Did you know you can get paid to listen to music? It sounds crazy, but there is a huge market for people to make money listening to music. It usually involves downloading an app or joining a website, but you get a free account and get paid to listen to your favorite music as well as new music from independent artists that you may never have heard of before.
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Can You Get Paid to Listen to Music?
Music isn’t only a way to lift your spirits, give you comfort, or give you an energy boost. You can get paid to listen to music too. It is one of the easiest ways for music lovers to do what they love (listen to music) while getting paid for it.
You won’t pay the mortgage on the money you earn, but it can be a nice supplement to your income. For example, suppose you love listening to new music, watching music videos, and providing your feedback. In that case, there are many ways you can make money listening to music, including listening to a radio station, writing reviews, tuning into online radio stations, and taking part in market research.
Can You Make Money on Spotify Listening to Music?
You can make money using popular music streaming apps like Spotify too. It’s almost like a social media influencer. The more followers you have on Spotify, the more artists will want to pay you to add their music to your playlist. They do this so that their music gets out to more fans. So if you have a large list of followers, your music will hit more music fans than if the artist tried to push it out individually.
How Much Money Can You Make Listening to Music?
Listening to music can make you money, but just enough to have some ‘fun money’ or save for more significant purchases or financial goals. You might even earn free gift cards. Like any other method of making money online, you’ll make anywhere from a few dollars to $100+ for your tasks. Of course, how much you make depends on which companies you sign up with and how often you ‘work.’
What Equipment Do You Need to Get Paid to Listen to Music?
You don’t need a lot of equipment to get paid to listen to music. At the very least, you’ll need a smartphone, but you may also need headphones or earbuds, a computer, and possibly a good headset if you transcribe songs. No matter how you make money listening to music, you’ll need a way to play music often.
28 Ways to Get Paid to Listen to Music
1. Drive for Uber or Lyft
Driving for Uber or Lyft doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with getting paid to listen to music, but you can.
When you drive for a rideshare service, you spend a lot of time in the car. A lot of that time is spent alone, either before you pick up your customer or after dropping them off. In that time, you can listen to your own playlists all while you’re getting paid. Even while you have customers in the car, you can put on their favorite radio stations or even your playlist and create a relaxed atmosphere for your customers.
Join the gig economy world with this popular side hustle and get paid to drive! Get paid up to $20 an hour and set your own hours.
- Flexible Schedule - set your own hours!
- Switch to delivery driving instead of driving people quickly and easily
- Weekly Pay
- Fast sign up process
- Wear and tear on your personal vehicle
- May require additional driver expenses
2. Make Money Watching Music Videos
If you love watching music videos, consider getting paid for it. You’ll watch videos and answer a quick survey at the end, earning money for your feedback. This can be a great addition to answering online surveys for consumer goods companies and can supplement your income.
3. Make Money Providing Feedback to Radio Stations
Radio stations want to play the music their listeners want to hear. The only way for them to know what listeners want is by asking them. To encourage more people to listen to music and provide feedback is to pay them.
4. Review Music
Sign up for apps that pay you for reviewing music. For example, apps like Playlist Push pay you to review music. You need a public playlist on popular streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music to qualify for most apps. You must also have at least 1,000 followers and a varied playlist (not just one type of music or genre). You might also need a certain number of ‘active listeners’ to qualify.
5. Transcribe Lyrics
If you love jotting down the lyrics of songs, get paid t0 do it. You’ll need fast typing skills, great attention to detail, and a quiet area you can work with a headset so you can hear the lyrics correctly.
6. Take Online Surveys
Just like you can take surveys for consumer goods, the same is true of music. Artists want to know what listeners think of their music. Providing data in a survey is a simple way to tell artists what you think without saying it to their faces.
7. Participate in a Focus Group
You can also find paid focus groups that pay you to listen to music and provide your opinion. The focus groups usually take place online. You’ll enter a discussion about the music with a group of other music fans with the group itself run by a moderator.
8. Work in a Record Store
Records are still a big deal, and record stores seem to be popping up everywhere today. If you love listening to music, you can combine your favorite hobby with your job and make money doing what you love. In addition, getting to interact with other people that love music can be a great way to spend your time.
9. Music Teacher
If you’re musical yourself, consider working as a music teacher. You don’t have to teach in a school either. You can teach kids and adults musical instruments, singing, or even about music appreciation. There are opportunities at established music schools, but you can also set up your own gig offering the services you want on your own time.
10. Start a Music Podcast or Blog
Podcasts and blogs are extremely popular today and a great way to make money. But, of course, it all starts with a niche, so if you want to write or talk about your favorite music, you can create a podcast or blog about it. We recommend niching down as much as possible to get a targeted audience.
Once you have a decent following, you can monetize your podcast or blog with affiliate links and sponsored posts. For example, you can earn money from the companies you advertise for when your followers make a purchase. It helps if you have a large audience to make more money.
11. DJ Weddings and Events
If you have the skills to be a DJ and the necessary equipment to do a great job, you can advertise your services for weddings or local events. You can advertise your services on your social media pages, create flyers, and spread the word via word-of-mouth.
