Building a business that generates enough income to make it sustainable can feel a little bit like trying to solve a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle…every day. But what if you expanded the traditional boundaries of how you put your music education and harp skills to work? What if your freelance business didn’t simply consist of playing weddings and teaching harp lessons? What if you took all those ancillary skills you’ve honed along the way and combined them with your music expertise to create even more sources of income? Suddenly your paychecks wouldn’t come from just weddings and lessons. They’d come from weddings and lessons, tutoring kids in music theory, directing a music festival, typesetting music for other musicians, and, well, you get the idea. The possibilities for making money with your music skills are nearly limitless, but we thought we’d give you 50 to get you started.

1. Publish Your Own Arrangements

Take those hand-written arrangements you’ve done over the years for wedding clients, recital programs, or just for your own amusement and put them to work for you by publishing them. Never tried arranging? Give it a shot—start simple and expand upon a framework to keep from becoming overwhelmed. Look for music that is already in the public domain unless you plan to get permission from the copyright holder.

2. Engrave Music

If you are a Finale phenom or a Sibelius savant, there is money to be made in engraving—the fancy term for typesetting music in a music notation computer program. There are many people out there who don’t have basic music inputting skills. There are also a great many people who just don’t have the time or patience for the process. And your potential clientele extends far beyond our small harp corner to virtually the entire music world.

3. Busk

Erica Messer
“Here’s my advice to harpists who might want to busk: Know your local laws and always ask businesses (if applicable) and take out any necessary permits before performing. Do not step on anyone’s turf (i.e. take over a known busker’s location) without asking. Always have a sign with your name attached to your music stand and tip jar. Many people will stop by just to take a photo and share it on social media, and it doesn’t hurt to have that extra exposure. Include your website or contact information on your sign—if someone sees your photo and wants to hire you, they need to be able to contact you. Have business cards out in a visible spot in case someone isn’t able to talk to you or is afraid to interrupt your song. Be prepared for many distractions. Play a large variety of music—you never know what you’ll get hired to do!”
—Erica Messer, San Mateo, Calif.

One of the biggest issues in the field of classical music right now is that of audience creation and sustainability. By putting yourself with your instrument out in an unusual public space, you are exposing both yourself and your music to a wide audience. Many local festivals and street fairs seek out buskers for their events, giving them dedicated high-traffic space to perform. You can even sell CDs to add extra income to your busking experience. If you are busking on your own, be sure that the area you are going to is safe, well populated, and accessible. Be sure to obtain any necessary licenses or permits for the area you want to target, and get started blowing people’s minds!

4. Find a Steady Church Gig

Many churches would love to incorporate more music into their services but simply don’t know what is available. Look into the music set up at the larger churches in your town and talk to the music ministry team about how your harp music could enhance their services. Even if they don’t bring you in every week, establishing a relationship with a church is a great way to ensure reliable income.

5. Contract Music

Contractors or booking agents are the middlemen of the music business. Why not get that little middle piece of the pie for yourself? It can be an intimidating scene to break into, so start small—work the contacts you already have. By using your knowledge of your musical community you will be able to get the right person for the right job (and take a cut off the top!). And think about it this way—you’ve already been a music contractor for every gig you’ve booked directly with a client. Take those skills and think bigger.

6. Teach Harp Lessons

Okay, so this one is a no-brainer. Whether or not you currently have students, chances are that you have already thought of teaching as a source of income. If you aren’t teaching, maybe it’s time to reconsider your reasons and whether they are still valid, or whether your situation has changed enough to open the door to a studio. If you are teaching right now, maybe it’s time to take stock of your current studio size and whether you can expand it.

7. Teach Lessons on Your Secondary Instruments

Sure, harp is your main act, but what about those great piano skills you have in your hip pocket or those years of guitar lessons or that college proficiency test you passed with the flute? Pick up a couple of students on your secondary instrument!

8. Tutor Kids in Music Theory

Just because you know what a Neapolitan chord is and can analyze a symphony in your sleep doesn’t mean everyone is a music theory master. Tutoring kids in the finer points of Schenkerian analysis could be a win-win.

9. Write for Harp Column

Is there something in your harp life you want to learn more about? Pitch your story idea to us and put your creative and writing skills to work for your fellow harpists. (For real, we want to hear your story ideas—email us at info@harpcolumn.com.)

10. Start a Blog

Much like podcasts, the only way to convince sponsors to advertise on your blog is to have a lot of traffic. This isn’t easy for a blogger just getting started, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. With a large social media marketing strategy and a lot of really dynamic content it is possible, over time, to create a revenue source through blogging. If you are looking for something a little more immediate, consider blogging for a larger entity that can pay you for your content.

