Alternate Income: "The Starving Artist"

The best way to avoid being a so called "starving artist" coined from the artists that became richer after they were dead, is to have an alternate income aside from your work. This means when gig's are scarce and sales are low you can still be financially set and have the freedom of working on your art. Lets take a look at some possibilities that you could do

Merchandising

Why not have hats, clothing and other items for sale, not only will these generate additional income but they will help promote your business or artwork too. there is a website called cafepress.com that allows you to create your own merchandise and sell it on a per item basis with no over head expense required. so what have you got to lose, this is a no-investment pure profit idea. These products are also great to bring to gigs, and other promotional events. Include ways to order your merchandise inside cd covers, if they bought your cd chances are, that they are the ones that will buy your gear too.

Sell your Old Junk on eBay

Everybody's heard the term "one mans junk is another mans treasure" so search your attic for stuff you don't need and trade it in for some dough, I'm sure that money is a little more versatile than keeping boxes of junk around. Another great technique to use on ebay is to sell off your top of the line gear before it becomes out dated and use the money towards and upgrade, this works great for sound equipment and computers and keeps your studio on the cutting edge of technology at a very minimal expense.

Make Money with a Website

Hopefully if your an artist of any sort you probably have a website, but if you don't get one. With a web site, you can not only sell your artwork or music but you can also use it to sell advertising space. the best way this is achieved is by signing up to an affiliate program. Why not try to sell something else and get paid for it if you have a visitor already waiting on your site. there are many good ways to get paid for advertising, but I can recommend 'bid clix' and 'googles adsense program'.

Save your Money

Saving money is the same thing as making money. If you can learn not to be a wasteful spender, those rough financial times happen less. Don't waste your money unless you have it to throw away. Be sure to consolidate all of your debts and get rid of those nasty credit cards. Learn to not spend money you don't have and you'll have more money later on.

These are just a few methods of alternative income for artists that want to continue to spend their time doing what they love and not working a 2nd job they hate. I also want to wish you the best of luck in your career as an artist.