Two independent artists, Sam Andersen and Jacob Oman, are full-time students at BYU who are figuring out how to earn money as musicians.
Neither Andersen nor Oman have seen much money from streaming platforms.
“I could probably buy myself a meal at McDonald's or something from streaming alone,” Andersen said.
Apple Music pays about $0.01 per stream. Spotify typically pays about a third of a cent.
“It’s not necessarily 'one stream equals this' consistently for every single artist,” Oman said.
Spotify changed how artists make money from music streaming in April 2024. Tracks now need to have been streamed at least 1,000 times within a year to qualify for royalties.
Oman dreams of — and is working towards — a full-time music career, he said.
"I would like to get nominated for a Grammy, headline a concert at Madison Square Garden — and I want to host and perform on SNL,” he said.
Instead of getting paid for his music, Oman pays fellow student musicians at BYU to help him produce high-quality tracks. Oman also began a kick-starter campaign to raise funds from his audience in exchange for merchandise and other rewards.
“I’m trying to come up with something that would be exciting for my existing audience to participate in, rather than just (saying), 'Please I need money, please,'" he said.
Sam Andersen, another independent musician and cyber-security major, does not see himself going full-time as an artist.
"I don't major in music," he said. "In high school, I got really into programming and coding. It's fun because I feel like, in my life, I am able to feed both my left and right brain."
Mom Dad & Me, Andersen's band, uses revenue from live performances and merchandise sales to cover production costs, he said.
“We’re never planning on taking that money for ourselves," Andersen said. "We just put it back into the band, so we'll put it into recording gear and gas expenses when we're going to shows, and we can make more merch.”
While it is not always easy, these artists are finding ways to make their dreams a reality.