Top 7 Ways to Earn Money by Listening to Music
Music Review Platforms
These platforms offer a wealth of opportunities for individuals to make money online by providing insightful reviews on songs, albums, and even up-and-coming artists. With the music industry booming, there is a huge demand for honest and expert opinions, making it a lucrative opportunity for music enthusiasts.
Music review platforms serve as a channel for reviewers to connect with musicians and share their feedback and insights to gain exposure. Along with the satisfaction of sharing your opinion, reviewers can make money in various ways. They can get paid for reviewing albums, earn sponsorship opportunities, or leverage affiliate marketing collaborations. The earning potential on these platforms is vast and varied.
The more well-written your reviews are, the more opportunities and higher earnings you can achieve. Therefore, aspiring music reviewers must strive to produce insightful and well-informed reviews that showcase their expertise. The key to success in this field is selecting the right music review platform. Reviewers should aim to join reputable and established platforms, such as Slicethepie and Musicxray.
Playlist Curation
Music curation involves creating and curating playlists that cater to specific audiences or niches, and it's a booming industry with exciting earning potential. Platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud provide opportunities for curators to earn money through advertising revenue, sponsored playlists, and affiliate marketing collaborations.
By understanding your target audience and their music preferences, you can curate playlists that resonate with them, gaining a loyal following and attracting potential income streams. Starting in music curation doesn't require much - a deep love for music, a discerning ear, and an ability to showcase your personality through your playlists, meaning that it doesn’t require any special skills or expert knowledge.
Online Surveys
This unique opportunity allows individuals to listen to new music releases and artists and provide their opinions while earning money with the help of paid survey platforms, such as Freecash, Survey Junkie, InboxDollars, and more. The survey process involves listening to music samples, rating them, and providing detailed feedback through questionnaires or open-ended responses.
Participants will be asked to provide demographic information to match specific survey requirements, and upon completing the survey, participants will usually get virtual currency in the form of points that can be exchanged for various rewards - including cash. Rewards vary based on the length of the survey and the platform, and participants can accumulate earnings over time.
Music Licensing and Syncing
Making money through music licensing and syncing offers exciting opportunities for musicians and artists. By licensing your music, you can reach a broader audience and increase your visibility. This exposure can lead to various revenue streams, including licensing fees, royalties, and sync placements. To maximize your earnings, focus on producing high-quality music that aligns with different licensing opportunities.
Additionally, invest time in building relationships with music supervisors, licensing agencies, and industry professionals who can help promote your work. Targeted pitching is crucial, ensuring that you research and approach the right opportunities for licensing and syncing. Services like Pond5, AudioJungle, and Music Vine provide a platform for artists to showcase their music and earn royalties when it is used.
Online Radio Hosting
Launch your own online radio station and monetize it through advertisements or sponsorships. Share your favorite tracks, engage with listeners, and build a loyal audience. Platforms like Shoutcast and Radionomy offer tools and resources to easily set up and monetize your online radio station.
Starting a YouTube Channel
This particular method is likely the most demanding one and will require the greatest commitment, investment of time, expertise, and understanding of music. However, as time goes on, it can become quite lucrative. The fundamental concept of establishing a YouTube channel dedicated to music reviews is to attract a following and produce your own music critiques. It is advisable to concentrate on specific genres, rather than covering music as a whole, as this approach will attract a more focused audience, increasing the potential to monetize your channel in the future.
Transcribing Lyrics
Transcribing music lyrics accurately and with high quality is in great demand in the music industry. Whether it's for songwriting, music education, or making songs accessible to a wider audience, transcription plays a crucial role. To get started as a music transcriptionist, you need a keen ear, attention to detail, and proficiency in written language. Developing transcription skills is essential for accurately capturing every word and syllable of a song. There are also various transcription software and tools available that can aid in the process, making it more efficient and accurate.
There are multiple ways to earn money through music transcription. Freelance platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr, music production companies, and collaborations with artists or bands are potential sources of income.
Top 7 Platforms & Apps to Earn Money by Listening to Music
Slice The Pie
While this is not a music-exclusive platform, SlicethePie is a great review platform where one of the options to make money is to get paid to listen to music. Essentially, you would be tasked to provide reviews for specific songs that will be played to you, and you'll get paid depending on how good your review is. However, keep in mind that the earning potential is quite low, and you'll only receive around $0.02 - $0.20 per review.
Music Gateway
Music Gateway essentially connects musicians and producers, and distributes the songs on various music streaming websites, while allowing the musicians to have full ownership of their royalties. Besides this, Music Gateway allows users to get paid to listen to and review the music too! However, this program is exclusive and is designed for those who have an established network (radio hosts, influencers, music producers, etc.), and who already receive music submissions on a regular basis. If you are one of them, you'll be able to earn up to $800 per month for reviewing the music!
Playlist Push
Playlist Push can be an excellent way to get paid to listen to music, provided that you are eligible to do so. In other words, you'll need to have your own playlist on one of the most popular music-streaming platforms and have plenty of followers. Besides that, you will need to be skilled at writing reviews, and above all - to have an excellent ear for music. Playlist Push essentially supports indie artists and allows people to discover new music from reviewers, and if you become one on this platform, you will be able to earn $1 - $15 per song review - and get paid out instantly!
Current
Current is an app available for Android and iOS where you can listen to music on your phone and earn up to $50 per month for doing so. Essentially, you may choose the genre, and the app will automatically play songs of that specific genre, aiming to promote less-known artists and reward listeners in return. In addition, this app offers PayPal money, as well as various gift cards as a reward for listening.
Soundhalla
Soundhalla is an app that helps artists get promoted on various platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and more. Since this app releases more than 100,000 songs per day, they need someone to review this music, that's why they are willing to pay their members to listen to music. However, not all songs will have the earning potential, so make sure that a song has the "Earn" badge next to it before listening.
Musicxray
Musicxray allows their members to get paid for listening to music, by sending the music to your email inbox. Essentially, upon creating a profile and filling out the necessary details, including the preferred music, you'll receive emails with songs that you can review (for at least 30 seconds), and get paid for them. However, the earning potential of this platform is lower than others, so it's best to combine it rather than relying on it completely.
RadioEarn
RadioEarn, unlike the previously mentioned platforms, focuses on paying their members to listen to music on the internet radio. The idea behind this platform is pretty straightforward - all you have to do is tune in to specific radio stations, earn points, and convert them into money or various rewards. RadioEarn awards points every 15 minutes, but the earning potential is not that significant.
Conclusion
As we've explored the world of music, we've discovered a whole range of ways to monetize our passion just by putting on headphones and listening to tunes. There are lots of ways for music lovers to get involved, from reviewing to creating content about music, plus there's a wide range of platforms and apps that let users make money from anywhere, at any time. If you're looking for a change of pace from the daily grind and want to earn some extra cash in a way that you'll enjoy, why not give it a try?
