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Our Little Chat With Sean Rooney

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(Post Via Featured artist at youbloomDublin 2017, Sean Rooney, is the type of soulful singer/songwriter that you can take home to mother. Having performed at a myriad of festivals and venues around the world, we managed to have a little chat with Sean before he went on to perform at youbloomDublin 2017 in this exclusive interview (back in 2017).

How long have you been playing music? What inspired you to pick up an instrument?
Sean Rooney: I’ve been playing music about 12 years .. I started playing just from a love of pop punk music in my early teens .. thankfully my tastes have broadened a lot since then..
What instrument did you first lean to play?
Sean Rooney: I first learned to play the guitar .. well.. I’m still learning ! I’m self taught so I’m always learning.
What is your favorite part of your writing process when making new music?
Sean Rooney: My favourite part of the writing process is whenever I manage to capture exactly what I want to say lyrically and melodically.. I do enjoy the challenge of writing lyrics .. it might be trite but I write about my own life and that makes lyric writing a cathartic process for me.
In your song “Everest High” you say that its about dealing with depression from a first person point of view. How have you been able to cope with that and what role has music played to help battle with this?
Sean Rooney:  coping with depression isn’t easy. Not only because there is a lot of stigma attached to the subject and It’s different for everyone but I’ve found talking to a psychologist and taking medication very helpful. In terms of music, the cathartic element is very important. There is a release that comes with expressing your emotions through song.
“Everest High” sounds like a very up beat song. Was that intentional when writing this song due to the meaning?
Sean Rooney:  Yes .. the upbeat and borderline aggressive sound of the song is basically my way of conveying that I will not let depression beat me. I’m fighting against it with everything I have; also there’s nothing more melancholy than a ballad about depression .. it would just be too much if it sounded sad too.
 
You have a great cover of Bruce Springsteen. What are some other artists that inspired you to make music? And what would be another cover you would enjoy to make?
Sean Rooney:  Thank you! My main inspiration comes from the genres of soul, indie-rock/rock and R&B.. In terms of idols I’d have to say Paul Weller is my favourite artist. The body of incredible work he had created and continues to create is a never ending reservoir of inspiration to me. There aren’t that many covers that I feel I could really add much to or change without ruining! But a couple of songs I would love to play live with a band are “Soul Man” by Sam&Dave and “The Changingman” by Paul Weller
For someone who has never heard your music before, how would you describe your sound?
Sean Rooney: I would describe my music as sort of.. Blue-eyed soul rock .. although not all of my songs would fit neatly into that genre!
What advice would you give new musicians trying to get their music out there?
Sean Rooney: The only advice I feel qualified to give is to not criticise yourself too much.. some self criticism is healthy but there comes a point when it can ruin things and I know that from experience. In terms of physically getting music out there, Facebook videos are a great way to go.
What are you anticipating the most at the YouBloom festival?
Sean Rooney: What I’m anticipating most at Youbloom is just the opportunity to play for a new audience and to meet lots of new punters and musicians alike. I’m always super grateful to get to play live. It is what I love most in the world, so to that end I’d like to say thank you to Youbloom for giving me the opportunity.
Do you have any new material coming out in the near future?
Sean Rooney: Yes! I’ve been writing and recording recently. my first official single will be released soon and then the plan is to release my first EP in around May!
Maintaining some control of your own booking and touring can be made easy for those who choose to hire a manager and those who fly solo through youbloomConnect 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.

Artist Community: Promote Your Music on YouTube for EDM Festivals (2025)

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(Post via Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has exploded into one of America’s most dominant music genres, with festivals across the country drawing millions of fans annually. From Chicago’s underground EDM scene to Houston’s thriving electronic music community, EDM artists are finding unprecedented opportunities to connect with massive audiences. YouTube, by far, has always been ahead of the curve in being able to successfully serve as a bonafide platform for cool content creators and EDM artists community alike.
For the artists’ community though, YouTube finds itself in the midst of this roaring upsurge of streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, where one would wonder if YouTube is still as lucrative. The answer is yes, however, the catch really is that if you don’t use the platform in conjunction with your favorite streaming platform (read Spotify), it may not entirely serve the purpose. It’s 2025, and with the rise of virtual event marketing and streaming platforms, the music landscape continues evolving, while you can’t go out there and play live, YouTube has been doing something special for the artist community. YouTube For Artists comes with a super-advanced analytics suite, an exclusive community, and official artist channels.  Read on to know how exactly you can leverage this. 

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Promoting your Music on YouTube

Promoting your Music on YouTube isn’t exactly revolutionary. In recent years, the content-sharing platform has beefed up its incentives for creatives looking to grow a subscriber-base and monetize their music. For the DIY musician, the challenge is rising above that seemingly infinite noise of YouTube content and its pesky algorithms. Here we’ll outline how to make your channel a hub for promoting the biggest music festivals in America and unstoppable, watchable content that the algorithms just can’t keep at bay.

Put Your Best-Flick Forward.

