Music Community Needs Help

[RickDanko]

A number of years ago I started a community for musicians designed to help us all more easily network with, learn from, support and inspire each other. I started it just as a Facebook page called Musicians Unite. Fast forward to now and we currently have over half a million followers of our Facebook page, an active Facebook private group of over 20,000 and a brand new website that allows members to custom build their own profile sites to network and market their music careers.

My issue now is I really don’t know the next steps to take. I don’t have the money to hire someone for the full blown marketing campaign this seems it needs to really get off the ground. We make a small amount from Adsense and affiliate marketing, that’s it. As a musician myself I feel our website and subsequent community it would create would be a huge help to musicians but only if a lot of people sign up and use it. Thoughts from anyone out there with suggestions as to what to do now and where we could take things are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

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[VentureVoyager]

Hey man, that's interesting. I'm a hobbyist music producer, recording my first electronica LP now.
I would love to make some income or full time living from music, but I honestly don't know much about music marketing.

I bought this guys course and still didn't have time to watch it:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ow5z1_LV40


Anyway, he has some good ideas I guess and a pretty big following, you could try contacting him.

 

[RickDanko]

Hey man, that's interesting. I'm a hobbyist music producer, recording my first electronica LP now.
I would love to make some income or full time living from music, but I honestly don't know much about music marketing.

I bought this guys course and still didn't have time to watch it:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ow5z1_LV40


Anyway, he has some good ideas I guess and a pretty big following, you could try contacting him.

Thanks for sharing, interesting video, much appreciated. We aren’t marketing music but trying to get musicians onto our website to use it. Though some of the concepts certainly do apply. Thanks again!

 

[Johnny boy]

"Hey I've got 20,000 people who all want one thing and are desperate to make it happen and are likely willing to do anything to improve their odds of success, what do I do?"

Sell em something that helps them get to their goals. A course, coaching, etc. But you gotta sell them something. Hell, just try to become their manager or something. You caught the fish in the barrel, now it's time to start shooting. The more you can help the more money you can make.

 

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[StrikingViper69]

You might want to be careful using "MU" as an abbreviation, the Musicians Union in the UK uses that.

What are the benefits of your site? All I can see is that I should sign up to make a profile, but why? It would be helpful to have "the why" / benefits somewhere on your website.

 

[Private Witt]

I'm a music event promoter and if I could geo-target artist I would use your service and pay a fee. But than again this exists so need to differentiate and offer mass value. Local artist are known for dumbbaggery and immense ego and need help. Johnny Boy hit in on the head and offer a course or something to help them be successful and stop being egotistical drones like most musicians.

Lesson One - You are not as awesome as you think.

Lesson Two - Okay maybe you have a little talent but FFS answer your messages and communicate, there are a zillion other choices and promoters will just go to the next while you bask in your own glory.

Lesson Three - Rappers, fasho is not a word.

 

[RickDanko]

"Hey I've got 20,000 people who all want one thing and are desperate to make it happen and are likely willing to do anything to improve their odds of success, what do I do?"

Sell em something that helps them get to their goals. A course, coaching, etc. But you gotta sell them something. Hell, just try to become their manager or something. You caught the fish in the barrel, now it's time to start shooting. The more you can help the more money you can make.

View attachment 40270

Truth! Working on that angle for sure, thank you!

 

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[RickDanko]

You might want to be careful using "MU" as an abbreviation, the Musicians Union in the UK uses that.

What are the benefits of your site? All I can see is that I should sign up to make a profile, but why? It would be helpful to have "the why" / benefits somewhere on your website.

The community is worldwide but right now our website is just US only, and all these years we’ve had no issues with using MU. Our registration page on our site has a number of bullet points as to the benefits of registering.

 

[Deleted85763]

A number of years ago I started a community for musicians designed to help us all more easily network with, learn from, support and inspire each other. I started it just as a Facebook page called Musicians Unite. Fast forward to now and we currently have over half a million followers of our Facebook page, an active Facebook private group of over 20,000 and a brand new website that allows members to custom build their own profile sites to network and market their music careers.

