This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free. One of the best ways for emerging bands to gain new fans is to be exposed to another band’s audience. Especially if you have similar target markets, fans are more likely to trust a recommendation coming from a band they already know and like. Here are some ideas on how you can collaborate with other artists and bands to grow your fan base:
21 Ways to Collaborate with Other Artists & Bands to Get More Fans
Collaborate on Live Shows
Likely the easiest and most common way to collaborate with other bands is to play gigs together. Here are a few different ways to collaborate on gigs: 1. Gig Swap This is of course a no-brainer. Find other like-minded bands whose musical style either compliments you, or even better, that would make for an interesting combination, giving fans of both bands a unique experience. You can open for each other at different shows, and this will work especially well if the other band is based in a different (but nearby) city. You can do gig swaps to help each other break into new markets. 2. Festival gigs If you’re playing a festival and there is an artist or members of a band that you want to collaborate with, why not create a special environment at your festival gig by collaborating on a song or two? I’ve seen artists collaborate on festival stages big and small, and it usually makes for a buzz-worthy performance that gets people talking. 3. Conference showcases Same idea as with festivals, but if you manage to get a showcase at a music conference, why not bring in another artist to collaborate on a song? Just be sure to have rehearsed it live before showcasing. 4. Tours Take the concept of playing live with another band even further and book a tour together. It could be just a weekend tour of a few cities close to home, or a full-out regional/national tour.Collaborate on Recordings
For your next album, try and think of some like-minded artists that you can collaborate with. Collaborating on recordings can be done in many different ways, here are a few to consider: 5. Guest performances The simplest thing you can do is perform on each other’s recordings (sing, play an instrument, DJ, rap, etc.). If you want to get the most bang for your buck, make sure that in the song title it actually lists the other artist “X Song Name (Featuring X Artist)”. 6. Co-write a song Next step would be to co-write with another artist. This will not only be great for the sake of collaboration, but might help with each of your songwriting abilities and open up some new ideas, which is never a bad thing. 7. Cover a song Why not cover a song by a fellow emerging band whose fan base would like your music? It’s a great way to flatter the band and also generate buzz for both of you. 8. Produce each other’s music An even more involved way to collaborate in the studio is to take turns producing each other’s songs. This can give each of you a new perspective on the songs you choose to produce for each other. Often emerging artists can’t afford to hire a producer, but having that objective ear can really help improve the songs. So if you have an opportunity to have a peer produce a song, it might be worthwhile to give it a try. 9. Remix songs Another great way to collaborate is to approach an artist to do a remix of one of your songs. You can even remix each other’s songs, or take it further and do remix albums of each other’s music. 10. Release an exclusive single/EP If you’ve collaborated with another band through guest appearances, songwriting, production, remixes, etc., why not release an exclusive digital single or EP through your website? Even better, couple that digital release with the release of a limited edition vinyl: Vinyl sales already up 41% on the yearCollaborate Using Video
There are also lots of possibilities to use video for collaborations: 11. Official music videos If you’ve guested on a song, or co-written a song together, collaborating on an official music video is also a no-brainer. 12. Live videos If you’ve collaborated with another band live on stage, be sure to get some footage of it for both bands to use to promote to their fans. 13. Cover song videos Even if you haven’t covered the band’s song on your album, you can still release videos covering songs of fellow emerging bands that you want to collaborate with. Chances are that both of your fan bases will get a kick out of this. 14. Videos from the Studio If you’re doing any kind of collaboration in the studio, be sure to get some footage of it to release on your website/YouTube, etc. Remember, when you’re in the studio, don’t shut out your fans. 15. Live streaming video Why not use live streaming video while in studio, at a live gig, or even after a gig to chat with fans of both bands?Collaborate Using Your Website
Don’t forget to use your website to help in your collaboration with other bands. Here are some of the ways to drive people to your website: 16. On Your Blog It can be as simple as blogging about the other band. You can:- Talk about why you like their music
- Do a review their album
- Interview the band
Collaborate Using Social Media
And last but not least, probably the quickest way to collaborate with other bands and help each other out is to use social media. You can: 18. Exchange Tweets Tweet praise about each other and encourage your fans to follow each other’s band. 19. Host a Twitter Chat Why not organize a Twitter chat session for fans of both bands so you can chat with each other’s fans. What’s a Twitter chat? Here’s a great article that explains what it is and how to set one up: http://mashable.com/2009/12/08/twitter-chat/ 20. Use Facebook status updates You can each talk about why you like the other band and be sure to link to each other’s fan page. 21. Post a Facebook Note Create a Facebook note talking about the other band, just be sure to tag the other band in the note as Madalyn Sklar pointed out in her guest blog about Facebook Notes here on Bandzoogle. Note: And it goes without saying, use social media to drive fans to your website to view your blog posts, video blogs, live video and other exclusive content on your website. The bottom line is that the more emerging artists join forces to help each other out through collaborations, the more buzz it will generate, which will no doubt result in more fans for each band.Rappers do it best
The amount of collaborations and guest appearances that happen in hip hop eclipse’s other genres. As discussed in a Digital Music News Article “The Top 8 Reasons Why Rappers Make Better Businessmen…”, guest appearances help amplify your music to new audiences, and rappers use this tactic often and to great effect. Making the news these days is the high-profile collaboration between Kanye West and Jay-Z called “Watch the Throne”. But I’ll end this post with a more old-school example. Here’s a video of one of the most famous collaborations that crossed over genres and garnered both groups increased sales, awards, and arguably spawned a new genre of music:P.S.- A Shout-out In the world of music blogging, with so many blogs and writers out there, the chances of overlap are great. Case in point, this blog post was in the can and scheduled to go up a few week ago, but with a back-log of content, we delayed publishing it until this week. Well, ironically, David Hooper over at Music Marketing [dot] com posted a blog recently called “5 Ways to Collaborate (or Partner) with Other Bands”. And although there are of course some similarities, there are a few ways to collaborate with other bands that didn’t make it onto my list, so head on over there if you’re looking for a few other ways to collaborate with bands.
Question: In what creative ways have you collaborated with other artists or bands? Please leave us your comments below.