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Local Music Promoters: How youbloom Will Impact CityReps

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CityReps are at the core of what we do, and they play an instrumental role in creating our global network of local music promoters and thereby riveting live performances across the board. However, it’s not just a one-way street. There are plenty of ways in which youbloom gives back to a whole host of our local music promoters we work with aka CityReps. Let’s get right into it:

1. Expand your reach of artists, vendors and music industry professionals

While you are already skillful in your field, you will now tap into your potential of positioning yourself as an absolute expert. Your magnitude of reach in the music business will be global, cross-cultural and multi-dimensional. The role of CityRep involves liaising with every stakeholder in the business, thereby helping you in creating your own global network.

2. Time to take the lead: you manage your own army

Being a CityReps involves micromanaging a team of individuals locally, who will support you in putting on shows. You’re the head honcho for your city, which means being CityRep allows you to develop your skills in inspiring and motivating those around you to create the best live music experience in town.

3. Monetise your efforts

youbloomConnect gives you the opportunity to monetise every show you curate. The more shows you do, the better the chances are to monetise.

4. Build your repertoire

Your title as a CityRep with youbloomConnect not only gives you an opportunity to learn, grow and hone your skills, but your contacts as well. While you’re playing the role of a local music promoter, your reach, however, is going to be global. Building your expertise and network are some of the key perks of being involved with youbloom!

To find out more or sign up as a CityRep, click here: https://www.youbloom.com/cityrep/

If you want to learn more about the youbloom community follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

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Independent Artists: Internet Helps Bypass Gatekeepers

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The internet is a sea of opportunities if used optimally, and more so for emerging and independent artists. If you want to scale up and expand your reach, the internet is a great place to help you as an artist to bypass gatekeepers. An emerging culture of music streaming, as opposed to physical sales, has steered this ship in a direction where independent artists can freely carry out their artistic expression on social media platforms to attract an audience. Never before has it been this viable for alternative cultures such as underground music and art to surface and grow without necessarily having to budge for bodies of authority.  This blog post will discuss how you as an independent artist can bypass those gatekeepers. 

Use Facebook and LinkedIn to find Journalists to Write about your Music 

As a matter of interest, magazines and tabloids are in an unrelenting search for new content all the time. All it requires from you is that you make yourself visible to them on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. To top it over, owing to the culture of a close-knit community, music journalists and music promoters will often work in conjunction. Not only would journalists write about you, but chances are that they might add you to their recommendation list to promoters. Though you’re busy writing the best music you can, it may be worth finding the time to make yourself heard on these social media platforms.

Follow Promoters on Twitter and Instagram

Promoters spend a lot of time on the internet, start following them TODAY. Start interacting with them, comment on their posts, establish a personal connection. Smart usage of the internet can help you secure gigs. 

Send Newsletters to your Fans and Promoters

Newsletterring is a very effective approach to maintain fan exclusivity and retention. The idea behind this exercise is to establish a very personal rapport with all parties involved, where you as an artist show how much you care for your fans. Imagine the sense of suspense and exclusivity that comes with being part of a secret gig around the corner. This sentiment can be created by advertising your show through newsletters to a selected list of your fans.

Use Online Communities to Spread your Music

Online communities are certainly a very crucial part of building online visibility. One of the ways to spread your music on digital platforms is to share your music with fellow musicians, which always creates a room for opportunity. Collaborating with similar artists is a great way to build your repertoire and Facebook’s communities feature makes this much more lucrative. Here’s a full blog post on building an online community of fans. 

youbloom is a platform that helps you as an artist to grow, sign up here and find out more: https://www.youbloom.com/artist-apply/

youbloomConnect: Get Matched With the Gig of Your Life!

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Get Matched With the Gig of Your Life!

Now-a-days we’ve been hearing an awful lot about all these dating apps: you go through a bunch of various people, you swipe right on the ones you like and hope to get matched with the love of your life. But what happens if we take this idea and put it in the context of the music world? Make sure to keep reading to find out.

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The Perfect Match

Here at youbloom, we call this concept “Artist Matching” and it works pretty much the same way. Well, minus the swiping part. youbloom designed it specifically for artists, bands, and talented people, to make sure you get a perfectly tailored gig every time!

Creating The Global Music Village

It might sound complicated, but it’s really not. We do most of the work for you! Once you’ve signed-up as an artist with youbloomConnect, we search the youbloomConnect database to find artists similar to you. At this point, we consider the music genre, location, musical goals, etc. After the initial due diligence, you’ll be notified of the person or band we think you’d match well with.

Now For the Fun Part

Let’s just say both of you accept the match… this is where all the fun begins! In a nutshell, you promote the band you matched with and vice versa. Then, you perform together. Perhaps, you’d work together. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll hit the road for tour together and most importantly you might make a friend for life! Helps you build a music network and co-market with fellow artists around the world. Not only will you grow your fan base, but there’s a good chance you’ll make connections within the music industry along the way.  It will create countless opportunities for you and your band to play your music, tour and get paid!

The Bigger Picture

This is how we help the independent music industry connect and how we create The Global Music Village! So become a part of it today! Sign-up as a youbloomConnect artist and get matched for the gig of your life!

 

Cheers to live music!

If you enjoy this blog about music and want to know more about youbloomConnect be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. As always thank you for reading and being part of “The Global Music Village.” – youbloom: The Global Music Village

Local Gigs: How to Know When You’ve Outgrown Them

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Is your local bar circuit starting to feel like a song on repeat?

There is a sort of stigma, for some artists, around playing local gigs. Performing in the same city or the same rotation of venues can begin to feel repetitive- but how soon is too soon to expand your fanbase and seek venues further from home?

NORTHLIGHT at local gigs in youbloomDublin '18
NORTHLIGHT at youbloomDublin ’18

First, it’s important to note the benefits of a solid local foundation.

1) Building Origin Loyalty at Local Gigs

It’s no secret that fans who can claim to be “day-one fans” or to have “seen them before they were famous” will maintain type of loyalty to your band that cannot be matching by fans, no matter how die-hard, you acquire later on in your career. Because of this, it’s important to stay local long enough to build a solid following of fans with a strong sense of “origin loyalty”.  

 

2) Saving Money

Dreaming of Jupiter at youbloomDublin ’18

As your group is beginning to grow and venues are starting to pay higher wages for gigs- it’s important to not be spending more than you’re making on transportation to and from shows. This includes sticking with the free drinks at shows and Being your own Booking agent. Attempting to play shows far from home too quickly can set an artist or band up for financial issues later- another benefit of local revenue.

 

With that in mind- there will be a time when branching out is not only preferable, but necessary to pursuing the dream. The question then becomes when (and how)?

 

When?

When to take the risk and hit the road for a tour or remote gig will vary from artist to artist. However, before attempting to broaden a fanbase, artists should a) be confident in their local/foundational following and b) be prepared for an initial hit to the wallet.

 

How?

There are many ways for an artist to expand their following when the time comes, but who says they have to do it alone? youbloomConnect is designed for these very sorts of ventures. youbloomConect helps musicians expand their fanbase and seek gigs further from home by working alongside other artists on the rise, by exposing to other fanbases, and by creating performances in their ‘partner band’s’ city. Learn more at youbloom.com!

 

Making Money in the Industry

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Making money doing what you love is never easy. Most have to have at least one other job while they have their passion as a side job or even just as a hobby. There are a few things that you can do to help make money with your music, whether it’s writing for yourself or being a song writer for someone else. It’s always good to keep your mind open when trying to make money. Try something different and exciting that will get peoples’ attentions and make them want to support you. I will be talking about a few things that might help, but always think of new and exciting ways to generate money, especially since it’s very easy to download music for free.

Merchandise:

Selling merchandise is a great way to create money. Everyone wants to show off their support for bands that they love or for bands that they just found out about. They will wear shirts and pins to shows and on the street, which will get others around them interested in checking you out and will mean that they will purchase things as well. It’s very easy to buy and sell merchandise anywhere. You can sell at shows, but you can also sell online in many different ways. There’s always social media you can sell on as long as you have a PayPal account, multiple websites that help you sell online, as well as selling on your own website.

Live Shows:

Live shows are always great to get money at. As noted above, you can sell your merchandise at shows, but you can also make money in other ways. Some venues will pay you for playing there, others will let you set up a tip jar on stage where anyone at the show can donate money while you’re performing. You can also put a tip jar on your merchandise table for anyone who would like to donate more money or still show monetary support if they cannot purchase anything.

Another great form of “live shows” are to do it online. It’s not exactly “live” but you will be live streaming and performing live for fans. Streaming sites, such as StageIt, will let you set a price for a live streaming a concert and your fans can pay to see you perform from all over the world.

Crowdfunding/Pledge Music:

There are multiple forms online to have fans donate money to your music. Things like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo will let people donate money to your cause if they feel connected to it. Sites like Patreon help artists support each other and have fans support them as well. Patreon usually has it where you have something to give to the person who donated the money. Doesn’t need to be anything big, just something small to say thank you. I believe it’s always good to give back to those who help out. If you can do that while they’re donating, it would help so much.

Exclusives:

Having something extra for fans will make them more excited about purchasing things. You can have certain songs be free, but if they want to be able to download a special video from the band or an exclusive song, then they’d have to pay for it. Make it seem special. Having a few songs free for listeners to check out and download before purchasing the album will make them able to listen to you and want more.

Cover Shows:

A lot of bands don’t care for doing cover shows and would rather play their own music, but most (if not all) bands who do cover gigs will get paid. Most places would like to hire performers that sound or can at least perform popular songs. It gets the crowd excited and want to people to show up. It may not be the best o most popular around performers to do, but it is a good way to get some money and sometimes even be heard by someone in the industry.

YouTube:

YouTube is a great way to get money and to be heard. A lot of venues and even labels go to YouTube to see what you’re about. It shows how many people are listening to you, what you can creatively do with the music in terms of writing and music videos if you have any, and they will be able to see your music persona and how people react to it. YouTube also has ads that will generate money overtime someone watches one of your videos. You can decide which video you’d like the ads to be on and will generate more income. Yes, the ads are annoying, but it’s not going to stop anyone from listening to you. Performers all over have gotten signed thanks to YouTube and many that haven’t been signed yet are getting paid through the ads.

Sponsorship:

Having someone sponsor you is a great way to have money. Whoever is sponsoring you will donate money to whatever you need, whether it be to go on tour, buy new merchandise, help with recording, or getting instruments. You may not always be able to use the money as you want, but it will help pay for the important “business” things so that when you do make money from sales or anything, that will be your money and you won’t have to worry about business expenses. Sponsors also make it easier to get booked at shows and at festivals. You both can help each other out and booking agents will notice.

There are plenty of ways to make money doing what you love. You just have to keep an open mind and be creative. These were a few ideas that may help, but should only be a starting point for trying to make money with your music. Some are not as popular as others and some are very easy to do. You just have to find out what works best for you and your music, as well as for you fans.

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