Guest Post Highlight: More bands are leveraging mobile experiences to drive awareness for and engagement with fans. Wheng will share her thoughts regarding the emerging fan touchpoint, and will also share one example of a way to build your own band mobile app presence for free. Take it away, Wheng…
Let’s face it, pursuing a music career is one of the last professions today where a self-directing individual can be left to his or her own devices. As proof, take a look at these bands and what they’ve achieved so far. Whether it’s Foo Fighters or Queens of the Stone Age, Teenage Fanclub or Radiohead, Twin Sister or OK Go, the single variable that defines any musician is how they built careers on their own terms. That’s the way it is, that’s how it
always has been.
And while some bands can’t seem to crack the music monopoly dominating the mainstream, that’s never a reason to stop to forging ahead and making music that sends ripples across airwaves, earphones, and attention spans of an infinite audience. Creating music on your own terms is still very much possible today.
The fact that millions of people own smartphones these days means independent bands like yours have an exciting new audience to explore. Think along the lines of a band-specific mobile app dedicated to spreading your music. Bands can get exposure to, drive engagement with, directly communicate with, and sell goods to fans via a growing number of mobile device apps opportunities.
One example worth considering is the
FANtastic4Bands music app builder. What I like about this tool is that you don’t need any computer coding skills to build your app and it’s really easy to use and update. And to top it off, it’s free. It includes:
- Simple drag-and-drop design
- Tour schedule sharing
- Fan engagement through live Q&A chats and Twitter
- Direct-to-fan music sales
- Direct-to-fan merchandise sales
How is it free? The app includes embedded targeted ads and links – a fair compromise considering what a band gets. A $49/year premium version offers a few premium features, and a $499/year premium version is ad-free and band-branded. Definitely an option worth trying out. (By the way, they’re running a contest on their Facebook page where they’re giving away microphones.)
Start building a mobile experience for your fans today. There are plenty of mobile apps to choose from. Good luck!
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Wheng Enojo is a writer, inspirer, and life-enhancer. Currently, she is exploring and enjoying the world of DIY mobile apps as her newest hobby.
- Live streams of concerts and gigs
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