Resolved:

With all the blogging I’ve been doing lately about the concert music business and how composers should be more proactive in the financial aspect of their careers, I’ve decided to make a personal/professional resolution: By October 2011, I want to be able to pay my monthly student loan payments with income from my musical activities: commissions, royalties, performance fees, score sales, and the (very) small distribution fee I charge at the NewMusicShelf. It’s a small goal – $264 per month – but one that I think is attainable. And it’s a step toward my larger long-term goal of being able to support myself almost entirely on my music. I don’t think that just under $3,200 per year is too much to ask for now – I’ve managed it before, and more. My musical income for 2010 was a paltry $1,273.35, so all I have to do is a little more than double that.

In order to meet this goal, of course, I need to have a plan. The plan, in a nutshell, is this: Over the next few months, I’ll be rolling out a new segment of the site devoted to commissioning new works, as well as making a marketing push for the NewMusicShelf, and a separate push for my own music. Beyond that, I’m researching some recording projects to help get my music out there.