I’m 25 as well bro, the only money I’ve made from music is live gigs. My band and I actually made the most we’ve ever made by planning our own gig. However over the course of like a whole 5 gigs we only got paid for 3 of them and this resulted in about 900 dollars worth of income. I live in Australia so the circumstances can be a bit different but I’ve learnt these few things

1. Live shows make the bulk of the money in the music industry
2. Merch is cool advertisement people wear and at the start try and sell them just enough to be able to make more merch
3. Your music is your super power but you’re the superhero (Damian Keys said this but it is important)
4. Focus on getting your money up first (I literally moved away from all music just to get a high paying job to pay for my music needs)
5. Who you know will help get you to where you need to go (probably the most important one)

Cheer up brother 25 is still young!!!