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Where To Find The Best Up And Coming Bands

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In this day and age, we are constantly inundated with new music from a multitude of channels—Spotify Discover Weekly Playlists, Youtube recommended videos, and releases pouring onto every streaming device you can think of. And say what you will about the quality and style preferences heard in some of today’s hottest tracks, it is truly an exciting time for the music industry.

 

However, sometimes all of this new music can be overwhelming. If you are an avid music lover like me, you want to know how to block out the fluff and find really great up and coming artists. But this is easier said than done. Of course it takes a lot of time and effort to stay current in today’s music industry, but check out some of these tips if you’re interested in finding the next great artist.

 

Check Out Your Local Open Mics

No matter where you are currently living, chances are there is a bar or restaurant somewhere in the vicinity that hosts an open mic night. Open Mic Nights are a great way to get the community involved, draw a crowd, and ultimately provide free entertainment for the establishment.

 

Next time you see a sign for a local Open Mic Night, or any other local music gigs, make a note to check it out one night. You might be surprised by the kind of up and coming talent that is just starting to get out there.

 

View Trending Tracks on SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a wonderful place to go to find up and coming music. The platform tends to lean towards independent and DIY artists, so you can be sure that all of the likes and shares are authentic. No matter what kind of music you are into, you’re likely to find some really great artists on SoundCloud.

 

If you’re in the mood for something new, check out the top songs and most shared tracks on SoundCloud. Many of the top tracks on SoundCloud are also featured on the most popular music blogs and publications as well.

 

Head To Shows Early To Catch The Opening Acts

Live shows are often fairly long endeavors, and can go pretty late into the night. Not to sound like a total buzz kill, but it’s important to plan ahead so that you have enough stamina to last the entire night. But that said, some of the best new up and coming artists are most likely on tour opening for the bands that you already know and love.

 

If you have any upcoming music gigs planned, trying going on the earlier side to catch some of the opening acts, as this is a great way to find the newest talent. These are bands and artists hand-picked by the headliners, so you can be sure that they are on the rise.

 

Staying on top of the latest music industry trends is exciting and fun for anyone with a passion for music, but the platforms and methods for finding new talent are always changing, and it can be very time consuming to weed through the noise to find the really good stuff.

 

Next time you’re on the hunt for a hot new up and coming band, try out some of these tips and let us know if they lead you to any artists that you plan to follow for years to come.

 

Author bio:

Freddy Tenny is an audio engineer and avid music lover. He owns and operates Rivington Music Rehearsal Studios, a legendary music and band rehearsal space located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. These studios first opened in 1988 and boast an all-star list of bands and artists who have practiced in them.

 

 

 

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!”

 

 

 

Purchasing Fans

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Every artist wants a big number of fans. Looking at those numbers on social media gets everyone excited. The artists feel important and new people to the music, as well as labels and talent agents, see big numbers and think there is something going on with the artists. There are a couple of ways to get these numbers on social media, including purchasing fans. You have to be careful about how you go about getting fans, though. Just make sure you stay connected with the fans who truly like your music.

Paying for Fans:

An easy way that a lot of artists think work is purchasing fans. There are plenty of people out there who will do it for the artists. You will pay a ton of money for them to find people who are willing to follow you for a certain amount of money. There will be some people who do this and will call or email to get you to sign up with them. If you decide to get “fans” this way, make sure to do as much research on the person as you can. There are plenty of them out there that will scam you for money and not actually do anything.

The problem purchasing fans is there’s no connection and most of them, if not all of them, won’t do anything but follow you. You want to make sure there is actual interaction with that many fans. It is true that the first thing people notice when they look at your social media accounts is how many likes and follows you have. But the second thing they will look at is if there’s any kind of interaction with those fans. Are they “liking”  posts, commenting, re-tweeting? If you have thousands of likes and follows, but no interaction, labels and venues will notice. It is hard right now with so many pages out there for anyone to see everything you’re posting, but you want to make sure there are some connections happening.

Free Fans:

Getting fans the old fashion way will take longer and won’t be as easy, but it will be worth it more in the end. It will show how much work you put into your music and fans. There will be more interaction and will catch the eye of the people you want it to. Labels and venues will be more impressed and see all the work you’re putting in. Your page will be filled with genuine fans who will want to share your music with others and want to share what you’re posting. 

