Time to Pivot, part 2: Adjusting Your Music Business Strategy

A big thank you goes to Gina Chavez, Cris Flores (LORO Management), Louie Carr (Own Path Media Group), Morgan Davis (Ovrld), and Reno Dudley (KeyzStreet Music) for sharing their expertise with us again for Part 2 of our Time to Pivot Series. We got some great insights from them, and you can read a few key takeaways below. Watch the full webinar here. 

Need to catch up? Check out Time to Pivot, Part 1.

On Live Streaming

• Make sure your stream looks and sounds professional. Lighting is important – we need to see you! Are you using multiple camera angles? Test your set-up with a dry run first. 
• Be ready to play as soon as you go live! People will decide whether or not they want to stick around within seconds of joining your stream. Please don’t make us watch you tune your 12-string by ear.
• If you want to interact with your audience, make sure you can read their comments from where you’re playing. 
• Don’t feel pressured to ‘go live’ every day, especially if you’re playing to the same audience each time (i.e. your own social media following). Consider cross-promoting with a venue or brand and going live from their page. This is a great time to build partnerships, so try to connect with an out-of-town venue you’d like to play someday. 
• Use Crossposting on Facebook to go live from multiple pages at once. 
• Host a Watch Party for your friends and family! It will reach more people than a regular share. You know, the algorithm.
• Do some research to find unique Facebook groups that fit your audience, and share your live streams there. Groups are typically based on interests and can be a great way to connect with people all over the world. A great place to start: “Quarantine Karaoke” (Note: Read each group’s rules before sharing – some have rules against self-promotion.)

On Creating in Quarantine

• Give yourself space to get through this. Take the pressure off yourself and simply enjoy the creative process. 
• Maintaining a healthy balance is so important. Create a comfortable workspace in your own home – give yourself some separation between productivity and creativity to maintain your own sanity. 
• Feeling a creative block? Dive into a good book, or try expressing yourself through a different medium (visual art, for example). Go back through old recordings with a fine-tooth comb and really pick it apart. What did you like? What would you change? 
• Focus on projects that might be seen as a ‘luxury’ during busy touring times – like an animated music video or songwriting collaborations (remotely, of course).

The Pitch for Twitch

• If your number one priority is getting paid, consider Twitch. People on Twitch are already accustomed to tipping, and Twitch gamifies the experience for them, making it fun for them to give you money. 
• Twitch is the wild west for artists right now. They want to expand outside of the video game industry, and musicians have an opportunity to explore what works best for them. 
• Twitch is personality-driven, so create content that shows who you. Host interviews, nerd out on guitar stuff, do make-up tutorials or freestyle. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a performance at all. 

Other Things You Can Do

• Group therapy: Connect with each other! Cabin fever is real, so make a point of talking to other artists and sharing new ideas.
• Set Google Alerts for yourself or your band so you know when you’re being written about. Share media articles where you are mentioned and add the best ones to your press page or EPK.
• Build media relationships. Take the risk and reach out – some people are more accessible right now. Think of writers as individuals rather than publications. Music journalists are non-monogamous; most of them write for multiple outlets. Don’t spam them with your weekly live stream e-blast, and do find a meaningful way to connect. And please, DON’T ignore the fact that we’re experiencing this pandemic.
• Submit to Bandcamp for a feature. Bandcamp is a stable company for independent releases, and they continue to review new music for their daily features blog.