How youbloomConnect Works

16-Apr-2018 By Robert Loustaunau

youbloomConnect is a global community of Artists, Fans, and Hosts – curating unique shows to create unforgettable experiences

No band is an island.

But a lot of the time they’re treated like they are. Whether you’re an artist, venue host, or just a fan of great music, we’re all looking for the same thing: each other. youbloomConnect helps you find what you’re looking for. When artists join youbloom, they enter a network of exceptional musicians to partner and perform with. Fans request their favorite bands to come play local shows while youbloom finds the venues to make it happen. By uniting fan, artist, and host on one platform, youbloomConnect makes it uncommonly simple for you to curate an unforgettable, live experiences.

Here’s how it works:

youbloomConnect For Fans

Connect works to deliver amazing experiences for fans by empowering them to create the shows they want to see. Fans can initiate a show with their favorite artists by requesting them. Connect works to make the show happen. Fans can also help the show to happen by becoming a Street Team Fan.

From the moment you request an artist, to the night of the show, youbloomConnect will keep you in the loop. You’ll receive weekly emails that show the stats for your requested artists, upcoming performances, and local shows we’ve hand-picked for you. When enough fans request the same artists as you, they are notified, and a show is organized. Once the show is set up, there is a 5 day period when fans who successfully brought a band to their city can buy tickets at a 15% discount, before being offered to the public. Updates on all requested artists, upcoming youbloom shows, and fan signup forms to share via social media, arrive in your weekly email from youbloom.

Request as a Fan

What is a Street Team Fan?

Exceptional fans have the opportunity to join the Street Team, working behind the scenes, with bands, and nabbing some extra perks in the process. Street Team fans promote their favorite artists across social media and increase fan sign ups locally. They help make the buzz around town when a youbloom band is on the way.

We will keep track of how many fans you get to sign up, and let you know how you’re doing in a weekly email. Street Team members will receive all the benefits of fans plus 1 free ticket to see their favorite artist for every 4 tickets sold for that artist. Once a show is scheduled, we’ll let you know so you can start promoting sales and earn your tickets.

youbloomConnect For Artists

Artists use youbloomConnect to maximize performance opportunities and in turn, ticket and merch sales. Once signed on as a youbloom artist, we search the entire youbloomConnect database to find you artists similar in genre, fanbase, and travel radius. We then provide you with artist matches in a weekly email that you can pair with and promote through social media and other channels. Connect works to get you performing together.

As an Artist, you’ll also receive updates from hosts who would like to host you! Usually, a show does not take place for at least a month after it has been set up to allow time for youbloom, artists, fans, street team fans, and hosts to market the show. When signing up as an Artist, you’ll have the option to host intimate youbloom shows of your own, by opening up your own home or studio as a Connect space. By different bands working together, it becomes easy to reliably plan a tour, fill venues, grow an audience, and sell more tickets and merch, sustaining music careers locally and globally!

Apply as an Artist

youbloomConnect For Hosts

A host can be a promoter or just a venue. They use youbloomConnect to book artists. With bands working together to produce a show, and fans/Street Team members confirming ticket pre-sales, hosts can book bands with better reliability that the show is going to bring in people and turn a profit. When artists have gained enough fan requests in a city, Connect notifies local hosts and begins organizing shows. Artist and hosts are brought together to foster new relationships and accelerate shows taking place.

What is a City-Rep?

Similar to the Street-Team fan playing a more dynamic role in requesting artists, the City-Rep can be a host or promoter who has established a relationship with youbloomConnect and plays an integral role in showcasing incoming youbloom talent in their city. For more information on how to become a City-Rep, email us at: cityreps@youbloom.com.

For more information on how youbloomConnect works, refer to our FAQ page. If you want to hear our story, visit the About Uspage.

Also, check out youbloom’s music festivals held in Dublin, Ireland and Los Angeles, California every year.

Our music summit and festival is where fans, promoters, and hosts discover and request upcoming talent. Artists can learn the essentials of navigating the industry while showcasing at nightly concerts and and meeting music industry leaders through seminars and networking.

See youbloomLA, youbloomDublin and youbloomConnect FAQs.

Our Mission

youbloom’s mission is to enable amazing experiences through a combination of curated shows, fan experience optimization, fan crowdsourcing, artist partnering and host matching.

Why Live Music Changes Lives

14-Feb-2018 By Josey Dunbar

Picture this..

