A video showed up in my feed promising that you could earn $900 just by listening to music. No skills, no audience, no product. Just grab some music, upload it to a website, and watch the money come in. I had seen plenty of these claims before, but this one had a full walkthrough with step-by-step instructions and payment proof screenshots. So I did what I always do: I actually tried it.
What I found was not $900. What I found was a method that requires you to break two separate sets of terms of service before you even make your first upload, a payout rate so low it would take thousands of strangers doing something sketchy on your link to earn a single dollar, and a download experience so alarming that most people with any internet history would close the tab before finishing. My result: zero dollars. Here is exactly what happened and why you should not waste your time on this.
What You’ll Walk Out With
- A clear breakdown of how the uploadforever.com music side hustle actually works
- The two terms-of-service violations baked into the method from step one
- The real math: what $7 per 1,000 downloads actually means for your bank account
- Why traffic is the problem every “easy money” tutorial conveniently skips
- What the download experience actually looks like and why it kills your conversion
- Three legitimate alternatives that can actually generate income from a music interest
- My honest verdict after running the test myself with real time invested
- A free tool to find the right online income path for your actual skills at finder.platformproof.com
What the $900 Claim Actually Says
The video I tested walked through a process that looked simple on the surface. The idea is that a website called uploadforever.com pays you when people download files you upload. The original video claimed you could make $900 doing this, and framed it as something you could do passively without much effort or experience. That combination of a specific big number and a vague “easy” process is the classic setup for low-effort viral content about making money online.
I watched the whole thing. The instructions seemed clear enough that I could actually follow them, which is what I did. My name is Alston Godbolt and I run this channel to test these methods honestly, not to sell you on them. I want you to know what really happens before you spend your time. So let me walk you through the process exactly as described, then show you where it falls apart.
The Method: Pixabay and UploadForever
The process the original video described has two steps. First, you go to pixabay.com, a site that offers royalty-free images, videos, and music. You search for music tracks you like and download them. Second, you upload those tracks to uploadforever.com. When other people download your files from uploadforever.com, the site pays you a small amount per download. The promise is that this can add up to real money, with $900 thrown out as a target figure.
On the surface, that sounds like a usable workflow. Pixabay has thousands of tracks. UploadForever has a real payment system. Neither site is made up. The problem is not that these websites do not exist. The problem is what happens when you actually look at the rules and the numbers before you start.
Problem One: You Are Being Asked to Steal
The very first step of this method requires you to violate Pixabay’s license agreement. When you look at Pixabay’s actual license page, you will find clear language that says you cannot distribute or sell Pixabay content on other stock or wallpaper platforms. You cannot sell unaltered copies of Pixabay content. The license is designed to let you use content in your own creative work, not to redistribute the files themselves as downloadable products on another platform.
That is exactly what this method asks you to do. You are downloading a Pixabay music file and uploading it to uploadforever.com so that people can download it through your link and pay you per download. That is distributing unaltered Pixabay content on another platform for profit, which the license explicitly prohibits. You are not creating anything. You are not adding anything. You are just moving someone else’s file to a different site and collecting money for it.
Now you might think: okay, but what are the real consequences? Let’s say I try this anyway. The second terms-of-service problem answers that question. UploadForever’s own terms of service state that they comply with all applicable state, local, and federal regulations. If someone sends them a copyright takedown notice under the DMCA, they will honor it. They explicitly say this. So the moment a Pixabay content creator or Pixabay itself notices your upload and files a complaint, your files get pulled. And you have not been paid for anything yet.
I believe most people who try this method are not trying to steal. They watch a video, the steps look easy, and they follow along without reading the license. But ignorance of the terms does not protect you from the consequences, and it definitely does not make the method ethical. This alone is a reason to stop here and not proceed.
Problem Two: The Math Is Against You
If you somehow decided to look past the legal problem, the economics of this method still do not work. UploadForever’s payment rate for downloads is $7 per 1,000 approved downloads. Let me write that out as a per-download rate: $0.007 per download. That is less than one cent per person who downloads your file.
To earn one dollar, you would need approximately 143 approved downloads. And not all downloads count as approved. Some get rejected. Some do not register in the system. The platform also distinguishes between different download types, and the free download option is what most people click, not the premium option. So your real approved download rate is lower than your raw click count.
To put the $900 claim into context, you would need to generate approximately 128,571 approved downloads to hit that number at the $0.007 rate. That is over 128,000 people choosing to download your specific music file from a platform most of them have never heard of. The original video does not mention any of this math. The $900 figure appears with no explanation of how many downloads it would require or what evidence supports it as an achievable target.
When I looked at the payment proof section on UploadForever, I found screenshots showing some payments had been made. The average payout based on what I could see was around $5.53 per transaction. Some names appeared multiple times in the payment proof, which could mean different people with the same name or the same person cashing out multiple small amounts. What I did not find was anyone pulling hundreds of dollars a month from music downloads consistently.
Problem Three: Nobody Talks About Traffic
The biggest gap in the original video was traffic. How do 128,000 people find your file and choose to download it? The video did not address this at all. It said upload the music and implied the downloads would follow. That is not how the internet works.
