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Understanding Crowdsourcing & Crowdfunding

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(Post via Josey Dunbar) Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding originate in the same place, focusing on one can help artists when narrowing down their options. There are organizations that have been around for years, such as Kickstarter, which are strictly for crowdfunding inquiries. This means that musicians can connect with a community of like-minded creators and build funds around their passions. Similar sites include Pledgemusic  and Patreon. On the other hand, crowdsourcing platforms, which cater more towards a direct exchange of goods or services, can be equally effective to the artist. These connection agencies include youbloomConnectand Songkick.  Let’s spell it for you.

Crowdsourcing

“Crowdsourcing” can be defined as a sourcing model which enables individuals to gain a particular good or service through an exchange. Today, crowdsourcing is quite prominent between artists of all disciplines. Musicians, sculptors and designers connect through crowdsourcing sites where they can gain exposure as well as promotional opportunities. Naturally, there are hundreds of platforms out there where an artist can get connected but the trick is finding the two or three platforms that are actually good.

Crowdfunding

So, now you understand crowdsourcing, hopefully, you’re familiar with crowdsurfing – I’ve got one more for you: crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is often a group of people coming together to fund some business venture through small financial intakes. This could be a musician whose revenue for a show comes from ticket sales sold through a crowdsourcing platform. This brings us right back to the quintessential issue of how to choose the right connection agency to help you crowdsource.

youbloom  is unique as it pairs artists together, connecting the two fan bases, and broadening an artists fanbase beyond the band’s origin. Rather than simply giving artists a platform, companies like youbloom play a central role in providing artists exposure and fans.It all comes down to whether your art needs support or more clearly laid-out instructions and opportunities. Check out youbloom Connect and/ or sign up here:https://www.youbloom.com/artist-apply/  where you can get partnered to perform with other local artists, build a steady fan-base, and even get your band on the road.

Author Bio

Josey 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).

2025 Music Marketing Guide for Indie Artists: From Branding to Bookings

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(Post Via SARA HARRISON) 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 a brand and 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. 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.

Awareness:  Who  Is  Aware of  Your  Brand Of  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.  Snapchat 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.

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 maybe your version of credibility 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 brand, and print the winner. If you’re reaching out to potential sponsors to support your shows or merchandise, preparing a professional sponsorship letter sample in advance can greatly improve your chances of getting funding or partnerships.

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 has grown to be the best alternative option to the radio. It’s one of the only bonafide music platforms to share your playlists to your fans inside and outside Spotify.  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. Additionally, aiming to play even a small set at one of the biggest music festivals in America can supercharge your visibility. Being listed on major festival lineups not only attracts new fans, but also signals credibility to promoters, sponsors, and the media.

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 interact 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.” Even niche festivals like Seabreeze Jazz Festival 2025 can be a great place to meet a highly engaged audience—especially if your sound aligns with their genre. Don’t overlook these genre-specific opportunities that help you stand out from generic lineups.

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. If you’re selling tickets for local gigs or small tours, be sure to explore youbloom, one of the cheapest ways to sell tickets online, so you don’t lose profits to high platform fees while keeping access easy for your fans.

If you’re looking for a simpler way to join these networks, check out youbloom Connect and/ or sign up here: https://www.youbloom.com/artist-apply/  where you can get partnered to perform with other local artists, build a steady fan-base, and even get your band on the road.

The AuthorSARA HARRISON
Sara is a music enthusiast who loves to play guitar and the piano. She has alarge 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.

Looking Ahead: 5 Tips For Playing Successful Shows

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While we look ahead in optimism and hope that playing live shows is going to a possibility soon ( really soon), here’s us with a friendly reminder: when you’re trying to establish yourself as an artist in the local scene, your goal should not simply be to put a show together, but to put together a successful show. The difference is enormous.Imagine you just moved to a new town. No friends or musician pals, let alone connections with the local music scene. What do you do? The easy answer would be: get a band together and start playing successful shows , but that is not always the fastest track to local success.

Post Via Luca

Back To The Ocean Performing at Youbloom Festival

Here’s a few tips of how to make that happen.

1. Know your Target

As an artist, you should be crystal clear about what your skill set, goal and target is. An emerging artist should not count booking a show an end goal in itself. The details are what matters the most: who is coming to catch your band play? Are you going to be performing for a near-empty room, with only your roommate and parents there to watch? If you’re a rock ‘n’ roller, on the other hand, your natural habitat should be the DIY scene. Do your research. Who are the best local bands that gravitate towards your sound? Where do they usually play? Are they playing successful shows? Where do they go for a pint?

