@Riley I feel your pain. I've been making music for 20 years, 10 albums released, and still only make $5 per year in streaming royalties.

Performing live is the only thing that ever made a difference - but releasing instrumental stuff on the internet never resulted in much (and I've tried every kind of promotion).

Sure, it's not the best music in the world, but it's incredibly hard to build a following for instrumental music, so I only do it because I can't /not/ do it.