Today we sat down (virtually of course) with singer-songwriter and Gigmor artist, Sam Hastings! Sam has a raw singer-songwriter style a la Dave Matthews and James Blake. Sam is no stranger to Gigmor, as he has performed on our live stream quite a few times. Click here to watch one of his recent performances and scroll down to read a bit about his musical upbringing.

• Hi Sam! Give me the origin-story, why, how, and when did you start playing music?
  • Sam: My mom and my uncle used to get together and play songs every weekend, so I was exposed to music at a very young age. My dad always tells a story where when I was just 3 years old, I sang along to a Pearl Jam song in the back seat of his truck. I sang for years and then when I was 8, I started to play bass guitar. I played bass in my brother’s punk band and ended up learning how to play guitar a few years later. I ended up writing my first song when I was 14, which my mom actually ended up recording for one of her albums! I started writing more music after that and have continued ever since. 
• You have a very raw/singer-songwriter style — who were some of your biggest musical influences growing up?
  • Sam: From a very young age, my parents exposed me to a lot of classic music. My mom was more into the singer-songwriter style of music, so I listened to James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash. Bob Dylan was a huge influence for me, because I actually ended up writing my first song with the goal of writing a song that Bob Dylan would have wrote. I got older and started exploring more on my own and got into Coldplay, John Mayer, and Dave Matthews. I think my voice sounds a bit similar to those artists, but I ended up getting more into folk music when I was 18. I love The Tallest Man on Earth and Greensky Bluegrass, so both of their styles of writing have been very influential to me as well. 
• Are you more of a live performer or in-the-studio creator?
  • Sam: I would say that I personally enjoy creating more in the studio. I love the feeling of writing a song and being able to pick and choose what else goes into it. Putting together my song “Look What I’ve Become” was one of the best experiences I’ve had making music.
• Lyrics or Melody?
  • Sam: I usually start my writing with a melody. I generally just hear the melody in my head and then start writing based off of what I’m hearing. I love writing lyrics as well, but melody is usually first and foremost.
• Favorite musical memory?
  • Sam: My favorite musical memory is getting to audition on stage for The Voice. I auditioned not really expecting much, but I kept getting through the preliminary rounds and finally made it to LA. I ended up being in the top 80 of about 44,000, which meant a lot to me. Although I didn’t make it further on the show, it inspired me to go out and see music as more of a career instead of just a hobby. 
• What is your end goal when it comes to your music?
  • Sam: I’d say my end goal is to make a name for myself from playing music. I want to be able to share a song that I make with people all over the world. I have stories to tell and songs to sing and nothing makes me happier than getting them out for all to enjoy!

In addition to the COVID-19 outbreak, protests around the world had recently gathered from all parts of the globe to mourn over the ruthless deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and thousands of others who deserve justice. There’s no questioning this: a lot has happened in the past three months. Despite this, the sense of community & strength has been inspiring and empowering. And within the music community, many people are finding ways to contribute in providing their support the best way they know how to — through music, itself. Gigmor has partnered up with Songs for Good — a nonprofit songwriting contest that focuses on highlighting & amplifying the concept of civic engagement leading up to the 2020 Election (and throughout the forthcoming years, in general). We’ve recently had a virtual chitter-chatter with Co-Creator of the organization, Nate Dewart, about the primary objectives of the platform in addition to the goals he and the rest of his team has in store.

Especially during these crucial times, we see that one of your goals is promoting the idea of “bringing out your voice” in this contest. Let’s get a re-cap on what’s important to you and your organization as well as its mission, vision, and values?

Nate: Absolutely! Our mission is to amplify civic engagement movements in 2020. We wanted to amplify this sense of pro-democracy and encourage youth-led music-engagement movements through music as our main medium. With this songwriting contest, we aim to evaluate these submissions and choose the winning contestant’s piece and get that produced & promoted with all of our partners like Gigmor! We felt like this would serve as a great fuel in getting people to participate — especially during this pivotal moment of the year of this anti-racism awakening that we’re going through. This platform can help serve as a coalition: we build the foundation up, and we get it up and running from there!

How are you currently measuring the success of a submission?

Nate: For our criteria, we’re looking at their submission based on these three criteria: 

1) A piece that’s universal amongst all.

2) Something that can be easily learned.

3) Something that is found inspiring & powerful. 

For as long as music has been around, we’ve seen that it has a long tradition of fueling participation within all of these communities, and we find music as a key element to establishing movements throughout the globe. And you can find all these different types of music in many forms — from grassroots to church gospel and etc. You can use such simple tactics like creating a simple beat with your hands, or building up a simple chant that reflects the thoughts & concerns of a community, and it’s really amazing to see those simple tactics create a ripple effect that bonds people to fight for something that can further unify a group of people. In terms of the submissions revolving around the theme of pro-democracy, we wanted to leave this as an open interpretation for our contestants as they’re creating their pieces. We get these amazing inputs from all of our artists, and we eventually create this as an output for our neighboring organizations. 

Now, we’ve noticed that you’ve extended the deadline for these submissions up to July 15th. Even so, we’re wondering how do you plan on using your platform once the contest ends? Is this something that you and your team are planning on working as time runs forward? 

Nate: We created this contest with the primary focus on the 2020 presidential election; however, we also see this project as something that’s continuously evolving, and even when this contest ends, we plan on disseminating these winning submissions amongst our movement partners, our music/creative partners, and many more platforms within the music & civic-engagement communities that are willing to share these submissions. And especially seeing how songs have so many benefits for people — both formally and informally — we find it important that we share these pieces to bring upon more of an awareness of the current matters at hand in addition to empowering people who feel like they have a lack of representation. 

