Can you believe you can get paid to listen to music? It’s like earning money even in your leisure time!
- Inbox Dollars - Get paid to check your email. $5 bonus just for signing up!
- Survey Junkie - The #1 survey site that doesn't suck. Short surveys, high payouts, simply the best.
- Nielsen - Download their app and get paid $50!
Just by signing up on the following websites or downloading applications on your smartphone, you can start making money for submitting reviews, providing detailed feedback to new artists, transcribing lyrics, or simply playing music on a specific site.
Still skeptical?
Read on, sign up for all of them, wear your headphones, and start earning!
14 Companies That Pay You to Listen to Music
Let’s be clear, you aren’t going to be able to turn in your two weeks to sit at home and listen to music all day. It’s going to be a little challenging to simply throw on some tunes and rake in the cash.
(Well, with the exception of #1 on this list who will pay you to do exactly that…) but for the true musicophile, there are quite a few options below that will have you listening to music and earning money at the same time.
Starting with…
1. Nielsen Market Research
Nielsen will pay you to listen to your own music library.
Yes, seriously!
They conduct market research and want to know how you use your devices, including what kind of music you listen to.
All you need to do is download an app, listen to your favorite songs as per usual, and they pay you $50 per year.
I mean, how easy can it get?!
2. Earnably
This website pays you not only for listening to the radio, but also for completing surveys, viewing videos, and completing online offers.
What’s especially beneficial with Earnably is that the site pays you bonuses and increases your payout options as you advance on the site. It takes just $2 in collected earnings before you can request a payout through PayPal or a gift card.
3. Slicethepie
This site features up-and-coming musical artists who want feedback on their compositions. You get paid by listening to their music and writing honest, constructive feedback.
After you sign up on the site, you’ll be asked to listen to songs for at least 90 seconds, after which you’ll be asked to complete a review.
Slicethepie prefers high-quality, detailed reviews. Be honest about what you liked or disliked, comment on the specifics of the track (e.g., melody, lyrics, hook, vocals, instruments, etc.), and be as descriptive as you can.
If you put in a good-faith effort on your review, you won’t have any trouble making money with this site. Payment ranges from 2-20 cents per accepted review, with the minimum payout being $10 to your PayPal account.
Maximize your earnings by giving the site your full attention (running Slicethepie in the background reduces your payout), start writing the review as soon as the song starts to play, and try to stick to a formula so you can write the reviews quickly and you can earn more in less time.
You can also earn more by referring others to the site. For every review that your referred member writes, you’ll get a commission.
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4. HitPredictor
Want to help out artists while getting paid to listen to music fresh off the press?
With HitPredictor, you get to provide valuable feedback on new tracks before they’re released. Once your feedback is submitted and accepted, you’ll earn points that you can exchange for cash.
Your feedback is made available to the song’s artists, music producers, radio stations, record companies, record executives, etc. All the feedback is then used to make critical decisions about the artists’ careers.
You make 3 points for every song you review. Once you’ve collected enough points, you can trade them in for Amazon electronic gift cards, prizes in their prize store, and raffle tickets to sweepstakes where you can win more points or items from the Prize Store.
Also, for every 15 songs you rate in a 7-day period, you’ll earn an extra 15 points. You can also earn points from answering polls and referring other people to provide feedback.
5. RadioEarn
RadioEarn works as an internet radio that pays you to listen.
RadioEarn is funded by ads, and you will hear a couple every few minutes. Instead of keeping all of the ad revenue for themselves, they have chosen to give a portion back to their listeners.
Every 15 minutes, you will accumulate points that can then be redeemed for Amazon gift cards, Bitcoin, or cash sent to you via wire transfer to your bank.
If you have a website with a decent amount of traffic, you can place this radio on your website and invite visitors to listen. You get to earn points for these “listens” even if it’s not really you who’s listening.
Best of all, RadioEarn operates worldwide and allows people from all over the world to join and listen to their broadcasts.
6. Unique Rewards
On this site, you can get paid to listen to music via internet radio, as well as perform all sorts of online tasks, such as answering surveys, visiting websites, shopping, and even reading emails.