It’s a beautiful, sunny day in your local city – except you are unaware of this as you stand, shoulder to shoulder with strangers from all degrees of life. Packed like farm animals inside a dark auditorium awaiting the blinding of strobe lights and deafening of speakers with enough SPL per watt to uproot a forest. And yet, you leave this loud, crammed, seemingly undesirable experience as an inspired, satisfied and overall happier individual; and the question is: why? Why humans not only love, but crave the live music atmosphere, dates back to practically the dawn of mankind.

Even in prehistoric times, the art of live music was believed to play part in the lives of cavemen and women. Artifacts found revealing cave drawings of people dancing—and let’s be honest, who dances without music? Jump forward a few hundred-millennia to Ancient Greece where live performances of theater and music became not only a source of entrainment but also a means of projecting societal norms.

1700s: Opera emerges as a new type of live music performance; initiating a need for large showcase venues such as La Scala in Milan.

1850: Jenny Linda makes her debut in America, exceeding the crowd size brought out by any preceding artist.

1950s: Rock and Roll broke down the race barrier by showcasing black and white artists side-by-side on a shared stage.

Maybe it’s just in our nature or maybe there truly is something different, something unexplainable about live music. On that note (pun intended), the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center conducted a study which analyzed the compared human reaction to live and recorded music. According to the data retrieved through this study, live music resulted in greater relief of stress among patients than recorded tracks. The setting, the physical vigor and connection between fan and artist has the power to pull audience-members out of their busy lives for a moment, where nothing else matters but the art in front of them.

And that’s not even the best part. Concerts not only have illustrated a unique ability to reach people in a way no other means of art can, they are also -dare I say- saving the music industry. Mind you, this is a debated topic amongst music connoisseurs. Many argue, that as the profit from purchased music decreases with the incline in streaming, the touring and live music industry will pick-up the income slack.

Despite the outlandishness of this claim, it is valid considering the immense growth in live music profit over the past decade. Concerts and live tours, which were once mere means of promoting a new album, have evolved into a multibillion dollar industry. Millennials have undeniably taken part in the live music fad; however according to Ticketmaster’s 2014 Live Attendee Study, their presence was solely thirty-five percent of overall attendees. Therefore insinuating that older generations too have increased in concert attendance, and today take up sixty-five percent of the documented audience.

So picture this…

It’s sixty degrees in Dublin, You’re in an outside venue in close quarters with the stranger on your left. You take a moment to appreciate that one festival brought all of these people together. The lights of the stage dim, and outsteps the artist you came to see. And thus, you leave this loud, crammed, seemingly undesirable experience as an inspired, satisfied and overall happier individual; and the answer is: music.

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).

Danu5ik Interview – Part 2

29-Jan-2018 By Robert Loustaunau

In the second half of my music interview with Danu5ik, he and I tried to pin down what exactly it is that gets an artist’s creative water wheel spinning. Also, Daniel offers sage advice on how to mine that creativity once it’s found. We also discuss his newest project and how EDM is being changed by increased collaborations between DJs.

You were talking about getting hit with this surge of creativity. Could you talk more about how that hits you?

I find it very difficult to sit down in the studio and say I’m going to pump out something. Usually, when I try to do that I end up with tracks that get put on hold for a later date. You can’t really force creativity. Chances are I’ll be sitting in an airport when a concept for a track will come to me and I’ll pull out my laptop and see where I can go with that.

LA was an amazing experience meeting everyone at youbloom. The ideas that were pitched and listening to everyone else’s sounds, those things are really inspirational.

Do you have advice for musicians or artists on how to develop that initial stroke of creativity into a fleshed out piece of work?

Yes, go outside. Take a deep breath. Sitting down in front of the keyboard or guitar is one thing but what I’ve found is if you try to push yourself after that certain time, that creativity just goes down. So do something completely different and then go back to it. What you’ll find is when you go back to that track you’re coming back with a different take but you’re keeping that energy level there.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m about high energy; the enjoyment, the laughter, the happiness. Music to me is an aura, it’s supposed to transition fluently and be able to captivate people in the way starting a conversation with someone new does. You need to be able to just open up your mouth and say “Hello.”

If you missed Danu5ik’s newest Single and Music Video in Part 1 of the interview then take a peak. Or just watch it again. It’s as good the second time around.

