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Be Yourself: Raised on TV’s Advice

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Keaton Rogers offers some excellent advice, tells his band’s story, and elaborates on how they’ve arrived where they are: about to release their debut album titled “Season 1” and two months away from playing at the youbloomLA 2017 Music Summit & Festival.

 

Garage Band Beginnings

Keaton, Kacey, and Ryan, the members of Raised on TV, began “working away in Ryan’s mom’s garage” in the summer of 2015. Keaton and Kacey, who are brothers, “always thought it would be cool to be in a band together”. So when Keaton’s previous band disbanded and Kacey and Ryan’s previous band also fell apart, they joined forces to create Raised on TV.

 

With influences such as Weezer, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel, Pink Floyd, and Blink 182, there’s no doubt that Raised on TV’s first EP, released in 2016, had rock and roll roots. Since their humble beginnings, they’ve toured twice and recorded a full length album. And they “feel like [they’re] in a good place as a band.”

 

When asked about the band’s vision, Keaton joked that their band’s vision is “20/20 when [they] wear [their] glasses”

To “make and share quality music” is, “in all seriousness”, their true vision. Live performances hold an especially special place in their hearts, as Keaton stated “having an amazing concert experience is very much at the heart of our vision for our band.”

 

And if they can help others “get through a tough day” with their music, even better.

 

“It’s not about the competition”

Last year, Raised on TV entered a battle of the bands competition for a chance to play on the Vans Warped Tour. With 200 original contestants, they successfully navigated through the hoops to compete out of 8 groups in the final round. However, their “mindset was never that [they] were competing with other bands.” Instead, as Keaton states, they were just aiming to become “the best version of [themselves].”

 

Even though they lost in the final round, they reminded themselves that “it was never about winning in the traditional sense anyway. So, don’t get caught up in the competition. When you go see twenty or so amazing bands at a festival, there’s no first or second prize, no gold or silver medal, there’s a bunch of freaking awesome music and people there to enjoy it.”

 

Keaton’s word of advice? If an artist is true to themselves, “there will be nobody else like that artist and that’s what it’s all about.”

 

Romance at youbloomLA

Since it’s their first time at youbloomLA, Raised on TV is hoping for the usual: to develop connections, enjoy the music, and have a great time performing.

 

However, according to Keaton, it would also be neat if their drummer, who is “currently the only single member of the band” met someone and fell in love. Here’s to hoping!

 

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Attention music lovers!

Youbloom is looking for passionate individuals to join our team for youbloomLA: our annual Music Summit and Festival! Follow the link below to learn more.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzFR-OdsG41_bHg4VnNWVlFWa3ZFd2hxNjN5UE5MR1RVQzlz

 

 

How to Improve Your Singing Voice with Karaoke Machines

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Karaoke machines. The wonder machines. They can make a timid person go all the way and release stress from within. It is fun, to say the least. However, it can also be disappointing at the same time, especially if you feel that no matter how you try, you can’t seem to get the right notes to sing a song clearly.

 

Well, there is good news for you! Anybody can learn to sing with karaoke machines. What it takes is practice, patience, and some singing tips that will bring out the diva in you.

 

What You Need to Do

 

It may seem a cliché, but practice really does a lot of things. If you are currently practicing now, practice some more. Sing anywhere, try different kind of songs. Sing anytime you can. In this way, your vocal chords get the training that they deserve. At the same time, you can discover the kind of songs that will match your vocals. The more you practice, the more you can expect your singing to improve.

 

This works well if you have your own best karaoke machine at home. Before facing an audience of friends or family, you can practice on your own. Some even find it effective to record their own voice while singing songs, listening to it afterwards to assess themselves. The more you practice a certain song, the better prepared you will be when you finally need to sing with other people.

 

Professional Tips

 

Your karaoke singing skills can also be taken to the next level with some tips. The goal here is to create a space within your body, allowing the songs to just effortless flow out. How is it possible?

 

You might have heard this before. Breathe using your diaphragm. This is done by filling your lungs up with as much as air you can. Afterwards, feel that certain space right below your ribs as it fills up with air. That space is the diaphragm. This should be expanded to bring in more air to sing well.

 

Another tip is to allow your soft palate, or that part of the upper mouth just in front of the throat, to rise. This will allow your throat to open up. This will allow for more space for your voice and sound to flow out completely, and with melody. The next tip is easy to follow. Allow your mouth to open up wide as you sing. This may take practice, but when you get used to it, the rest will follow.

