As we’re all adjusting to the new landscape of the music industry, fans have been wondering how to best support their favourite band so that they are still able to receive enough financing or income to continue doing what they love; make music. 

With Spotify diminishing the artists value and income, and the decline of live music venues (in Australia anyway) due to enforcement of law, like noise restrictions; it’s hard for a musician to make playing music full time viable. 

While landscapes change as well as laws & restrictions, there are still ways for you, as a fan, to support your favourite artist in 2019. And as long as the artist has their act together and is pushing themselves to remain relevant and at forefront of their genre, then there are definitely ways for fans to contribute in one way or another. 

BUY MERCHANDISE

A great way to support your fave band is to buy merchandise that is available at their live shows, or online. 

No doubt your favourite musicians will have an online store of some sort where you can buy all sorts of merch like CD’s, T-shirts, Stickers, Flags, Hats, Vinyl records, cassettes and more! 

You can also buy MP3’s (or other formats) of music online – for example, if the band has a profile on BandCamp. 

The band has the ability to set a minimum price they want for a song, though a fan can pay more if they desire. So, this is another avenue where a fan can show the love and give back to the band. 

If the band is running their own online store then the proceeds will go directly to the band without any middle man taking a cut. This is a tremendous help to the band, and also builds their confidence. 

The band may also list their CD’s, cassettes, vinyl on CDBaby, which distributes the albums worldwide. And while CDBaby takes a cut from each sale, it’s still a legitimate way to purchase an album. 

If the band, for some reason, doesn’t have an online store or no albums on any other platform; you can always send them a message via Facebook or other social media channels to see if they have merchandise available to sell and arrange something that way. 

Buying merchandise is one of the best ways to support your favourite band as the money that is raised by sales will either go into funding more merchandise or help fund the next album or marketing campaign. 

GO TO LIVE SHOWS 

Going to a live show usually means you have to pay to get in, it could be $10 – it could $35, whatever the case, the money raised by ticket sales ends up going to the bands that are playing on the night. 

If there are more than 1 band playing, the door sales get split up between the bands. Sometimes it is split evenly between all acts, or it is divided up by giving the headlining a bigger percentage, then the second headliner, then the third band so on. 

By going to live shows it also proves to venues and agents that the band has a following and thus creates demand. When there is a demand for a band, they are able to charge a little more, or at least get more gigs at different venues to continue the momentum. 

The more live gigs a band plays, the more royalties they will get every year. If the band is registered (in AU) with APRA, there is a thing called Live Performance Returns (LPR). An artist will play a gig, then after the gig fill out the LPR form in their APRA dashboard stating all the original songs they played. At the end of the year APRA pays the artist in the form of royalties straight into their bank account. 

The more a band can play live, the more money the can earn. But they can only get gigs, and continue to gig, if people turn up to their shows. So, whenever you get the chance, go see your favourite band live! 

Bands also sell merch at gigs so it’s a great way to pick up a new t-shirt and support your band at the same time! 

BE AN ADVOCATE 

If you are a true fan, doing anything on social media to best promote or advocate your band always helps. 

By spreading the word of the band, gigs, video clips and new albums or singles, you act as a marketer and help new fans find the band. This will in turn create more opportunities for the band to sell merch and have more people turn up at gigs. 

Sharing the band name and their music on social media is free marketing for the band and is actually priceless as friends of friends will pay more attention to the content that has been shared as opposed to a paid ad that the band may have running. So, any chance to plug your favourite band on social media, do it, word of mouth pays! 

CROWDFUNDING 

This may also fall under the merch category but have included as a separate section nonetheless. 

Crowdfunding platforms like PledgeMusic and KickStarter give bands a chance to set a financial goal and have fans contribute certain amounts. There are different tiers at which fans are rewarded with different things like a signed album, or t-shirt, or a signed guitar; all dependant on the financial contribution of the fan. 

UPDATE: PledgeMusic experiencing issues.

This is a great way for fans to get their hands on new music early, or unique merch that wouldn’t be found online elsewhere or at live shows. The bands also get the money from these pledges to put towards a new album or video clip (or anything else); so, the crowdfunding definitely helps band out financially and is a viable option to support your band in 2019! 

CONCLUSION 

There are definitely ways for bands to make money in 2019, though they may be slightly different than the old days. 

The most effective ways for bands to make money is for fans to buy their physical albums and merchandise from the band’s official channels/website; and also, by purchasing tickets to see them at live shows. 

If everyone does their part, the music industry will start to flourish and help the bands who deserve to be heard. 

Go forth and be a hardcore fan in 2019 so your favourite band doesn’t fade into oblivion.