Imagine wasn’t created all in one day, it was created over time and it was something I had to listen to over again. Whatever you’ve created you do need to get it reviewed by someone else, either friends or family. Feedback is everything, that’s the only way you can know you’re on the right path.

Yes, I feel like there is this tendency among musicians to hole themselves away until they create something worthwhile but what I hear from you is the opposite.

Yes, if you want to inspire to make something great that goes around the world, than you need to be able to show people that you’re not just an artist in the studio not connected to your fans or the world. You need to be able to show them that you can get out there and enjoy life, accept feedback and learn from others. That can only make your music better and that differentiates you from every other artist.

How do you find a space for collaboration in an EDM circle? Do places like youbloom foster that connection?

LA was an amazing experience meeting everyone at youbloom. The ideas that were pitched and listening to everyone else’s sounds, those things are really inspirational. For instance, being a part of youbloom I’ve been able to listen to so many other electronica artists and we get to pitch ideas at each other. It’s all about networking and youbloom is fantastic for that being able to connect different artists from different genres because you can never tell where a collaboration may occur.

32. At youbloom it’s great if you have different artists approach you and say they like your sound and want to come up with something. You can never tell where the next hit will come from. I got collaboration requests from youbloom Dublin and that was fantastic. You get to learn more about other artists and in a sense you’re piggy-backing off of each other in a positive way. The top artists wouldn’t be where they are if they hadn’t started somewhere similar so for local artists it’s a great opportunity.

What’s your vision as Danu5ik going forward?

At the present moment we are planning a US tour in the new year that takes place from New York to LA and a tour in Canada in 2019. I look forward to it! It gives me a perfect opportunity to connect with fans across the world and visit these different cities and make them a part of the live experience.

Is there a different type of atmosphere when you travel to these places you haven’t played at before?

As a DJ you always have to read the crowd. When I perform in different places where the fan following isn’t that strong it’s always interesting to see how those new fans listen to the music and see how it captivates them or doesn’t. For me, it’s always great to take those few moment before performances to connect with fans because I don’t want to be one of those artist who just comes to do the performance and then is out the door. You’re here for the fans so connect with them. It adds more of a one to one with them which is what I set out to achieve and they know I’m always in arms reach or they can take a picture with me or we can grab a drink if it’s a small location.

Its always going to be a challenge to be a local artist.

Never give up on your sound. Know that your sound will evolve.

Do you have any advice for other artists who are trying to make it in this industry right now?

Never give up. I’ve met a lot of artists who always struggle with this. Its always going to be a challenge to be a local artist. Never give up on your sound. Know that your sound will evolve. Keep networking, there are various outlets you can learn from.

It took me going to LA and talking with Andy Gould and he said it quite clearly, the info is there for us artists, it’s all laid out. We don’t have to find things difficult because if you want to connect to another artist there are avenues there. In terms of creating new sounds, there is a wide range of tools out there, experts that can give you feedback. Just reach out and never feel like you’re alone because you’re not.

17. You heard it here folks, Danu5ik has got fresh beats cooking in the oven so follow him at @DDanu5ik to know when those tracks hit. Also, Danu5ik will be at youblomDublin for the 2018 Music Festival & Summit (May 30-June 4) and you should be too. All bands gain free admission to the 5 days of musical performances, workshops, and master classes about navigating the music industry. Apply To Play -Deadlines hit February 19th.

Interview w/ HMMA winners, Flight of Fire

07-Jan-2018 By Robert Loustaunau

My Last Gamble – Winning track at Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Americana/Folk/Acoustic

Interview with Flight of Fire

“We all strongly believe that the transfer of energy between audience and musicians is an intensely powerful thing.” – Flight of Fire

Earlier this month, youbloom was lucky enough to get some precious air-time with the Hard-Rock maelstrom of female fury, Flight of Fire. Known for their fantastical live shows and superb rock compositions, this Boston-based band has been selling out shows and racking up awards for several years now. In this interview the ladies divulge their creative process, dole out advice for the unsigned artists out there, and share what’s on the band’s horizon.

What were a couple runner-up names for the band before you settled on Flight of Fire?

What a cool question! We came up with our band name in a very geeky way, so we actually did have two clear runner-ups. The first was Drop of Flame and the second was Force of Flame. Personally, I think we made the right choice!

What is your creative process when writing?

