(You went to music school, not business school, after all.)
The Musicpreneur Model, designed for self-employed classical musicians and music freelancers, teaches you how to develop the business skills + mindsets you need to build and manage a diversified portfolio career that supports you financially and artistically.
The truth is, in today’s hyper-competitive world, there are waaay more musicians looking for full-time, tenure-track jobs than there are jobs available, especially in academia and professional orchestras.
And while you may have multiple interests and like the idea of doing more than one thing in your career, you soon realize that part-time jobs often add up to more than full-time work without the full-time salary (or benefits package).
Here’s what most musicians learn the hard way:
And often, it’s not enough.
That’s 50 hours per week minimum (not counting practicing, planning, and admin time) for a total salary of… $42,320. And that’s before taxes and overhead.
*$3,500/class average (American Federation of Teachers)
**$28/hr. average (salary.com)
Can you see the problem?
Think about what it would feel like to:
What would your life look like?
Don’t get me wrong –
^^^ This is the difference between having an employee mindset vs. an entrepreneur mindset.
... It’s about learning to think of yourself as a business: Diversifying your income streams, building sustainable offers, managing your finances, creating a recognizable and memorable brand, and being intentional + strategic with your time.
*$28/hr. average (salary.com)
That’s 30 hours per week of active work (plus additional time for admin, planning, prep, content creation, marketing, etc.). Total salary? $74,625.
^^^^ To get there, you need a (proven) strategy.
Introducing
The Musicpreneur Model is the only online program + template suite that teaches you how to build a diversified portfolio career in music and develop the skills you need to be a small business owner.
Develop an identity bigger than your job title to help you stand out in a competitive landscape
Create a portfolio career that provides artistic fulfillment and financial stability (even in an uncertain economy)
Confidently manage the business side of your music career (even if you don’t think of yourself as a “numbers” person)
Gain time and creative freedom so you can do the work you love without burnout
By the end of this section, you’ll have a working outline of your portfolio career, a personal definition of success and what enough looks like, and sustainable strategies for curating and editing your work.
As a self-employed musician, you’re the CEO of your small business. Learn what you need to know about business entity types, copyright laws, royalties and licensing, and when you need a contract. Plus, learn how to build diversified offers in your business and price for profit.
According to research by Intuit, 40% of small business owners consider themselves financially illiterate. Learn the essentials and get practical tips (read: hard numbers!) for saving and spending so you can feel confident dealing with all the money stuff that comes with running a business.
You’ll walk away with a working formula for calculating estimated taxes, three retirement account options, and a spending and savings plan for your business so you can invest in the future and pay yourself today.
You’ve outlined your portfolio career on paper and gotten all the legal and financial elements in order. Now it’s time to tell people about it. You’ll walk away with a brand identity statement, a unique value proposition, creative marketing strategies, and a wireframe for your website.
How you manage your time has a huge impact on what you’re able to accomplish. But time is also your greatest asset outside of your businesses. The smarter you work and the more strategic you are, the more time you have to spend in other areas of your life.
You’ll finish this section with a solid understanding of how you’re spending your time + tools and strategies you can put in place to help you set (and keep) boundaries, organize your workday and workweek, and work from home without distraction.
Learn from musician and website designer Taylor Rossi how to optimize your website, increase SEO, and speak directly to your ideal students and customers.
Get the 12-page guide to choosing revenue models and building income streams in your business so you can outline your offers strategically and plan how you'll generate income.
Get our tax prep checklist and learn how to report your self-employment income and take advantage of write-offs + the working formula for calculating your estimated tax payments.
"Before enrolling in The Musicpreneur Model, I was trying to build a plan to financially provide for my family after leaving my full-time job. Things were going okay, but I had to supplement my income with DoorDash—which I absolutely hated.
I love all the resources Ashley provides, and I’d absolutely recommend this program to other musicians looking for a better way to build their careers!"
- Craig Harmann, Harmanny Music Education
(That’s roughly the price of a cappuccino and pistachio croissant on the go between gigs. 🥐)
You pay:
"Many websites claim to help music entrepreneurs, but 99% of them are created and run by people who have nothing to do with the arts. They don't know the challenges we face as classical musicians.
Ashley and Steve have professional experience and first-hand knowledge about where musicians are coming from when they leave music school. They know what it's like to try to find work and be entrepreneurial, as well as what kind of help we need.
Everything in the Musicpreneur Model was very organized and easy to understand and I appreciated the worksheets, practical guidelines, and suggestions that were included."
