Stephanie G. Mathis The situation surrounding the coronavirus is constantly changing, even by the minute. SXSW, as well as many other conferences and festivals, were canceled. Thousands of live events were then postponed until March.
The CDC recommends that, as of March 15, all events with more than 50 attendees be canceled or postponed over the next eight weeks. This will have a major impact on smaller venues, bars, and clubs, which are essential for bands and performers to earn income.
Ask for help via your email list or social media.
Some music lovers have the misconception that all musicians live lavish lifestyles. This is not true for most artists, who depend on gigs to pay the bills.
Do not assume that your fans are aware that you require support. It’s not a problem to let them know that this could be a financial crisis. Use the online tools available to let them know that you are in dire need of their help.
Send an email blast with specific steps your fans can follow to support you. Remember that Bandzoogle users have a mailing list built into their account. It’s also a good idea to use social media for the same purpose. Ask your fans to help spread the word by sharing your posts.
Here’s a list of ways that fans can support musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Purchase your favorite music.
Let your fans know if you sell music, either digitally or on CDs. They might buy your music even if they stream music.
Tell them that while playlists and streams are wonderful, the revenue from streaming is measured in pennies. It takes time for this to add up to something meaningful. Directly buying your music will put more money in your wallet when you need it most.
Where can you sell your music online to maximize revenue?
Bandzoogle: If you own a website with Bandzoogle, you can sell music for sale. The money is transferred directly from the fan account to the artist’s account. Only the PayPal or Stripe processing fees are deducted.
CD Baby’s Retail Store takes 9% from digital sales and $4 from CD sales. Please note that CD Baby will be closing its retail store at the end of March.
Bandcamp: You can create a free account, but they retain *15% on sales.
iTunes. Amazon. Google. These online stores take a higher percentage from music sales. iTunes takes 30%. However, they may be more comfortable for your fans if they are already familiar with these stores.
Pay what you want
You can use “pay what you want” pricing when selling music through Bandzoogle Bandcamp. Instead of selling albums or individual tracks at $10 each, you could set a minimum and let your fans know they can pay whatever they like for your music.
It’s a good way to encourage fans to buy your music. You can only get so much when you set your price. When you allow fans to choose more, you can make more money, especially if you let them know you need their help.
Purchase your merchandise
Do you have any band merchandise in stock? Tell your fans that buying a hat, T-shirt, or poster would be a great way to help. Bandzoogle allows you to sell merchandise directly from your website. You can also sell merchandise through Bandcamp.
Note: You might want to let your fans know that shipping will be delayed due to the pandemic. However, you’ll have everything shipped out as soon as things are under control.
Pre-ordering your album
Pre-orders are a great way to get people excited about your new music. You can still set up pre-orders even if you haven’t mapped out all the tracks. You can create artwork for the album. Be honest with the release date of the new music and why you are launching a pre-order campaign early.
Contribute to Your Crowdfunding Campaign
If you want to Crowdfundingpre-order strategy even further, consider creating Crowdfundingching, a crowdfunding campaign. You can also offer your fans deluxe packages or rewards in addition to your music.
Bandzoogle allows you to create a campaign for your music and receive all revenue without any commission. You can also use generic crowdfunding platforms such as Indieccrowdfundingstarter . However, you will need to consider the percentage that they take from your money (5% plus processing fees).
Join your Online Fan Club
A monthly fan club, where fans pay a fee to access your music and receive exclusive rewards in return, is a fantastic way to keep fans engaged. You can create subscriptions for your fans directly on Bandzoogle, and the revenue is commission-free.
You can find some resources below to help you set up your fan club:
How you can sell subscriptions to your music website
71 ways of rewarding your music fans
You can remind your fans of the rewards that you offer and encourage them to become patrons if you already use a service such as Patreon.
Donate through your website.
In normal circumstances, we would advise musicians to set up a crowdfunding or pre-order campaign,crowdfundinggfans more context and options for sharing. However, in these circumstances, adding a button to your homepage is a good idea.
Include a note about canceled gigs and the fact that you won’t likely be able to play any gigs in the coming months. Don’t forget to tell them that any donation helps.
You can sell music, merchandise, and tickets, collect donations directly, create pledges for crowdfunding, and create crowdfunding via your website. All of this is done without commission. Bandzoogle offers a free 30-day trial to create a music website.
Live stream concerts
Many musicians have started streaming live shows from their homes or rehearsal rooms due to the cancellation of tours and the closure of local venues. You could use Facebook Live and Instagram Live to ask fans to donate through Venmo or PayPal.
YouTube Live lets you broadcast for free. However, their Terms of Service appear to indicate that it is against the law to sell or monetize live streams outside YouTube. Please leave a comment if you have any more information.
StageIt can be a good choice if your goal is to sell tickets during your show and accept tips. They recently announced that they are increasing artist payouts from 60% to 80%.
If you are interested in live streaming of shows, rehearsals, and songwriting sessions, as well as Q&As or other events, consider Twitch. These live streams can be made profitable through subscriptions, tips/donations, and even sponsorships.
