Live performance is becoming an increasingly important part of artists’ revenue, but booking a tour that is both profitable and enjoyable remains a challenge. For artists with a strong social media following, the service Stagelink makes this process easier by allowing the creation of fan-driven low-risk tours.
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Guest Post by Diana Wollach from Stagelink, via The Orchard‘s Daily Rind Blog
More and more, live performances are providing a big chunk of entertainers’ revenue. Stagelink, a fan-powered tour promoting service originating in Germany, knows this and strives to maximize the possibilities for artists of all kinds to make a buck while touring. Better yet, they do this by satisfying fan requests for performers to visit their cities. Read up on how you can use this tool — which by the way was just shortlisted as one of 20 finalists for the 2016 Midemlab startup competition — in their guest blog post below.
You’re a musician, comedian or other online creator with a strong fellowship on YouTube or other social media? You dream about the stage but you don’t know how to get there? With Stagelink you can crowdsource live events and leverage your followers to create successful shows and tours. There is a lot of online talent out there, and fans are happy to keep themselves updated on social media channels like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. But fans will always yearn to see their favorite artists live. And artists’ financial success will be highly influenced by live events. too. On Stagelink, artists and managers track fan-driven, real-time demand to plan, pre-finance and de-risk tours, while reaching highly engaged audiences. This is how we do it:
Get Your Fans Involved
When planning a tour, it might be quite challenging to figure out where most of your fans are and who really wants to see you in their city. Everything, from selecting countries, cities and even venues depends on the number of people that will be coming to your show. As simple as it sounds, we suggest asking your fans where they want you to perform. They will appreciate it and feel engaged in helping to plan your tour.
Use Your Online Power
When you have launched an online city poll on Stagelink, you can easily use your social media channels to promote the campaign. Enhance your voting with a personal teaser video — get your fans excited about your tour plans and encourage them to vote for their city. Again, your fans will be happy to be involved and can be your most valuable supporters and promoters. With their help, you will figure out how you should plan your tour and you’ll pick the right cities and venue sizes. In terms of promotion, your fans will help you spread the word, too. Word of mouth is a very powerful marketing tool and you should make use of it.
For example, YouTube star Tiffany Alvord recently did a city voting campaign with Stagelink to plan her upcoming tour. “I’ve been wanting to do this for so long and get out there and meet more of you guys — and this is worldwide!” Tiffany said, when announcing her tour on YouTube. She has a strong international fellowship, from California, the Netherlands, France, to Indonesia. More than 6,000 fans submitted their live request, making it much easier for Tiffany to select countries, cities and venues in order to produce an exciting and profitable tour.
Scale the Right Venues
After your city voting has ended, you have the huge benefit of knowing where to expect how many people. Now you can pick the cities for your tour and book the right venues. But be careful to choose a venue that both fits you and that you can fill.
Get the Most Out of Your Ticket Sales
It has proven to be successful to offer something in addition to the ticket. Don’t just offer a regular ticket; add something special to your fans. This could include signed shirts, CDs and a meet & greet for super fans for a night they will never forget. Again, use your online power and engage with your fans on all social media channels to let them know about your tour — make them part of your journey and get them excited.
Mike Singer, Noah-Levi and Lukas Rieger, three newcomers and candidates of The Voice Kids Germany, successfully completed their first tours with Stagelink. Their fans supported the artists by voting for their favorite cities and buying tickets for the resulting shows on Stagelink directly. As an extra in addition to tickets, the artists also offered meet & greet experiences to their fans.
Like Tiffany, Mike, Noah-Levi and Lukas, you can use your online power and get your fans involved by planning your next exciting live event. Sign up on stagelink.com and empower your next tour!