Industry news & advice blog

The Unsigned Guide have teamed up with crowdfunding initiative Rocket Fuel and are looking for 5 dedicated artists who are eager to take their careers to the next level.

Through Rocket Fuel and Sound Consultancy, artists will be offered the following*

• Creative Development Mentoring from A&R reps who’ve landed independent acts on national radio in 2014

• Profile Development Mentoring from a team who’ve landed unsigned artists on tours in-front of over 300,000 people in the past 2 years

• Business Development Mentoring from experts who’ve raised £100,000 for independent artists through innovating business models 

• A free profile at rocketfuelhq.com where artists have funded tours, albums, equipment purchase and music videos

In partnership with The Unsigned Guide, Rocket Fuel are also offering five artists the chance to start their Rocket Fuel mission free of charge. To be considered for this unique opportunity, head over to the website here to fill out an enquiry form, including links to your music and 100 words about why you feel you should be considered.

The Unsigned Guide will follow the progress of the artists as they work with Sound Consultancy and Rocket Fuel with ongoing features throughout 2015. 

*There is no fee to enter. Mentoring sessions will be done at Sound Consultancy’s offices in South Yorkshire & Gloucestershire or remotely. Artists will not have to assign any rights to parties involved. Rocket Fuel T&C’s apply with sign-up fee waived for 5 competition winners.

So what is Rocket Fuel anyway?
Crowd-funding is one of the biggest growth areas in the music industry at the moment.  It’s not news that musicians are often the last ones to get paid in the industry, so when the labels feel the squeeze, the artists receive even less. Turning to fans to finance albums, tours, merchandise and (probably) rounds of drinks for their road crew is proving a remarkable success for artists. Thousands of albums have been paid for in this manner already, and the number of platforms available for their use has multiplied too. So, in such a saturated market, can any platform really bring something new to the table?

The team behind Rocket Fuel certainly think so. Designed specifically for musicians and bands, the platform invites music lovers who visit the site to “Help your favourite artists take off,” whilst artists are provided with a ‘career-funding’ platform to galvanise (and monetise) their fanbase. Rocket Fuel offers artist three main avenues of income:

1. Traditional merchandise sales: Artists are encouraged to sell limited, unique or hand-made merchandise.

2. Regular monthly support: Rocket Fuel allows fans to donate a regular monthly amount. This allows the artists to build up a sustainable career via a series of Goals - rather than simply funding an individual project. 

3. One-off donations.

The Rocket Fuel team will also work closely with all the artists involved, providing help with the content of their campaign and assisting them in planning effectively for their future careers. They can also access the expertise of their partner company, Sound Consultancy, who have been providing artist development services over the past five years. 

In the search for where the music industry is headed, on paper it looks very likely that it will have fan-funding at its heart. It’s a win-win situation - the fans get closer and better access to the music they love and discover… and the artist can plan ahead and retain all creative control over their career. 

www.rocketfuelhq.com

Next month we will take a closer look at some of the artists utilising Rocket Fuel and question how well it works in practise…