In general, you should not expect to make much, if any, money from music. Do the music for you and not for anyone else. Don’t do it for the money because that is a really rough road to travel – and it leads to poverty (in my opinion).
Royalties
Royalties can be tough to obtain and you risk trampling on everyone else’s music, as YouTube has shown us. Everyone wants their cut and a small snippet of someone else’s music or a sample will get you in big trouble at YouTube.
Distribution
It would be a good idea to get a low-cost distributor for your music and manage your own royalties. Do it yourself.
One of my favorites is DistroKid. They charge a low amount for a year’s worth of distribution nearly everywhere. I cannot say enough good things about them. Here are some of their videos:
Rights Management
DistroKid will manage your rights in a way and pay you a royalty for all the times your music is played. But you should get a membership (usually free) to a performing rights organization like ASCAP. I use ASCAP.
The Future?
Nobody knows the future of music, but some people have ideas of some of the possibilities: