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youbloomConnect: First Step Towards a Successful Gig!

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Whether you’re a solo vocalist, a DJ or in a band, the music industry is a tough place to work in and there’s a lot of people trying to “make it”, just like you. How tough is it exactly? It’s actually pretty simple, let us do the math.

Revenue is usually not shared!

Approximately 75% of all revenues in the music industry go to the top few hundred artists recognized as household names and are controlled by major record labels. 20% of the revenue goes to approximately 750,000 actively gigging professional artists and only 5% of all revenue goes to roughly 10 million+ emerging artists. This is where youbloom steps in.

Sign up, right now!

By signing up with youbloomConnect, you become a part of The Global Music Village, a community of artists, fans, and hosts. People who love live music and who are here to help you grow your fan base and increase your live performances locally and beyond! Getting requested by your fans and playing a youbloomConnect gig can open doors to multiple opportunities. If you get approved by our A&R panel, our shows will lead you to more fans, landing more gigs, more tours, and increased ticket and merch sales!

 

Perform more, share more, grow your fan base!

We want you to share your gift of music and perform as much as possible! Most importantly, we want you to take your share of the revenue by doing what you love! That’s the dream, isn’t it? So don’t wait any longer and take the next step today! Sign up with youbloomConnect today and let our team handle everything you need for a successful gig!

 

Cheers to live music!

If you enjoy this blog about music and want to know more about youbloomConnect be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. As always thank you for reading and being part of “The Global Music Village.” – youbloom: The Global Music Village

youbloomConnect: Share the Gift of Music

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youbloomConnect: the new way to experience live independent music

Everyone has that something special inside of them. Something to give to the world; so give the gift that can be taken anywhere. A gift that will fit in any suitcase or in the palm of your hands. You can enjoy it with a glass of wine after dinner or while hiking with the dogs. That gift is music; and it’s so much fun to share. You can share local music with a friend, colleague, or somebody you love. When you share local independent music; you are also sharing your dreams, passions, and life experiences with others. Let us paint the picture for you. In a few words, youbloom will show you fans, artists, and hosts, a few ways to get in on all the fun!

What is youbloomConnect?

youbloom, the parent company of youbloomConnect, is a global cooperative movement centered around bringing music lovers unforgettable musical experiences at affordable prices in cities around the world! youbloom definitely has humble beginnings, notably starting out as an online song competition in 2010. Over the years, having produced nine signature music festivals in two countries with 100’s of musicians, youbloom would like to introduce youbloomConnect.

youbloomConnect is: unforgettable, uninterrupted, live music experiences in a city near you!

To the creators, artists, and performers, it is a platform to empower the independent music community to share their gift through live music performances and build up the independent music community around the world.

Perform:

How many people reading this can play the guitar or sing beautiful melodies?

First and foremost, artists – we highly encourage you to share your gift with the world to help in creating what we call “The Global Music Village.” The more people who hear the stories you write about your dreams, passions, and life experiences – the more you get to perform. Check us out and sign-up to become one of the first performers with youbloomConnect in your city!

(If you’re ready to sign-up now? Click here!)

Request:

Where would music be without the fan?

Fans,  let us tell you something. You are so important in creating and sustaining “The Global Music Village”. The artists you love and will soon discover are asking for your time and attention.

During a youbloomConnect™ show, artists will be pouring out their dreams, passions, and life experiences just for you! We simply ask you to sit back amongst friends and neighbors, (in most cases) bring your own snacks and beverages, and enjoy the music.

Fans: we also want to share another secret with all of you. The more you request your favorite bands and artists, the more likely you will see them performing their music live in your city. Join youbloomConnect as a fan and start requesting the performers you want to see and music you want to hear! Find out about the live music gigs in your city before anyone else.  

(Fans: are you ready to sign-up & start requesting your favorite independent acts at this point? Click here!)

Host:

Wanna have a concert in your living room?

If you are still reading, it is safe to say you probably really love live music and finding the next concert near you.

Have you ever dreamt of hosting a live concert in your own space? Well, no worries. With youbloomConnect we can make that dream come true!

Become a Host and find out how to use your space to bring other music loving fans together to experience an unforgettable live music experience in your city, the youbloomConnect way. If you have enough space for the artists and fans; you can bring your neighbors and friends together to have a live music concert in your very own backyard, garden, office courtyard, coffee shop, art gallery…you get the point! youbloomConnect has a CityRep near you ready to facilitate everything and curate a truly unforgettable live music experience. If you are interested in becoming a host in your city, submit the information we need to get you in touch with the CityRep for your city!

(c’mon is it even a question? Sign-up to become a host now!)

 

Cheers to live music!