11. Create/Manage Websites for Other Musicians

Website builders are a dime a dozen, but how many of those builders understand your corner of the music world? Not too many. If you can build a decent website, then your niche knowledge of the music world will give you a leg up on the competition.

12. Play Funerals

Playing funerals is a good fit for anyone who has a flexible schedule. Most are booked only a few days in advance and happen during the daytime hours. If you freelance full time and are looking for a new source of income, try developing relationships with local funeral homes. Convincing funeral directors that your music is a good fit for their clients can lead to a significant source of income.

13. Perform for Period Festivals

“Many people I have met over the years can only imagine the harp in the classical genre. Audiences are often surprised when they experience the harp at a period festival, and it opens them up to understanding the flexibility of the harp. Having variety in your repertoire does a lot for your future career. I started my repertoire in the Celtic world (Scottish, Irish, traditional, etc.), and that has been a great genre for me when approaching the Medieval or Renaissance musical style.” —Piper Pichette, Deerfield, Mass.

Dressing up in corsets and crazy hats might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you dig period garb and are an enthusiast of Early Music, then performing at Renaissance Fairs or other period festivals could be a match made in heaven.

14. Direct a Harp Ensemble

For the many harp teachers out there already directing student harp ensembles, this one seems like another no-brainer. Corralling your students together to form an ensemble is a win-win. Your students develop their ensemble skills and you put your teaching and ensemble skills to work in a new way. Don’t have enough students in your own studio to form an ensemble? Team up with a couple other teachers in your area to combine studios for a larger ensemble.

15. Play Chamber Music

If you don’t already have chamber partners you regularly play with, go out and find some! Offering clients ensemble options beyond solo harp will only increase your chances of being hired.

16. Perform With Orchestras

If you are new to an area, or have just decided to pursue orchestral work as a new source of income, the best place to start is with some internet research. Find every orchestra in the region you’re willing to travel to, and note the email addresses of their personnel managers. Even if they already have a harpist on their roster, the group might eventually require a sub. Introduce yourself to each personnel manager with an email and include your resume. Being available to step in on short notice is a good way to get your foot in the door.

17. Become a Therapeutic Musician

Invest a little time, energy, and money into becoming a therapeutic musician and you will be rewarded with a new source of revenue and a new way to engage with and give back to your community. There are many options for where you can use your new skills, such as a hospital, hospice, retirement home, or home for people with special needs. Wherever you choose to play, you will be providing a service and doing a good deed all while making a little cash on the side. (Check out our article “Harp Therapy Explained” in the March/April 2016 issue of Harp Column to learn more about this field and see if it might be for you.)

18. Rent Out Extra Instruments

Turn that extra harp sitting in the corner collecting dust into a steady source of income. Rent it to a student or a school program. Get the word out that you have an instrument available to rent by talking to your local colleagues, putting a notice in your local or regional American Harp Society newsletter, or taking out an ad online (harpcolumn.com is a very active marketplace for buying/selling/renting harps). Maybe you want to think bigger and invest in a fleet of harps for a rental business. With the right business plan, this endeavor can make you some steady money.

19. Develop Programming for Young Children

Parents of young children are always looking for enrichment activities for their little tykes. Why not develop some original programming for this infant to preschool-age cohort? The class doesn’t even need to be harp-centric (though the harp is certainly a great hook). Maybe it’s stories with music or nursery rhymes and tunes or simply singing and dancing—whatever the curriculum, there will be an enthusiastic audience. If you are a parent of wee ones, the programming ideas will probably flow easily, if you aren’t currently in the heads of the under-6 crowd, pick the brains of parents you know to help you with the programming.

20. Fix Harps

If you play the harp, you already know quite a bit about how it works, but why not learn even more and become a certified harp technician? The certification process requires some investment on your part, but regulating and repairing harps will give you a lucrative harp skill to add to your arsenal. Bonus: you can save money by regulating your own harp!

21. Teach a Harp Exploration Class

Not everyone is willing to jump into the harp head first. Most would rather dip their toes in, so start a harp exploration class for newbies who want to find out if the harp is the instrument for them. Bonus: this is a great recruiting ground for future private students.

22. Market Musicians

If you are a marketing whiz for your own music business, why not build a side business using your publicity prowess. Many musicians need help marketing themselves, and you could fill that need, whether you actually market for others or simply show them how to market themselves.

23. Write Grants

There is a bit of a learning curve to grant writing, but if you get a good book on the topic and bring your creative writing skills to the table you should be fine! Your writing needs to be both engaging and evocative, informative and simplistic, and above all, visceral and emotional to capture a grant readers attention. Whether you are writing grants for a large institution, foundation, or small nonprofit once you get the hang of the grant writing style you will have the power to make dreams come true!

