In 2005 Bruised Fruit hosted their very first gig night ‘Up In The Attic’ there and over the next 6 years it was home to hundreds of shows supporting local music. There are too many to mention but they included And So I Watch You From Afar, LaFaro, Two Door Cinema Club, Ed Zealous, Kowalski, Boathouse, Frightened Rabbit, Panama Kings, Olympic Lifts, FAUX DJs, The Fools, Pat & Nipsy, Geoff Gatt, Seven Summits, The Smiles, Sines, Joe Echo, Colenso Parade, Cutaways, Strait Laces, Yes Cadets, A Plastic Rose, Axis Of……and the list goes on. A collection of posters is on our Facebook Page.

Bruised Fruit wouldn’t be where it is today without the support of Annie’s staff so a special mention to Declan & Mark for taking a risk on us and allowing us to take a risk with new bands.

It’s sad to see it go, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to be part of Belfast’s musical history.

Getting started with networking can be tough, if you’re not a natural extrovert it can be a bit intimidating. Alternatively if you really get into it you could spend your whole year at events talking about what you’re going to do but not ever have time to do it!

So here are some top tips about how to get the most out of networking events:

1. Choose your event carefully – there are any number of events up and down the country every week. Some free, some paid, some large, some small. Research the event before you attend to make sure it’s going to be worthwhile. Assess your travel times and costs and ensure you will be able to get value for money.

2. Research attendees – Try and get a delegate list ahead of the event and scan through it. Pick out a handful of people that you really want to meet and make it your mission to get talking to them. Don’t waste time with people who have nothing to offer.

3. Have a good opening line – If there are guest speakers or special guests that you want to talk to, chances are that you’re not the only person in the room that feels that way. Guests can sometimes be overwhelmed with people trying to talk to them and having so many conversations all at once can mean they blend into one. If you want to be remembered you need to make yourself stand out. A good opening line or an challenging question will engage and interest your target person.

4. Carry a small pen & pad – Take the time to jot down notes about interesting conversations you’ve had or people you want to follow up with. If you find yourself having lots of conversations with lots of people you may find that you forget some of the points. It’s a good idea to take a few minutes out every so often to review so nothing gets forgotten.

5. Make yourself easy to find – Let people know in advance that you’re going to be in attendance, share the event on social media or include links at the bottom of emails. If you’re given a name badge make sure it’s easily viewable and not obscured by clothing. Always make sure you have enough business cards with you to pass around.

6. Have fun, but not too much – If it looks like you’re having a good time people will be more inclined to want to talk to you. But if you spend the whole time at the bar it can be unprofessional. Don’t forget the reason you’re at the event is to look for business opportunities, not drinking buddies.

Having a varied network of contacts can be a valuable resource. Online social networks are great for connecting to people quickly, but nothing beats a face-to-face relationship built up over time. If you’re interested in getting to know Bruised Fruit a bit better you’ll find us at the following upcoming events. Don’t be afraid to come and say hi!

8th April – BizCamp, Riddel Hal, Belfast
10th April, TweetUp, NICVA, Belfast
23rd April, Music TechPitch 4.5, KweekWeek Hub, London
2-4 May, Liverpool Sound City, Various venues, Liverpool

To herald in this new season we’re thrilled to announce our new clients and looking forward to working on some various and very interesting projects:

Audiences NI do some amazing work with Arts Organisations and venues across Northern Ireland (and beyond), promoting best practice and encouraging & diversifying audiences within all sectors of the arts. Over the next few months we’ll be working closely with them to build an organisational digital strategy and ensure that membership engagement is maximised.

Golden Moments provide once in a lifetime experiences and gifts for ‘experience hunters’  in the UK and Europe. Their website offers the ultimate bucket list opportunities with everything from spa treatments to skydiving on offer. We’re working with them to increase their customer engagement and revenue streams through social media and online channels, whilst at the same time raising brand awareness.

Crafty Devil are a Belfast based software house, and no strangers to Bruised Fruit. We previously worked with them on Planzai, a workflow management tool, and they’ve recently engaged our services once again to provide business support for their customer lifecycle management product, Flowlens. We’ll be helping new clients realise the full potential of their revenue opportunities by fully engaging customers at every stage of the sales process.