If you enjoy this blog about music and want to know more about youbloomConnect be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. As always thank you for reading and being part of “The Global Music Village.” – youbloom: The Global Music Village

How to Hook the Super-Fan

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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.

 

Super-fan

Dreaming of Jupiter at Musikmesse 2018

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.

Local Gigs: How to Know When You’ve Outgrown Them

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Is your local bar circuit starting to feel like a song on repeat?

There is a sort of stigma, for some artists, around playing local gigs. Performing in the same city or the same rotation of venues can begin to feel repetitive- but how soon is too soon to expand your fanbase and seek venues further from home?

NORTHLIGHT at local gigs in youbloomDublin '18

NORTHLIGHT at youbloomDublin ’18

First, it’s important to note the benefits of a solid local foundation.

1) Building Origin Loyalty at Local Gigs

It’s no secret that fans who can claim to be “day-one fans” or to have “seen them before they were famous” will maintain type of loyalty to your band that cannot be matching by fans, no matter how die-hard, you acquire later on in your career. Because of this, it’s important to stay local long enough to build a solid following of fans with a strong sense of “origin loyalty”.  

 

2) Saving Money

Dreaming of Jupiter at youbloomDublin ’18

As your group is beginning to grow and venues are starting to pay higher wages for gigs- it’s important to not be spending more than you’re making on transportation to and from shows. This includes sticking with the free drinks at shows and Being your own Booking agent. Attempting to play shows far from home too quickly can set an artist or band up for financial issues later- another benefit of local revenue.

 

With that in mind- there will be a time when branching out is not only preferable, but necessary to pursuing the dream. The question then becomes when (and how)?

 

When?

When to take the risk and hit the road for a tour or remote gig will vary from artist to artist. However, before attempting to broaden a fanbase, artists should a) be confident in their local/foundational following and b) be prepared for an initial hit to the wallet.

 

How?

There are many ways for an artist to expand their following when the time comes, but who says they have to do it alone? youbloomConnect is designed for these very sorts of ventures. youbloomConect helps musicians expand their fanbase and seek gigs further from home by working alongside other artists on the rise, by exposing to other fanbases, and by creating performances in their ‘partner band’s’ city. Learn more at youbloom.com!

 

Indie Artists: Be Your Own Booking Agent

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Time to Drop the Booking Agent, Here’s How to Book Your Own Shows

No one knows better than an indie artist how frustrating and stressful it can be to book shows, tour, and perform. The struggle, when it comes to getting in touch with venues, managers and bookers, is quite real. Hiring a booking agent may seem like the easy answer, but if the royalties aren’t exactly flowing in yet, you might not be in the financial position to do this. What to do, then? Let’s not forget that we are the DIY generation, we do it ourselves. Here’s how to book your own shows.

Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes

Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes

Perhaps you’ve made a list of all the venues that would fit your music, sound, and style, and yet it’s nearly impossible to get them to give you a decent time slot. You will most likely get an 11pm weeknight spot or a 3pm Sunday afternoon one, and we all know that no one is going to miss brunch to catch your new band at what promises to be an empty, desolated venue.

When you ask for a better, higher profile slot, the booking agent usually says: “Well, how many people can you draw?”. If the answer is more than 20, then you’ve got yourself a Friday night show. However, if your response is anything less, you’ll have to wait patiently in line until your following is bigger.

Which brings us to our next point.

 

Book Others, to Book Yourself.

How is a band supposed to grow a fan base if the only shows they can play occur when people are watching Netflix or in a yoga class? Good question indeed. Those who manage to bring a good crowd are those who are either already established or have a lot of friends in town. Venues are not going to bet on a new indie artist nor are they looking for the next big act to feature before they blow up. Venues want to break even. They want to see the money they spend on a typical Friday night come back in full, and if possible make a little profit.

Be your own booking agent. Look for an equally unknown band that shares your ambitions, ethos, and sound and put a show together. Perhaps, pick a less reputable venue in your town; smaller and more intimate is ideal. Make sure you market the show as a party; a night to have some fun and enjoy some live music. Startups like Sofar Sounds have built a brand around this exact experience and platforms like youbloomConnect match local indie artists with one another, making it easy for bands to come together and book. 

Each band will bring their friends, and if you advertised the event properly, their friends will bring other friends looking for a fun night.

Play the show, distribute some t-shirts, have a beer and repeat.

One of two things will happen. You will either get a call from the bigger venues looking to book your band or you won’t need them anymore because your fan base has been growing without their help.

You should hope for the latter.

Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes

Photo Courtesy of The Magnettes

About the Blogger

Luca a freelance writer, blogger, musician and songwriter. Born and
raised 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 the
The New School from which he graduated in December 2017. Luca currently
resides in Nashville, TN