According to an article written by Tyler Cohen if you want the to make money as a musician, you can "play at private parties, play at weddings, be a street musician, be a recital accompanist, be a session musician, be atmosphere at hotels and restaurants or teach." All of this is valid information, but it’s impossible to make money as a musician if you don’t have a plan. Or as many bands and singer/songwriters have been conditioned to believe they believe the secret to making money as a musician is to have a record deal.

If you wanted to tour the world, be on every single media outlet possible, have endless radio play and have world wide distribution, then signing a with record company would have made sense 10 years ago. However, times have changed and they have changed greatly. The reality is that music industry is not the same is was 5 years ago. In fact, as each day passes the new music industry is taking form and the secret of how to make money as a musician is being exposed.

We artists need to wake up from our slumber, throw out our past conditioning of write great music, play a ton of shows, hire a manager and a booking agent. Following this model is old and antiquated. In the new music industry, it’s all about you as an artist! You have to have great music, a spectacular image and a live show that creates the ‘moment,’ but that’s just the foundation to a music career in this day and age.

If you want to know the secret of how to make money as a musician it’s very simple. You have to start thinking of your artistic career as a small business. You have to understand that you are the CEO of your OWN company. Your band, your solo career is a business. For some reason or another, maybe it’s due to our conditioned minds, we artists believe if we think or see ourselves as business men and women that we are ‘selling out.’ Making money doing what you love is NOT ‘selling out.’ Being you with excellence is NOT ‘selling out.’ However, not being true to the authentic you IS ‘selling out.’

As artists, we have music and a message to get out to the world and we can only perpetuate our music and message for so long without money. So one of the secrets of how to make money as a musician is to change your paradigm. Start seeing yourself as the President and CEO of your company.

The harsh reality is major record labels are not developing artists anymore. They just don’t have the money to direct to artist development. The labels are all about the business and the risk is way to high on developing an unknown artist. Record labels are looking for artists who think like a CEO. They want a band or singer/songwriter who is already making money. The cool thing due to the advances in technology and the Internet is you have all the marketing tools, all of the industry professionals and all the information you need to build and create your artistic vehicle to guide you to music success.

Another secret of how to make money as a musician is know exactly where you want to go. Know what you see for your music career and write it down. Something magical happens when you take the intangible thoughts from your mind and write them down into physical black and white representations. When you write down your vision you bring what you want for your music career to the forefront of your mind and you will start to see opportunities to manifest the reality you desire. Then it’s up to you to take action when the opportunity presents itself.

The third secret of how to make money as a musician is have a plan. Know how you are going to get from point A to point B. The main problem most musicians and bands have to achieving a successful music career is they don’t have a plan. They have bought into the old paradigm of the music industry. Artists believe if they write great music, play a ton of shows, hire a manager and a booking agent that somehow their music career magically manifests itself.

The true reality is most artists are winging their music careers, they are flying by the seat of their pants and most bands and singer/songwriters end up burning out. I promise you if you create a plan of action to guide you along your journey you will reach success in your music career. If you create a plan of action, the things and the people you desire will manifest so fast, you will look up and be living the life you have always dreamed of.

A lot of bands and singer/songwriters believe having a plan of action would help show them how to make money as a musician and I agree 100%. I have spoken with numerous industry professionals and they’re mantra is "artists are artists, they can’t think business." I can’t disagree more! I’m an artist and I can think business because I choose to think outside the box. I refuse to accept the limitations the music industry tries to put upon bands and singer/songwriters. Artists are are creative souls who are meant to create. We place so much value on creating great music, but we also need to embrace our entire creative spirit that is dwelling inside us to design awesome music businesses and marketing campaigns. I know that you have the abilities to achieve success and make money as a musician. That's the true secret of how to make money as a musician. You have the abilities to create your own successful music career! Don’t let anyone tell you can’t do business because you’re an artist.

I want to help you. That’s why I created Smart Artists Finish Rich: A Plan of Action. It’s a workbook that helps artists create a plan of action that will guide bands and singer/songwriters along their journey to success and help them make money as musicians. To start learning the secret of how to make money as a musician starting today I highly recommend you go to http://www.anewwaytomarket.com/smartartists.