It’s shaping up to be a diverse and exciting season for us with such varied and interesting clients. We’ll keep you posted as the projects progress. And if you’re interested to talk to Bruised Fruit about how we could help you with a project drop us a line on contact@bruisedfruitpromotions.com

This week Bruised Fruit founder Jen was asked to speak at an event hosted by Eye4Education. It was great to get out and talk to young people about education, qualifications and career choices.  One of the most important points was that young people today need to try and broaden their experiences by thinking about more than just qualifications. Skill building and gaining experience is also very valuable and it was great to see a representative from Volunteer NOW in the room offering suggestions about how to get involved in their activities. We’ve always been huge supporters of volunteering at Bruised Fruit and we regularly post opportunities on Facebook so if it’s something you’re interested in finding out more about then please join our Irish Event Volunteers Group.

It’s great to be back – keep an eye on the blog for more updates about upcoming projects over the next few weeks.

Hubb.it is a global community for events, allowing you to plan your attendance, connect with other event goers and rate your experiences via one central hub.  Find out more about them and registering on their website – http://hubb.it/

Liverpool is a great city and I’ve really enjoyed my first time at the event so far. I must admit, with it being my first music conference, I was a little nervous about how it would go but the conference has a nice, relaxed atmosphere making it less intimidating. For example, the Roundtable Sessions held throughout the conferences give you an opportunity to rotate round tables discussing various areas of the industry and was a great way to meet people and network in an informal setting rather than trying to force conversation randomly.

My highlight from yesterday was probably the Women in the Music Industry event in association with The Women’s Organisation. In such a male dominated industry it’s sometimes easy to get disheartened when trying to succeed but attending a panel made up of women who have been successful in music PR, management and events was rather inspiring.

I also took part in my first panel yesterday:

The panel was about social media and how best to use it. I mainly talked about our involvement with Nathan’s social media and trying to increase fan engagement using platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The main points that came across in the session were:

• Don’t post too much about yourself or your band
• Have a personality online
• Engage fans as much as possible
• Have good content, mainly access to your music and don’t make us “like” you before we can listen to it
• Use clever hashtags

With regards to the music side of things, unfortunately I didn’t see as many bands as I’d wanted to last night but am hoping to catch a few more over the next couple of nights. I was a little disappointed as I missed one of my favourite local bands The 1930s due to a scheduling error, I think a lot of people had this problem of set times differing to what was printed in the guide. Missing The 1930s meant I caught the band following them, Wet Mouth a vibrant energetic young band who could be seen as being rather reminiscent of Sonic Youth.  I also caught a nice little set from indie rock band By The Sea. My night was rounded off with the much hyped Django Django, a band who I have heard so much about over the past few months and had not actually took the time to listen to. I must say after last nights performance I can see why they’re causing such a stir, a band worth seeing live.

Lots of great stuff happening today, with a great deal of interest this morning at Digital Derry‘s Start Up panel. Also really nice to catch up with the lovely Keith Harris who attended our UnConvention event back in November last year.

The panel I most enjoyed today has been the Music Discovery one, I found it very interesting that the most popular way of finding new music is via radio, with the likes of Facebook coming much lower down the list – (this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a good online presence!). However, it would seem the best way of getting yourself or your band discovered is by word of mouth so play loads of shows and have people talking about you creating a buzz.

More updates to follow in the next few days. Don’t forget to check out Hubb.it for a more detailed review/critique and what to expect from the festival on Monday. You can also check my tweets @EmJLyttle.

You’ll be able to catch me at the Social Media Surgery Panel tomorrow at 5 where you can come along and ask questions and get advice about how to make a social media campaign work best for you. As it’s my first time at the festival I’m really keen to connect with lots of different people across the industry, so come and say hello!

I’m hoping to write little posts up here pretty regularly about highlights both across the conference and music festival, but with such a packed schedule for the event and so much I want to attend I can’t promise how regular they will be! You can keep an eye on my twitter though if your interested in little updates on what’s happening here: @EmJLyttle. I will also be doing a guest blog on Hubb.it which will be able to read for a more detailed overall review of the festival from Monday 21 May.

You can get a full run down of all events on the Liverpool Sound City website.

