Indie Artists: Time Be Your Own Booking Agent

09-May-2020 By Leave a Comment

Via Luca

Indie artists, it’s time to drop the Booking Agent

No one knows better than indie artists how frustrating and stressful it can be to book shows, tour, and perform. 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.

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.

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

Curate An Affordable Live Music Experience: Change The Game

11-Apr-2020 By Leave a Comment

Let’s take you our 3 stage process in being to curate an affordable live music experience in your local neighborhood! Your local music scene needs YOU: a local hero

Ever wanted to be a part of something big? Now is the time!

If you’ve always been someone who’s daydreamed about big ideas to manifest into reality, there’s a ninja in you. Look around, there’s talent everywhere and they all need someone who can take initiative to guide them. Your passion for music can be infectious in more ways than one. It’s your chance to steer the ship, create an enriching experience, curate that special live music experience. All you need to do is provide your local talent with a platform that YOU help build: it is after all, your scene, so let it be seen! The first step is to acknowledge that you yourself can be the person that you’ve always felt your local music scene needed.

Don’t own or have contacts at a music venue? How about your friend’s backyard!

We all know that one person in our neighborhood that we can find complaining on a regular basis about there being nothing to do in the area, or that there aren’t enough venues where live music can be played anymore. Well, you being the ninja that you are, have found a solution. The creative, ideas person is always prone to think outside the box; why not use this to think up alternative locations for live music? Go ahead, give your friend’s backyard a fresh spin! Getting a bunch of artists to play at unconventional settings is how a lot of legendary music and artists started their journey.

Give your ‘scenesters’ a chance to pay what they want: using crowdfunding as an effective DIY tool

Crowdfunding is a perfect gauge of how much your fans are willing to contribute to a local show, particularly with the first few shows you run. It is imperative to learn more about the purchasing power and engagement level of your audience. You want to make all your shows not only accessible but also affordable: the best way to do it is by allowing your community to pay what they want. Over a period of time, you’d have an estimation of the exact price at which you want to sell tickets to your show, thereby creating a sense of value in return to your fans, artists, and hosts.

We’re very excited to hear from you! Click here to sign up as a CityRep and you’ll hear from us in 2 weeks’ time! To find out more or sign up as a CityRep, click here

If you want to learn more about the youbloom community follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

youbloom reserves rights of the selection process.

Local Music Promoters: How youbloom Will Impact CityReps

06-Apr-2020 By Leave a Comment

CityReps are at the core of what we do, and they play an instrumental role in creating our global network of local music promoters and thereby riveting live performances across the board. However, it’s not just a one-way street. There are plenty of ways in which youbloom gives back to a whole host of our local music promoters we work with aka CityReps. Let’s get right into it:

1. Expand your reach of artists, vendors and music industry professionals

While you are already skillful in your field, you will now tap into your potential of positioning yourself as an absolute expert. Your magnitude of reach in the music business will be global, cross-cultural and multi-dimensional. The role of CityRep involves liaising with every stakeholder in the business, thereby helping you in creating your own global network.

2. Time to take the lead: you manage your own army

Being a CityReps involves micromanaging a team of individuals locally, who will support you in putting on shows. You’re the head honcho for your city, which means being CityRep allows you to develop your skills in inspiring and motivating those around you to create the best live music experience in town.

3. Monetise your efforts

youbloomConnect gives you the opportunity to monetise every show you curate. The more shows you do, the better the chances are to monetise.

4. Build your repertoire

Your title as a CityRep with youbloomConnect not only gives you an opportunity to learn, grow and hone your skills, but your contacts as well. While you’re playing the role of a local music promoter, your reach, however, is going to be global. Building your expertise and network are some of the key perks of being involved with youbloom!

To find out more or sign up as a CityRep, click here: https://www.youbloom.com/cityrep/

If you want to learn more about the youbloom community follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

youbloom reserves rights of selection process.