My issue now is I really don’t know the next steps to take. I don’t have the money to hire someone for the full blown marketing campaign this seems it needs to really get off the ground. We make a small amount from Adsense and affiliate marketing, that’s it. As a musician myself I feel our website and subsequent community it would create would be a huge help to musicians but only if a lot of people sign up and use it. Thoughts from anyone out there with suggestions as to what to do now and where we could take things are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

You don't need money; in fact it's in your interest to not have money. This will force you to do the right things. You need to simply provide value that someone will pay for. It could be as simple as selling comprehensive lists of venues where people can play their music to the public. Or being a middleman between the musicians and venues. Or a middleman between managers and musicians. Think of something where everyone wins.

 

[RickDanko]

You don't need money; in fact it's in your interest to not have money. This will force you to do the right things. You need to simply provide value that someone will pay for. It could be as simple as selling comprehensive lists of venues where people can play their music to the public. Or being a middleman between the musicians and venues. Or a middleman between managers and musicians. Think of something where everyone wins.

Thanks for the ideas, much appreciated!

 

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[Ismail941]

20K Members are your Asset. Protect and Nurture them.

 

[RickDanko]

I'm a music event promoter and if I could geo-target artist I would use your service and pay a fee. But than again this exists so need to differentiate and offer mass value. Local artist are known for dumbbaggery and immense ego and need help. Johnny Boy hit in on the head and offer a course or something to help them be successful and stop being egotistical drones like most musicians.

Lesson One - You are not as awesome as you think.

Lesson Two - Okay maybe you have a little talent but FFS answer your messages and communicate, there are a zillion other choices and promoters will just go to the next while you bask in your own glory.

Lesson Three - Rappers, fasho is not a word.

Ha thanks yeah, yes our website would allow geo-targeting musicians, events, etc. The more people we have come on bored the more powerful this would become. And I get what you mean but musicians already have that kind of stuff jammed down their throats - pay me money and I'll tell you how to get better gigs, make more money, etc. I think they are oversaturated with that I have no interest in giving them more of that crap either.

 

[RickDanko]

20K Members are your Asset. Protect and Nurture them.

Oh we do, our Facebook page and group are very active every single day. We add more followers and group members every day. That's not an issue to nurture those people, we've been growing our community of people for years.

 

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[Itizn]

First thing that came to mind was the musicians selling their respective talent to one another.

Idk anything about the music industry, but these days it's hard to find quality workers (whether just as labor or in desired skillets)

Maybe see who needs an audio engineer that specializes in certain software, or a rock band who is hiring a drummer with experience in a particular genre.

Eventually turning that audience you've built into the musical indeed. Will take iterations of course but you could probably test it with little upfront capital.

 

[RickDanko]

First thing that came to mind was the musicians selling their respective talent to one another.

Idk anything about the music industry, but these days it's hard to find quality workers (whether just as labor or in desired skillets)

Maybe see who needs an audio engineer that specializes in certain software, or a rock band who is hiring a drummer with experience in a particular genre.

Eventually turning that audience you've built into the musical indeed. Will take iterations of course but you could probably test it with little upfront capital.

Actually that's the whole idea. I'm a musician and got fed up with the poor services and set ups out there for musicians to connect with other musicians. So what we built, if people use it, is the most powerful searchable database out there for musicians to more easily find the right musicians or bands for them and their situation. No use finding a guitarist that wants to play one gig a month if your band does 15 shows a month. So we definitely fulfill a need, it's just getting the people to sign up and join up and start using it in that way that's the challenge. The site offers them value right away by giving them a great profile site to market themselves, but the other value of the site can't show up until lots more people are using it, so that's the biggest challenge.

 

[Deleted85763]

Actually that's the whole idea. I'm a musician and got fed up with the poor services and set ups out there for musicians to connect with other musicians. So what we built, if people use it, is the most powerful searchable database out there for musicians to more easily find the right musicians or bands for them and their situation. No use finding a guitarist that wants to play one gig a month if your band does 15 shows a month. So we definitely fulfill a need, it's just getting the people to sign up and join up and start using it in that way that's the challenge. The site offers them value right away by giving them a great profile site to market themselves, but the other value of the site can't show up until lots more people are using it, so that's the biggest challenge.

I know some musicians who are very competent, dedicated, fit and very flexible and would go on a national or international tour at a moments notice. So maybe find a way to match up professional, ready musicians with bands that need certain players for a tour, like an employment agency?

 

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[RickDanko]

I know some musicians who are very competent, dedicated, fit and very flexible and would go on a national or international tour at a moments notice. So maybe find a way to match up professional, ready musicians with bands that need certain players for a tour, like an employment agency?