Traffic is always the real question in any online income method. Whether you are selling a product, running affiliate links, or uploading files to a download platform, you need a way to get people in front of your content. The original video skipped this entirely. There was no mention of social media strategy, search engine positioning, paid advertising, or any other method for generating downloads. The assumption seemed to be that posting your link somewhere would be enough.
Getting 1,000 downloads for any single file is a real achievement, even for content creators with established audiences. Getting 1,000 people to download a generic music track from a site they do not recognize, uploaded by someone they have never heard of, through a link shared in a Facebook group or Twitter post, is genuinely difficult. The math on how much work that takes does not come close to justifying the time investment for a $7 payout.
Problem Four: The Download Experience Scares People Off
I tested the actual download experience by copying my UploadForever link and opening it in an incognito browser window, the way a real visitor would see it. What happened next would cause most people with any online experience to close the tab immediately.
The page loaded with pop-ups asking me to install browser extensions. There were prompts that triggered my instincts as someone who has been using the internet for years. The visual design and the flow of the page looked like exactly the kind of thing you learn to avoid. If you have been online for even a few months and you have developed any sense of what legitimate sites look and feel like, you would not click through this process.
Think about what this means for your conversion rate. Even if you somehow got a thousand people to click your UploadForever link, how many of them are going to complete the download process through multiple suspicious-looking prompts asking for browser extension permissions? My honest estimate is almost none. The click-to-download conversion rate on this platform is extremely low, which means even your traffic numbers do not translate to the approved downloads you need to get paid.
My Actual Results
I went through the full process. I set up an account on UploadForever. I uploaded a file. I looked at the dashboard, which includes referral tracking and a marketplace section that turned out to just be another upsell page for UploadForever itself rather than any real marketplace for music or products. I checked my earnings. The result was exactly what the math predicted: zero dollars. Zero referrals. Zero downloads.
I did not try to generate traffic to the link because doing so would have required me to either spam my audience or post my link in unrelated groups, which I am not willing to do. If you already have an audience willing to download files from you, you have far better options available than UploadForever. If you do not have an audience, then you do not have the traffic needed to make even a dollar from this method.
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Honest Drawbacks Summary
Let me put the problems together so the full picture is clear before I talk about what actually works.
- Step one of the method requires violating Pixabay’s license by redistributing their content on another platform for profit
- UploadForever’s terms confirm they will comply with copyright takedowns, so your uploads are vulnerable from day one
- The payout rate is $0.007 per approved download, meaning you need over 128,000 downloads to reach $900
- Not all downloads are approved, so your real earnings per click are even lower than $0.007
- The original video never explains how to drive traffic to your upload link
- The download page uses pop-ups and extension install prompts that most internet users will immediately distrust and close
- The back-end dashboard is confusing, and the marketplace section is just an upsell rather than a real resource
What Actually Works If You Like Music
Here is the thing about online income and music: there is real money in the space. Just not through the upload-and-wait route. The methods that work require you to create something, but they do not require you to be a professional musician or to have an existing audience to get started.
Music Reaction and Review Videos on YouTube
I pulled up YouTube while recording and searched for reaction videos around new music releases. What I found was channels with small subscriber counts generating real view numbers. One channel had 3,000 subscribers and 14,000 views on a single music review video. Another had 12 subscribers and 7,000 views. Those are not big channels. Those are people who showed up, gave their honest reaction to a song, and attracted viewers who were already searching for that content.
You do not need permission to react to music. You need to say something interesting about it. If you like a genre, you can be the person who reviews new releases in that genre. You listen to the song, you share your take on it, you upload the video. People search for reactions to songs they want to hear others discuss. The content already has an audience looking for it. You are not creating demand from scratch.
Once you reach the YouTube Partner Program threshold (1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours), you start earning from ad revenue. With 7,000 views on a single video, a small channel is likely already earning more per month from that one video than you would earn from hundreds of UploadForever downloads. And the views compound over time as you build more content.
Affiliate Programs Through OfferVault
If you already have any audience, even a small one, affiliate marketing through music-adjacent offers is a legitimate path. A site like OfferVault lists affiliate programs across many categories, including digital downloads, music software, audio equipment, and music education. You promote offers that are relevant to your audience and earn a commission when someone purchases.
The difference between this and the UploadForever method is that real companies with real products are paying real commissions for real referrals. The terms are clear, the tracking is transparent, and you are not violating anyone’s content license. If your music reaction channel has 1,000 viewers who trust your taste, a recommendation to a music production course or a sample pack website can generate commissions that dwarf what those same 1,000 viewers would generate on UploadForever.
Selling Beats or Digital Products
If you actually make music, or want to learn, selling beats is a real income stream. Platforms like BeatStars and Airbit allow producers to sell licenses for their beats to other artists. If you produce even basic instrumentals, you can list them for sale and earn both from one-time purchases and from lease agreements. This requires more skill than uploading someone else’s files, but it is sustainable, scalable, and does not require you to steal from anyone.
