How musicians make money on Instagram

Not only is social media a great place to grow your online presence, but you can also make some extra money with just a few steps. Here’s a musician’s guide to how to monetize your Instagram account.

by Randi Zimmerman of Symphonic Blog

As an independent musician, you are well aware of the many hats you must wear to keep everything running smoothly. One of these include the hat of the social media extraordinaire. If you aren’t already, you should be monetizing your efforts on Instagram to earn that well-deserved extra money you can use on things like touring, new gear or whatever else your musical heart desires. If this sounds good to you, here are 7 ways to make money on Instagram as an artist…

Influencer Marketing

As an artist with a distinct style, you are in a great position for sponsored posts or collaboration opportunities. Consider reaching out to brands who have a similar vibe or mission as you do, and spark up a conversation about how you can mutually benefit one another. This can range from either promoting their product in a post, reviewing said product or even doing a full sponsored post for them.

Alternatively, you can do a version of this with other musicians in your community. From promoting each others merch to hyping up their upcoming show, this industry thrives of collaboration! And Instagram is no stranger to nurturing that community.

Affiliate Marketing

Another great way to earn some extra money is to sign up for affiliate programs related to your niche. With these, you can share unique affiliate links in your Instagram posts or stories. When your followers make a purchase through your link, you earn a commission.

For example, brands like StubHub, Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster all have pretty good affiliate programs. So whether your fans are buying tickets to your shows or other artists’, as long as they use your code, you get a cut. Doesn’t get much easier than that.

Merch Shop

This is no secret, but selling merch is one of the OG ways to make money as an artist. Odds are you already have some merch available online. If that’s the case, go ahead and set up an Instagram merch shop! This feature is a great tool for driving merch sales right from your profile, in your feed or through IG Stories.

You’ll need to check these eligibility requirements to get started, but luckily for you we did a whole post on how to set up your shop right here.

Instagram Subscriptions

Back in 2020, Instagram launched a feature called Subscriptions. With it, you can earn consistent income by offering exclusive content and benefits to your most engaged followers at a monthly fee. These subscribers not only get exclusive content, but also the opportunity to connect with you on a deeper level through a plethora of unique features. Some of these include:

• Exclusive Tab: This is a dedicated tab on your profile to save all that exclusive content like subscriber lives, feed posts, and Reels, giving your subscribers a hub to find everything in one easy access spot.
• Subscriber Chats: With Subscriber Chats, you can add up to 30 people to connect and mingle with you through Messenger. This chat only lasts 24 hours, and you can let your fans ask whatever they want to know, share thoughtful comments, or even ask for advice. All you have to do is use the “join chat” sticker on your story and your subscribers can tap to join.

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Promote Digital Products

Instagram is also a great place to promote any side gigs you have. Many musicians offer music production courses, sample packs, presets, online courses and more on the side. On Instagram, you can promote these products and provide links to your e-commerce platform, website or wherever else this additional content may live.

Monetize User Generated Content

You deserve to get paid for every iteration of your work, wherever it may end up. Whether your content is featured on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, SoundCloud and many more, you can monetize it.

If you’re a Symphonic client, we can deliver your content to Rights Manager for Facebook and Instagram and monetize your sound recording catalogue through reels, music stickers, and ad-supported posts and more. For all your other platforms, check out this post which breaks down everything you need to know about monetizing this content with ease.

Instagram’s Built-In Music Features

Instagram offers various features designed specifically for musicians like you to monetize their content. You can utilize the Music Sticker to add your tracks to Instagram Stories, allowing followers to engage with your music directly. Additionally, you can take advantage of IGTV and Reels to share longer videos or short, captivating clips. Whatever you do, make sure to optimize your posts with engaging captions, relevant tags and compelling visuals to maximize your content’s discoverability.

To wrap it all up…

Instagram is a great place to not only nurture your community, but also make some money while you’re at it. As an independent musician, you can use all the extra income you can to fund new and exciting projects, better gear, a bigger team and so much more. Hopefully these tips have helped you out! Try them out, and watch your pockets grow in no time.

Good luck!