We usually write songs individually. When they are mostly finished, we bring them to the band and everyone adds their own flare. Maverick will get picky about lyrics and improve melodies and Tanya will add solos. The twins write riffs together, and Tia and Maddie solidify the groove.

How has the LA music scene been different from the Boston music scene?

We haven’t spent enough time in the LA scene just yet to really be able to compare it to Boston, though in the few times we have come out, we have absolutely loved our experiences. One of the things we did notice is that there seems to be a lot more competition in LA as so many talented people flock to the city, however, there is also a plethora of experienced industry professionals providing an endless source of networking opportunities as well as offering more chances for encountering career-growing experiences. So it all seems to balance out.

“We don’t like our performances to be contrived at all, and we love to ride the waves when unexpected things happen!”

Youbloom, for example, has been so welcoming and supportive of us – we had such a great experience at the conference and met so many incredible people in the industry! It’s definitely very different, and each scene offers different things to artists and bands. We can’t wait to explore more about what it’s like to be a band in LA.

Flight of Fire is known for its high energy performances. What do you think it is that gives a band its charisma?

22814125_1730948283642382_6614974178572752102_n — Photo by Trixie’s Tripod of Boston Rock Radio!

To us, it’s all about the live shows. We all strongly believe that the transfer of energy between audience and musicians is an intensely powerful thing. Live shows are our opportunity to show our fans how much we appreciate them, and it’s their opportunity to enjoy us in our element! It’s truly magical.

Would you say you have live shows down to a science, or is each one its own mystery going in?

We like to keep as much of our performances as spontaneous as possible driven by pure in-the-moment inspiration. We do plan our setlists, but we like to take the energy of the crowd into account and play off the emotions of the people watching us. Sometimes you have to diverge from the set list when the audience’s energy is calling for something specific.

We also like to include some memorable stage antics, like when we switch instruments and pull off wild stunts. But our philosophy is that what we do on stage should reflect how we are really feeling at the time. We don’t like our performances to be contrived at all. We love to ride the waves when unexpected things happen!

What’s the most memorable show you’ve ever played? Why?

Some of the most memorable shows we’ve played have been when we opened for big acts. When we opened for Bon Jovi at Ford Field, and that is an experience we will never forget. We also opened for Lita Ford at a smaller venue. It was a sold out show and her fans were so incredibly supportive of us making us feel like true rock stars that night. At those kind of shows, you hope that you’re seeing a glimpse of your future. Those are the moments that stick in our minds and inspire us to keep pushing on through any of the difficulties we might face.

21994099_1691014080969136_5938177342829633566_o — Flight of Fire performing at youbloomLA Music Festival & Summit 2017

What good memory or experience did you have at the youbloom 2017 music festival?

So much of it was amazing! We are still so grateful that we got to come out and be a part of youbloom. We met so many incredible people. All the panelists we got to talk to were so encouraging, and the discussions really helped us solidify some of our strategies for the upcoming year.

“My Last Gamble won, and we never would have had that opportunity if it hadn’t been for youbloom and Shele Sondheim!”

Can you describe the events at the youbloom festival that led you to getting a Hollywood Music in Media nomination?

Shele Sondheim was one of the acclaimed panelists that we met at the festival. Shele was so kind and supportive to us and he connected us with Brent Harvey, the producer of the HMMAs. The two of them encouraged us to submit our song. Apparently it was a fantastic idea considering we actually took home a trophy that night. My Last Gamble won, and we never would’ve had that opportunity if it hadn’t been for YouBloom and Shele Sondheim!

What project do you currently have in the works?

We just finished recording a new single in the studio that features Cherie Currie from the Runaways. Cherie and Maverick share lead vocals on our song, She’s a Badass. It’s a testament to all of the female rockers who came before us and paved the way for musicians like us. The song will be released in early 2018.

What is the band’s vision going forward?

We have so much that we want to accomplish. Our most recent album, Path of the Phoenix, was released a year ago, and we already have so much new material for the next album we are hoping to record by the end of the summer, if possible. We are also looking at a tour in Europe and new music videos. Our biggest goal right now is to get a supporting slot on a tour with a band like Halestorm. That would be a dream come true.

“One of the most important things we’ve learned is that when you have somebody who believes in you, never take that for granted.”

What are your biggest challenges in reaching your vision?