Even if producing beats is not your path, digital products related to music, such as chord progressions in a PDF, mixing templates, lyric writing guides, or sample packs of your own original recordings, can generate passive income through your own Gumroad or Payhip store. You create it once and sell it as many times as people find it. That is what passive income from music actually looks like.
Amazon Mechanical Turk as a Bridge
I mentioned in the video that if you are looking for something accessible right now while you build toward a bigger goal, Amazon Mechanical Turk is still a better option than UploadForever. I did a test of Mechanical Turk in a separate video and the results were modest, but real. You are doing small tasks for actual companies and earning small but real amounts. It is not a path to $900 a month, but you are getting paid, the platform is legitimate, and you are not violating anyone’s intellectual property to do it.
Find Your X
If you are watching videos about earning $900 listening to music, it is probably because you are looking for a way to make real money online that fits your life, your schedule, and what you are actually good at. That is a legitimate goal and there are real paths to get there. The problem is that most of the content about making money online is designed to get views, not to help you find the right method for your specific situation.
I built a free tool to solve that specific problem. Answer a few questions about your skills, your available time, and what you are trying to accomplish, and it will point you toward income paths that actually match your situation. No generic lists. No methods that require you to steal. Just a starting point that makes sense for you. Try it at finder.platformproof.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is uploadforever.com a legitimate website?
UploadForever is a real website with a real payment system, and some users have received real payouts as shown in their payment proof section. The site itself is not a scam in the sense of being fake. The problem is that the method used to generate income on the site, as described in the viral video, requires you to upload content in violation of the source material’s license. Whether the site pays or not, the method creates legal and ethical problems before you even start.
Can you really make $900 listening to music with this method?
Based on the actual payout rate of $7 per 1,000 approved downloads, reaching $900 would require approximately 128,571 approved downloads of your files. Getting that volume of downloads for a file uploaded by an unknown account on a platform most people have not heard of is extremely unlikely without a large established audience and a specific promotion strategy. The $900 figure in the original video was presented without any explanation of what it would take to achieve it.
Is it okay to use Pixabay music for this purpose?
No. Pixabay’s content license explicitly prohibits distributing or selling their content on other stock or wallpaper platforms and prohibits selling unaltered copies of their content. Uploading Pixabay music files to UploadForever and earning money per download is a direct violation of that license. The fact that Pixabay content is free to download does not mean it is free to redistribute for profit on other platforms.
What happens if someone files a copyright complaint against your UploadForever uploads?
UploadForever’s own terms of service state that they comply with all applicable state, local, and federal regulations. If a copyright holder sends a takedown notice, UploadForever will remove the file. You would lose your upload, potentially any associated earnings, and possibly your account. Because the method requires uploading content that violates licensing terms, your uploads are vulnerable from the moment you post them.
How much does UploadForever pay per download?
The standard rate is $7 per 1,000 approved downloads, which works out to $0.007 per download. To earn one dollar, you need roughly 143 approved downloads. Not all downloads count as approved, so your actual earnings per click will be lower than the headline rate suggests. The minimum withdrawal threshold is one dollar, which means you need at least 143 successful downloads just to cash out anything.
Why does the download experience on UploadForever look suspicious?
When you click through to a file on UploadForever using the free download option, the page presents pop-ups and prompts that look like requests to install browser extensions or confirm various permissions. To anyone with experience navigating the internet, these prompts look like the kind of thing associated with adware or spam. Most users who have been online for any meaningful amount of time will close the tab rather than click through those prompts, which is why your conversion rate from clicks to approved downloads is likely to be very low.
What is a realistic beginner alternative to this method for music lovers?
The most accessible starting point for someone who enjoys music and wants to build income around it is a YouTube reaction or review channel. You watch new music releases in a genre you care about, share your honest opinion on camera or even in audio-only format, and upload that content. People search for reactions to specific songs, and if your video shows up in those results, you can build an audience without needing to start with one. Once you hit the YouTube Partner Program thresholds, you start earning from ads. You can also pair this with affiliate links to music services or products relevant to your viewers.
Does Alston recommend any other “I Tried It” methods that actually work?
Alston has tested many methods across the channel, and the consistent pattern is that methods requiring little to no creative input or audience relationship almost always underperform. The methods that generate real income involve creating something original, building a small audience around it, and connecting that audience to relevant offers or products. This takes longer than uploading a file and waiting for downloads, but the results are real and they build on themselves over time. The free finder tool at finder.platformproof.com helps you identify which version of that pattern makes sense for your starting point.
Read Next
If you want to see another method I tested that promises fast easy money with little effort, and what actually happened when I ran the numbers, this next post walks through a similar experiment with a similar result.
I Tried Get Paid $15 Every 15 Minutes With CPA Lead and MeWe (Here Are My Real Results)
Sources
- UploadForever payment rate and terms of service: uploadforever.com
- Pixabay content license terms: pixabay.com/service/license-summary/
- OfferVault affiliate program directory: offervault.com
- YouTube Partner Program requirements: support.google.com
- Amazon Mechanical Turk: mturk.com
Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.