Guerilla Marketing for Independent Artists and Why It Matters

06-Apr-2020 By Tanay Mulukutla

“Independence” implies a sense of autonomy, and for an artist, it can mean creative freedom: to find themselves express their inner thoughts in the most uninhibited fashion. Something to think about is why be inhibited about getting your music heard? While it can get competitive for emerging artists who want to get their music out, guerilla marketing for independent artists can stand out. It’s an approach that you can align your values with whilst being just as quirky as your vivid imagination.

The central objective behind carrying out a guerilla marketing activity is to obtain a sense of visibility for you as an artist, but what’s unique about it is that it’s cost-effective and highly impactful. While a strong online presence is essential, what’s also equally important is how you shape your presence offline, and that’s where your DIY ethos will come into play. As consumers, we have an eye for things that look and feel different, so the curiosity and sense of mysticism that comes with guerilla marketing stands out. To top it over, it is also a sign of effort made on your part that agents and promoters will most definitely notice.

Guerilla marketing has its traditional footings in doing things in the most unperturbed fashion, where the simplest of music promotion chores can have a quirky spin to them: imagine, for example, giving out your band stickers with a limited download code for your music online. These marketing collaterals act as great talking points within your community where you are instrumental in encouraging people to create a buzz around your music. One of the many advantages of this is that all the activities you carry in a fully offline space will lead to will make their way online through word of mouth. The next time you are dropping a new song or an album, go the guerilla way, make that personal connection with your fans. Those types of kinships that you establish early on for you and your music go a long way!

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/

Independent Artists: Build An Online Community Of Fans

05-Apr-2020 By Tanay Mulukutla

Times are tough, and it’s all easier said than done but hey, who said it can’t be done! The biggest blessing today is access to the internet: a free-for-all platform to express and showcase our talent. That spectacular Instagram page you’ve created for your band is a gold mine that can foster an online community around your music. All you need to do is share your social media handles with as many people around you as possible, and encourage them to share your socials with their friends and like-minded people around them. Gradually, you’ll begin to see the snowball effect doing its trick. Read on to know how to spruce up your pages.

Make a playlist of all your best songs

Music fans LOVE to discover their next musical obsession. Here’s your chance to capitalize on that. After all, you deserve to be discovered! Create that awesome playlist of all your best songs. Spotify it, YouTube it and share it on the social media handles you’ve been developing. Feed your online community with the power of your music, because they need to hear you. Remember, fans take great pride in discovering cool new music every day.

Go live with your rehearsal today

Rehearsing at home today? Pull out of your phone, hit live on Facebook and play the songs you want your online community to see. Give them a real-time experience to know what you sound and look like! Believe in the music you’re making, and make your community experience that euphoria in you. Chances are that there’s an agent or a host somewhere in your local scene looking to book the next best talent. You ARE that talent.

A DIY photoshoot is all you need: hello Instagram!

Here’s the fun part: ALL you need is a smartphone, literally, just that. This is especially easy nowadays where most smartphones come with great cameras. Find a great location in your house ( backyard maybe?), do your shoot and post those pictures on your Instagram. Don’t forget to use the stories feature for behind the scenes footage and bloopers. It’s your time to shine!

Get in touch with bookers online for future shows: Facebook has you covered!

Every venue has a designated booking agent, and every venue has a Facebook page. The easiest way to reach out to local venues is to look through their bio and find their contact information. Shoot them an email with your social media pages. The reach you have gained over time will now pay off, bookers love acts with a good online following. Go out there and chase it.

Sign up as a Fan today with youbloom today: https://www.youbloom.com/request/

Fan Devotion: 4 Ways To Campaign For Your Favourite Local Artists

04-Apr-2020 By Tanay Mulukutla

Fan devotion is a rather inherent trait we possess as individuals who are absorbed into the music of our choice, which is a by-product of our incalculable ‘love’ for a particular band or an artist. As fans, we have the power to exercise our fan – devotion in numerous ways that will help build the cultural fabric of something that we call our own: our local music scene!

Showcase your band of the week on social media

Your social media account is a hotspot of individuals engaging with one another; which is a great representation of how we exchange information in this day and age. Talking about your local bands on social media platforms is one such a piece of “information” that finds itself being exposed directly to a plethora of individuals: the process of doing so is enabling your local musicians to leverage from your reach. So go right ahead, and use your Instagram stories to share your local music!

Volunteer at local shows

Volunteering at local shows can go a million miles: not only does volunteering give you a sense of identity, but it also puts you and your scene in a position of unanimity. To top it over, providing a helping hand to your local bands is lifting a colossal amount of weight off their shoulders. Giving something back to your local music community is a great sign of fan devotion.

Buy their merchandise

Buying local merch is a common practice among fans lately, and why shouldn’t it be! Much like sharing music on social media, the act of sporting your favorite band merchandise is the most subtle way of “advertising” your love for a band. The “visual aesthetic” creates a sense of familiarity within your social circle which helps generate a great deal of visibility for local talent.