As always, the biggest challenge is financial! It’s very difficult to make money with what we do. We are always doing our best to be savvy and find ways to make it happen! We will be launching a Patreon in January. That will give our fans the opportunity for a more intimate relationship with the band where they can directly support the music they love. We’re very excited about cultivating it, and that kind of support will make everything we are trying to do that much more possible!

What’s the best way fans-to-be can gain access to your music?

Our official website is the best way to get access to our music, videos and updates! From flightoffire.com, you can link to all of our social media as well, so whatever platform you prefer for following bands, you can find us there.

What advice would you have for upcoming bands/artists that are trying to get noticed?

24852123_1785544431516100_5331657771273682913_n — FoF at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards Night 2017

One of the most important things we’ve learned is that when you have somebody who believes in you, never take that for granted. When you have a DJ play your music, an aspiring journalist who writes a review for you, a booker who hears you at a show and loves you, or any fan that tells you that your music has moved them or buys your merch, your job is to respond to them. Express your gratitude, let them know how much it means to you that they believe in what you are doing. If someone is going out of their way for you, make sure you go out of your way for them just as much. Especially in this ever-changing industry, we all have to stick together and support each other. It’s all about relationships – make sure you always pay it forward.

To stay up to date on what Flight of Fire is up to, you can check out their website, flightoffire.com and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Their newest album, Path of the Phoenix, can be purchased on Bandcamp.

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.

Spotify and Music As We Know It

05-Jan-2018 By Josey Dunbar

So, you may not have heard of them….but a long time ago music listeners used to pay for their music by

purchasing magical little devices called CDs. Now, I’m not saying we need to base modern life off

prehistoric tendencies, BUT suspend your disbelief enough to imagine a world where music hypothetically has more value than $0.006. $0.006. As in: you can’t even shop at McDonalds for 100 times the deemed value of modern music.. thanks, streaming!

History:

This whole evolutionary change (you know, the one where we demoted the value of art) can arguably be tied back to the October 7th of 2008 in Stockholm Sweden. On this fateful day was born Spotify, a digital audio streaming device, developed and released by partners Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Contrary to popular opinion, Spotify’s foreign roots and sleek color scheme were not its sole motivators for success; rather, this was a result of excessive planning and a brilliant business model. Come summer of 2009 (less than a year following its official release) Spotify raised $50M in their second round of funding which was essential in the paying off of major record labels.

Reaction:

Not surprisingly, Spotify faced mixed reactions upon its release to the public. Its initial business plan massively underpaid artists and exercised the objectively suspicious need to pay off record labels who otherwise were unwilling to hand over their precious songs to be distributed to the public for practically nothing.

Artists were the first to catch on to the consumer-heavy focus of Spotify’s business model: essentially underpaying musicians only to cut the literal value of music by 99.4% (which was revealed when Spotify later released a statement illustrating the payout per new streamer to be less than a cent).

Underpaying artists may be in the best interest of consumers (and happy consumers means a happy Spotify bank-account) however, is discounted music really worth the scamming of artists and overall wear and tear streaming has on the entire music industry? Many don’t think so.

Artists and producers such as Thom Yorke, Taylor Swift, Nigel Godrich, and David Byrne spoke out against Spotify not only as business men and women fighting for economic equality, but also as concerned lovers of the art itself with fear for streaming’s influence on its future.

“If Spotify reaches its goal of gaining a definitive hold on the new delivery system then another precedent will be set and the idea that recorded music is practically worthless will become normal.” – Nigel Godrich

Influence:

As it was so beautifully stated by Mr. Godrich (likely in a British accent), Spotify and streaming as a whole will continue to demote the worth of music so long as

the literal marketed value of a song continues to drop so drastically.

As profit brought in by music alone declines, labels must find other means of making money off of artists and the easiest way to do this is by “branding” a musician. AKA owning the artists’ names not merely their music; naturally leading to creative restrictions from labels.

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At the end of the day, music is music. It evolved into what it was 10 years ago and it continues to reshape into what it is today just as it will tomorrow and forever. There’s no way to stop a changing industry from growing but there is a way to help it. To aid it rather from becoming something you don’t want it to be. At the end of the day- you, the fan- have the most influence of all. What you choose to buy sells and what you don’t will likely conform into something you will. So make the change you want to hear, music as we know it is ours to protect.

[avatar user=”joseydunbar” size=”medium” align=”left” link=”http://www.youbloom.com/spotify-music-know/” /]