Whether you’re promoting EDM concerts in Chicago or planning to sell jazz fest tickets, your channel should immediately showcase your best work. Have your best or newest music playing at the start of the page or readily clickable. A majority of viewers decide whether or not they’re going to subscribe to a channel in the first 30 seconds of scanning the page. If they’ve ended up on your page then that’s already a great start for you. But now you need to hook them. Have your newest release or most popular upload playing automatically as they enter your channel. That, or have a welcome video that immediately makes the page personable between you and the viewer.

Clear Call-To-Action

You don’t want it to be hard for your viewer to find more of what they like. At the start and end of videos, as well as throughout your profile, make your call-to-action easy to see, and simple to click. The Backlink channel with Brian Dean has a really useful tutorial that explains the “In and Outs” of creating an effective call-to-action as well as tips on all aspects of YouTube strategy. A call-to-action can be linked to your  Instagram, Spotify, and your website ( get one if you don’t have one!).  Also, end your videos with explicit calls-to-action for viewers to leave a comment. Anything that will provoke further engagement among viewers is key.

Keep it Consistent

Whether you’re covering famous music festivals or local events like Arts Beats and Eats 2025, choosing a day and time of the week to consistently upload content will more likely gain you a consistent fan base. Followers and fellow artists from your community are more invested in you if they can rely on you to stick to an upload schedule. You’ve most likely spent a lot of time developing your band or music to fit a certain style. You want the feelings fans associate with that style to transfer over into your YouTube page. Work on developing your page to mirror your music. This could mean creating a layout with video thumbnails and color schemes that match that of your album artwork.

No Returns Without Tags

The tags you choose to represent your videos with will be your first line of attack in ranking among the ocean of YouTube videos. You want to cast a wide net but you also want to be casting it in the right place. Tags are the primary source that YouTube algorithm’s use to place your video.

Your first tag should match the keyword you have chosen to represent your video and should also be included in the video title. If the video in question is your “Music Vlog at the Hollywood Bowl,”  than an appropriate first keyword might be “Hollywood Bowl or “Music Vlog.” For your next view tags, use variations of that keyword. Perhaps “Gig Vlog,” “Vlog,” or “Hollywood Music.” For your final few tags, use general terms that encapsulate the big picture of your video: “live music” or “LA music scene.” For festival coverage, consider tags like “biggest festivals in America“, “EDM Houston“, or “festivals in the United States“ to capture broader searches.

Another way to get your tags working for you is by using the same ones as other popular videos that are similar to your’s. Websites like TubeBuddy and vidIQ allow you to quickly check the tags of high ranking videos allowing you to slap on the same tags for a chance to show up beside them in a search.

 

Keep it Short Lengthy

This isn’t Twitter folks. 140 characters isn’t excessive. In fact, research has shown that writing longer descriptions for your videos actually helps your ranking. 100-200 word descriptions work well, especially when covering topics like RFID wristbands at festivals or streaming vs cable music consumption. This is because the more specific you are, the more YouTube bots have to work with when sorting you for organic searches.

By the same logic, longer videos, usually 8-15 minutes long, rank better. Just by making longer content you are quickly increasing the chances that your video will get more watch time. So if you’re wondering how to turn that 3 and a half minute music video you’re premiering into ideal-length content, get creative. Add bonus content to the ends of your music videos; a behind-the-scenes feature or heartfelt message from you and your band to your followers serves two purposes. It gets that run-time up closer to the sweet spot and it humanizes you and your content, giving fans a connection to you and your band that would otherwise be lost in cut-and-dry music video.

Co-Market

Make this Space a HomeMany YouTubers rely on one another to promote their own channels. Teaming up with other artists, collaborating, or guest appearing in each others’ videos is mutually beneficial when both parties exchange niches of fans and followers. Websites like youbloomConnect make this co-marketing simple by matching you with compatible artists that suit your style and are based nearby. This makes collaboration seamless and if you end up finding a good match, youbloomConnect will even help you to set up gigs with the other artists. Check out our Connect Guide to learn more about everything youbloomConnect can do for artists.

Finally, you want your channel to be more than a glorified playlist; that’s what Spotify is for. YouTube is the perfect platform to show your followers the minds behind the music and to establish a personal connection with subscribers. Feeling a relationship with a YouTuber promises a much higher return rate of loyal viewers between uploads. This can’t be done with a music video alone. Create band interviews, behind-the-scenes gig vlogs, or an informational video. And don’t forget to end each video with some specific call out to your viewers: “Leave a comment about your favorite part of that gig, what band we should collaborate with next,” etc.

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.

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

Making Money Online From Your Music

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Zac Green shares 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.

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/

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

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.

 

 

Live Shows; Fans Can Be Hosts Too

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applause and raised hands at concert. Nightclub life

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Imagine this. You go to live shows. You identify as a fan. Therefore, you go to all the local concerts, shows, 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! Here’s how fans can be hosts too 🙂

 will 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 Show

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.  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.