Think You're Ready to Make Music Your Full-time Job? Read This First

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't like music to at least some degree, but it takes a very special kind of person to be able to make a career out of it. Lots of people play music, and may even be pretty good at it, but they also realize that it's always going to be a hobby, not a career. If you feel you have what it takes to be a full-time music professional, this is for you.

Planning Is Key

You shouldn't be expecting great success within the first month or even decade of becoming a full-time musician. The music industry doesn't come with a guarantee. If anything, you might find that you have far less money than you did in your previous career. Before you leave your other career, you should make sure you have enough savings to cover a reduction in your income.Cyber PR recommends also taking the time to outline your goals. What sort of milestones do you want to reach? Keep these goals realistic. You don't want to become discouraged due to initially being overoptimistic.

Get Creative With Your Income

You can't expect to make a living as a musician solely through income from shows or even merchandise sales. It's all but assured that your quality of life will see some decline after the initial career switch, but you can still make a good living. You need to treat your music like a business.Delicate Beats points out that almost every business has multiple income streams, and as a musician, you should be no different. Consider freelancing, selling lessons, royalty for any use, ad money from YouTube and more. You can have fun with these rotating income sources and make some great connections.

Have a Backup Plan

If your music career isn't going where you anticipated it would, even at your lowest expectations, you might need to call it a day. Losing money over something you love can poison your relationship with it. When you're making your long-term plans for your music career, you always need to factor in backup plans and not fall into the trap of thinking you must keep going even if it's not paying off. This might mean putting a pause on your music career for a few years before resuming it. 

Your relationship with music changes when it becomes your career. Hopefully, you'll still love it as much as ever, but you'll have to make peace with the new responsibilities that accompany professional work. As long as you can take care of business, keep booking paying gigs and not get too discouraged by the ups and downs of the music industry, you can make a living doing what you love.