a melody and write lyrics.
· Samples of your work. Again, having your music on SoundCloud or YouTube will be really helpful here. Even other platforms like Spotify and Itunes would be awesome. Having credibility and being able to prove to people what you’re capable of is important. If you don’t have original songs written yet, write a remix to a popular song! Write your own version!
· Platform to get leads (people who are looking for your services). When it comes to writing songs for other people, I’ve had people contact me after seeing a remix of mine and ask me to write for them. So, put yourself out there! Also, Fiverr.com is another platform where I get people who want me to write songs for them.
In closing, it feels so good to get paid for my talents! I get to get paid to become a better teacher and become a better vocalist and it’s amazing. I hope this was helpful for you to come up with creative ways to get paid for your talents! Now, if you are not quite at the place where you have the confidence in your voice yet to offer your services, or want to gain more confidence in your voice so you can get paid to sing, let’s work together! Start by downloading my free guide on how to warm up your voice. I’ll also send you weekly tips to help keep your voice in shape and let you know what I’m up to in my own vocal journey, or my Dreamchase as I call it.
Tell me: are you making money singing at home and going about it a different way? Comment below and let me know!