There are websites out there that will help you purchase fans and you can get fans on your own. Really think about what you want to do before you decide to “purchase fans”. A lot of people will notice if they are real or fake numbers. There are a lot of scammers out there, as well. Make sure to do a lot of research first. The numbers may look good in the emails, but looking up reviews on them will let you know how they really are. Getting fans without that kind of help won’t be as easy, but will help way more in the end. The fans will be true and genuine and will be helping you gather more fans. 

 

How to Get Fans to Listen to Your Music

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Every musician wants people to hear their music. Why wouldn’t they? They put so much energy, emotions, and themselves in their songs and want to share it with the world. They write and record for hours and post the songs up on sites, hoping that people will hear their music. The problem is, there is so much music out there that some people are getting overloaded by music and find it difficult to listen to songs from musicians they don’t already know. So, how does one get fans and possible fans to listen to their music? Here are some tips that might help:

How to Get Fans to Listen to Your Music

Songs:

The first thing you want to look at is the song themselves. You want to make sure the quality is good and if it’s something that you would listen to. Even recording in a bedroom or basement can produce some good quality sounding music. You’ve got to listen to every detail before putting it out. Just recording won’t work and posting won’t work. You will listen to the song if it’s yours, but if it’s from another artist doing it in that quality, would you listen to it?

Don’t rush to get the song out. Fans will know if it’s been rushed and shy away from listening to it. You put the time and effort into writing it, why not show them that in the recording? Fans will feel like you didn’t care about the song or them. Take your time. They will wait for it to come out the right way. You also don’t want to rush and put out a bunch of songs at once. As the old saying goes, its quality over quantity. Fans would rather hear one amazing song than 10 average songs that have been put together fast.

 

Fans:

The next thing you want to think about is the fans. They are the ones who will be listening and passing the songs on to others. You want to make sure you find the right fans as well. Just because they follow you back on Twitter or Instagram doesn’t mean they’ll want to actually listen to your music. Nowadays, people will follow anyone online to get numbers. Do research on them and see what they’re posting and who they’re talking about before sending them music. You want to make sure you put effort into the right people.

Once you find the right people, you want to show them that you actually care about them. Send them a personal message or comment, not a generic one with a link to your music. People are tired of getting messages every time they add a band that just talks about the band and has a link to the music. They want to know about the people in the band as people, not as just musicians. Talk to people after shows, whether they were there for you or not. If you’re performing with someone they like, they will most likely be interested in your music as well. Don’t just talk about the music either. Talk to them about anything and then talking about music will flow in the conversation without sounding like you’re forcing it on them.

Do things for the fans, don’t expect them to do things for you. Fans will wait for new music, but you want to show them that you’re still thinking about them while writing, recording, and doing shows. Post short videos of what you’re doing. Either of the songs you’re recording/practicing or of acoustic covers of songs they want to hear you do or that you want to do, or of just daily things you’re doing. Post things on social media sites of things you’re interested in. There are sites that will help you post on all them at once. Live streams are great ways to do things. FaceBook has made it so easy to do that since everyone is on there anyway. Another great site is Twitch. Those are the most popular ones that people will hear you on.

 

Promotion:

The last thing is promotion. A lot of people think this should be the first thing, but I personally believe that once you have everything else, promotion will be easier. You need a song in order to promote and to do shows with so people can hear your music. Fans will hear your song at a shows and then help spread the songs around. Not saying that you should just use fans to promote, but if you get the right relationship with them and show them you care, they will want to help you without you even asking.

Finding shows isn’t easy if you don’t have many fans, but if you find the right musicians who are willing to put you on a show with them, you will be able to get on a bill. Some venues are even willing to give any bands a chance, but you want to make sure you play with others who are in the same genre. Performing with someone who is in the same genre as you will help you gain fans and will have people who will be interested in you. For example, if you’re a metal band and you end up on a bill with a very pop oriented performer, it will be hard for either fans to like either of the performers. Getting on a bill with like performers isn’t all you need to do. Help promote those performers and they will help you back. Performers can help each other. Post their shows and tag them in things. The tags will show you tagging them and their fans will want to know about you.

 

These things may not always work and may not work for everyone. The one thing to remember is to have quality over quantity with the music and to have a relationship with fans and other performers you’re working with. They will be the ones who help.

Michele Enoch

Michele Enoch is a music business graduate from Musicians Institute who has managed and promoted bands for years. She is now working on her photography and helping performers advance in their career. Her passion has always been music and she is exploring all aspects of the industry. Michele appreciates all kinds of music and seeing music in all kinds of environments. She enjoys crocheting hats and toys, reading and writing mystery and horror stories, taking pictures of everything she can, food from around the world, and adorable animals. She is always on the look out for anything new and exciting.

