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The 6 Music Conferences & Festivals in LA this Summer – 2018

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In the Golden Age of Festivals it’s Easy to get Lost in the Noise

It’s 2018 and we’ve graduated from festival culture. These are nuanced times we are living in where “music festival” is no longer synonymous with patchouli and Birkenstocks. Music producers, labels, and artists converge at music conferences to scout, network, and discuss the industry’s hottest topics and tech.

If you’re wanting to elevate your festival experience this Summer, here’s our pick of Top Music Conferences in Los Angeles. Not ready to ditch the over-sized festival floaty just yet? No worries, check out our top picks for Music Festivals in LA this Summer.

 

america-arid-bushes-221148.jpgSongWriterCamps

October 15 2018 – October 18 2018
Palm Springs, CA

While not an official ASCAP event, SongWriterCamp is a retreat hosted by ASCAP affiliates Pam Sheyne and Richard Harris. For an extended weekend, aspiring songwriters take part in masterclasses, workshops, and performances under the guidance of seasoned lyricists. If you’ve been meaning to get pen to paper SongWritersCamp is just the music festival for you. As a bonus: members of ASCAP get a discount on tickets.

 

The MIRA Conference

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June 25 – June 26, 2018
West Los Angeles, CA

Brought to you by The Music Industry Research Association, the MIRA Conference is as cerebral as a music conference gets. All corners of the musical spectrum come out to play here. Discussion topics range from industry policy to groundbreaking research among the academic community. This year, MIRA will be tackling topics such as streaming corruption, piracy, and diversity and inclusion in the industry. Take a look at the full program. 

 

IMG_20160602_235349.jpgYoubloom LA Music Festival & Summit

September 20- September 22, 2018
Los Angeles, CA

Some have called the youbloom Music Festival & Summit the biggest little music conference in SoCal. Based in Los Angeles, California, youbloom has prided itself on drawing an international community of artists from across the globe for a weekend of workshops, discussion panels, and stellar music making. Think SXSW but less food trucks.

Attend workshops on marketing yourself as an independent musician, and participate in 1-on-1 Q&A sessions with agents and producers. By night, attend free shows across some of LA’s hottest venues and showcase your own band. youbloomLA is definitely the top pick for DIY musicians and bands looking for a leg up in the industry. See this year’s speaker and apply to play for youbloom LA.

 

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The PMA’s Production Music Conference

September 26 – September 28, 2018
Hollywood, Ca.

Every year, the Production Music Association (or PMA) holds its official Production Music Conference right in the heart of the entertainment industry. For 3 days, Highland Avenue in Hollywood is awash with composers, tech vendors, and music industry gurus. It is one of the larger music conferences that happens every year and if you’re planning on operating in these types of circles, you will want to be meeting the people who attend this.

https_%2F%2Fcdn.evbuc.com%2Fimages%2F25498220%2F178399424163%2F1%2Foriginal.jpgForce Music Conference & A&R Artist Showcase

November 10 – November 11, 2018
Los Angeles, Ca.

Perhaps you already know your niche in the industry and you’re looking for music conferences that are more specific. If your future is in A&R (Arts and Repertoire) than Force Music Conference & A&R Artist Showcase is your bread and butter. This particular event packs a lot in a weekend long conference. From mixers, to live radio shows, to artist showcases, Force is a conference for the movers and shakers of the music industry as well as a peak at the industry machine in motion.

 

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The Indie Entertainment Summit

August 9 – August 12, 2018
North Hollywood, Ca.

Just because it’s a conference doesn’t mean there’s no live music. The Indie Entertainment Summit is a 3-day coming-together of the big heads of the Indie music scene. The event is filled to the brim with panels, guests speakers, and independent artists showcasing their talent at venues throughout the city. Panel topics this year are to include marketing strategies for growing your own artist brand, music tech developments, and the state of the music industry. It’s also not a bad place to be in order to stop being independent, as agents have been known to attend this event in past years.

 

 

Jessica Meuse Talks about Life after American Idol: Artist Spotlight

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Photo Courtesy of the artist
Photo Credit: Jessica Meuse

It can be difficult to build up clout as an independent artist, but it sure does help when you’ve got your own hashtag and a squad of fans dropping it on the daily. Ever since Jessica Meuse made it to the Top4 Spot on American Idol’s 13th season, her faithful fan base, #MuseMafia, have been tirelessly repping for the country-singer. If you’re like me, that’s probably where you first heard this soulful singer with that infectious southern twang.

I’ll either be a broke musician or a successful one.

I just want to make my music.

Since her time on Idol, Miss Meuse has signed with Warrior Records, released a music video for “Love Her Better,” and taken up a tour across the country. Despite her hectic performance schedule, the Idol finalist spared some time to talk with youbloom about her roots as a country singer and what new stuff she has been cooking up.

Jessica Meuse on Touring

Talking Points: Living on the road, Playing the Maltese Islands, and getting pampered on American Idol.

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On her Roots

Talking Points: Stage-side meltdowns…they happen, and Bringing your real self into your music despite the haters.

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The Writing Process

Talking Points: Finding inspiration for music in daily life

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Jessica Meuse – “Love Her Better” Official Music Video Recorded on The Maltese.

Best Show Ever Played & Youbloom

Talking Points: Playing the Viper Room in LA, Shout out to the Muse Mafia, youbloom, and the Unfortunate lack of Irish pubs in Texas.

