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PROFITABLE MUSICIAN:
FEM FRIDAY EDITION
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Happy FEM Music Friday!
Most musicians can name their busy seasons and slow seasons without looking at their calendar...because they feel it in their bank account.
December can get packed with holiday concerts, church services, private parties, and those last-minute opportunities that somehow all end up in the same two-week window. Then January arrives, and the calendar suddenly looks a lot more open than your budget can support.
Summer can be strange too. If you play outdoor concerts, festivals, wineries, or community events, it might be one of your best seasons. If you teach lessons, it might be the time of year when families start texting about vacations, camps, cousins visiting, and “we’ll pick lessons back up in August.”
I get both sides of this.
As a parent, I understand that families travel. Schedules change. Kids get pulled in a dozen directions.
As a business owner and musician, I also understand that your rent, groceries, gas, insurance, and electricity do not take a sweet little summer break just because half your students are at the lake.
That is why the feast or famine part of music can feel so personal.
One month, you are exhausted from saying yes.
The next month, you are staring at the calendar wondering if something has gone wrong.
When Tara and I talked about this on the podcast, she said something important. She has been a full-time musician in one form or another for more than 30 years, and even now, she is still paying attention to the patterns.
Not just the obvious ones like holiday gigs or summer teaching dips.
The business patterns.
For years, she and her brother could count on a certain kind of park concert work. Then she started noticing that more of those events wanted full bands. Some wanted specific genres. Places that used to be a natural fit for a duo were not booking the same way anymore.
A changing market can mess with your head. It can make you wonder if you have lost your touch, especially when the same places that used to say yes are suddenly looking for something different.
But sometimes the market has simply changed.
That does not mean you are doomed. It means you need to stop guessing and start looking at your calendar with clearer eyes.
I think a lot of musicians wait until the slow month arrives before they deal with it. By then, everything feels more dramatic because you are trying to solve the problem with too much white space on the calendar and a little panic sitting on your shoulder.
It is much easier to look ahead while you still have options.
If January is always thin, what could you offer in late November or early December that helps cover it?
If your lesson studio gets shaky every summer, could you create a short summer camp, a theory intensive, or a group class that gives families something easier to say yes to?
If one type of gig is becoming harder to book, is there another audience that still wants what you do?
This is not about grabbing every possible income stream until your head is spinning. Too many income streams can scatter your focus. I have seen that happen, and I have done versions of it myself.
But having a few music income streams that make sense for your life can keep one slow season from knocking the wind out of you.
A Christmas show might give your year a strong finish, while a summer music camp could help cover the months when private students disappear. A church job, a seasonal show, or a recurring senior community gig may not carry your whole business, but it can give your calendar more stability when it is placed in the right season.
When you understand where each piece fits, you can plan out your calendar strategically.
You can see which months need extra attention before you are already in them.
You can make calmer decisions and not slip into that frantic and desperate energy.
Once you get caught in desperation mode, it can seep into the way you approach money conversations, which is never a good thing.
People can feel that energy, even when we think we are hiding it.
A seasonal income plan gives you more breathing room.
You are running a real music business in a real world where venues, families, budgets, and opportunities keep changing.
The musicians who last are usually not the ones who never have slow seasons. They are the ones who learn to read the patterns and adjust without making every pivot about doom and gloom.
On The Profitable Musician Show, Tara and I talked about the feast or famine rollercoaster, the hard money conversations musicians have to practice, and the practical ways to make your income feel a little less chaotic.
If your music income has ever gone from “I can barely keep up” to “Where did everybody go?” this episode will probably make you feel less alone.
​Listen here or on Spotify:
Always in your corner,
​<3 Bree
PS: If you prefer to read FEM Friday on Substack, you can Subscribe Here​
You're reading the Profitable Musician Newsletter, FEM Friday Edition. This Friday newsletter is created for Female Artists & Advocates, and focuses on our mission to amplify quality music by Female Artists & Female-Fronted Bands in all genres and help them build a thriving music career and solid business. If you'd like to unsubscribe from FEM Fridays but still receive our regular Wednesday Profitable Musician Newsletter, click here and we'll note your preference.