If you decide to listen to internet radio, you’ll earn money every time you enter the site’s CAPTCHA, displayed every 30 minutes. In the USA, you’ll be rewarded 3 cents per CAPTCHA fill; in Canada and the UK, the payment is 1 cent. Payout occurs once you reach a threshold of $20.
You’ll need to have the latest versions of your browser as well as Adobe Flash Player.
7. RWS Moravia
If you’re fluent in English and at least one more major language, RWS Moravia may have a job opening for you.
RWS Moravia is a division of RWS that specializes in delivering localized products and content to various companies worldwide.
They’re looking for song lyrics transcribers who will transcribe songs in their second language while adhering to certain style guides.
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Their current openings are for those who are English speakers who are also fluent (as in native speaker-level fluent) in German or Japanese, but check back on their careers page to check if they’re hiring transcribers for your language.
8. Welocalize
Welocalize offers content transformation services, especially translation and localization. Currently, they support more than 525 language combinations.
From time to time, they have openings for freelance music lyrics transcribers who have native-level English fluency and can deliver 50 transcribed songs per week.
Pay varies depending on the output and quality of transcripts.
Check back on their careers page under Freelance Projects and look for the Music Lyrics Transcriber position.
9. Genius
Working for Genius is yet another way to get paid to listen to new music.
Genius.com is the world’s biggest repository of music lyrics and music knowledge.
They periodically have openings for part-time, US-based Lyrics Associates who are tasked to transcribe and sync new song releases and review community transcriptions for accuracy.
10. Current App
You can get paid to listen to music through Current, a free music player app.
Listen to music from over 100,000 radio stations playing the world’s favorite songs and earn points that you can exchange for gift cards to various stores (e.g., Amazon, iTunes, Google Play Store, as well as retail stores such as Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Sephora, and many more) or for actual products.
Turning on the Homescreen Media Player also allows you to earn points. What it does is play music even when your screen is locked.
Other ways to earn points through the app include sharing your music preferences, completing surveys, and referring friends.
They claim you can make up to $600 a year just by listening to music, and while I can’t say if that’s true, this app is definitely worth downloading and checking out.
11. Cash4minutes
Cash4minutes is a website that pays its users to call a phone number and listen to a radio broadcast using their unused minutes on their phone plan.
You’re rewarded for every minute you’re connected to the selected radio broadcast. These rewards can go into PayPal, Amazon gift card, Bitcoin, direct deposit to your bank account, and even to charity.
The responsibility of making sure you’re using your free minutes rests on you, though. Make a test call first to see if you still have free minutes.
Cash4minutes pays roughly 8 cents per free minute you use to call and listen to radio broadcasts.
You can also earn from referring friends and acquaintances to sign up.
12. Playlist Push
If you have playlists on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music that people actually follow, Playlist Push wants to pay you for your opinion.
Playlist Push will pay you to listen to songs by indie artists, review these songs thoughtfully, and add them to your public playlists.
This way, you can get paid to discover new music for you and your followers, plus you get to help the next big indie artist get more exposure
The amount paid per song is based on the number of followers your playlist has and how active you are on the website. These are quantified in your Reputation Score. Depending on your Reputation Score, you can get paid anywhere from $1.25 up to $15 per song.
Other Ways To Get Paid to Listen to Music
Aside from these sites, here are a couple of other ideas for you to get paid to listen to music.
13. Become a music curator.
If you’re a music fan who has a diverse taste in music, love making your own playlists, and know or at least willing to learn how to use digital music software, being a music curator might be a great fit for you.
A music curator is someone who will listen, categorize, and organize music from different genres, artists, bands, labels, etc.
Essentially, you spend the whole day listening to music while getting paid for it.
If you become an in-house curator for a streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music, you’re expected to create playlists that have a common theme aimed to increase engagement and subscriptions to these streaming services.
On the other hand, if you’re curating for a radio station, you get to choose and schedule playlists based on the station’s format and its target listeners.
It may seem like you need to choose between promoting good music and popular music, but you actually have the power to help good music be popular.
To find music curator jobs, look no further than FlexJobs. They vet the companies that post job openings with them, so you can rest assured that you’re not applying to a sketchy company.
14. Become a music blogger.
Writing about music is yet another possibility if you want to earn while listening to music.
