Monetize Your Creativity in 2012

“Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration.” - Ernest Newman

“You’ll never make money as a musician (or artist, or dancer...), you need a real job.” - Every parent, ever.

"What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us." - Julia Cameron

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." - Woody Allen

OK, sure, we all have this creative thing we want to do, and we even feel “called” to do it. That has to mean this is more than just a way to get attention or express ourselves, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I live for the creative times where I create something new, or replay a song, or reread something I have written. That’s what I want my legacy to be.

But how do I LIVE while trying to be artistic dude? How do I pay the mortgage with it? How do I put my kids through college with it?

Tough questions, and for some people, not worth the trouble. You’d rather keep it a fun hobby, and there is nothing wrong with that. Many times I lay awake at night and fantasize delivering packages for Fedex while being totally free to dream and create free of depending on it for my living.

But many of you reading this are completely in the other camp: you work a day job and dream about making a living with your music, or art.

How do you make this jump?

Well, this will be the subject of our study as we start 2012.

So, you’re a songwriter, artist, musician, or singer. You have no doubt God has given you this ability and is calling you to use it in a big way. But thinking about leaving your current cushy job is unthinkable. Your mate, or parents, or friends would scoff at such a foolhardy thing. The road there is so jumbled and so many steps, it can’t possibly happen.

And yet...I see it happen all the time. I see people turn their life around, backwards, and sideways, and follow their dreams every day. And I did it myself.

I started writing songs at 13, was in band playing trombone, and came from a musical family. I started recording my songs in my teens and started to dream of being a songwriter for a living. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Now, flash forward to now. I’m 48 and indeed some of what I do for a living is based in songwriting, writing for clients and my own music. I see royalty checks every month for songs I have written. Some of that dream has happened. Obviously, it took a while, but I also took alot of rabbit trails and didn’t exactly follow a plan to here.

(It was in fact God’s plan though. Probably better than mine anyway.)

But this brings us to our first big point in monetizing your creative life:

Monetizing Fact No. 1: It’s all About Income Streams

You better LOVE doing different things, because there is really not just ONE thing you can do to live comfortably as a full-time working creative person.

Sure, you could get a job as a music director or worship leader at a church, or teaching music, but likely these will be jobs that might be part time, or not fully creative (lots of paper work, shepherding, etc).

For many artists or even in my past, a part time music director position is just one of your income streams.

As a songwriter you could have a royalty stream. As an artist you could have streams from gigs and music/merch sales.

Or maybe you have higher aspirations to be a music publisher, label owner, or traveling road musician.

All these could also be streams. I make money as a songwriter, artist, producer, web designer, consultant, coach, and graphic designer to name a few. ALL of them are crucial for me to live monthly without a day job. I have also added music director as an income stream, and hope to again. I’m pursuing further education right now to get to graduate work and teaching, which will still be another income stream.

Now, reading this you will be either excited, or roll your eyes and say “Who wants to do all that work?”

Well, the answer, if you really want to live as a full-time, no day job, creative person, should be “YOU do!” Because this is the reality.

“But what if I get a big break???” You ask.

Monetizing Fact No. 2: Quit Waiting for a Big Break & Get to Work! 

I tell the story of driving back repeatedly from Nashville, not finding my niche or person interested in what I was doing. Each time it strengthened my resolve to create a company that would take advantage of my strengths, as well to help artists and give them a way to get started.

It was like God reinforced that idea with each step. Every strange road prepared me for what Creative Soul would eventually become.

So finally I quit waiting to be “discovered”, and instead went after it. Like you reading this, I shadowed and befriended a working producer, and tried to figure out how to align my life so I could make the switch.

I found out from him what to do, and how to do it, and hung out my shingle.

As an artist, and songwriter, I just kept developing my style and getting to the audiences that wanted it.

This is WORK we have to do people. This is how “play” or “hobby” becomes our JOB. Isn’t that what you dream of?

So many people think the only way to artistic success is to “win” a contest, or get that one “showcase” for some executive, and then it’s a total life change overnight.

Yes, that happens, but people also win the lottery. If that’s your mentality, then good luck. But if you are the type of person that equates hard work with success, and value independence to work the way you want, then you need to think more about getting to work now.

Quit waiting for a magical genie to grant you artistic success and the adorations of millions.

Quit sitting on the sidelines lazily posting on Facebook, or counting your friends and Twitter followers.

Quit watching American Idol and laughing at the losers, while secretly wishing you had gotten through even the stadium auditions.

There are real roads to monetary artistic success that are not pie in the sky, send off the demo and hope for success, win the lottery options.

Even after an artist is signed, or a songwriter gets a publishing deal, there are thousands of hours of work to do for success. You can do this work NOW, not just put it off hoping you get discovered.

The secret to monetizing your art is work. If you’re ready to work, then find someone to help you, read a book, surf and find options. But get to work and start to change your life in 2012.

Here’s to a successful and artistic 2012!

EC
---

Eric Copeland is a music producer, consultant, author, and tons of other stuff he does to avoid working a real job. But there’s nothing like it. For more info on what his company Creative Soul does, check out http://www.CreativeSoulOnline.com