A lot of the independent artists who perform at youbloomLA and youbloomDublin ask us what the best way to distribute their music is. Some don’t have the luxury of massive record labels like Sony and Universal to distribute their music for them. For other independent artists, signing to a record label is a possibility, however, they choose to take control of every aspect of their music career instead. This includes choosing how they distribute their own music. Let’s take a look at all of the distribution channels available to independent artists in youbloom’s Ultimate Independent Musician Guide to Distributing Music.
youbloom Grad Luke Clerkin: Live at the Apollo Explained
This post was written by Luke Clerkin, a singer and songwriter from Dublin. He’s a youbloom grad, having played at youbloom Dublin and LA in 2016. He is an accomplished musician who recently released his first EP “Ink Written Messages”. He has supported another rising youbloom star Aine Cahill and will host his own gig in Whelans in Dublin on Feb 22nd. He is heavily involved in the Home Sweet Home campaign to end homelessness in Ireland. Here he tells the story of his experience and the role music played in bringing thousands of people together.
The 3 Best Ways to Get Fans to Shows
Playing a live show is one of the best things that bands can do for their music career at any stage. It helps them connect with fans and one of the leading ways to get paid in the industry. With all that being said, it is still hard to get anyone to go to shows. They want to watch everything online and not have to leave their homes. Fans want to come and see you live, but sometimes even they don’t want to leave. You have to peak their interest to want to go. There are many ways to help get fans interested in coming out to your shows, but only a few very effective ways to get fans to shows. Here are the 3 best ways to get fans to shows.
How to Get Fans to Listen to Your Music
Every musician wants people to hear their music. Why wouldn’t they? They put so much energy, emotions, and themselves in their songs and want to share it with the world. They write and record for hours and post the songs up on sites, hoping that people will hear their music. The problem is, there is so much music out there that some people are getting overloaded by music and find it difficult to listen to songs from musicians they don’t already know. So, how does one get fans and possible fans to listen to their music? Here are some tips that might help:
How to Get Fans to Listen to Your Music
Songs:
The first thing you want to look at is the song themselves. You want to make sure the quality is good and if it’s something that you would listen to. Even recording in a bedroom or basement can produce some good quality sounding music. You’ve got to listen to every detail before putting it out. Just recording won’t work and posting won’t work. You will listen to the song if it’s yours, but if it’s from another artist doing it in that quality, would you listen to it?
Don’t rush to get the song out. Fans will know if it’s been rushed and shy away from listening to it. You put the time and effort into writing it, why not show them that in the recording? Fans will feel like you didn’t care about the song or them. Take your time. They will wait for it to come out the right way. You also don’t want to rush and put out a bunch of songs at once. As the old saying goes, its quality over quantity. Fans would rather hear one amazing song than 10 average songs that have been put together fast.
Fans:
The next thing you want to think about is the fans. They are the ones who will be listening and passing the songs on to others. You want to make sure you find the right fans as well. Just because they follow you back on Twitter or Instagram doesn’t mean they’ll want to actually listen to your music. Nowadays, people will follow anyone online to get numbers. Do research on them and see what they’re posting and who they’re talking about before sending them music. You want to make sure you put effort into the right people.
Once you find the right people, you want to show them that you actually care about them. Send them a personal message or comment, not a generic one with a link to your music. People are tired of getting messages every time they add a band that just talks about the band and has a link to the music. They want to know about the people in the band as people, not as just musicians. Talk to people after shows, whether they were there for you or not. If you’re performing with someone they like, they will most likely be interested in your music as well. Don’t just talk about the music either. Talk to them about anything and then talking about music will flow in the conversation without sounding like you’re forcing it on them.
Do things for the fans, don’t expect them to do things for you. Fans will wait for new music, but you want to show them that you’re still thinking about them while writing, recording, and doing shows. Post short videos of what you’re doing. Either of the songs you’re recording/practicing or of acoustic covers of songs they want to hear you do or that you want to do, or of just daily things you’re doing. Post things on social media sites of things you’re interested in. There are sites that will help you post on all them at once. Live streams are great ways to do things. FaceBook has made it so easy to do that since everyone is on there anyway. Another great site is Twitch. Those are the most popular ones that people will hear you on.
Promotion:
The last thing is promotion. A lot of people think this should be the first thing, but I personally believe that once you have everything else, promotion will be easier. You need a song in order to promote and to do shows with so people can hear your music. Fans will hear your song at a shows and then help spread the songs around. Not saying that you should just use fans to promote, but if you get the right relationship with them and show them you care, they will want to help you without you even asking.
Finding shows isn’t easy if you don’t have many fans, but if you find the right musicians who are willing to put you on a show with them, you will be able to get on a bill. Some venues are even willing to give any bands a chance, but you want to make sure you play with others who are in the same genre. Performing with someone who is in the same genre as you will help you gain fans and will have people who will be interested in you. For example, if you’re a metal band and you end up on a bill with a very pop oriented performer, it will be hard for either fans to like either of the performers. Getting on a bill with like performers isn’t all you need to do. Help promote those performers and they will help you back. Performers can help each other. Post their shows and tag them in things. The tags will show you tagging them and their fans will want to know about you.