That's the plan. Just need the musicians to sign up to start using the site in that way. That's the challenge.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Actually that's the whole idea. I'm a musician and got fed up with the poor services and set ups out there for musicians to connect with other musicians. So what we built, if people use it, is the most powerful searchable database out there for musicians to more easily find the right musicians or bands for them and their situation. No use finding a guitarist that wants to play one gig a month if your band does 15 shows a month. So we definitely fulfill a need, it's just getting the people to sign up and join up and start using it in that way that's the challenge. The site offers them value right away by giving them a great profile site to market themselves, but the other value of the site can't show up until lots more people are using it, so that's the biggest challenge.

I now understand what you're offering, which I didn't from reading your website.

Writing some more about the examples you just gave, and a few more, would help people understand the value of what you are offering.

 

[RickDanko]

I now understand what you're offering, which I didn't from reading your website.

Writing some more about the examples you just gave, and a few more, would help people understand the value of what you are offering.

Thanks, though all of these bullet points are laid out on our registration page which is the landing page we drive all of our traffic to: Register TODAY! - MusiciansUnite.com

 

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[Hadrian]

So what we built, if people use it, is the most powerful searchable database out there for musicians to more easily find the right musicians or bands for them and their situation.

I like it, a sort of Linked In for musicians.

I'm out of the scene a few years but before I was looking for an app or website where you could remotely record tracks with other musicians all over the world. I think there's a few out there now but I haven't tried them.

I was also prototyping an app for demo bands to advertise their music and gigs on but got diverted on other projects. I'd much rather pay money to hear local unsigned bands. Is this something you've considered?

Hadrian

 

[RickDanko]

I like it, a sort of Linked In for musicians.

I'm out of the scene a few years but before I was looking for an app or website where you could remotely record tracks with other musicians all over the world. I think there's a few out there now but I haven't tried them.

I was also prototyping an app for demo bands to advertise their music and gigs on but got diverted on other projects. I'd much rather pay money to hear local unsigned bands. Is this something you've considered?

Hadrian

Yes the remote recording thing is out there. And there are a number of online radio stations that promote local unsigned talent. A tall order to do that, but a number of places do it rather well. Our site allows musicians to showcase their audio and video and their shows as well. And it's geo-location based so anyone in your area will see the shows coming up in their location, so at a quick glance yet get to see all the different shows you can go to and all the different musicians in your area and what they're up to. Again this all hinges on a lot of people signing up and using the site in the way that it's intended. If they would, it would be a very powerful tool for all involved to promote and also network and connect.

 

[Hadrian]

Yes the remote recording thing is out there. And there are a number of online radio stations that promote local unsigned talent. A tall order to do that, but a number of places do it rather well. Our site allows musicians to showcase their audio and video and their shows as well. And it's geo-location based so anyone in your area will see the shows coming up in their location, so at a quick glance yet get to see all the different shows you can go to and all the different musicians in your area and what they're up to. Again this all hinges on a lot of people signing up and using the site in the way that it's intended. If they would, it would be a very powerful tool for all involved to promote and also network and connect.

Totally agree,

Personally I'd love to see an app version of this in my capital city of Dublin... but don't go down that route without checking out my App Developer thread as it can be a super expensive minefield!

Two UK Guys were on Dragons Den (Europe's Shark Tank) for this app: SONGHIVE - for people who love music
Might be worth looking into re. possible partnerships...

FYI its the least sexy idea of all but there's a big market here for hiring wedding/birthday bands...

 

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[RickDanko]

Totally agree,

Personally I'd love to see an app version of this in my capital city of Dublin... but don't go down that route without checking out my App Developer thread as it can be a super expensive minefield!

Two UK Guys were on Dragons Den (Europe's Shark Tank) for this app: SONGHIVE - for people who love music
Might be worth looking into re. possible partnerships...

FYI its the least sexy idea of all but there's a big market here for hiring wedding/birthday bands...

Thanks for the info. There's a big market for hiring all kinds of bands and musicians. And as a musician, you can't get hired until you have a solid group together, unless obviously you're doing solo gigs. So before you need a booking agent, light and sound engineers, etc. you need other musicians. Networking is so key and important for musicians, and our site allows musicians to start that connection online and then by seeing where they're gigging, setting up times to jam together etc. hopefully then allows them to take those connections to in person get togethers.