5 Ways Artists Can Make Money During A Pandemic

While many major acts are reeling from huge losses in ticket sales, some smaller DIY groups and artists are finding ways to pick up the pieces and generate some revenue. Here rapper Kosha Dillz details five different ways artists can bring in money during the ongoing pandemic.

Guest post by Kosha Dillz

Nowadays we might all be in panic. I am looking at my festivals and they have all taken a hit as of yesterday. Coachella, SXSW, Reggae Rise Up and many more. Now the jokes and memes have become less and the reality of making less money is more evident.. We’d like to all figure out that even thought massive bands who sell tickets and WMEs and CAA’s are dealing with losing millions, now is a great time for DIY bands and acts who sell under 250 tickets (or even 50 tickets) to thrive in the months to come. 

Here are some things I plan to do and have been doing. 

1. Online lessons – Have you ever taught voice lessons? Have you taught anything ever? $40 to $50 online is nice and even $25. Find yourself your fans as all the kids are home from school. Now is a time to do it!! Dive in and figure it out. You are good at what you do. You can atleast make an extra $300 a month doing this. Rap lessons. Song lessons. Writing lessons. 

2.. Minimalism – I have vintage and I have old merch. I have old stage outfits. Custom made things are awesome. I am planning on selling it all. I keep finding in the crevices of my boxes in the closet.. Bring it out all and begin. To sell it. There is tons of shit that you don’t need. Now is the time to launch custom crazy sales. Have no fear in selling. Get rid of it and use the extra cash. Create content from it.

3. Patreon and Podcast – Now is the time to launch your Patreon or podcast (like hustle beach) . This enables you to get a monthly paycheck. Acts like Southern Avenue who have had their tour cancelled have gotten it. I have one launched as well. Wanna see how the world capitalizes on small sponsorships and zooming on their fans? Trust me. You better do it now while people are suddenly caring. Some people have real jobs that still pay them. Many Like myself do not, but I do know that everyone needs entertainment. Everyone wants to know how others will survive. We are all glued to the internet. My patreon will show you all of SXSW remains. We need to create community in times like this and here is our chance!

4.. Release new music – Don’t be afraid to listen to new music. So much is direct to consider right now that you will be the person. Give your people new excitement while sitting thru this. You have tons of unreleased new music. Put some up! I have a new song out today with Matisyahu. as well as a new song with KASKADE that hit over 250,000 on spotify. We can’t always plan things. Jay Electronica finally released music too. Lol.

5.. Stage IT – live streaming concerts – Why not take a chance and do a online concert? They are currently upping their tickets to 80% of what you are selling during this time. Get 50 of your fans to check you out!! 10 bucks each? $400 right there! If you can’t use that….feel free to try youtube live and use donations or literally setting up your own DIY live stream and asking people to pay you via venmo / PayPal / Cashapp etc. I did it and made $85 the other day. Maybe you’ll have more ;luck?

Kosha Dillz is a rapper that flew in from Israel to do OY VEY SXSW and headed to Austin even though it got cancelled. He sill went and wrote about it for Variety. He has a podcast and a patreon and a merch store. He recently got featured in Forbes and Paper Magazine Reach out to him on twitter or rapperfriends at gmail dot com