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/

Independent Artists: Internet Helps Bypass Gatekeepers

02-Apr-2020 By Tanay Mulukutla

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/

Independent Music Promoters: Represent Your City

01-Apr-2020 By Tanay Mulukutla

While the world today is grappling with what’s to come next, so are independent music promoters, with all shows booked stand canceled, we are yet to determine when the next show will happen. Promoting great artists whilst building communities centered around live music can be challenging at certain times, but at youbloomConnect, against all odds, we believe it can be done soon!

We’ll be making our way to your city, which means you now have a chance to take the lead. If music promotion is your expertise, we have an opportunity for you. The ropes will be shown, and you’ll have our back. Nurturing and fostering independent music culture across the globe is the ethos we follow. If you believe there is potential for live music to not just grow, but thrive in your city, we are here to collaborate.

The role of a CityRep with youbloomConnect is that of a music promoter with several perks, we highly recommend you read our blog article, ‘How youbloomConnect impacts CityReps’. Our vision is to witness pockets of independent music scenes emerging in every corner of the world, and we are certain you as a CityRep will make it happen!

We’re very excited to hear from you! Click here to sign up as a CityRep and you’ll hear from us in 2 weeks’ time! To find out more or sign up as a CityRep, click here

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

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Knowing the If, When, and How of Hiring a Manager

18-Jul-2018 By Josey Dunbar

Knowing when hiring a manager (and whether or not to hire one at all) is right, can be a tough call for artists…

When deciding what’s right for your band, it’s important not only to weigh the obvious pros and cons, but also to consider the methods of attracting and choosing the best manager for your individual group of artists.

Step One: Consider the Pros of Hiring a Manager

1) Experience

Managers can provide outside knowledge of the music industry for your band. Whether you’re an up-and-coming group or have years of experience preforming, hiring a manager will provide knowledge that can prove to be essential when dealing with hosts, venues and sponsors.

2) Third Party Ear

In addition to providing knowledge of the industry, managers can also serve as a third party perspective when disputes arise within the band. Having an unbiased opinion can help to resolve budding conflicts between artists.

3) Concentrate Vision

Hiring a good manager can also be a perfect way to narrow in on a brand for your band and develop a solid vision for your group’s future.

Step Two: Consider the Cons of Hiring a Manager

1) Money

Managers aren’t free nor are they cheap. If your band is going to end up losing money or barely breaking even by hiring a manager- maybe consider holding off for the time being.

2) Loss of Artistic Freedom

It’s no secret that a band loses the total control they started with when they decide to hire a manger. Though releasing some control may prove to be beneficial for the musician’s future, you must decide if the end goal is worth it.

At the end of the day, hiring a manager is an investment that only you can deem worth the expense and risk.

But the important decision-making doesn’t end there; after deciding if a manager is the right move for your band, it’s time to decide how to attract and choose the right one.

Step Three: Attracting a Manager

After deciding to find a manager for your band, you’ll learn the first step in finding the right one is to not look. No you did not read that sentence wrong—don’t go looking for a manager; the right manager will come looking for you.

With that said, there are certainly methods of speeding up the process.

1) Growing Your Fanbase

The more buzz there is around your band, the more managers will know who you are and where to find you. To learn more about growing your fanbase check out “How To Hook the Super-Fans.”

After you attract managers who embody the same vision you have for your group, don’t be afraid to give them some control while still maintaining your own individuality, of course.

Maintaining some control of your own booking and touring can be made easy for those who choose to hire a manager and those who fly solo through youbloomConnect. Learn more at youbloom.com

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.