2. Be a Fan

Once you’ve gathered your data, take action. Go see their shows, follow them on social media, see what they’re up to and what their strategy is. Artists should learn from each others’ success as well as mistakes.

Back To The Ocean Playing successful shows at youbloom festival
If you’re a songwriter and producer you may wanna play acoustic rounds and hang out where the local songwriters are, rather than at a dive bar populated by rock bands.

 

3. Don’t be a Stranger

Most importantly, befriend these fellow rockers. Approach them after their show, buy them a beer and make friends. If you’re the shy type who likes to stand in the back and just enjoy the show, get another member of your band to be the social one. Or, fight yourself and make an effort to exchange a few words and perhaps a little booze with them. Whether you’re a hit writer or an indie rocker, you never know where meeting new people may lead you. You might end up co-writing a number 1 hit on a chill afternoon session with a writer you met randomly at a show. Or, you might end up headlining a national tour with a small-time band that broke through – and all because you had the guts to go talk to them after a set at your local dive.

Don’t be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone, because that is what’s going to change your perspective on things and ultimately lead you to a more efficient strategy for your career.

4. Offer Up your Skills

Take time out of your own life to make friends with those acts that already establish themselves in the local scene. Ask if they would like you to open for them. That way you will most likely play to a room full of people who are probably into music or musicians themselves.

5. Schmooze

Back To The Ocean and Anna Christie perform at the youbloom Festival

 

By opening for your new-found friends, you’ll be making a name for yourself as a new band around town, and you’ll be gaining their fans in the process. Throw a nice after-party after the show where you can properly hang out with your new fans and you’ll have a recipe for success.

Networking and making friends is crucial and takes a lot of work and dedication. If you’re looking for a simpler way to join these networks, check out youbloom Connect and/ or sign up here: https://www.youbloom.com/artist-apply/  where you can get partnered to perform with other local artists, build a steady fan-base, and even get your band on the road. Whether you reach out, or decide to do it alone, do yourself a favor: get out more and meet like-minded people. Many of them might not be your next musical partner in crime, but the worst that’ll happen is you’ll have more friends.

If you liked reading this blog, here’ a similar one on digital marketing tips for musicians and bands.

About the author:

Luca a freelance writer, blogger, musician and songwriter. Born andraised in Italy, his passion for Rock n Roll made him move to London where he lived for one year and gained a certificate in Songwriting from ICMP.Luca relocated in NYC in 2014 to pursue jazz music and liberal arts at theThe New School from which he graduated in December 2017. Luca currently reside in Nashville, TN

Writing Song Lyrics Right

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As musical styles progress and change with the times, one thing is for certain, writing song lyrics continues to play a vital part in what sets artists from being good to be considered great. So for those of you currently in a creative drought, here is some advice from a few of the greats.

Jimi Hendrix on Artistic Liberties with the Facts

“Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fiction.”

                                                                                              –Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix Writing Song Lyrics
Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Many artists pigeonhole themselves by believing that every word written must be 100% accurate to their lives and story they are telling. Of course, speaking from your own personal experiences is vital in creating meaningful music. But the point is to get your message across in the best way possible. Sometimes, this might involve a little science fiction.

 

Dolly Parton on Throwing Yourself into the Process

“It’s therapy. It’s fun. It’s creative. I love getting on a big writing binge and staying up a couple days working on song and knowing at the end of those two or three days that I’ve created something that was never in the world before.”

                                                                            –Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton Writing song lyrics
Photo Courtesy of the Artist

If this is your passion, don’t be afraid to throw yourself into your work. The stories of artists writing a hit song in 5 minutes’ time, on a napkin, in an airport is incredible! But most great songs come from hard work, dedication, and focus from the artist. This mean sitting down and wrestling with a song until it feels right.

John Mayer on Speaking Your Own Truth

“I hope that what it comes down to at the end of the day is that people believe that I believe what I’m singing. It comes down to being believable.”

                                                                                                                                   –John Mayer

John Mayer Writing song lyrics
Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Authenticity is key in songwriting and producing. This may seem strange since the first piece of advice was to stretch the truth in the songwriting process. Don’t be confused, there is a difference between writing a nonfiction story to produce a personal truth, and writing a meaningless song for the sake of staying on trend. Be true to your artistic endeavors and creative process because the song will thus come across genuine to the listeners.