Independent Artists: Internet Helps Bypass Gatekeepers

02-Apr-2020 By 1 Comment

The internet is a sea of opportunities if used optimally, and more so for emerging and independent artists. If you want to scale up and expand your reach, the internet is a great place to help you as an artist to bypass gatekeepers. An emerging culture of music streaming, as opposed to physical sales, has steered this ship in a direction where independent artists can freely carry out their artistic expression on social media platforms to attract an audience. Never before has it been this viable for alternative cultures such as underground music and art to surface and grow without necessarily having to budge for bodies of authority. This blog post will discuss how you as an independent artist can bypass those gatekeepers.

Use Facebook and LinkedIn to find Journalists to Write about your Music

As a matter of interest, magazines and tabloids are in an unrelenting search for new content all the time. All it requires from you is that you make yourself visible to them on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. To top it over, owing to the culture of a close-knit community, music journalists and music promoters will often work in conjunction. Not only would journalists write about you, but chances are that they might add you to their recommendation list to promoters. Though you’re busy writing the best music you can, it may be worth finding the time to make yourself heard on these social media platforms.

Follow Promoters on Twitter and Instagram

Promoters spend a lot of time on the internet, start following them TODAY. Start interacting with them, comment on their posts, establish a personal connection. Smart usage of the internet can help you secure gigs.

Send Newsletters to your Fans and Promoters

Newsletterring is a very effective approach to maintain fan exclusivity and retention. The idea behind this exercise is to establish a very personal rapport with all parties involved, where you as an artist show how much you care for your fans. Imagine the sense of suspense and exclusivity that comes with being part of a secret gig around the corner. This sentiment can be created by advertising your show through newsletters to a selected list of your fans.

Use Online Communities to Spread your Music

Online communities are certainly a very crucial part of building online visibility. One of the ways to spread your music on digital platforms is to share your music with fellow musicians, which always creates a room for opportunity. Collaborating with similar artists is a great way to build your repertoire and Facebook’s communities feature makes this much more lucrative. Here’s a full blog post on building an online community of fans.

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/

youbloomConnect: Fans Can Be Hosts Too

12-May-2019 By Leave a Comment

Fans Can Be Hosts Too

Imagine this. You love live music. Therefore, you go to all the local concerts, gigs, and music festivals. You have been keeping an eye on a talented local band or musician you’ve seen perform from time to time. You hear live music and it makes you smile on the inside… 🙂 Yes, we are talking to you! Read on, I’ll tell you how to become part of the show in your city.

One Way to Enjoy the Show

If you really love live music, you would have signed-up as a fan on youbloomConnect already. In that case, you can request an artist to perform in a city near you and tell your friends to do the same. If enough other people start requesting the same artist, consequently the CityRep will reach out to the artist to book a show. Once a show is announced, you buy tickets and show up ready for uninterrupted, unforgettable live music. There’s two sides to every story though.

Host Your Very Own Gig

As a fan on youbloomConnect, you can sign-up as a host and bring the show to you. When you sign up to host and your spot gets chosen, we’ll have a gift for you. Because you’re basically VIP in our eyes, every host automatically receives four tickets to invite their very own guest list. You and four (4) friends will have front row seats to the show in your very own space. Think backyards overlooking the hills, beachside cafes, downtown rooftops, a co-working space, on a boat, or a wine bar. The possibilities are endless. If you have a space that you and a few friends could have a pretty cool concert, we’d love you to become a host.

Sit Back and Enjoy

Music is meant to be experienced with friends, so share your space as a host, this way you can actually sit back and enjoy the show. No worries, certainly you can trust youbloom will take care of the rest. By becoming a host with youbloomConnect, you will really be able to make a connection with the artists and all the other music fans who show up. As a result of your hospitality, the artists will be super appreciative and ready to put on a show for you and your friends.

It Takes a Village

Next time you are out on the town listening to music with your friends and you think to yourself: ‘it would be really cool to have a concert at my place one day.’ Know that you can! youbloom puts on shows around the world bringing together people who love live music and people who make up “The Global Music Village”. The village relies on people like you to make it happen. So, go ahead. Become a host today!

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