Steemit For Musicians Part One: How To Get Started & What's Worked For Me
If you are new to Steemit altogether, I highly recommend checking out steemithelp.net and reading all of that information before proceeding further. Having a basic understanding of how the platform works and how cryptocurrency works and how you can get paid is helpful before you start posting, in my opinion. I feel I could have saved more energy for creativity had I done my homework first before totally diving in head first...but that's fun, too. So do what you feel.
There are great communities located at steemit.chat in which you can also become involved both to promote and advertise your posts and creations, to ask questions, and to make great connections within the community. There are also communities on Discord as well, and if you would like some server invites, I'll include those in a future post.
Just a couple of things about Steemit in general I have learned:
1. This is a community who greatly values engagement.
If you feel composing a thoughtful blog or curation or talking about your creative processes behind your works is "too much work," then the creator side of Steemit might not be for you, honestly. Curation, commenting, upvoting, and general involvement also say a lot...so even if you don't post much, interacting with the community within the comments is also literally valuable in the Steemit economy.
2. You have to give respect to get it.
Again, this hearkens back to involvement. Do not just throw posts up and expect them to make one million dollars. That could happen, but don't expect it. Remember, we invest our time into this platform, and are able to earn real money from it. That is amazing, and we should be thankful for that opportunity. Entitlement has little place here. Work hard, just like anything else.
Okay...
Now the FUN STUFF
I joined Steemit in October 2016 as an outlet to a potentially international audience and out of my general interest in the crypto world and the meshing of social media and cryptocurrency into this beautiful little place we have here called Steemit. Also, because I like creating content of all creative types.
Here's what I do and what has worked for me...it doesn't mean it's what will work for you, hell, it doesn't always work for me, but this is where I've had the most success:
The first thing you want to do is introduce yourself using the tag introduceyourself, and if you click this you can see some of the trending posts there and how they are layed out. Taking a picture of yourself, holding a sheet of paper with the word Steemit on it, your new username, and the date is a quick way to validate to the community you are a real person.
Feel free to share your OLD STUFF, just talk about it, too.
Throwing a 6-year-old YouTube embed with no explanation typically doesn't go over too well unless you are a musical god.
Explaining your creative process (in detail, even) and being as intimate and genuine with your audience as possible with your audience here will get you very far.
Thank your audience for listening and engage with them when they engage you.
This comes back to engagement...if your audience thinks you simply throw videos out and go away, they will be less likely to come back. The genuine connections among artists and their peers and other listeners here is very special.
Don't post 92734 times a day.
However prolific you may be, over-posting and over-sharing will result in people Unfollowing you. People are much pickier about their Feeds here than on Facebook, for example.
Share everything. Demos, random stuff, messing around, being creative...that stuff is pure gold in a community who values such things.
(If you are converting from the devil that is Facebook, this will feel very odd for a while...then it is the most amazing feeling in the world, albeit surreal.)
Promote your posts in appropriate chat rooms and social media to increase exposure of both your posts and of the platform in general...share on twitter using #steemit...hell, share it to Facebook! Drive that traffic away from FB and to Steemit. We are the catalysts of this change. There's a Facebook group out there also called Steemit Newbies, which is also a great resource for those new to Steemit in general and is a place to ask questions.
Be you.
This is the biggest thing. Just be you.
Learning/knowing basic Markdown and HTML can be helpful for formatting posts.
Using YouTube Unlisted links enables you to release exclusively to Steemit through your blog link directly, which also drives more traffic to Steemit to get to that video if your current fans are already Subscribed to you on YouTube. Unlisted video additions do not get notifications, so you can drive traffic through Steemit to the embedded video.
See one of my past posts for an example of how this looks.
Here are some of my more successful music posts, if you are interested in checking out some of their formats...although there is no "one solution" to this platform, and that is also the beauty of it.
Here are some people I highly recommend you follow:
@jessamynorchard (ME! :) )
@luzcypher (runs an amazing Steemit OpenMic that PAYS, and is the most INCREDIBLY SUPPORTIVE community for new artists)
@verbal-d (great music and poetry)
@rok-sivante (active user & lots of music)
@tatianamoroz (crypto-musician pioneer)
@stellabelle (all forms of creativity and great resources)
@jasonrussell (amazing music photography)
@jsantana (amazing photography and lover of metal)
@steemittalk (weekly podcast about all things Steemit)
There are a million more...I may add in the comments as it comes to me.
If you are a Steemit musician, please comment with your profile so we can all follow each other!
I will write Part Two as your questions or comments dictate, so please leave those on this post! If you're new, let's talk in the comments here!!
Follow me @jessamynorchard for more assorted randomness!
Support Steemian-Original Music by tagging YOUR tunes with # originalmusic
I even blogged about it.
Love what you hear? Consider becoming a monthly Patron at:
http://www.patreon.com/jessamynorchardmusic
I posted 92734 times y- day. LOL,
actually I got up a huge record 10 blog posts and a ton of comments but that was a long day for me, just trying different things, for various reasons.
I dropped by to mostly say hi and encourage you.
