How Guitar Memberships Make Money Online

I’ve been in the “guitar membership business” niche since 2007. – that’s before memberships were the thing!

BTW – my first thought is that it was a bit easier back than to “cut through the noise” if you’ve got a good instructional product to offer.

Today, everything is a membership — from Netflix to Photoshop, and of course, any kind of music instructional program is accessible for a small monthly fee.

So is it too late to get in the game? Actually, no!

You know what they say (cringy quote everyone uses nowadays coming up):

The best time to get started was yesterday, the next best time is now!

In this short article, I want to discuss a few ideas for you guitar teachers out there, who are new to this online thing – let’s talk about how guitar membership websites usually generate income.

See if that’s something you’d like to try out, as it is a prime time to get into the digital business.

#1 – Recurring Payments

At the heart of a guitar membership is a subscription payment model.

Students can become members by signing up for an auto-recurring payment plan.

These payment plans are usually billed on a monthly and yearly subscription basis, automatically taken from the credit card or via PayPal.

Payment plans are infinite until the member decides to cancel their membership.

Pricing differs and can range anywhere from $9-$100+ per month, depending on what you’re teaching.

The usual range, though, is between $12 and $49 per month, as this is considered a hobby niche primarily.

#2 – Selling Access To Members Only Content aka Deliverables

Deliverables is a popular term for what you give your members access to once they become paid members of your guitar membership.

When members sign up for your guitar membership, they get login details they can use to access members-only content on your website/platform.

Deliverables are what you are selling actually, when promoting your membership.

Usually, this will include access to guitar lessons and/or full courses as the main thing.

Next, members usually get access to instructor support.

Finally, you can include extras, like community access, challenges access, a library of backing tracks or other instructional materials, live session access, etc…

What’s unique with guitar memberships is that there is usually a cycle in which you add new content (new lessons, courses etc) to your membership.

This cycle often follows the recurring payment plan frequency, so if students make monthly payments, new guitar lessons will be added monthly.

#3 – Members-Only Add-ons & Extras

In addition to the standard content included in the guitar memberships, which is covered by the recurring membership fee, guitar memberships might offer add-on services & extras that members can purchase (usually with the incentive of a discounted price).

Offering these additional products to your existing members can create a brand new income stream, which is separate from your recurring subscription fee.

For example, guitar membership might offer members the option to enroll in standalone premium courses, deep dives, or one-on-one coaching, all of which are charged extra.

These are just some of the ways in which additional income is generated when running a guitar membership website.

Conclusion

The main goal of a guitar membership is to attract members who are going to sign-up for a subscription plan.

This is a very good one-to-many business model that allows you to teach more students than you would if you were to run strictly one-on-one in-person or online classes.

Also, this subscription-based business model, if done correctly, can prove rewarding in terms of freedom to better organize one’s time.

If you plan it well, you can create systems and workflows that allow you to be efficient in producing content for the membership and running it day to day without “too much” overwhelm.

(Please don’t get me wrong; running an online business is NOT EASY, but you can make it more comfortable over time as you gain experience…)

One more thing: starting and growing a guitar membership is not “over the night success thing”. It will take (a lot of) time. Don’t expect quick results.

By the way, if you’re a bit lost on what to start, but you’d like to create online income stream with your music teaching skills (perhaps a guitar membership?) – I invite you to check out my Plan, Click, Succeed online planner course.

Click here to learn more about the planner course>>

This is a short and easy-to-follow course that will help you plan your next music-teaching venture, like a geek.

Even if you’re completely new to this online thing, the condensed info I’ve included in the course will guide you step-by-step to create a viable plan, so that you can move on to the next phase.

Also, don’t forget to get on my email list of music teachers like you, where I share helpful tips and things I learned from my online journey that I started in 2007.

Alright, hope you’ll find the ideas useful.

All the best,
Bogdan
Founder, MusicTeachingBiz.com