24. Write and Proofread Copy

If writing is your thing, use your expertise in the music field to write or proofread music texts—books, periodicals, publicity materials, websites, etc. Publishers, music schools, and prolific artists are all good places to look for opportunities, but you can also start small and build some experience by doing work for musicians you know.

25. Get Involved With an Instrument Maker

Do you love your instrument? We mean really love your instrument. Consider working for a harpmaker! Whether pedals or levers are your thing, working for an instrument maker is an opportunity be a part of a different sector of the music-making process.

26. Record an Album

Although the traditional models for making money with a recording have changed, today it’s easier than ever to produce your own album. With websites like CD Baby and others, you don’t need an engineer or label to put out good audio content. Don’t expect to make a ton of money on a recording. With services like Spotify, Google Music, and others, your primary revenue won’t come from digital downloads. But if you give recitals, busk, or just set up table of CDs at a gig, there is potential to create revenue with your recording every time you play.

27. Work For a Large Established Arts Company

Looking for something a little more steady that is still in the music field but isn’t necessarily performance based? Consider bringing your expertise to an established arts business. Companies such as B.M.I., Chamber Music America, Opus Artists, Boosey & Hawkes, and many others need educated musicians to help run their operations. Show off your harp knowledge and it might just land you an opportunity to help ensure the importance of our community for years to come.

28. Perform on a Cruise Ship

If you’ve got the chops, some sea legs, and a flexible schedule, cruise ship gigs can be a great source of income. Most contracts will have you at sea anywhere from several weeks to several months at a time. Make sure you have all the terms of your contract before you commit—accommodations, travel expenses, free time, and the freedom to go on shore while in port can vary widely for performers from ship to ship.

29. Play in a Pit

There are a wide range of options in this arena for the savvy harpist. You don’t have to be playing with the MET Opera to be a pit musician! Contact local community theaters, opera companies, and high schools if you want to get your foot in the door playing in the pit. If you are looking for more pit experience before branching out into your community, try spending a summer at a festival like the Ohio Light Opera or any one of the many other opera/musical festivals around the country.

30. Direct a Competition

Anyone can run a competition with the right funding and thorough planning. Team up with local businesses, performance venues, and local arts patrons to create the competition you’ve always dreamed of. You choose the music, you choose the judges, and you choose the prizes. Imagine the potential! Young harpists are always looking for opportunities to set themselves apart from the crowd, and a competition is a sure fire way to engage the harp community.

31. Create Harp Accessories

Are you the crafty type? Create an accessory that fills a need or scratches an itch for the harp crowd. From custom dust covers to unique harp jewelry, handy harpists have been creating accessories for years. Why not you?

32. Direct a Festival

Is there an annual music festival in your town? Just because you aren’t Tanglewood or Aspen doesn’t mean you can’t find a great number of students who would be willing to join you for a summer of great music making. Look at models like Hot Springs Music Festival, National Music Festival, and Taneycomo Festival Orchestra (to name a few) to see how it’s possible to create a festival with only the support of a great venue and a community that is hungry for more cultural options.

33. Work Music Retail

If you have to do the nine-to-five thing to pay your rent (we get it—we’ve all been there), then why not at least be around what you love? Help young people pick the perfect instrument, get to know the repertoire of another instrument by organizing music stacks, engage with new potential audience members (music store customers!), and learn how small businesses are owned and operated. It might not be your dream job, but it might allow you to further your craft while keeping a day job. If you are lucky enough to live near a harp retail store, then you could get the ideal retail job for a harpist.

34. Start a Podcast

Getting paid for a podcast is all about numbers. You have to have a good number of unique listeners every month to attract sponsors to your show. But if you pair with a larger podcast network or larger entity, you can often use their larger presence as a way to create revenue.

35. Use Affiliate Links

Affiliate links are a way of creating passive income if you have a lot of traffic on your website. People find links to products or services that are provided not by you, but by a third party. By providing an affiliate link, you create the opportunity to receive a portion of the revenue when one of your site visitors makes a purchase through one of the links. Once you set up the affiliate link, your work is done, but the earnings will keep coming in.

36. Create a Patreon Account

Patreon allows for your fans to donate a small amount towards every video/recording/piece of art that you put out into the world. Say you have a weekly blog; fans of that blog can go on Patreon and contribute as much or as little as they want every time you release a new blog. Basically it’s crowd-funding for consistent content.