That's one of the things I love about it here, although it does make finding one's bearings here harder than others, but it is all about experimentation and trial and error at the end of the day...and of course that delicious #NerdMoney along with our community of sheer brilliance. Thanks for the support, Barry! :)
You are welcome my little musical friend.
Great post. I'm a steemit newbe and musician and very anxious to start posting. Thanks for the advice. I'm following and upvoting.
Awesome! You have a new follower in me!! If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask!!! I want to address YOUR questions in Part 2!
Good post!! I hope many will like it))
Great post, and so very applicable to all disciplines for the world of Steemit. I'm, unfortunately, not a musician, but greatly appreciate what all of you true musicians do. Guess that's what makes the world go round, if there were no artists, what would we listen to and marvel at ( :
This post rings so true for musicians, as well as all of Steemit. You have really summarized it all up well in a nice post. This is a very special site, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing your ideas with all. Hopefully more will board the ship.
Thank you! I've had a number of friends from my local music community join Steemit recently, and with the amount of questions they have, I thought a series with what I've learned in my time here so far could be helpful. I hope it is, and I hope it gets more people not only on board the ship, but involved in its activities as well. :)
I enjoyed reading this very much and I am now inspired to post my new band's new music to be steemit exclusive! Thank you. Peace
That's awesome! What's also an added bonus, say you release Steemit-exclusive (even for a week), the analytics will tell you directly how many people came to that video directly from Steemit, since when listing Unlisted, that's the only access to the video.
It's a great way to test out new material, and if you decide to make the video public, it already has views under its belt before you get it to the audience of ramblers and folks who stumble upon you.
It's been a really cool thing to watch on the analytic side, as well as being totally creatively freeing. The community here is sooooo supportive and that goes a huge way. Plus, the community here is truly international, which is great for networking and collaborative opportunities.
Awesome post and great advice!! I'm resteeming it!
Fabulous! I'm glad you think so!! Anything I can do to help other artists be successful here, I want to! Thanks for the resteem!!
Resteemed!!!!
Thank you! Trying to reach and help as many musicians as possible...both local and abroad!
I think i've got a few local bands interested that just need that extra push to get started!
I really hope this helps!!! Just sharing my experiences...no one is an expert in this stuff, but sharing our collective knowledge sure makes things easier.
I'm having a hard time getting specific feedback from a few people outside of the crypto stuff...which I think steemithelp.net really covers...any suggestions on what you think "that extra push" might be?? I'd love to talk about this in this series, too...
Well i think the actual signing up and understanding how it works is intimidating. As we speak i think J.T. Butler is signing up!
He just told me he is @johnbutler. This is very exciting. Remind him to store his private keys in a safe place so he doesn't lose them and his money. LOL but for real. Already had to deal with that once today with a friend who lost a little bit of money she had on an old beauty blog she wasn't doing much with, but now she wants to get back in and has none of her passwords or keys. :(
Yes i made sure he knew to keep it safe ;)
Thank you. It takes a village to raise that boy. :) LMAO
Great post! Upvoted and followed! I'm a steemit musician as well :) Greetings!
Awesome!! Thanks for checking it out, and I'm glad you dig it! I followed you back--looking forward to checking out your tunes!!
If you have any questions or questions you had when you were brand new, please let me know. I'm trying to get input on what new musicians to the Steemosphere wished they'd known from the get-go.
Glad to meet you!! Thanks for being in our community!!
Great advice in general. Unfortunately I have let my music slide to non existency.
Awesome post, and following.
Perhaps it's time to bring it back from limbo now... :-)
Thank you, and bring the music back!! Never to late to make with the music!!
Please ask questions! I really want this blog series to be successful, and your questions or apprehensions that I can address about even getting back into music on this platform would be greatly received! If you are feeling that way, I am sure there is another musician/artist/creator out there who feels the same way!
Great post. Got yourself another follower!
Also resteemed!
Thank you, and thank you! I followed you back, as well!
When you were getting started on Steemit as an artist, musician, thinker, and creator in general, what were some of the things you wish you knew then that you know now? I'm trying to cover as many bases as possible in this series to help new musicians feel at home here, rather than overwhelmed.
That's a great question. It's hard to answer because it was so new back then and has continued to change so much over time. I can certainly give you 3 things I would suggest newbies DON'T do!
Totally agree with you in all regards, here. The platform does evolve quickly, so I do know some of my issues then are not issues now...however, I see these things as completely timeless in regard to the platform, and would like to quote you on this in my next installment if that's something you are okay with me doing. :) It's great advice. Sometimes, in an open sandbox with so much you can do, knowing those things that you probably shoouln't do carry equal value and weight. Thank you again for your insight.
I'm absolutely in favor of you quoting me, especially when you mention me ;)
Was actually thinking, you could do a great post by pooling some tips together. Best of luck!
You seem to have a knack for bringing the musicians of Steemit together. Keep it up!
Thank you for that...when I first joined, one of my first courses of action was to help create the #originalmusic tag so we had an umbrella where we could go to hear truly original music, for those of us who are both here creating it and those who are here to listen to it. I really love our community of musicians here, and the more we can connect with each other and encourage each other, the better off we will all be. I'm a cheesy teamwork and community lover. :)