Give your local artists a pat on the back

Last but not least, your local heroes always love to hear from you: a word of appreciation gives them a boost of confidence. The next time you are at a show that you have thoroughly enjoyed, be sure to let the band know what you think!

Sign up as a Fan today: https://www.youbloom.com/request/

How to Hook the Super-Fan

07-Jul-2018 By Josey Dunbar

Contrary to popular belief, a super-fan is not always a crazed group of followers or a die-hard groupie. All brands have super-fans. They’re a key component in building and sustaining a successful career by enagaging a solid fanbase.

The question then becomes: what classifies as a brand and how do you build one that attracts enough super fans.

The term super-fan refers to an individual who supports a brand and everything that brand produces. Artists depend on super-fans as a bedrock of support. When on tour, a band can trust that their super-fans will show up, buy merch, and be tweeting about the show long after it’s over. When band’s establish a healthy base of super-fans, they are establishing a continuous body of support that can last throughout their careers.

From Starbucks to your local coffee shop that plays nothing but bluegrass, all brands attract super-fans. This comes down to the fact that people are drawn to originality. Every brand needs its own niche to attract a sustaining number of super-fans.

Who will your super-fans be?

Before a company, artist or individual can successfully attract, engage, and retain super-fans they must have a well-established brand. At the end of the day, there are billions of different people in the world with trillions of different interests; this means every brand who successfully markets a clear and individual niche has a high likelihood of attracting super-fans.

Building a brand comes down to three things: intended audience, clarity of product, and quality of service.

Whether you’re trying to market your sound or attract a wider demographic of ticket-buyers, your brand begins with your unique offerings and intended audience. Detecting what sets you apart is the quickest way to identify the basis for your brand.

After establishing a solid brand with individualized characteristics that will attract super-fans, the task becomes maintaining engagement from those fans. This maintained loyalty is often seen when artists create personal relationships with fans and release a steady flow of their branded product (shows, recorded music, etc.).

In addition to establishing these bonds, the branded product must retain its super-fan as the brand grows.

Joining a community with inter-industry connections can make a huge difference too. Today, a lot of artists are finding security in artist networks, like youbloomConnect, which help bands grow their fanbase and develop their brand through artist-partnering and co-marketing tactics. Definitely check out our guide to how youbloomConnect works if you want to learn more about our strategy.

Ultimately, developing a brand comes down to originality. Pursuing what sets you apart and working to maintain relations with super-fans as your brand-base expands will ensure your success in the future marketing of your music.

Crowdsourcing: Will it Really Shape Your Music Career?

15-May-2018 By Josey Dunbar

What is Crowdsourcing?

“Crowdsourcing” can be defined as a sourcing model which enables individuals to gain a particular good or service through an exchange. Today, crowdsourcing is quite prominent between artists of all disciplines. Musicians, sculptors and designers connect through crowdsourcing sites where they can gain exposure as well as promotional opportunities. Naturally, there are hundreds of platforms out there where an artist can get connected but the trick is finding the two or three platforms that are actually good.

What about Crowdfunding?

So, now you understand crowdsourcing, hopefully you’re familiar with crowdsurfing – I’ve got one more for you: crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is often a group of people coming together to fund some business venture through small financial intakes. This could be a musician whose revenue for a show comes from ticket sales sold through a crowdsourcing platform. This brings us right back to the quintessential issue of how to choose the right connection agency to help you crowdsource.

It all comes down to what you are looking for.

Crowdsourcing conference at youbloomDublin Music Festival & Summit

Though crowdsourcing and crowdfunding originate in the same place, focusing on one can help artists when narrowing down their options. There are organizations that have been around for years, such as Kickstarter, which are strictly for crowdfunding inquiries. This means that musicians can connect with a community of like-minded creators and build funds around their passions. Similar sites include Pledgemusic and Patreon.

On the other hand, crowdsourcing platforms, which cater more towards a direct exchange of goods or services, can be equally effective to the artist. These connection agencies include youbloomConnect and Songkick. Rather than simply giving artists a platform, companies like youbloom play a central role in providing artists exposure and fans. Youbloom is unique as it pairs artists together, connecting the two fan bases, and broadening an artists fanbase beyond the band’s origin. Contrarily, a regular complaint among Songkick users is its lack of connection and community between artists.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to go entirely wrong with any of these hardworking crowdsourcing platforms; it all comes down to whether your art needs support or more clearly laid-out instructions and opportunities.

Josey is a content writer for youbloom as well as a member of the marketing team. She is music obsessed and a diehard Tom Petty fan. Josey currently lives outside of Los Angeles where she enjoys excessively sunny days, train adventures and organic chai (yes, Josey is high-maintenance about her chai).