How to define success as a musician on your own terms in 2025
As we begin a new year, learn how to define success as a musician on your terms. These pro tips will help define and achieve your unique goals as a musician.
How to define success as a musician on your own terms
by Caleb J Murphy from Bandzoogle
As a career musician, the most important thing you can do is figure out what you want. You have to know where you’re going before you start. Otherwise, you’ll end up drifting; you won’t make progress. To help, we’ve outlined a process for defining your success as a musician.
Start with your big picture of success
Here’s the thing: success is subjective.
Everyone is born into different situations, given different opportunities, has different skills, and experiences millions of other variables throughout life.
Your path as a musician will not be exactly like any other musician’s.
So you have to find your own way and define what you call success. Don’t compare your story to anyone else’s. Everything you do going forward hinges on you knowing how you define success.
Maybe you already know it. That’s awesome. But if you don’t, it’s okay. It took me 10 years to finally figure out what type of musician I wanted to be.
So how do you figure out your big-picture idea of success?
There are two questions you need to answer that will help you find your way. Really sit with these questions and answer honestly…
Question 1: What are you doing when you lose track of time?
When you’re doing music and you lose track of time, that means you’re doing what you love.
You’re in the zone. This is also called “flow state.”
My flow state happens when I’m writing and recording songs. I might be in my studio for what seems like 20 minutes, but it turns out to be two hours.
What are you doing when you get into the flow? That will tell you what kind of musician you want to be.
Question 2: What would you do if the money were taken care of?
Imagine something with me.
Imagine one of your super fans comes to you and says, “I want to pay you an annual salary. But you have to do something every day to move your music career forward. Treat music as your new day job — your new career.”
If that happened, what would you do all day?
If money were no concern and you could do music 7-8 hours a day, what would you fill the time with?
Your answer will tell you what your definition of success is.
Turning your big picture into income
Now that you’ve figured out what type of musician you want to be, it’s time to figure out how to make money from it.
It doesn’t matter what type of musician you want to be, you can make money doing it.
If you’re reading this, you probably want to go full-time with music someday. In that case, income naturally needs to follow in your creative output.
To keep things simple, you’ll want to find three avenues of income.
Why three income streams?
Thomas C. Corley, author of Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, spent five years studying millionaires.
And he found that three income streams “seemed to be the magic number.”
He found that 65% of the millionaires he studied had at least three income streams “prior to making their first million dollars.”
He added that “the more income streams you can create in life, the more secure your financial house will be and the more wealth you will create.”
And these millionaires “built their businesses while employed full-time. If they can do it, so can you.”
I know, you may not be shooting to become a millionaire musician.
But if you want a full-time career in music, it’s best to listen to people who are financially successful. (Were these millionaires supported by nepotism? We don’t know, but it’s still good advice to diversify).
Promote your music to fans
Bandzoogle gives you the marketing tools to promote your work and grow your audience. With your own music website you can promote your music your own way. PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC
Common income streams for musicians
Now let’s look at some common types of musicians as well as how they each can make money.
Under each category of musician, I’ve linked to resources that will get you started on generating income.
Singer-songwriter / Composer:
Music producer:
- Produce other musicians
- Use SoundBetter to get production jobs
- Sell your beats (here are some websites where you can sell your beats)
Performing artist:
- Play locally and/or tour regionally/nationally
- Get jobs playing with other artists/bands
- Play corporate gigs (weddings, private parties, etc)
- Start live streaming on a regular basis
- Become a DJ
Instrumentalist:
- Become a session musician
- Teach private music lessons
- Create an online course that teaches how to play your instrument
Pick three income streams, and focus only on those ways of making money.
Reaching your success is all about saying no to unnecessary things. You’ll have to say no to pursuing all income options outside of the three you selected.
Start taking baby steps
In the movie What About Bob?, Bob Wiley (Bill Murray) is a distressed, divorced man who is terrified of everything.
Germs. Water. Dying. Elevators.
But then his therapist, Dr. Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), gives Bob his book called Baby Steps.
This book is all about making little decisions throughout the day so you can move through life without totally falling apart.
Baby steps out of the office. Baby steps down the hallway. Baby steps into the elevator.
The movie makes this funny, but it teaches an important lesson: baby steps are the way forward. This approach applies to a career in music, as well.
Keep things practical
Look at the three income streams you chose. Now brainstorm tasks you can do daily — two tasks per income stream.
These tasks need to be things you can do for as little as 15 minutes that still make progress. If you have more time, that’s great. But these tasks need to work even if you don’t have much time.
You want these to be baby steps you can take every day, even though you have a full-time job, a family, and friends.
By doing daily tasks, you’re moving toward your income goals. And by making progress toward making money, you’re moving toward your big picture of success.
It’s a chain reaction. And each day is a link in that chain. Don’t break the chain.
Caleb J. Murphy is a singer/songwriter whose music has been on NBC, ABC, and in hundreds of indie film projects. He also sends a twice-monthly email to indie musicians called 5 Things To Help You Keep Going.
