How to Become a Full-Time Music Producer

So how do you become a full-time music producer in 2026?

If you’re patient enough, there are some strategies — hardcore strategies and “cheat code” strategies. It doesn’t matter where you’re living. The only difference is if you’re overseas (not in the United States): you need to be here legally. So you need to get a green card and figure out a way to legalize your status in this country. That’s the only difference.

As you might know, the United States is a land of opportunities, and especially those four cities are the major exporters of music culture in the world. You can definitely do it in other countries and in other cities. You can also implement this strategy, but Atlanta, Miami, LA, and Nashville are those four cities that actually can significantly influence your career.

Other than that, there are strategies — hardcore ones — that will definitely help you achieve your goal.

Intro: The Truth Nobody Tells You

There are different ways to become a music producer, but this is the part nobody really talks about. I’ve lived it myself, and I’ve met a lot of engineers and producers who’ve been doing it this way for years. People only see the success — they don’t see what it took to get there.

So I’m gonna be honest with you: you have to be ready. It’s going to be hard. Expect at least 2–3 years of nonstop grind — real hardcore mode. If you’re not built for that, don’t even start.

And if you do start, keep these three things in your head every single day:

1. Craft — make music, mix, practice every day. Your work has to be undeniable.
2. Network — meet people, build connections daily. In LA there are events, masterclasses, and conferences all the time.
3. Money — work and stack it. Save, stay low-key, cut expenses, and keep your focus.

If you hold on to those three things, getting through the hard times becomes way easier. You won’t regret it. Enjoy the journey — you’ll have small wins along the way — and if you work hard enough, you’ll start finding your own path to make this happen.

Strategy #1: Move to a Music City and Build a Simple Routine

First strategy: if you’re just starting out and you’re not living in one of those major music cities (Atlanta, LA, Nashville, Miami), I would highly recommend moving to one of those cities.

I would probably start with Atlanta, because Atlanta has pop, Atlanta has hip-hop, and honestly, almost every genre — and the cost of living is pretty low. So if you’re starting out, it’s a great place to start, and you can meet a lot of people there. Most artists are moving back and forth, especially if you’re doing rap/trap.

Move there and find a spot — like a room. You can probably find something for $500–$600, and you can live there.

Then, the rest of the time, you’ll be delivering food. You just need a car. You definitely need a car. It doesn’t matter where you live — you can either lease it or buy it for cash. Both ways are fine. You just need a cheap, reliable car — something like a Prius or whatever.

And you need a job, obviously. So you need to do Uber Eats, Amazon, anything like that. This is actually a cheat code because you can build your own schedule and be free.

You need free time. You need to make beats every day — every single day. Network as much as possible: networking events, open mics, music conferences. It’s happening almost every day in those music cities.

And you need to go to the studio. Find studios, make beats, make music every day. Find a studio and try to become an intern there. You need to do this at least for a year.

The hustle is gonna be hard, but you can make it.

This is one of the first strategies, and actually one of the simplest ones.

Strategy #2: The Hardcore LA Method (Car + Gym + Studio)

If you wanna do it hardcore — and I’ve seen a lot of people do this — here’s the reality.

You move straight to Los Angeles. You buy a car, and that car becomes your house for the next year. Literally.

All you gotta do is save as much money as possible. Work at least 5–8 hours a day doing side hustles like food delivery or package delivery. There are a bunch of services that can give you part-time or even full-time work.

You sleep in the car. You buy a 24/7 gym membership — any gym. Stay fit, stay healthy. You go to the gym to shower every day. Some people even go to the yoga section and pretend they’re doing yoga, but they’re actually sleeping there. It’s hard, but I’ve seen a lot of people do this.

If you can find an internship at any studio, that’s a huge plus. Sometimes you’re watching the studio, helping out, staying there for long hours. After some time, they might pay you. And sometimes you can crash on the couch or even sleep on the floor.

A lot of big engineers started like this. They go to the gym to shower, stay at the studio, and almost live there.

But here’s the key: you need to be making music every day, at least one hour a day. And you need to network.

If you stay around studios, you’ll meet different people. Maybe not huge names at first, but someone knows someone, someone is a brother of someone else, someone can connect you. This is the easiest way to build your first network.

After one or two years, you’ll already have some connections, you’ll save some money, and then you can rent a room or something like that.

This hardcore strategy is something nobody really talks about, but it works — if you do exactly these things:

• work every day
• network every day
• make music every day

All three are equally important.

If your music is not good, your connections won’t help you.
If your music is good but you have no connections, you won’t be able to shop your music.
If you don’t have money, you don’t even have food.

But in California, in LA, there are food banks, and you can get food for free and save money that way too.

This is extreme, but it works.

Outro

If you take this simple strategy seriously, you will succeed. No pressure — no diamonds.

Before you start, if you want to learn more about how I built my network from scratch — using almost the same strategy I talked about here — check out my networking course. In that course, I break down my real experience: how I connected with people, how I built relationships, and how I interviewed 100+ Grammy Award–winning engineers and producers.

If you want to go deeper, hit the link below.

Good luck. You can definitely do it.