37. Instagram

If Manny the Frenchie can do it, you can too! The standard starting place for getting sponsors on Instagram is 2,000 followers. Start putting out interesting and consistent content that both engages and draws your audience in, and you’ll be at 2,000 in no time. Once you get there, contact companies that you believe in to create partnerships.

38. Find a Steady Gig

Though there aren’t as many steady gigs for harpists as there were a generation or two ago, steady work at restaurants and hotels is still out there if you are willing to go after it. Find a venue that values your artistic talent and is not just looking for the best bang for its buck. This work can be very rewarding if done the correct way. Know the value of your time and skills and don’t compromise on your bottom line when it comes time to negotiate your fee.

39. Start a Music School for Students With Special Needs

Pair with a local music therapist and create a space for people with special needs to experience music and growth. Check out our article about teaching students with special needs in the July/Aug 2016 issue of Harp Column.

40. Start an Arts Business

Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit? Have a great idea to start a musical coffee shop where the servers serenade patrons with accordions and kazoos? Do it. Open it. The world is hungry for more creative businesses, and our unique skill set as musicians positions us perfectly to fill that need. We musicians are master problem solvers, stubbornly believe in ourselves, and are able to be creative in ways that most people can never understand. Harness that creativity to become a 21st century entrepreneur.

41. Tour

Have harp, will travel. There are countless concert series across the U.S., and venue sizes run the gamut from small churches to large concert halls. Many of these series see little other than the standard touring string quartets and pianists. Take your act on the road and create new fans throughout the country.

42. Create a Concert Series

Find a venue in your town that doesn’t currently have a concert series (churches, civic buildings, even the right retail space could work). Negotiate a deal with the venue where you or your performers provide a service in exchange for use of the venue. Create a budget, raise some money, book an exciting act, and build from there. If you own a nonprofit, you can also apply for grants to create these events.

43. Perform for Private Events

Weddings are the bread and butter of many freelancers’ incomes. But don’t stop there. Think about other potential private event clients who entertain a lot—investment firms, high-end Realtors, etc. There are also many online services, such as GigMasters, GigSalad, and WeddingWire that help connect you with potential clients.

44. Become a Radio DJ

Caroline Reyes
“Working at a radio station was great for me as a musician. Being a classical announcer on a station that is popular is a great way to get your name out there. Even as a substitute or casual announcer, as I was on WXXI in Rochester, N.Y., I was getting recognized and my friends could refer me to gigs by making that connection as well. I always say that working as a radio personality is the “coolest” job I’ve ever had. Not to mention the fact that you can become very well connected to other local musicians through the station. Local musicians not only come in to the station to perform, but they also make up a large portion of your audience. Working for a classical radio station could also get you gigs for station events. I had a gig lined up for WXXI before I even started working there. Those gigs are great because attendees are often in the media or are event organizers themselves.” —Carolyn Reyes, Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Put your music education to good use by deejaying a local classical music radio program. Maybe you can even slip in some harp music to the daily listening schedule!

45. Take a Leadership Role in a Local Ensemble

If you already play with a local orchestra or band, offer to work as the librarian, personnel manager, or on the stage or set-up crew. Most part-time ensembles need additional administrative assistance and will gratefully allow you to pick up some of their slack. By working for the organization in a way other than playing your instrument, you also make yourself indispensable.

46. Usher

Get paid to see great shows! Sure you have to stand the whole time, but by working with a local theater you not only get to see shows for free, you also create a whole new network of artists to tap into for audience building, fund-raising, and performance creation.

47. Work in a Music Library

If your local college or university has a music department, then they undoubtedly have a music library. Spend your days roaming the stacks and reading up on your crowd, all while getting paid to do it.

48. Perform in Retirement and Assisted Living Facilities

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more appreciative audience than those at retirement and assisted living communities. This generation has an appreciation for music that younger generations lack. Many facilities regularly bring in entertainment for a concert series or special events. You could even pitch a harp class for their enrichment or continuing education programming. Talk to the events coordinator to find out how you could be a good match for their needs.

49. Start a Nonprofit

Running a nonprofit allows you to improve your community, gives you access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding, and permits you to take tax deductible donations from your patrons. Use your nonprofit to create a concert series, start a music school for underprivileged children, or any endeavor that you believe in. If you have lots of student loan debt, this is also a good way to mitigate it. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program forgives the remaining balance on your direct student loans after you have made 120 minimum monthly payments while working full time for a qualifying nonprofit.

50. Livestream

Play music. Stream it live. Ask listeners for donations. It’s a pretty simple formula for making money. There are many great streaming services (Facebook and Periscope are the most popular), but a service called Twitch allows you to take donations directly on the streaming page, rather than sending listeners to a secondary site to donate.