Udemy gives broad reach but takes 50–75% of revenue and locks you into permanent discount pricing. Virgoul is music-specific with better margins and audience quality. Udemy is a top-of-funnel tool; Virgoul builds your teaching business.
Udemy is one of the world's largest online learning marketplaces, with tens of millions of students across all subjects. For music teachers, it offers significant exposure but comes with major trade-offs that are important to understand before committing.
The revenue split is Udemy's most significant disadvantage. When a student purchases your course through organic Udemy search or their app, you receive 37% of the sale price. When Udemy promotes your course through paid advertising or their own affiliate channels, you receive just 25%. Udemy also runs frequent promotions — often every two to four weeks — discounting all courses on the platform by 70–90%. A course listed at £89.99 routinely sells for £9.99–£14.99 during these promotions. This creates pricing expectations that are very difficult to reverse.
Udemy's model can work as a top-of-funnel strategy — using cheap Udemy students to build an email list, then converting them to higher-ticket offerings elsewhere. However, Udemy's terms restrict how aggressively you can market external offerings within your course.
Virgoul, as a music-specific platform, offers a fundamentally different value proposition. Students on Virgoul are specifically looking for music education — they have higher intent and are less price-sensitive than bargain-hunting Udemy buyers. Revenue rates are more favourable, allowing sustainable pricing that reflects the value of your teaching.
For music teachers, the long-term risk of Udemy is brand dilution. Becoming known as a 'Udemy course creator' associates your teaching with the £9.99 price point. Building your primary presence on a music-specific platform preserves your ability to charge what your expertise is actually worth.
| Feature | Udemy | Virgoul |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue to teacher (organic) | 37% of sale | Music-educator-friendly rates |
| Revenue to teacher (Udemy ads) | 25% of sale | No equivalent cut |
| Pricing control | Limited — frequent forced discount promotions | Teacher sets price |
| Built-in audience | Tens of millions globally (all subjects) | Music students specifically |
| Audience quality | Price-driven, discount-seeking | Music education intent |
| Brand impact | Associates with £9.99 course pricing | Positions as a music professional |
| Best for | Volume/reach as top-of-funnel, awareness | Building a sustainable music teaching business |
Virgoul is built to support music teachers who want to price and position their expertise appropriately. Unlike Udemy's discount culture, Virgoul positions teaching as a professional service — with pricing that reflects what music education is actually worth.
Join VirgoulUdemy pays instructors 37% of the sale price when a student finds the course organically through Udemy's marketplace. When Udemy itself promotes the course through paid advertising or affiliate partnerships, instructors receive only 25% of the sale. Given that Udemy's frequent discount promotions often reduce prices to £9.99–£14.99, a typical music teacher course sale on Udemy might generate £2.50–£5.55 per student.
Udemy provides reach and passive discovery, but the revenue model and pricing culture are problematic for music teachers trying to build sustainable income. The 37–25% revenue split combined with forced discount promotions means your £89 course routinely sells for £9.99, earning you £2.50–£3.70. Udemy works best as a top-of-funnel tool to build an email list, not as a primary income source.
Some Udemy instructors make significant income from the platform, but typically through very high course volumes — thousands of students at very low prices — not through premium positioning. Music teachers who earn well on Udemy tend to have multiple courses, large existing audiences that drive initial reviews, and use Udemy as one of several income streams rather than their primary channel.
No — Udemy does not own your content. You retain full ownership of your course material and can sell it elsewhere. However, Udemy's terms restrict some marketing activities within the course itself (directing students to competitor platforms, for example). You can remove your course from Udemy at any time, though students who have already purchased retain access.
Udemy runs heavy discount promotions approximately every 2–4 weeks, often discounting all courses on the platform by 70–90% off the listed price. Instructors cannot opt out of these promotions. The effect is that students learn to never pay full price on Udemy — they simply wait for the next promotion. This permanently anchors price expectations at £9.99–£14.99 for most courses regardless of listed price.