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Going Forward and Giving Advice

Talking Points: 2018 Album release, Recording at Capitol Records, and what a Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks’ baby would sound like (Spoiler, it’s Jess).

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You can keep track of what Jessica Meuse is up to by following her on twitter @JessMeuse, instagram, or her official website. There’s a possibility she will be back playing with youbloomDublin or youbloomLA Music Festival & Summit and same for you. For any bands or artists interested in expanding their musical family, meeting and learning from industry leaders, and playing some of the hottest venues in Dublin, make sure to Apply to Play for youbloomDublin. Hurry, the application deadline is February 19th, 2018! And keep an eye out for Jessica’s debut album that is to be released in 2018 or join the #MuseMafia. You know you want to.

 

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.

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.

Independent Musicians “Bloom” at youbloomDublin Music Summit & Festival

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The youbloom Mission Achieved

In the words of The Key Regimes, who performed songs from their debut EP at youbloomDublin, “education and community” are the aspects of youbloom’s mission that they relate with most. “There is never enough of either”, they stated.

 

How does youbloom provide this through youbloomDublin? Just ask the artists who performed.

 

The Key Regimes, who were “blown away with the quality of the bands playing over the weekend”,  relaxing before a set at youbloomDublin

 

Community and Education Fostered at youbloomDublin

“Having a sense of community is extremely important for musicians”, Pixie Saytar, a three member band who played a set at 4 Dame Lane, stated. The ability to form a connection rather than a competition allows artists to “feel a part of something bigger”. Pixie Saytar believes a community atmosphere is “vital to growth as both an artist and a person”.

 

To Pixie Saytar, the educational aspect of youbloom is also important in that it’s about “sharing your expertise with others”, and meeting industry figures removes some of the big bad scariness.

 

Pixie Saytar striking a pose at youbloomDublin

 

 

For others, such as Dandelion Tea, youbloom is about “building a community that supports artists” and learning from others in that community. They quoted Vaughan Williams who once said that “the composer must not shut himself up and think about art, he must live with his fellows and make his art an expression of the whole community.”

 

ELLYD, who returned to youbloomDublin this year as a solo artist, playing some tunes

 

Successes and Takeaways From youbloomDublin2017

CARRON is hoping to make it to youbloomLA this year. The two sisters are thankful for the advantageous music industry contacts they made who can offer valuable tips for artists such as themselves. They also look forward to possibly “performing [with them] in the near future”.

 

Dandelion Tea also saw success in that they were “booked for another gig straight after.” Overall, many artists felt as though their performances were well received by a nice crowd. In the words of ELLYD, “it’s always a pleasure to play at youbloom!”

 

 

 

The Music Industry: Artists’ Outlook

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YoubloomDublin2017

At around noon on Thursday, June 1st, Dublin’s atmosphere became a bit more community-minded. More specifically, it became a bit more nurturing towards those who possess a love of music.

 

Sixty independent musicians based in multiple countries—from Portugal to Sweden—would play a unique gig during that weekend at the youbloomDublin Music Summit & Festival, an independent music conference and festival. Its uniqueness stems from the fact that youbloom caters specifically to unsigned artists with the intention of altering the current unsustainability of said artists.

 

How do they accomplish this? Well, just ask the artists themselves who performed at youbloomDublin three weeks ago.

 

Oski Bravo at youbloomDublin

 

But first, let’s take a step back.

 

The Music Industry Exposed

The music industry is extremely skewed: a few hundred artists make 75% of the revenue. Smaller artists usually remain unseen because they simply don’t have the support they need to grow their business. These music industry statistics and the monopoly effect lead artists like Oski Bravo, who performed at youbloom Dublin for the first time, to insist that the music industry is a “pigsty”.

 

Back to the Ocean, an alternative band who played twice at youbloomDublin, also attests to the demanding aspects of the music industry in that independent musicians basically must figure out how to get fans on their own. They’re “expected to have world class recordings, [a] big fanbase, professional videos and social media profiles, and [a] business orientation”.

 

Back to the Ocean rocking out at youbloomDublin for their first performance at the festival

 

A Love of Music

But for many, even though the odds seem insurmountable, the love for the craft is greater.

 

“It felt like a natural progression for both of us”, CARRON stated. For the two sisters who played at youbloomDublin in Phoenix Park on Saturday and The Globe on Sunday, it began with “leading roles in shows like ‘Annie’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and ‘The Sound of Music’” along with violin and vocal lessons.

 

They believe the music industry standard is quite high, particularly in Ireland with artists such as Hozier attaining success. However, they are hopeful for what it means for them in that “[they] must always be progressing too, writing new music and taking part in as many live events as [they] can”.

 

CARRON striking a pose at youbloomDublin

 

For others, such as Dandelion Tea, who performed at 4 Dame Lane on Saturday, “Music is just something that always made sense. [It’s] an intangible form of art that can impact so many people in a big way. We felt we had something unique to say and music was the language we could best express it in.”

 

The music industry may receive complaints, but as Dandelion Tea said, pictured here feeling the music at youbloomDublin, “that’s the nature of monetizing art.”

 

The overwhelming nature of the music business may discourage artists to pursue music, but many still do simply because they couldn’t imagine themselves doing anything different. It’s this overwhelming love for music that fuels artists and youbloom members alike.

 

 

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