Derek Sivers
from the book “Your Music and People”:

Never have a limit on your income.

2008-04-06

Imagine two people. One is a toy maker. One is a masseuse.

Imagine both get suddenly famous. Now a million people want that toy. And a million people want a massage from that masseuse.

For the toy maker, that’s no problem. Have the manufacturer make a million more.

For the masseuse? That’s a big problem. She’s limited by her hands-on time.

So which business would you rather be in? One that makes money while you do other things, or one that only profits by your own two hands?

Many pundits say that since people aren’t buying recorded music, musicians should just be in the business of playing concerts. You can see the flaw in that plan. It limits your income.

So what other ways can your music earn income while you sleep? Originally I had a list of ideas here, but they were all really obvious, and I don’t know what decade it will be by the time you read this. So the important thing is to keep asking the question, and keep trying the ideas.