 

If you feel that practicing alone is not enough, you may want to take some voice lessons, or have someone privately help you with this.

 

Practice with Patience

 

The most important thing here is never giving up with your goal. Singing is part of our daily lives. You have your favorite songs. Even without a karaoke machine, you can sing. Singing well is another story, however.

 

Hitting the right notes and feeling confident when singing with karaoke machines take some patience along with practice. If you feel that you cannot do it, it does not mean that you can no longer do it some other time. Some self-confessed karaoke divas admit failing a lot of times, but because they did not stop practicing, they started building up confidence.

 

After all, nobody needs to be perfect when it comes to singing with karaoke machines. What you need to work on is your confidence. Along with applying the tips mentioned above, you can feel better when singing along with a group of friends. This is the most important thing, after all.

 

Author bio:

Tereza is a passionate writer and Chief Editor at Top10Suggest. She tells the completely honest story of her personal experience. She shares useful strategies that actually work and help others.

 

 

 

9 Tips for Making Money Online from Your Music

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Today, I’d like to share with you some practical tips for making money online from your music. The stereotype of ordinary musicians being constantly broke is still floating around. This by itself is bad enough, but what’s worse is how much it discourages young musicians from fully pursuing their creative dreams.

 

The truth is that not only is it possible to make money from music, but the technology we have now means that making money online from your music is so much easier than it ever has been in the past.

 

Licensing

Creating music for use in soundtracks is a great way to turn instrumentals and music that doesn’t fit your usual genre into an extra source of income. Indie music licensing is growing more and more as film, tv and commercial producers are looking further afield.

Tutorials

If you’ve been spending years or even decades mastering your instrument, why not show others how to get to where you are now? All you need is a good quality camera and a microphone, which you may already have. Both are relatively inexpensive. Plus, with ad revenue from sites such as Youtube.com they can quickly pay for themselves.

 

Ghostwriting

Much like being in a supermarket, music can be a ‘cash or credit’ situation. You can either take credit for your work, or take cash. Once you’ve developed a bit of a following you can take both, but it’s nice to know you can start getting paid very quickly by writing music for others to perform. This is incredibly common in the music industry, and many of the biggest music stars actively use ghostwriters.

 

Mastering

Finding somebody who can master a track or even an entire album is easier than ever thanks to websites such as Fiverr and other platforms that allow people with different skill sets to collaborate. By mastering music for a fee, you can make a very healthy income and build a formidable skill set at the same time.

 

Digital Sales

This can either be through your own website, or through a third-party such as iTunes. Be aware that third party retailers will take a commission of the total price, which can be quite high.

 

To get the most exposure, make sure you gather a few favourable reviews from friends, family and anybody else you can persuade. This will dramatically increase your chances of selling online to people who may have never heard of you before.

 

High quality artwork

I know, I know. You’re a musician so why should you care about how the album looks? However, you’re missing a great opportunity to show off your band’s aesthetic with a visual representation as well as having a bit of fun. High quality, interesting artwork is also much more likely to catch somebody’s eye as they flick through all of the music available to them – so it translates to more sales and downloads too.

 

Crowdfunding

You don’t have to work 8 hours a day at a job you don’t want just to fund your music, nor do you have to persuade a record company. Instead, take your music public from day one and encourage others to chip in to help take it from a concept to a polished album or single. Online crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter or Gofundme are excellent for this.

 

Podcasting

Doing guest appearances on internet radio shows and podcasts is a great way to boost your profile. Just like a normal radio show, being part of an interview or doing a live performance is a great way to reach a massive audience without having the hassle of building one from scratch. Be sure to let the listeners know where they can find your music online for download or streaming.

 

Micro-producing

Instead of creating whole tracks, create tiny snippets of music. This can be in the form of loops, sound effects and samples. Developing new content for other music producers is much more exciting now thanks to user-to-user online marketplaces being supported by DAW developers. You can get in on the action in tons of different ways. Everything from programming brand new VSTs to making presets.

 

By now you should be feeling much more confident about having a career in the music industry. Whoever told you that you can’t make money online from your music was wrong.

 

Author bio:

Zac Green is chief editor of popular music blog ZingInstruments.com. He believes that music isn’t just a thing you do – it’s a mindset, an attitude, a way of 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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