How to use and abuse the web to start your music career
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Uniform Motion is an indie folk band that combines music with visual art. Formed in 2008, the band releases music along with comic books and illustrations, experimenting with different models of online distribution and fan engagement. While initial success is limited, the band's mailing list and social media following grows over time as they leverage crowdfunding, merchandise, and collaborative projects with fans. By 2012, their fan base has expanded significantly from their original 100 email addresses.
How to use and abuse the web to start your music career
- 1. Uniform Motion @uniformmotion
- 2. Andy, guitar-vocals Illustrated Indie-folk Renaud, illustrator Olivier, drums-keyboards
- 3. Uniform Motion is an indie folk band combining music with visual arts with Renaud on pencils, Olivier on drums and keyboards and Andy on guitar and vocals.
- 4. 2008: Uniform Motion Pictures 1 VIDEO 1 MP3 1 comicbook 2 / month
- 5. It all begins in 2008 with the launch of www.uniform-motion-pictures.com Andy & Renaud decide to collaborate on a project comprising music and comics. With the help of a f lmmaker, a recording i studio and a few musician friends, the team releases a video of a live performance, an interactive comic strip and an MP3 f le, i every 2 weeks.
- 6. Success!
- 7. The band wins a contest organized by Les Inrockuptibles, and plays its f rst i two gigs in Paris (Apple Expo, La Maroquinerie) before appearing on i>Télé (French News Channel) to discuss the novel approach
- 8. But where's the fan-base ?
- 9. You call selling less than a hundred albums a success? The band doesn't get discouraged and starts working on a new album and some new ideas.
- 10. bandcamp & tumblr Integration Collect email addresses
- 11. At the end of 2009, they integrate Bandcamp, a service that allows you sell CDs online with an immediate download of the album in many different digital formats, with the possibility of streaming the album in full. The band also starts spending more time on socials networks inviting people on the mailing list to join them on Twitter and Facebook and vice versa.
- 12. 2010: New website & album l Virtual Concert
- 13. 2010, Uniform Motion launches a new website and releases Life, their second album, along with poster packs (1 illustration for each song) and a Virtual Concert developed in Flash.
- 14. Success?
- 15. The band gets featured on drawn.ca, The Stranger, College Music Journal. Airplay on NME Radio, BBC 6music, byte.fm, and some pretty good reviews
- 16. But where's the fan-base ? Hi, I'm Bob and I live in Accrington.
- 17. OK, the band's still not hugely successful. But the mailing list is slowly growing, they know more about their fans, especially where they're from, and their facebook page is starting to liven up.
- 18. 2011: Crowdfunding -Pressing CDs Playbutton
- 19. 2011 : The band turns to crowdfunding. After recording their third album (incidentally in a sound engineering school to save money!) the band puts two songs online along with a video game and asks their fans to pre-order the record in order to help pay for Mastering and manufacturing costs
- 20. Flash Video Game
- 21. The game is pretty simple, you jump up and down trying to catch l f ying objects while listening to the song. A month later, they had enough pre- orders to pay for the first batch of CD's and PlayButtons.
- 23. Being active on social networks starts to pay off A fan leaves them a message on facebook asking if they will release the record on vinyl. So they improvise a funding campaign using Google Docs and Bandcamp for pre-orders.
- 24. Hurrah!!!
- 25. And 2 months later!
- 26. A little bit of virality doesn't hurt
- 27. Uniform Motion continues to document their adventures on their blog. After receiving a few questions from fans on how best to support the band, they wrote an article on what streaming, digital downloads a physical formats pay. The article was republished on Techdirt, Geek.com, Gizmodo, Digital Music News and Hypebot Later, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, Forbes, BBC Radio (even MTV) discussed the article or published excerpts. There were thousands of comments and lots of debates about Spotify.
- 28. So where's the fan-base ?
- 29. Well, the fan-base keeps growing and we know a lot more about them.
- 30. Some numbers Beg 2010 : 100 2010 : 230 albums - Email addresses 10 000 streams End 2011 : 1 250 2011 : 500 albums - email addresses 30 000 streams
- 32. In 2012, Uniform Motion continue their experiments by launching a collaborative video project where the fans can download a printable character from their last album (Little Knight) and take a photo or shoot a video with him. The band then edits a video using all the photos and video footage.
- 34. As kickstarter is only available to US bands, Uniform Motion sets up OneCityPerSecond.com using Ignition Deck, a wordpress plugin. The site allows the band to organize a concert in Sweden, 2 shows in Spain, and a 9 day tour of Germany
- 35. Selling Merch
- 36. The band is rather successful at the merch table and often doubles its revenues selling customized CD's and Vinyl. Renaud draws a unique picture on each CD and this has a sort of viral effect as people tend to show their drawing to their friends. The drawing session can sometimes last longer than the gig itself!
- 38. The band has also experimented with online concerts using Google+, and provides tutorials for fans who want to learn the songs. They're also running a sound donation campaign for their fourth album.
- 39. Thanks for listening ! andy@uniformmotion.net www.uniformmotion.net