This album is very special to Nathan, not only because it is very personal to him but because the fans made it happen! Therefore, the only way to celebrate 3D’s release is to go and meet the StarboyFam in person at album signings across the UK this week. Check the dates below to see if Nathan will be coming to a town near you:

• Monday 14th May at 5pm – HMV Belfast Donegall Arcade, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT1 1PT
• Tuesday 15th May at 5pm – HMV Newcastle, Northumberland Street, Newcastle, NE1 7AE
• Wednesday 16th May at 5pm – HMV Birmingham, The Fort Shopping Park, 20 Fort Parkway, Birmingham, B24 9FP
• Thursday 17th May at 5pm – HMV Cardiff, Queen St, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, CF10 2AS
• Friday 18th May at 5pm – HMV Milton Keynes, 78 Midsummer Arcade, MK9 3BB

You can also download your copy of the album now by clicking on the picture below:

]]> http://www.bruisedfruitpromotions.com/starboy-nathans-new-album-out-today/feed/ 0 http://www.bruisedfruitpromotions.com/spotlight-on-the-north-coast/ http://www.bruisedfruitpromotions.com/spotlight-on-the-north-coast/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:46:41 +0000 admin http://www.bruisedfruitpromotions.com/?p=181 CONTINUE READING ...

Direct to Fan allows artists to customise their retail model directly to their own fans, meaning the experience is better suited to them and hopefully leads to a more profitable relationship between the two.  However, it is more than just another source of revenue for musicians.  It both engages and develops the fan base at the same time, so you can get products to people who actually want to buy them and therefore creating a far greater, longer lasting connection.

Undoubtedly, the music industry has had to make big changes to its model in order to address the shift in consumption patterns of music lovers.  In a digital age where free music is so readily available online, it is more important than ever before to engage with fans and let them get closer to the artist.  Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud and Bandcamp, amongst others, are effective in giving bands and artists an opportunity to communicate directly to a ready-made, eager audience.  It is a tool particularly useful for independent and more experimental artists who don’t have labels or mass media support.  By using the expression of art to build the fan base and engaging with them to make it stronger and more supportive they have a greater chance of achieving the success they deserve.

With the direct to fan model being shown to be of great value to musicians today, we are now seeing the emergence of more artists turning to crowd funding for record releases through sites like Pledge Music, Fund It and Sponsume.

Former Bruised Fruit clients, Gabby Young and Other Animals, are proof that fan funding really does work.  Back in 2009 they launched their Become an Animal campaign via their website, a three tiered subscription scheme giving fans the choice of paying £12.50, £25 or £65 in order to gain various levels of access to material, merchandise and time with the band.  Gabby explains the thought process behind the Become an Animal idea:

“we were invited to go to South by South West which was such an amazing opportunity, but we had to turn it down because we didn’t have the money. It really made me think, this makes no sense; we have to find a way to build funds somehow – we are lucky to have a very loyal, very generous fan base, so we decided to get them involved officially – that way we get some income and a database which helps us to get to know the fans, so if we end up playing a gig in Liverpool for example, we can say, you’re a bear, you’re from Liverpool come to this gig for free!”

Basically, it allows the fans to feel more involved both with the band and the creative process whilst allowing the band to make a living from music.  The subscriptions completely funded the bands debut album, the aptly titled We’re All in This Together.  The band have also just successfully reached their pledge target to fund for their new album The Band Called Out For More, offering fans the chance to appear in one of their music videos amongst many other rewards.

Similar campaigns are also going on much closer to home.  Last November, Farriers completed a very successful campaign with Sponsume raising funds to complete the recording of their debut album.  Those who donated were able to receive various rewards from posters, t-shirts, original song sheets, getting the album before its official release date and your name printed on the thank you notes, right the way up to having a personal song written for you or a private gig from the band in your own home.  The funding scheme, rather impressively, raised almost £4,500 for the band, which they are incredibly grateful for: “We can’t believe the support we got, very overwhelming and lovely. We’re very much looking forward to getting the album done and to start distributing the rewards. Sponsume… made our project a lot more fun and creative.”

Firm Northern Irish favourites Master and Dog (formerly John Shelley and the Creatures) are in the middle of a campaign with Fund It to try and make their second album into a reality. You can find out more about the project and how to get involved here: http://www.fundit.ie/project/master-and-dogs-sophomore-album

These projects highlight the importance of band to fan relationships in the current climate and seem to illustrate that embracing the direct to fan platform is the way to go.  In the future the chain from artist to fan could be shortened through technology, possibly removing the need for labels, distributors and retailers.  Thus, there could be an opportunity to level the playing field between majors and independents and across genres, allowing all artists to gain some amount of success on their own terms.  The direct to fan model is a very interesting and exciting concept, as potentially it could make a big change to the dynamics of the music industry as we know it.

Emma Lyttle
emma@bruisedfruitpromotions.com