Dear Fellow Independent Artists,
Like yourselves I have been making independent efforts to promote my art over the internet. And the more successful I've been at growing an online fan base the more blogging commitments I seem to have created for myself. And while I accept this as a necessity of self promotion, I did not foresee meeting so many other great independent artists online, and have since been searching for a cross promotional tool that would allow me to promote ALL of us WITHOUT me becoming a full time blogger. And at last I have come up with a medium that I think might just do the trick!
I call it: "Independently United" the News, Tips and Tools Video Resource for Independent Artists and their Online Fanbases.
What it is: is a Youtube channel that will feature a News Segment the first Friday of each Month pointing out new online releases and accomplishment of associated artists. Furthermore there will be tip and tool segments released throughout the month.
I've done a basic mock up to give you an idea here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFB0iYIpLok&list=PLRhEDV63mmwebb9e12pL7YgTR872vjm8Q
It has also been suggested that each month should have a theme to which affiliated artists can contribute material to the broadcast. I really love this idea because it allows for everyone to represent themselves as the wonderful individuals that we are and doesn't create any more work for me, because I'd just have to upload the file.
A good example of a Monthly Theme Might be "Why do you make Music/Sculptures/Films/(whatever applies to you). So what I would like from anyone Artist in that scenario is a 1-5 min video or audio recording (if audio please include pictures to accompany the audio clip - photo's of yourself - photos of your work if you're a visual artist, that's up to you) in which you answer why you do what you do. Whether you'd like to share personal reasons, or attack the question from a philosophical angle, is totally up to you, I don't want to pigeon hole anyone: just be your wonderful unique interpretive selves. That being said the first month should probably just be an introduction to the channel and the Artists involved. So For the First "News Cast" scheduled for Feb 7ths what I would want is a 1-5 Min clip introducing yourself.
What's the Point of All This?: The point is that we all share it with our fan bases and so our collective exposure grows. Also, by devoting the time to respond to the month's theme via a 5 min webcam video, or even just a voice recording, and sending me updates you'd like to have included in the news you have something new to share with your online audience. Keep them interested while you labour over your next release.
I'm trying to keep the numbers of affiliated artists rather low, (we'll start with 10-12 this year) because 1) I'm trying to offer something intimate for the Fans and 2) I feel once you put 100 Muscians together things often become more competitive than productive, and 3) Cross promotion works best on a small scale ( there's only so many other artists people will sit through to get to the one they're already interested in).
Also I'd like the group to be as diverse as possible. So far we have a Painter, A Percussionist/Producer, two singer songwriters, and and Indie Rock Band committed to Independently United and I feel confident I will have the rest of the spots filled in the next week. I'm just proceeding on a one by one basis - for example I'm going to reach out to a few actors before sending out any further Musician or Painter invites, and I'd like to diversify to at least one more field like dance or film. The way I see it, there's actually a much greater chance of the cross exposure drawing in more fans for each of us individually, by diversifying into different types of art, than by attempting to be really big. Because someone who's very interested in visual art will still respond to music, and may very well be more likely to become interested in a musician they come across while following one of their favourite painters than them becoming fans of other painters that happened to be in the same program than their favourite artist.
We've already got a good representation of independent musicians but could definitely use more visually oriented artists, as well as individuals working in performance such as actors and dancers.
In either case, thank you for your interest,
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
gummygunk
janainaart
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
