The Wren Sessions, a working musician, runs a 58% margin and clears a median $1,450 a month after every cost. Its worst honest month is $300. With $9,400 in the bank against $2,250 of monthly burn, it holds 4.2 months of runway.
The safe draw sits at or below the $1,450 median, with a written answer for how a $300 month gets bridged. A draw set above the median here would quietly spend the runway one month at a time.
Median of the last 6 to 8 months of profit as the ceiling; worst honest month as the floor; cash runway as the referee. The full method, including how to compute it by hand in ten minutes, is in the main pay-yourself guide, and the calculator sorts your months for you.
What is specific to working musicians
The spread from $1,450 down to $300 is what creative income looks like, and the floor is the number to plan your life around. Set fixed personal costs against the floor, let everything above it accumulate toward runway, and the feast months stop being a trap.