How to Support Local Musicians

According to Digital Music News, 2019 revenue for streaming music on the popular platform, Spotify, still doesn't do much good for us, musicians.  We LOVE that you're taking the time to listen to our music, but there are some alternate ways to actually support your local musicians and artists.  

 

How you can actually support local musicians:

 

  • Buy the merch at the show!
    • Did you know...
      • This is the best way to directly support a musician?  Buy the physical CDs, buy the shirts, the koozies, the $1 stickers.  Plus...who doesn't like cool band swag?  ​​​​​​​
         
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Tip the band
    • ​​​​​​​Did you know...
      • This is the second best way to support your local musicians?  The only downside is that you're not going home with the music or shirt to remember us by or to show off to your friends.

 

  • Go to the shows and pay the cover
    • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Did you know... 
      • Some venues have overhead or production fees?  You might be handing them $10 at the door, but a portion of that might be going to the venue or the sound man before it even gets to the musicians 
      • Door covers are often split between perfomers.  If you show up to see your best friend, Joe, wail on the guitar, that $10 is probably being split between Joe, John, Jeffrey, and Jack 
    • Paying to hear live music isn't just paying for the time you're actually hearing the music.  You're supporting a musician who has spent hours on their craft, hours rehearsing with others, hours arranging, hours booking and coordinating.  You're paying for the venue to provide a door man, a sound man, possibly extra staff like bartenders as well.   
       
  • Buy digital albums directly from the artist
    • ​​​​​​​Did you know...
      • ​​​​​​​Streaming platforms are accessible and convenient, but artists get paid very little?  I mean, we're talking fractions of a penny.  Can you imagine walking up to a street performer and tossing 1/10 of a penny in their guitar case?  Streaming music isn't the worst thing in the world, but the reality is that it does very little to help us continue making music.
    • Instead, ask the artist if there is a way to purchase the digital album aside from a streaming platform like iTunes or Spotify.
       
  • Share on Social Media
    • ​​​​​​​Did you know...
      • ​​​​​​​Facebook Pages  (where most bands post updates for shows, releases, and tour), don't get as much visibility in algorithms as personal profiles?  This makes it very hard for us to promote really cool things that are happening that our fans genuinely want to know.
    • Sharing posts on social media helps us out more than you know.  There are many factors that impact social media algorithms, but the concept is simple: If people like something, they will share it.  If Facebook sees a post being shared by many people in a short period of time, Facebook will be more inclined to feature that post on other people's news feeds.  One of the most disappointing things is to spend a month promoting a show and posting every day, only to run into folks afterwards and hear them say, "I had no idea you were playing a show!  I never saw anything online about it..." (Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg...)
       

At the end of the day, we love what we do.  Being able to create and perform music is an incredibly special thing.  Being able to share that is even more special.  We appreciate the streams, we appreciate you showing up even if you're on a guest list, we appreciate the downloads on iTunes.  We appreciate all of it.  Just know that if you really want to show your local musicians that you support them and want them to keep making music, there are better ways to do it.

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