From staging online and offline concerts and tours to music sales and facilitating direct interaction with fans, the artist-driven music interaction network show4me.com is working to help musicians and music professionals develop their music business.
Live performances streamed online are not just a route around the lockdown, they offer an opportunity for artists to make a lasting and loyal connection with fans.
Obviously, the implications of the Covid-19 outbreak for live shows and festivals have made many musicians and their representatives re-examine the potential of sets streamed via social networks, but they need not be just a sticky plaster until everyone is allowed to go out of their houses again. With the right platform and digital infrastructure behind them, these virtual gigs can speak to fanbases in a manner not always possible at the end of a sweaty night with everyone dashing for the last train home.
Show4me says ticketed online gigs are the future. They offer ticketed online show functionality on the platform and believe it can help musicians, venues, and show promoters make up for at least part of the lost profits (and an additional point of monetisation in the future).
In a moment where online performances are popping up everywhere, ticketed online shows stand out as an effective tool for online music monetisation.
A well-prepared and marketed online show has the potential to become a streamlined professional experience on Show4me, as the network is designed to cater to music professionals and fans specifically. Its online shows have a built-in ticketing system that allows fans to buy tickets both before and during the show, and show organisers can create ticket tiers or packs to increase show value.
We are talking package deals like admission + merch, admission + tutoring session, remote-DJing a party, or, if the artist has the imagination and desire, something more unique and experiential.
After the show, the organiser – be it artist management, concert promoter, or a venue – can explore the show stats in their profile. This helps assess strong and weak points of show organisation and helps plan for future events.
But what about live shows? Show4me actually offers functionality to pre-sell tickets to live events, like concerts or tours, without a set date.
The network’s feature of concert crowdfunding with an open date allows you to finance an event in advance and have the funds ready the moment it’s safe to hold a show again. This model has been successfully used by Show4me users for several years now and is an excellent tool to use in the current situation. Using concert crowdfunding functionality, you can meet your show budget even before you book a venue.
Show4me makes it possible to put together not just individual shows, but festivals and tours. Multiple gigs and tours can be planned and launched through Show4me, as the network allows demand to be identified and quantified while raising revenue and facilitating ticket sales. To do that, the organiser starts a crowdfunding campaign for a show at each specific destination (or for each individual event format).
As the ticket presale begins before a show goes into production, the organiser can gauge how fan demand for tickets measures up against the budget needed. Goodbye, empty seats, and hello, new towns and formats!
Live show format on Show4me is supplemented with a ticket scanner app. This allows for easy at-the-door admission, as well as tracking all the attendance stats, helping plan future events.
Once the show is over, music monetisation and fan interaction capabilities on Show4me allow for further fan interaction and engagement.
Each artist using Show4me starts with an artist club – their own corner of the network where they present their brand, music, portfolio, interact with fans and set up shows and crowdfunding campaigns for their music and concerts.
Free to create, the space helps each musician have a continued conversation with their fans and supporters that does not stop after a particular event, or even once the lockdown ends.
Fans can choose to subscribe to any individual artist club on Show4me either for free, or for $1/year (the latter allows for a reliable annual income for the artist and their team). This paid fan subscription opens up all of the artist’s music to the fan to listen to for a year, as well as direct messaging with the artist.
Additionally, in their Show4me artist club, musicians get the opportunity to sell their music, build their fanbase, raise funds for shows and upcoming album releases. Whether it’s generating funds for an upcoming show or an album recording and release, Show4me has the functionality to support that.
To help alleviate losses experienced now by the majority of the players in the music industry, Show4me is forgoing all of its fees until June 7, 2020.
Final thoughts
When online shows started out as a way for musicians to entertain themselves and their audience for a week or two of quarantine, they did not feel like much more than an afterthought to one’s music career. But with the lockdowns extending and the necessity of social distancing for the foreseeable future becoming more clear, the need for paid show options as well as more online music monetisation opportunities in the music community is growing.
Will Show4me with its ticketed online shows, artist clubs, fan subscriptions, and all the music monetisation points be the answer? Let the time tell. Show4me believes both online shows and open date events are here to stay, so why not try them out and start planning your show today.
Photo: Elijah O'Donnell on Unsplash
