The world, you have concluded, can be a significantly better place if it have been listening to the songs and attending the performances of your favourite lesser-known indie band.
Whether or not you discovered this favourite musical act on a curated Spotify playlist or received hooked when serendipity put you close to their stage at a music competition, you wish to share these golden hooks and candy vocals with the entire world. These are your jams. You’re a fan.
However with the music business upended in the previous couple of many years by the rise of MP3s and streaming, the pandemic shutdown of touring and live music, and now a future that would embrace AI-generated tunes, many musicians are struggling to make a residing. The pennies they earn from streaming companies mixed with live-gig ticket income, merchandise gross sales, and doable promotional offers might barely cowl bills.
That is the place the fandom is available in. Those that actually need the acts they like to succeed have numerous methods to point out assist and be sure that the music continues and people creating it receives a commission. This is how one can be a greater fan.
Easy methods to Assist Musicians in Particular person
The obvious manner to assist musicians is by shopping for their music, shopping for tickets to attend their reveals, and paying for official merchandise.
However there’s some nuance to spending these {dollars}. For example, if you wish to purchase posters, T-shirts, and vinyl albums for a musician, the most effective place to try this is immediately, at a reside present, the place the artists could possibly pocket as a lot as 100% of merch desk gross sales.
That is preferable to purchasing from, say, Amazon, and even the band’s personal web site, the place transport and different charges may apply, or printing and manufacturing prices might take a chew out of the underside line (for them and for you). The price of shopping for at a present could be greater, however it’s more likely these {dollars} will go to the musician, not the retailers and transport corporations.
And should you purchase a T-shirt or hoodie, clearly, carrying it in public can elevate consciousness of the musician; it is free promoting for the artist.
Artists make a lot much less cash from music gross sales than they used to, however shopping for vinyl albums or CDs at a present nonetheless makes a distinction. You’ll be able to stream your favourite artist all you need (we’ll discuss that in a bit), however buying bodily media is an efficient approach to put cash of their pocket.
Some bands may also have a donation or tip jar on their web site or might supply crowdfunding campaigns for brand spanking new albums or excursions.
Easy methods to Assist Artists On-line
David Lowe, who performs as LUCKYKAT, has a great list of ways followers can assist musicians, a few of them at no cost. Amongst his strategies are following artists on social media, tuning in to livestreams they might be doing on Twitch or different video companies, signing up for his or her mailing lists, fan golf equipment, or newsletters, and sharing and commenting on their songs and posts. The latter few of these can assist enhance the artist’s publicity and encourage more and more algorithmic social networks to point out their content material to different customers.
Streaming an act’s songs on companies like Spotify and Apple Music might generate solely a fraction of a fraction of a penny, however these streams do add up. It might only be a few hundred dollars for an act with an lively fan base, however that is not nothing. So even should you personal their vinyl album and play it religiously, maintain these digital streams going, particularly if you’re on the go. Write opinions or submit optimistic feedback in locations the place that is an possibility, comparable to on YouTube or SoundCloud.
