Help Musicians’ Business Accelerator: Online Sessions

All online sessions take place at 6:30 – 8pm.

Building your fanbase and developing your business skills are key to creating a sustainable career in music. While we know that each musician’s career is unique, in this session we’ll take you through what the career of a musician could look like, in ten simple steps. With the conventional music industry typically only getting involved later on in your career, we’ll look at ways you can build momentum and your fanbase before that, as well as sharing tips and tools available to you, so you can take the next steps on your own path.

Join us in Sunderland for a weekend of events and discussions. It’s a great opportunity to network with other musicians on the course and to speak to panellists from the music industry. 

Panels include:

• Writing, recording and producing
• How to maximise gigging and touring opportunities for emerging artists
• Content creation
• Fanbase building.

How well do you understand copyright? As soon you write songs or record your music you’re making copyright which is automatically yours. But to get the most out of it means getting to grips with some important admin. In this session we’ll explain it all, so that you can know your music rights and how to start making money from them. 

Recording your record is a massive milestone, but how to do you get it out into the world? In this session you’ll learn how to plan a release and measure its success. We’ll talk you through the different options for streaming, what to expect from a distributor and the ways you can go about getting your music in front of an audience to continue growing your fanbase. 

Most musicians don’t have huge budgets to spend on releasing their music, so carefully planning out your release campaign is important to help you stick to your budget and make it go as far as possible. During this session we’ll be looking at a sample £500 budget and exploring the best ways to spend it, as well as the things to avoid. 

Performing live gives you a chance to build up your fanbase, market your music and make some money, and can be the foundation of a sustainable career in music. But with the live sector still recovering from the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the extra paperwork and red tape involved in touring since Brexit, times have never been tougher for a gigging musician. This session will talk you through what it means to take your music on the road, the live challenges musicians are currently facing and the ways you can navigate these challenges. 

Developing a relationship with your audience is vital to creating a sustainable career in music. During this session we’ll look at the difference between building a social media following and building a mailing list. Email might seem old fashioned but it gives you a chance to really connect with your audience in the way you want to; to share your music and your stories directly with your most loyal fans. We’ll guide you through setting up your mailing list and share tips on ways to move your social followers over to email subscribers. 

In a world of social media, how important is it that you still have your own website?

This session considers how a website sits among your communication channels, various options for building and managing one, and the role it plays in selling your music, merchandise, tickets and experiences.

Understanding who your fans are, what they are interested in and what they will spend money on is an important first step in working out how to bring in money from your creative work. This session will look at the potential of monetising the direct-to-fan relationship, while also considers what support is available along the way in terms of money, resources and information.

In this session we will hear from some of the participants on the programme: they will tell us about how they plan to spend their £500 financial support and explain what they hope to achieve by the end of their three month journey. Plus, we look at ways in which the music industry is currently changing that might affect early career artists.

Building a sustainable career in music has become more complex than ever, with a range of new barriers to overcome such as restrictions on European touring, rising costs directly associated with working and the impact that navigating continuous uncertainty has on mental health. This module will provide an overview of the range of support offered by Help Musicians, to support you in your career, help you to avoid future health or financial crises and to seize every opportunity in front of you.