Many artists want to quit their day job and play music full time (or tour, or record an album, or whatever).

It seems like a difficult problem, but if you can answer one simple question, you’ll be on your way to making it happen: “How many fans do you need to quit your job?”

It’s your ‘magic number.’

The question is a trick. In reality, you could find a single patron to fund your band. However most artists won’t find a single source of revenue.

By answering that question, you are forced to start thinking about the business side of your music. The question has built-in sub-questions:

How many fans do I have now?

How am I making money off the fans now?

How much money do I need to quit my job?

What am I doing to get new fans?

These are not easy questions to answer. But they are all relevant. If you don’t have the answers, you should start working on them. Once you know your magic number, you can start working on a plan to get you there.