Now go on and be inspired to create and then when it comes time to perform, remember to Sign up as an artist today and get the chance to connect with your fans and other artists to grow not only your fan base but your connections in the industry.

If you enjoy this blog about music and want to know more about youbloom Connect be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Digital Marketing For Musicians & Bands: 6 Effective Tips

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(Post Via Victoria Greene)There’s absolutely no doubt that digital marketing for musicians is the key to crack this business. If you’re keen to make the most of each and every ounce of exposure you receive, if you are set on becoming the next big thing, if you are striving to live life as a full-time musician or band member, then you must embrace digital marketing and acknowledge all the concepts and trends currently relevant to your industry.

 How do I get fans? Is it about quality or quantity?

The 1000 True Fans concept is the idea that as long as you have 1000 ‘true fans’, you are never going to have a problem selling your music and your merchandise online. These true fans will help create a fanbase and market for your music and products that will help you drive further sales and success.

The point of digital marketing is to make the most of the exposure you receive when you perform and find those magical 1000 true fans who will give you a musical career for life. In some ways, true fans are similar to the marketing concept of brand advocacy. Encourage loyalty, reward loyalty, and give freely.

Make the most of Facebook pages

Digital marketing goes hand-in-hand with social media. If you’re wondering how to get fans, you must build a platform that allows them to express themselves, to engage with you or your band, and to learn more about you.

Begin with a Facebook page. Facebook provides plenty of tools to assist you in keeping track of who is engaging with your posts, as well as allowing you to measure how successful your reach has been. Make your page super engaging with a ton of live video, music, photoshoots, and quirky outtakes from life ‘on the road’.

Don’t forget to sync up your Facebook page with offline activities like live streams and fan interaction.

Embrace Twitter & Instagram & share your story

No matter how good your music is, your fans will want to know you or your band personally. Facebook is good for finding out information about gigs and news. Twitter, on the other hand, is good for little bits of communication and for emphasizing your personality. You can also personally thank a fan for coming to see you, as well as share articles, images, and updates that you find exciting. Many people use Twitter to tell others what they’re up to. If you’re writing a new song, you can share this in a couple of words with an appropriate hashtag.

Instagram is very similar to Twitter, but favors images rather than words. You can share pictures and videos of you or your band travelling to a gig, images of the audience from your gig, shots with collaborators, or pics of your latest merchandize.

Having an engaged social account is a great confidence booster, as well as a commercial asset. Nurture the community you’re building — and think twice before purchasing fans.

Get your stuff out on YouTube

Many gig organizers will use YouTube to check out your music before hiring you. YouTube isn’t always an easy platform for new bands and musicians, so don’t worry if you don’t get many views at the beginning. Instead, focus on releasing some of your tracks in high quality for gig organizers and potential fans. Be sure to add tags and keywords to your video to increase the likelihood of someone finding your video or even stumbling across it through YouTube’s autoplay feature.

The good thing about YouTube is that your true fans will happily do the necessary advertising for you. They will share your latest releases through their social media networks and their friendship groups. They will also add their comments and likes to your videos. This interaction between fans encourages a fan base to emerge, which will develop its own personality as it grows.

Create a killer website

Still trying to figure out how to promote your music independently? A strong website can make your music enterprise look professional and serious. If you truly want to commit to a musical career, ensure that you invest in a website that has intuitive navigation, accessible contact information, and ecommerce facilities that allow you to sell your albums and merchandize yourself.

Your fans will want to be able to make purchases easily and securely, so make sure that this is possible. If you’re looking to set up your record shop, you can sell music through your own store and get up and running in a matter of hours. Setting up an e-commerce site independently is a sure-fire way to take matters into your own hands, and get your music business on the right track!

In order for your digital marketing efforts to be successful, be prepared to fully engage with these tips. Going into marketing half-hearted is simply not good enough. Just like an instrument, grasping digital marketing can take time and practise.

If you enjoyed reading this blog, here’s a similar one that talks about Guerilla Marketing for Independent Artists and Why It Matters

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/

Want to know more about youbloomConnect? Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Author Bio:

Victoria Greene: Brand Marketing Consultant & Freelance Writer.

I work with online businesses and entrepreneurs to create valuable content and marketing strategies that yield big results. I am always happy to share my knowledge and love discovering new opportunities for collaboration. I’m also a keen singer and guitar player, but that’s strictly for pleasure!