12. Work as a Bartender
Working as a bartender isn’t a straightforward way to get paid to listen to music, but if you work in a bar or club that plays music, you essentially get paid while listening to music. For example, you can work in a dance club, sports bar, or country bar. Think about what type of music you like and what would be enjoyable for you to listen to while you work. Music makes everything feel more high energy and fun, so it can be a great way to work.
13. Music Curator
Music curators listen to music of all types and genres and create playlists that listeners love. To be a music curator, you need a strong love for music, the ability to listen to any type of music and lots of it, and you must be incredibly organized to create playlists that your listeners enjoy.
14. Music Journalism
If you’re good at writing and love music, put them together and be a music journalist. You’ll write about the hottest events in the music industry, new music, news from local radio stations, music trends, and the hottest tours.
15. Radio Curators
Radio curators create playlists for radio stations. This takes a deep knowledge of the radio station’s audience and what they like (and don’t like). It’s your job to create the library of music from the latest record labels to oldies but goodies and everything in between.
16. Work From Home
Working from home may not feel like a way to get paid to listen to music, but you can listen to music if you can have background noise. Listening to music can help you reduce stress, be more productive, and be in a better mood while you work.
17. Music Listening Websites and Apps
There are many ways to freelance and make money listening to music. Look for music listening websites and apps that pay you to listen to music. Usually, it involves writing a review or answering a survey about the music, but it can help you bring more money in while you listen to new songs, learn about new artists, and even enjoy new genres.
How to Make Money Listening to Music With Websites and Apps
There are many websites and apps that pay you to listen to music. We’ve disclosed the top apps to help you earn money doing something you love – listening to music.
18. PlaylistPush
PlaylistPush is an app that pays you to add new music to your playlist. It’s like the influencers on social media. PlaylistPush looks for creators with a large following on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music and active listeners that will play the music you put on your playlist.
To get paid, you must provide a review of the song. They pay around $12 per review, which doesn’t sound like much, but it can add up fast if you love listening to music.
19. Music Xray
Music Xray pays listeners to listen to songs or at least 30-second clips of them. You earn approximately 10 cents per song, but if you’re only listening to 30 seconds of a song, the pay isn’t bad, plus you’re helping new artists get their songs out there.
20. HitPredictor
HitPredictor helps you have a say in what songs become ‘hits.’ You listen to new music and rate it. You earn gift cards in exchange for your time, which is like getting paid to listen to music online since you can use the gift cards in place of cash to shop.
21. Slice the Pie
Slice the Pie is one of the highest-paying survey sites, paying you for reviewing music. You must listen to a song for at least 90 seconds and review it. You’ll then get paid for your review. You can review more than just songs too. You can review record labels, brands, and even clothing and earn money.
22. Research.fm
Research.fm is a music research company that pays you to take surveys about the music industry. Radio stations use the information to curate what they play on the radio station to ensure they give their listeners what they want. An existing member must invite you to join, though.
23. Current Rewards
Current Rewards pays for listening to music, playing games, and answering surveys. You listen to the music online much as you would on a Spotify or Apple Music playlist. However, you don’t have to pay for Current streaming.
Instead, you get paid to listen to music or do other tasks. You can get your rewards via a PayPal account or as gift cards to stores like Amazon, Starbucks, or Target.
24. RadioEarn
RadioEarn pays you to listen to music on its curated radio stations. For every 15 minutes of music, you listen to, you earn points. You can redeem the points for PayPal cash, Bitcoin, or Amazon gift cards.
25. Earnably
Earnably offers many ways to earn money. You can answer surveys after watching videos. You can also make money listening to their radio stations. You can earn bonus points if you follow specific requests.
You collect points as you stream music and can redeem the points to get money in your PayPal account, Bitcoin, or Amazon gift cards.
26. WeLocalize
If you have a good ear for detail and can transcribe lyrics for songs, sign up with WeLocalize and get paid to listen to music while you type out the lyrics.
27. Cash4minutes
If you have a phone plan with many minutes and never use all of them, you can turn the unused minutes into money. With Cash4minutes, you call a provided number to listen to their radio stations, using up your minutes. You get paid for each minute you listen to music and can redeem your points for money in your PayPal account, Amazon, or Bitcoin.
28. FusionCash
On FusionCash, you can make money for small tasks, such as watching videos, accepting offers, playing games, or referring friends. The tasks vary often, but your earnings can add up, and you can cash out when you reach the minimum threshold.
The Bottom Line
It’s possible to get paid to listen to music. Whether you take surveys, write reviews, play music, or become a music curator, there are numerous ways to make money doing what you love.
You could even get a part-time job at a music store or make money teaching music to others. If you have a passion for music, you can earn money with it if you think outside the box.
Samantha Hawrylack is a personal finance expert and full-time entrepreneur with a passion for writing and SEO. She holds a Bachelor’s in Finance and Master’s in Business Administration and previously worked for Vanguard, where she held Series 7 and 63 licenses. Her work has been featured in publications like Grow, MSN, CNBC, Ladders, Rocket Mortgage, Quicken Loans, Clever Girl Finance, Credit Donkey, Crediful, Investing Answers, Well Kept Wallet, AllCards, Mama and Money, and Concreit, among others. She writes in personal finance, real estate, credit, entrepreneurship, credit card, student loan, mortgage, personal loan, insurance, debt management, business, productivity, and career niches.