How are you currently driving traffic on your platform at the moment?

Nate: As mentioned for the previous question, we plan on sharing this with our partners and other platforms that are willing to help us share these submissions; however, we also have a team of incredibly empowering advisors that are promoting this contest, and we also share this across all of our social media platforms: 

facebook.com/songsforgood

https://www.instagram.com/songsforgood2020/

https://www.tiktok.com/@songsforgood

As we build on these social media platforms, we’re also looking for more Review Panelists that would be willing to work alongside us with this mission. We also have a mailing list our subscribers can, well, subscribe to! This mailing list not only provides songwriting updates & inspiration but for any general updates to our 2020 Challenge. 

As we share this through all these mediums, we’re emphasizing the concept of policy-making and we’re working on making that connection through music in order to make that connection with our fellow music organizations in order to move forward with this. We’re focused on making these grassroots connections with the mainstream culture we have today, and we’re reminding people that we’re aiming to bring the music forward with this sense of purpose in these pieces. 

This is all exciting to hear & learn about! Now to dive a little bit more internally: how do you build and develop talent & elevate people to be at their very best? How does the company continue to invest and grow people to be at their very best as you’re promoting this contest together?

Nate: What’s really great about this team is that everyone comes in with shared values. Given that this platform is all voluntary work, it’s really amazing to see this shared drive & set of values amongst the entire team. And with everyone’s shared interests, it’s definitely helped us build this strong connection between us as a team while we’re working together on this one goal — this goal of knowing that something amazing can come out of this and the fact that we all know how purpose-driven music can be and how it connects people on a deeper scale.

And lastly, we wanted to leave room for anything you would like to add? Every piece of input is highly valued, and we want to thank you for the time to do a deep-dive on SOG!

Nate: I just want to mention how I always find it intriguing that music can be constructed in a variety of ways, yet it can drive towards one specific design or one specific reason. I think this platform is a great way to re-invigorate all these styles of music as a means of community-building and putting a powerful sense of intention behind it. And thanks for this chat! Highly enjoyed it. 

Do you have any thoughts, suggestions, or comments you would like to share with Gigmor or with Songs For Good? What do you think about music being used as a vehicle to drive this passion for community-building? Leave your comments and question down below!

From the archive: A Quick Dive Into Facebook Live

Guest blog post by Leonard Patterson, Indie Band Coach

Here’s the truth: No one knows when the pandemic will end, or what the word “end” even means. Anything published or announced is an estimated guess at best. And that’s not just effecting performers like musicians, DJ’s, and bands.

According to a survey conducted by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a recently established advocacy group for music venue owners and promoters: “90 percent of independent venue owners, promoters and bookers say that they will have to close permanently within the next few months, if they can’t get an infusion of targeted government funding.” (npr.org)

But even if you can’t plan your calendar, book gigs, or plan tours, there are still solid marketing ideas you can be implementing right now to grow your fanbase. I believe it was Tony Robbins that said “energy flows where attention goes”, and if we continue to focus on what we don’t have — gigs, control, stages, normalcy — that’s where our energy will start and end.

So let’s focus on what we do have control over and put plans in place that don’t depend on being face to face. Here are a few marketing ideas to help you accomplish that.

1. Deliver Recurring Content

Create a recurring series to stay connected with your non-local fans. Seriously, we have an opportunity to “become the content not the commercial”. How can you show up and provide value to your fans? Whether it’s a consistent concert series, weekly hangout, trivia post, etc. 

Also, consider this: you don’t have to be everywhere. Not only do you have access to all of the tools you need to connect with fans, but any one of the social platforms has enough of your target audience to fuel and fund your passion.

Want tips on how to create the best recurring content – download the free checklist here and check out the blog post: ++ How to Get More Fans Tuned Into Your Band

2. Connect Via Email

Start or revive your email list. I know it seems like extra work, but having an email list gives you an opportunity to connect with your fanbase. It doesn’t have to be a lengthy, elaborate, polished newsletter either. In fact, it’s probably better if it isn’t. 

Send a weekly email to say “hey”, share a recent story, and link to your most recent social media post. The truth is sharing through social media is “one to many” dynamic where email is “one to one”. Plus you actually own your email list. If Facebook decides to change their algorithm or if

Instagram crashes, you can still communicate with your audience via the email address by which they opted in to your list.

I’ve used several email providers over the years but always seem to end up back at Mailchimp. I would encourage you to sign up for a free trial or two and see which platform works best for you.

3. Launch a Facebook Group 

Consider launching or revitalizing a Facebook Group around your music/band or even you as a brand. It definitely takes work to maintain, but is a free way for you to start a community geared around you and your art. 

Plus, if you haven’t seen an ad or even a commercial, Facebook is all-in on groups. They’re rolling out new features to enable people to communicate more easily, including the ability to connect via Zoom style rooms right from within groups.

This could be a really painless way to stay connected with fans inside your group without the need for streaming software or cumbersome sign ups. Both group admins and members will be able to create dedicated group Rooms from the Groups composer, and be able to host video chats of up to 50 people at a time.

These are just a few marketing ideas you can start today that are essentially “virus-proof” in that you can implement them regardless of that the current #StayAtHome orders are at the time.

What things have you started since “lockdown” that you plan to continue? Let us know in the comments and stay safe out there!

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Leonard Patterson is a former front-man for a 6-figure party band, a booking agent with 1000’s of shows under his belt, and a certified digital marketer. He launched Indie Band Coach with a mission to help indie bands create, curate, and automate their social media to share their music and get better gigs. Subscribe to the Indie Band Coach YouTube Channel and get more tools, tips, and training to help you on your journey.