The visually-oriented blog Information is Beautiful just posted some interesting stats and graphs displaying how much independent artists must sell through various channels online in order to earn the US minimum wage (click here to see the graph). It didn’t come as any surprise to us (patting ourselves on the back) to see our name come up for ALL the channels through which you can sell music to your fans, but it is nice to see what we already know confirmed by an outside study.
When you’re looking at these charts, it is a little daunting to see how much of your music you need to sell at once to earn minimum wage. This chart reinforces so many of the things we’ve discussed before, especially that artists shouldn’t be earning all their money from just one income stream. A combination of online physical and digital sales, along with revenue from performances and live merch sales using our handheld credit card swiper will ensure that you’re casting the widest net possible to capture sales (and the more important force behind a sale, a fan). If you’re one of the lucky ones who can achieve the targets they listed on the graph, you’d be earning $9220.93 each month.
