Musicians Tip Jar Podcast Digs Into the Music Business

DT & CW of the Musicians Tip Jar podcast. / Kit Chalberg

For a number of years, Chris Webb and Dave Tamkin dreamed of starting an online resource for working musicians. After all, they're working musicians themselves, and they know how hard it can be for people to practice their craft and make a living at it, whether full-time or as a side hustle. They wanted to help.

“We were spending time co-writing songs,” Webb says. “We realized that there’s really not an organized and clear methodology for finance when it comes to being a musician for a career.”

In February, the two launched the Musicians Tip Jar podcast to offer advice to musicians on ways to ply their trade and not go completely broke doing it. The first episode was basically a get-to-know-you affair in which they introduced themselves and explained their concept.

Since then, they've done an episode on the ins and outs of livestreaming, and one on busking, selling old merch and being a songwriter for hire. They plan to continue the podcast on a weekly basis.

Webb, who teaches in the music department at the University of Colorado Denver, says that while many career paths offer a financial component as part of the educational process, musicians, including many who earn degrees in music, are often tossed out into the market without a solid understanding of basic finance — and that can hinder their ambitions.

“We really think that it’s a mixture of the education system and the fact that this is a career choice that is more built on passion and expressing yourself,” Webb says. “Sometimes a lot of those fundamental things end up getting pushed to the side.”

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