With unemployment at 4.2%, more people are turning to online passive income opportunities. Many are finding creative ways to use music, artwork, and other forms of content to enhance their videos, posts, and projects, all while making money.
If you’re looking to turn your creativity into passive income, this post is for you! I’ll introduce you to platforms where you can earn money from your creative work, explore how royalties work, and share simple ideas for making passive income with little investment. Keep reading to learn more!
Understanding Royalty Income: How It Works and Why It Matters
Imagine you’ve created something like a song, a book, or a piece of artwork. Every time someone uses or shares your creation, you earn money. This is called royalty income. For example, if a filmmaker uses your song in a movie, or a publisher prints your book, they pay you each time they use it.
Royalty income is a great way to earn money from your work long after you’ve finished creating it. You don’t need to keep working on it to keep earning. Instead, others pay you for the right to use it, providing you with a stream of passive income.
How Do You Get Royalty Income from Music?
If you’re a musician, stock music platforms are a fantastic way to earn royalties. These websites allow musicians to upload their tracks, which can then be licensed by people using them in videos, ads, and other projects. You don’t need to keep creating new tracks constantly, and your music can earn you royalties whenever someone uses it.
Two great platforms for earning passive income from music are Pond5 and AudioJungle (Envato Market). Both allow you to upload music for free, and you can start earning without upfront costs. You’ll only need to invest your time and effort in creating tracks people want to buy.
- Pond5: Offers up to 50% commission on each sale for non-exclusive tracks, and more for exclusive content. For example, if you sell a non-exclusive track for $30, you’ll earn $15. Exclusive tracks can earn you up to $18.
- AudioJungle (Envato Market): Pays a commission based on your author level, ranging from 37.5% to 70%, depending on whether your music is exclusive to their platform.
Additionally, Bandcamp allows you to sell your music directly to fans, and they take a small fee (10-15%). You can also sell merchandise like shirts and posters alongside your music, making it a flexible platform for artists.
Can You Monetize Motivational Quotes?
Yes, you can! Platforms like Zazzle and Redbubble allow you to upload your motivational quotes and put them on products like shirts, mugs, and phone cases. They handle the production and shipping, so you can focus on creating and promoting your designs.
- Zazzle: You earn royalties based on the percentage you set, from 5% to 99%. If you don’t set a custom rate, you get a base royalty of 10-15%.
- Redbubble: You set your own markup (usually 20-30%) on top of the base price. You earn from this markup every time your design sells.
Another option is to publish a motivational quote book on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), where you can earn up to 70% royalties on eBooks and a good percentage on print books. There are no upfront fees, and you only pay for copies you buy or optional ads.
Create your own adult coloring book!
Creating an adult coloring book is a popular way to earn income, especially with the current demand for them. To publish your own coloring book, you can use Blurb’s free BookWright tool, which helps you organize, format, and design your book for print or digital sale. While you’ll need to create or upload your own illustrations, BookWright makes it easy to put everything together in a professional way, and you can earn up to 80% royalties on sales.
For designing individual coloring pages, Canva is an excellent option. Canva has easy-to-use templates to help you create detailed and eye-catching designs, even with a free account. Once your pages are finished, you can also publish your coloring book on sites like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), reaching a wide audience of educators, parents, and coloring enthusiasts.
These platforms aren’t limited to coloring books—you can also use them to publish children’s books, activity books, and more.
Earn Passive Income with Your Photos
Stock photos are essential for bloggers and anyone using visuals online. If you’re a photographer—or even just take high-quality photos with your phone—you can upload your images to platforms like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and Pond5. These sites let you earn royalties each time someone downloads or buys your work, turning your photos into a steady source of passive income.
- Adobe Stock: You can earn 35% of the sale price for your photos and videos. It’s a popular platform that integrates well with Adobe products, which can help boost your sales.
- Pond5: You earn 50% of the sale price for photos and videos, with high payouts and a large marketplace that can increase your earnings.
You can also teach others how to take great photos by uploading tutorials to Skillshare, where you earn royalties based on the number of minutes watched by members.
I hope this post inspires you to start earning passive income from your creativity. Whether you’re a musician, artist, or photographer, there are plenty of platforms that can help you turn your work into a source of income. For more tips on saving and making money, be sure to check out my other posts on CuteTrendFinds.com.