— Erin A., music freelancer
"The Musicpreneur Model is a great course for anyone starting a business, looking for clarity, or wanting to 'refine the edges' of their business. Even an experienced music business owner can gain a takeaway from this course. There's information on taxes, marketing, creating your brand, and even web design."
— Jaclyn Mrozek, Piano Kats LLC
"This course has filled a gap for those of us trying to establish ourselves in the musical freelance world. The Musicpreneur Model touches on all the areas that you need to consider when you're establishing yourself as a working musician. Something that's already helped me is the financial portion and setting up your work as its own company. This can be very confusing if you're self-employed, so it's really helpful to have a guide."
— Emma Schmiedecke, Cellist
Buying things online these days can be a real gamble (have you tried buying an area rug lately?).
If you feel the course content, workbook, templates, and bonuses doesn’t serve you and you can tell us in detail how it doesn’t match the promises made when you purchased, please reach out to us within 7 days of enrolling and we'll do our best to make it right.
If we can’t resolve your issue, we’ll issue you a 100% refund.
We know that many classical musicians struggle to manage the business side of their music careers. This can lead to feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and insecure, and hold you back from building a business that can support you.
We know the post-music-school hustle because we’ve lived it (including the burnout on the other side). Still, we believe there are more opportunities to have a music career today than ever before, especially if you’re willing to lean into the things that set you apart from everyone else with the same level of education and experience.
Drawing on time-honored business advice, research-based strategies, and 15 years of experience as self-employed musicians and entrepreneurs, we’ll help you learn the business skills and strategies you need to build and manage a portfolio career in music so you can do multiple things and maintain freedom in your time and creative work.
No, not at all! In fact, this is the course we wish we had when we were starting out. You’ll learn about the structure and strategy behind establishing your career and get the tools, resources, mindsets, and shortcuts you need to build something unique to you, tailored to your skills, interests, and experiences, and sustainable for the long term. One student referred to it as a “music career handbook” – something really helpful to have when you’re first starting out.
The quick answer is no. The course is designed to be a framework – a handbook – that you can come back to whenever you're looking to innovate, build, or refine different aspects of your business. I’m 10+ years into my business, and I just went through this process again myself – refining my identity, rebranding, updating my offers, evaluating my pricing, and developing a marketing plan. It's designed to be dynamic and evolve with you.
The course content is divided into 15 short (<18-minute) lessons to help you stay on track. There are some accompanying workbook pages and exercises in each section, as well. All in all, you could work through the entire course in 30 days, or pace it out and give yourself time and space to put things into practice in your business.
I included 30-day, 45-day, and 90-day planners inside the course to help you choose a track that works with your schedule. Start whenever you’re ready!
I totally get that. I don’t recommend spending money you don’t have, but if you’re nervous about spending money in your business, here’s what’s helped me. Ask yourself:
^^^ If those numbers outweigh the cost, then it’s usually a sound business investment.
Also, for what it’s worth, we have a payment plan option of $190 for 3 months if that works better for your budget. Click here to sign up.
You can ask questions inside the course through the comments section in each lesson. If you need advice, or you need “I’m stuck on this. Can you help me think through this?” I’m always available for that kind of support as you work through the course content. Reach out to me directly at hello@musicianandcompany.com.
Need more support? The VIP plan includes a 60-minute 1:1 session (or two 30-minute sessions) with us that you can use at any time.
Yes! You'll have lifetime access to all the content and resources you see here, plus any future updates we make to the course.
Reach out to us at hello@musicianandcompany.com or send me a DM on Instagram (@ashleydanyew). We’re happy to talk through things with you and help you decide if this is the right fit.
We’ll just say it –
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged about the prospect of working full-time and making a decent living as a classical musician.
This is your opportunity to start building a music career on your terms – one that reflects your unique and varied skills, interests, and areas of expertise and gives you the freedom to create without the fear of not knowing if another job will open up or if you’ll make enough this month to pay the bills.
(Don’t worry – we’re here to show you the ropes.)
To be clear, this is not a “build it fast, do as many things as possible, make as much money as you can” approach. It can take anywhere from a few months to years to build a diversified portfolio career. But the steps you take today toward that vision can set you up for success 6 months or a year from now.
Because how you spend your time matters. If you’re reading this, that tells me you’re ready to do things differently. You’re ready to lean into learning the business side of managing your music career.
You pay:
