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Top 6 Micro Job Sites – For Musicians

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Choosing the Right Micro Job Site

Being an independent artist can be tricky. When the gigs aren’t exactly flowing, one way artists can convert their skills to profit are through micro job sites. While platforms like Fiverr have become a popular hub for freelancers to offer up their skills to patrons, many competing micro job sites are offering unique perks to accrue their own network of buyers and sellers. Here we’ll disentangle the pros and cons of these platforms so you can find the one that’ll suit your needs.

Fiverr

Fiverr being the most well know micro job site platform, it has set the bar for this global marketplace. As its name suggests, a musician can offer up their services for as little as 5 bucks. Fiverr’s platform is clean and user friendly and seems to cater to musicians more with services being broken into categories like: Voice Over, Mixing & Mastering, Singer-Songwriters, Jingles & Drops, and Sound Effects as well as others. The commission Fiverr receives per gig is 20%, meaning they’ll get a dollar of that $5 jingle you wrote. While this rate is somewhat steady among job sites, minimum service rates can vary as well.

 

Fourer

The next logical step if Fiverr is not for you is Fourer. With no lack in discretion, this site is a spin-off from Fiverr and the minimum rate is $4. Like Fiverr, Fourer nabs 20% of each transaction. The catch with this site is that you can only receive your payout through Paypal. Many similar job sites function this way so consider your relationship with Paypal before signing up. Fourerr also provides users the ability to “level up” where points can be gained by selling services. These points can then be exchanged  for purchasing credit  on the platform.  

 

FiverUp

Don’t let its name fool you. FiverUp offers minimum rates of $4 and takes a 20%  commission. You can manage your funds through Paypal or your credit card. In an attempt to differentiate itself from its competitors this micro job site offers a flurry of extra features. For example, FiverUp offers a “bump” function which allows users to pin their service to the site’s front page everyday. Their is also the possibility that if the company finds your service to be unique or especially useful, they will feature it in their blog, maximizing your exposure.

 

SEOClerks

Diverting from the common pun, SEOClerks has carved out its own niche of buyers and sellers priding itself/advertising itself on services as low as $1 and being especially useful to SEO and web development services. If you are an artist looking to beautify your website or expand your brand coverage, purchasing services here may be your best bet, but SEOCLerks allows you to sell the same range of services as the other sites, leaving a category of Music and Audio for musicians to sell their craft as well. They have different user levels which dictate the range of cost you can demand for your services where you may start offering gigs from $5-$125 and at later levels there is no maximum on the price. They also have a “want to buy” and “want to trade” section, where you can ask to have specific gigs done.

 

Gigbucks

While not wholly unique in its design, the platform has garnered good reviews from it users and a reliable following. Like the others, Gigbucks pays out through Paypal or Alertpay/Payza, and also offers credit to one’s Gigbucks account balance. The rate one can charge is $5 – 50 and Gigbucks takes a set 20% cut.

 

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)

Finally, there is MTurk. This Amazon-affiliated crowdsourcing website is based in India and has accumulated a wide girth of customers over the years and is known to be a sturdy forefather of the micro job site platform. Any number of Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) can be requested and those who complete them, Turkers, are paid in Amazon credit. One can also pay the Turker through debit/credit or PayPal. Workers based in India have an added perk of being able to receive payment as a direct deposit in the form of Rupees. The commission rate for MTurk is where things become more complicated with a 20% – 40% fee per HIT depending on a workers number of tasks at had. A worker can be paid as low as $0.01 for a task but usually jobs pay as low as $1.20.

 

Still not sure where to post your services? Take a look at our comparison chart of what each platform has to offer. Hopefully this will clear things up so you can begin posting and get paid!Red Orange Photo Comparison Chart.png

Robert Loustaunau is a content writer for youbloom and is a member of the social media team there. He is an avid music maker and listener. He enjoys the simple things in life: coffee, a good book, and quality time with his lovely girlfriend.

7 Things That Make for a Better Songwriter

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7 Things That Make for a Better Songwriter

Coming up with new, addictive melodies and lyrics can be a challenge for even the best songwriters. Every songwriter has to go through writer’s block at one point or another in their career. Fortunately, there are various approaches to writing songs, and combining these tricks can help you cross every barrier.

To help you out, we have selected the 7 things that make for a better songwriter:

  1. Don’t Be Afraid of Failure

Being a perfectionist in the music world is the biggest mistake you can make. Every songwriter has memories of struggles and failure when writing songs, but that did not keep them from writing, did it?

So, the first thing you must do as a songwriter is write a lot. The aim is to achieve some improvement overtime, and you can always change the lyrics or melody on your second or third attempt. Thinking that you can achieve perfection at once can be detrimental to your songwriting career.

  1. Get Some Feedback

When it comes to songwriting, your goal is to make others happy with the music. It is easy to fall in love in your own song, but a good song is one that others love, too.

Value feedback and ask people to tell you what they think of your song. Seek honest opinions. These will guide you to your perfect song.

  1. Use Your Experience

“My experience with song writing is usually so confessional, it’s so drawn from my own life and my own stories.”  -said Taylor Swift, a popular American songwriter and singer.

This is probably something you already know, but you might not have taken it seriously. Most of the popular songs in history are based on personal experiences and real-life events. Use your experience to achieve the same strong effect through a song.

  1. Record Every Spur of the Moment Idea

Have you had an excellent melody in your head or a lyrics idea that faded away because you did not record it at the time? Make notes of your ideas while they are still fresh to avoid this frustrating feeling. A short recording on the phone or several words on a piece of paper can serve as a reminder when you get the time to work on the song.

As Conor Oberst said: “There’s still a lot of mystery to songwriting. I don’t have a method that I can go back to – they either come or they don’t.”

  1. Keep the Track Simple

We don’t say that you have to create simple music, but your first attempt at it should always be as simple as possible. You will build on it and accelerate the writing process on the second and every next attempt.

Once you have a basis of a song, you can move on to adding instruments, background lyrics, etc. Overcomplicating things from the beginning can only cause you a headache later.

  1. Work with Others

If you work with other musicians, you will learn that everyone has a writer’s block at some point or another. Collaborating them can offer you new ways to create songs, get you a fresh perspective on the existing tracks, and keep you open to new songwriting challenges.

  1. Take Breaks

Writing a song can often be frustrating, so make sure to take short breaks in between. Staying away from the instrument or the pad for at least 15 minutes can help your creativity and motivation, and get you back on track with fresh ears.

Are you ready for your next songwriting challenge? Turn your ideas and talents into the most addictive song there is and remember, the best songwriters create from the heart!

BIO

Laura Buckler is an author at Essays Scholaradvisor and a lifestyle writer who has created thousands of articles for magazines, newspapers and other Internet publications. She is dependable and very hard working. When Laura is not writing, she is spending some time with her little girls and a dog named Jacky. Find her on twitter.

Best Options For Marketing Your Band To A Wider Audience

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If you’re in a band and you want to be popular in the music scene, you have to face countless
others who want to be just as famous as their stars. Your best bet is to have a good marketing
strategy.

Marketing for any type of product continues to evolve with the market, which makes services
step up their game every so often and make marketing a daunting term to those new in the field.
Here are some tips that can get you started on a full-blown marketing campaign for your band:

1. Awareness: Who Is Aware of Your
Music?
Music isn’t your only tool to be known by
your fans. You can also invite people to
attend your gigs and review you as a band, so
they can spread the word.

● You can reach out to local bloggers
and influencers with free tickets to
your gig, or a free EP to give access
to your music. This lets them know
that you really want to engage your fans.
● Snapchat is also a growing tool you could use to post live updates of your gigs to your
fans. It’s becoming a widely used service even by popular news sites, which means a lot
of users are going to look for you here as well if they are your fans.
● Facebook is your friend, but you shouldn’t stick to groups and pages. You can use the
power of live streaming, sharing commentary, and creating the atmosphere of being
engaging by always staying up to date with Facebook’s latest trends and using them to
engage your fans.

2. Responsiveness: Are You Communicating With Fans?
Of course, you can’t exactly form a fan base if you’re not appealing to your prospective fans. It’s
not always about your music, but how you convey it. You should be a group that people want to
follow and check out. You should convey a personality of sorts when you interact with your
fans, even in social media.

● Artists and bands may want to consider how large is their fan base first before releasing
their tracks. If you want to make a partnership with labels, your social media numbers
may be your version of cred for partners and sponsors.
● One way to do this is by making design contests. You can challenge artists to create
posters or shirt designs for your band, and print the winner.

3. Exposure: Where Do You Bring Your Music?
So you have a band, and you want to be known. You have tracks ready, and you may have been
doing gigs of your own as well. However, this shouldn’t count as your overall exposure, as you
may need to do something more to fully expose your fans to your music.

● For instance, you can do unique song covers such as acoustic versions of your favorite
non-acoustic songs, or slow versions of fast music.
● Spotify is growing to be the best alternative option to the radio, and it’s popular on a global
level. It is a good option to share stream links to your fans inside and outside Spotify to
constantly engage with your fans.
● You can team up with popular podcasters to have your music featured in their episodes,
or you and your band can make a podcast as well. This is a handy way to have something
to engage your audiences with that is not always your music.

4. Online Is Not Always the Best
This may seem counterintuitive, but this
is something everyone should always
remember, your offline presence should
be just as strong as your online presence.
Help your fans know that you are
available in the real world to be interacted
with.

● You should try establishing a
home base where you’re always
expected to appear, so fans can go and see you.
● Discmaker suggests you can go to local fests, events, venues, and bars to do gigs so
people can discover your music. This is of course in venues outside your “home base.”
● You can also try out geo-targeting your audience in emails, newsletters, and Facebook
events. This means, with the right guidance, you can attract and focus on potential fans in
areas closer to the place you will have events in. This boosts the chances of people going
to see your events.

Conclusion

You may come up with the best marketing strategy that is fit for your band, but the most
important thing is to come up with something you can do consistently. All efforts you’ve done
for your marketing campaign will fail if you don’t follow through with your plans.
As Undercover.net.au says, always remember to put love and effort to your marketing campaign,
and your love for your band and the craft will come to life. Do you have other tips for marketing
strategies for bands? Comment down below and share it with us!

 

About the writer

SARA HARRISON
Sara is a music enthusiast who loves to play guitar and the piano. She has a
large selection of music CDs with Rock and Blues being her favourite. In her
spare time, she’s studying to be a music teacher and enjoys visiting music
festivals. She currently writes for Undercover.net.au and enjoys life.

Promote Positive Change: Rivermaker’s Story

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Maurice White from the band Rivermaker–who will be performing at the upcoming youbloomLA 2017 Music Summit & Festival–shares his band’s challenging yet inspiring past and their socially aware vision.

 

Surreal Beginnings

At Cal Poly Pomona, Maurice met Austin, the band’s guitarist, at a jam session organized by the band’s drummer, Brooks. A “mutual love for the craft of creating eruptive sounds” brought the band together then, in 2009.

 

Their influences range from Little Dragon, The Police, Sade, and even “good culinary creations” or “the LA political and social system.” Since their beginnings, however, they’ve endured more than just typical band disputes. Lamentably, their lyricist, frontman, and friend passed away in an untimely manner. Their mutual dedication to music allowed them to keep going so that they “evolved and reconstructed into a power trio.”

 

Maurice aims to “promote positive change”

Unlike most bands, Rivermaker has had a politically in-tune past and strives to sustain their community-minded themes. They volunteer with groups such as the Los Feliz Lions Club in order to, as Maurice states, raise money to “help the visually impaired” and to “push for grand change in our city toward the aim of public transit.”

 

Their active schedule–split between music and social awareness–can sometimes be exhausting. Having been “previously involved in politics” by “campaigning, protesting, [and] organizing”, their toughest challenge is maintaining balance and sanity.

 

Looking Forward to youbloomLA

Rivermaker is hoping to “give a strong musical performance” at youbloomLA for their first year there. Maurice stated that they have attended similar industry events before, but “not to the same magnitude.” They will be performing songs from their first full length album, expected to release in May 2018, along with a few songs from their EPs.

 

Their intentions also are to foster a relationship with “record label executives and producers” who could “provide guidance on how Rivermaker can record a timeless album that exemplifies the quality of our hard-worked and heartfelt songs.” And to have their music featured in films by interested individuals is another goal of theirs for youbloomLA.

 

The music world is, according to Maurice, “what [they] make it.” We’re anticipating that they’ll make it great at youbloomLA!

 

–

 

Attention music lovers!

Youbloom is looking for passionate individuals to join our team for youbloomLA: our annual Music Summit and Festival! Follow the link below to learn more.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzFR-OdsG41_bHg4VnNWVlFWa3ZFd2hxNjN5UE5MR1RVQzlz

 

Be Yourself: Raised on TV’s Advice

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Keaton Rogers offers some excellent advice, tells his band’s story, and elaborates on how they’ve arrived where they are: about to release their debut album titled “Season 1” and two months away from playing at the youbloomLA 2017 Music Summit & Festival.

 

Garage Band Beginnings

Keaton, Kacey, and Ryan, the members of Raised on TV, began “working away in Ryan’s mom’s garage” in the summer of 2015. Keaton and Kacey, who are brothers, “always thought it would be cool to be in a band together”. So when Keaton’s previous band disbanded and Kacey and Ryan’s previous band also fell apart, they joined forces to create Raised on TV.

 

With influences such as Weezer, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel, Pink Floyd, and Blink 182, there’s no doubt that Raised on TV’s first EP, released in 2016, had rock and roll roots. Since their humble beginnings, they’ve toured twice and recorded a full length album. And they “feel like [they’re] in a good place as a band.”

 

When asked about the band’s vision, Keaton joked that their band’s vision is “20/20 when [they] wear [their] glasses”

To “make and share quality music” is, “in all seriousness”, their true vision. Live performances hold an especially special place in their hearts, as Keaton stated “having an amazing concert experience is very much at the heart of our vision for our band.”

 

And if they can help others “get through a tough day” with their music, even better.

 

“It’s not about the competition”

Last year, Raised on TV entered a battle of the bands competition for a chance to play on the Vans Warped Tour. With 200 original contestants, they successfully navigated through the hoops to compete out of 8 groups in the final round. However, their “mindset was never that [they] were competing with other bands.” Instead, as Keaton states, they were just aiming to become “the best version of [themselves].”

 

Even though they lost in the final round, they reminded themselves that “it was never about winning in the traditional sense anyway. So, don’t get caught up in the competition. When you go see twenty or so amazing bands at a festival, there’s no first or second prize, no gold or silver medal, there’s a bunch of freaking awesome music and people there to enjoy it.”

 

Keaton’s word of advice? If an artist is true to themselves, “there will be nobody else like that artist and that’s what it’s all about.”

 

Romance at youbloomLA

Since it’s their first time at youbloomLA, Raised on TV is hoping for the usual: to develop connections, enjoy the music, and have a great time performing.

 

However, according to Keaton, it would also be neat if their drummer, who is “currently the only single member of the band” met someone and fell in love. Here’s to hoping!

 

–

 

Attention music lovers!

Youbloom is looking for passionate individuals to join our team for youbloomLA: our annual Music Summit and Festival! Follow the link below to learn more.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzFR-OdsG41_bHg4VnNWVlFWa3ZFd2hxNjN5UE5MR1RVQzlz

 

 

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