There are a number of ways you can blog about music; you can report on the artists, write about music trends, give the scoop on the latest music industry news, and many more.
But reviewing the music you want on your blog is probably the best way for you to get paid to listen to music.
Of course, aside from the writing and research skills to write high-quality content, you’ll also need to have some knowledge about music theory so you can critically analyze a song, an EP, or an album.
To learn more, read our guide on building a business through blogging.
Final Thoughts on Making Money From Listening to Music
Let’s be frank: You won’t become a millionaire by signing up for any of these websites.
In fact, you probably won’t be able to make a living wage off them.
So don’t quit your day job just yet. Instead, treat these gigs as extra cash that you can make on the side.
To get the most bang for your listening buck, sign up for more than one, if not all the sites listed, especially those that ask for reviews. This way, you can listen to just one song and review it multiple times on different sites. Remember to change your actual review text as you hop from site to site.
Being a member of all these recommended sites will also provide you with a steady stream of gigs because not all sites have available reviews at all times.
If you’re interested in more ways to earn side cash, check out this massive list of side hustles you can do.
Or, if you’re really into music but more of a creator than a listener, you may also want to check out my guide on online jobs for musicians.
There are quite a few ideas in there that I bet you never even knew were a possibility.
Have you ever gotten paid to listen to music from the above sites or on other sites? How much money did you earn? Share your experience with us in the comments!
I wish they mention in advance that music is restricted to USA and Canada and no other National is supposed to listen review get paid Is that so? I wish they mention that no other world citizen gets a right even to listen to the music and songs. Why allow them to proceed with all details and decline later. You have done a wonderful job. You only can save the face of other world citizens Any way Our Hearty greetings to all no exception on the Merry ChristmAs and Happy New Year
Oh, there is definitely a catch, all right, not that you are likely to get any trouble from it. These sites are only actually sound gigs for those whose taste is kept largely mainstream. I fail that criterium, and miserably. With a taste and passion for some of the most unusual genres and artists, non-canonical classical composers, Slavonic opera, eastern and northern European folk music. I would mention some of my favourites but for the fact nobody understands what I am talking about anyway.
This can be a delightful way to earn on the side. I sometimes find myself looking for new and interesting music to listen to whenever I want to relax. I’d definitely welcome any worthwhile opportunity to earn extra while doing something I enjoy. It’s also a good opportunity to help aspiring music artists. Thanks for sharing this post.
Interesting review.
I didn’t know that you could make money by listening to music, and if you are a lover of listening to new music, then why not get paid to do what you enjoy.
As you say, one couldn’t do this full time and give up your day job, and I think you should only do this if you really love music, or you will be disappointed in the small change you get for doing this.
In your opinion, which of these music sites is the best experience?
Perfect, this sounds like an excellent option for someone who loves to listen to music while doing just about everything else. A little bit of extra cash for doing something you were doing anyway is always a good deal. Are these programs available worldwide, or just for residents of the USA or UK?
Wow I didn’t realize you could actually get paid to listen to music, that’s crazy! However, it sounds like you may get stuck listening to music you have no interest in. I wonder if you can at least pick out a specific genre to listen to? Personally, the amount you would get paid doesn’t seem like it would be worth it unless you could enjoy it. What do you think?
That’s a good point about leveraging your time by reviewing the same song on several sites.
Listening to music is probably a more enjoyable repetitive activity than most of these type “jobs.”
But I think I would rather buy bottled water and sell it on street corners to pick up “beer money.”
There are actually a large number of people doing just that in Baltimore.
Like wow, I didn’t know that a person could make money by listening to music. There has to be some kind of catch here, or maybe the money is not that great :)
All in all it’s a cool way to earn extra cash. Thanks for the insight, I really had no clue. I might take it up.
Hello
Interesting article on earning extra cash online by listening to music, so what is the catch?
I have seen a few of the programs around online, some are new to me.
I tried a few of these but it is time consuming and you do not earn much at all with these programs, maybe if you are doing them all you can make it out better?
How long have you been using these programs, has it really been worth your time?
There isn’t a catch really. You’ll make money doing so but it’s not going to be the “quit your job” kind of money, but instead it’s a nice way to earn some extra cash in your spare time.