BEFORE I DIE: youbloom | HEADROOM #9 with Featured Artists from the youbloomLA 2016 Music Summit and Festival.

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Sometimes all it takes is a little list. There’s a big world out there full of choices and for an ambitious musician it can be hard to know which direction to steer in. That’s where a BEFORE I DIE list comes in.

Narrow things down. Weed out distractions. Focus on the three things that will make your time on this mortal coil the best it can possibly be. Then go.

The youbloomLA 2016 Music Summit and Festival is in full swing, with scores of the finest independent artists around hitting stages all around the city of angels with one thing in mind: to share the music they love with you. They’re on this journey because they know, deep down, that this music train ain’t stopping; they’re in it for the long haul; they’re married to rock ‘n’ roll...you get the picture. But where the path will lead is different for every single artist up there tonight, and five of them were kind to provide us with some truly great answers when we asked: Hey buddy, what do you want to do before you die?

 

BEFORE I DIE

Huxley Rittman:

1 | Be featured on a hip hop banger

2 | Play a show somewhere stupid like underwater or in space or while freefalling from a great height

3 | Play a show in which I actually don’t screw up

An act we’re pleased to welcome back to the youbloom stage, Rittman is an artist who brings fresh footfall to the well-hiked trails of acoustic storytelling, making it more about the listener than about himself, which is dignified and refreshing. Like a relaxed, neofolk Dylan; instantly persuasive and warmly addictive. For fans of: Nick Drake, Hudson Taylor, Mark Kozelek
BEFORE I DIE

Nasty, Dirty and Nasty:

1 | Become a touring artist full time.

2 | Be featured on a song with Nas.

3 | Perform the 5 fingers of death on the Sway in the Morning show.

Eclectic, exploratory hip-hop that pulls no punches. The chemistry between Dirty and Nasty is colossal; together they capably tackle a range of different compositions, from sexy grooves to party anthems and rhymes to make you stop and think. This is an act that’s going places, and you really want to be there to see their live show before they blow up. For fans of: Black Milk, J Dilla, Digable Planets
BEFORE I DIE

Jonny Cat, frontman & guitar, Coo Coo Birds:

1 | Write an Opera.

2 | Score a great film.

3 | Tour three times a year in Europe and Asia.

Welcome to your new favourite garage band. Coo Coo Birds bring the fuzz and crunch with all the references to sex, drugs and rock’n’roll essential to doing justice to this timelessly rebellious musical style. They’re groovy, they’ve got swagger, and they write really great rock’n’roll tunes. You’ll love ‘em live. For fans of: The Stooges, The Black Keys, Jay Reatard
BEFORE I DIE

Case Bargé:

1 | Make a positive change with my music, rather it be in a listener’s personal life or in the overall music scene in general.

2 | Go on a world tour and have every show sell out.

3 |  I would love for the creative collective I’m a part of to be a staple and known for our influential and positive efforts to better not only the music community but the entire world as a whole.

Like a dark dream shot through with sharp-as-a-knife clarity, Bargé’s music blends ambient tones and synthy, electronic landscape sounds with rhymes so deftly spat you get the sense they must be red hot. It’s top class hip hop with more than enough food for thought for a feast. For fans of: Tyler, the Creator, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q
BEFORE I DIE

Grover Anderson:

1 |  I would kill for one of my songs to become so ubiquitous that everyone rolled their eyes when it’s played, even if that meant someone else played it. Like, I want to feel like Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show does when Darius Rucker’s version of Wagon Wheel comes on.

2 | I’d also like to play in one of those overstuffed tribute performances that they do every year at the Grammys, like when Growl & Springsteen & Costello & Little Steven did that Clash Tribute.

3 |  I’d like to tour with Garth Brooks. In my book, he’s the best live singer-songwriter that you can see, and I want to learn everything I can from him.

Wistful and clever, the wonderfully proficient Grover Anderson weaves together songs that mix youthful whimsy with heartfelt daydreams, delivering them to eager ears with a stripped-back, pure and well-considered expression. From the acoustic gems to rockier grooves, It’s the perfect road trip music, and it’s sure to be a killer live. For fans of: Paddy Casey, Josh Ritter, Ryan Adams

 

What three things would you put on your BEFORE I DIE list? We’re, uh, dying to know. 😉

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