These things may not always work and may not work for everyone. The one thing to remember is to have quality over quantity with the music and to have a relationship with fans and other performers you’re working with. They will be the ones who help.
Michele Enoch
Michele Enoch is a music business graduate from Musicians Institute who has managed and promoted bands for years. She is now working on her photography and helping performers advance in their career. Her passion has always been music and she is exploring all aspects of the industry. Michele appreciates all kinds of music and seeing music in all kinds of environments. She enjoys crocheting hats and toys, reading and writing mystery and horror stories, taking pictures of everything she can, food from around the world, and adorable animals. She is always on the look out for anything new and exciting.
8 Reasons Why Students are Losing Interest in Musical Instruments
Are Students are Losing Interest in Musical Instruments?
It’s true that nowadays most of the schools provide music education to students as a part of their curriculum. However, even after being a crucial part of education most of the students lose interest in music after a point of time. They stop playing their instruments a couple of years after completing their education, which is really unfortunate. And in some cases, students start distancing themselves from their musical instruments when they are still in school. When you are still being taught by a music teacher the student has to have that inquisitiveness to learn new things about their instruments each day, but unfortunately that does not always happen in today’s society.
Students must have a strong determination to understand the technicalities of playing different types of musical instruments, but when they start to losing focus they fail to make a mark or achieve success in this area. Music helps in growing your numerous skills, so you should not try to detach from it. In other words, you should try to take music seriously if you want to bring that discipline in your life and enhance your cognitive, and social skills.
Here are 8 Reasons Why Students are Losing Interest in Musical Instruments
#1. Incompetent Music Teacher
If the teacher accountable for igniting that spark in you is incompetent, then you surely start losing your interest in learning music. Teaching is an art, and your music teacher has to be really good at it, otherwise he/she will never be able to transform his/her students into good musicians. It’s a job that requires sheer skills when it comes to getting closer to the students and sparking their interest in music. And if those skills are missing in your teacher, you can hardly become an enthusiastic musician.
Your teacher has to be really inspiring who can motivate you to take new challenges and become successful in conquering them.
#2. Parents’ Failure To Support The Child
Some parents are least bothered about enabling a proper music education to their children, because of which their kids start losing interest in learning musical instruments. What actually happens is, sometimes parents fail to understand the importance of music for their children and hence, they never motivate them to focus on deep learning in this area. And because of that, even kids start ignoring the significance of music, which is really heartbreaking.
Parents are always very insecure about the career of their kids, so they want them to focus on their main subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and history etc., which is actually the biggest mistake. That means, rather than forcing their children to focus on only aforementioned subjects they should also try to motivate them to learn music, dance, and sports, which can play a great role in enhancing their personality and making them multitalented.
#3. Failing To Practice Music Regularly
Music students must try to practice their instruments on a regular basis, otherwise, they won’t be able to enhance their musical skills, which will eventually kill their interest. That means, in order to keep their interest alive, it’s important for you to stay connected to your instruments. Whether you play guitar, piano, drums, brass, or percussion you should keep on practicing them regularly.
#4. Unable To Find A Good Music Academy
Sometimes Students are Losing Interest in Musical Instruments because a student is really interested in learning different types of musical instruments but he/she fails to get a good music academy for that. In that case, even though you have enough passion for music, it starts waning away slowly and gradually in the absence of a reputable music academy.
It’s very important that enthusiastic music students can get access to music academies which offers extraordinary workshops that can allow students to polish their music skills. Different music genres can help in study, so it’s important that children try to learn them.
#5. Children Fail To Identify How To Improve Themselves
Since children do not know much about how to improve their skills, they usually stuck in initial stages itself. If you really want to learn something it’s important that you face new challenges and deal with them effectively. However, when you cannot identify a right way to proceed with your music studies, you surely cannot improve which eventually eliminates your interest in it. Therefore, having a right road map is tremendously important for music students.
#6. Over Confidence Is Also Very Dangerous
Sometimes students are losing interest in musical instruments because they are over confident which makes them really arrogant and they think that they know everything and hence stop practicing with their instruments. Having confidence in yourself is really important for your growth, but over confidence is really harmful. You cannot expect to enhance your capabilities and skills if you have overconfidence in yourself.
#7. Students are Losing Interest in Musical Instruments During Holidays
During holidays students are occupied with a variety of other activities due to which they do not find sufficient time to practice their instruments. As they stop studying during summer holidays, similarly they also stop thinking about music which is not really good for them.
#8. Students Should Opt For Music Workshops During Summer Holidays
Parents should ensure that their kids attend a couple of summer music workshops during the holidays so that they can learn something unique from them. In this way, they can also meet new people and interact with them. And their no denying the fact that when you communicate with new people you definitely learn a lot of new things which brings a unique charm in your personality.
The above description clearly indicates that due to the lack of motivation and students’ inability to find good music teacher they start losing their interest in learning their music instruments. Hence parents should keep on encouraging their kids to learn something new regarding music on a daily basis.
8 Reasons Why Students are Losing Interest in Musical Instruments is a guest post written by David Milsont.
