How to Support Your Favorite Musicians

Music fans today have the best consumer situation they possibly could have.

With independent music distribution allowing artists to upload their music to streaming marketplaces, listeners now have easy and cheap access to music from all over the world. In the past, music distribution was dependent on labels distributing records and essentially calling the shots as far as what the public audiences heard. Today, that power lies in the hands of independent artists and their fans. However, streaming isn’t necessarily the best way to support your favorite artists. Musicians make fractions of a penny on a single stream, and while it’s a good way to get their work out there, it’s not the best way to make money. If you’re curious how a fan can support their favorite musicians, then keep reading for some great tips on ways you can directly support an artist's career. 

Follow Them On Spotify and Social Pages 

Listening on spotify is great, but make sure you also follow those artists on spotify. When you follow an artist on spotify, you’ll not only get updates on their new releases, but it will help bolster their portfolio and show venues and other artists that this band has a real fan base. Additionally, following their social media page is a great way to support their marketing and promotional efforts. On social media, you can share their posts as well as links to their music. This is one of the best ways you can support your favorite musicians, especially indie musicians or those who are just starting to release their music. 

Attend Their Concerts 

Another fantastic way to support artists directly is to buy tickets to their shows! Ticket sales help artists pay for their tours, pay their band members and keep their project going. Touring is a hard business to be in, and the more sales your favorite musician can rely on at their shows, the more you’ll be able to go see them and enjoy your favorite artists' music. You can easily buy tickets here, and make a difference in supporting their career.

Tickets can get pricey, but fans of music should see this as both an investment into your own enjoyment of life in addition to helping your favorite musician have a successful tour and successful career doing what they love. 

Buy Physical Records 

Digital media and streaming is all the rage, but if you want to support your favorite musicians directly, you should buy their physical media whenever you can. But more important than when you buy physical records is where you buy them. When you buy a record directly from an artist's label or bandcamp page, you’re putting dollars directly into their pocket. However, when you order records from a third party seller such as Amazon, more of those dollars are going towards the seller. In general, try to buy records directly from artists and labels or visit a local record store. 

Buy Merch 

Even more than records themselves, merchandise is a big money maker for musicians. Merchandise is one of the few things that artists can sell without having to share profits. Merchandise sales can go towards all kinds of things that the band might need to pay for, but it puts money directly into their pocket and helps them support their project, future albums and future tours. Whether it’s a tee, sweatshirt, hat or poster, think about picking up some merch at the next show you go to as a way to support your favorite artist even further. If every fan who buys a ticket also buys a piece of merchandise, bands would likely make a lot more money out on the road. 

Share Their Music! 

If you love an artist's music and want to support their career, then there’s one more thing that you can do completely for free to help them out. Share their music on social media and in person to your friends to help grow their fanbase! Of course, you might find that some people have different tastes than you, but if you can get your favorite bands name and music out in front of people it will have a greatly positive impact on their fanbase. Talk about your favorite musicians to other music fans and friends! 

Supporting musicians directly is an important thing for fans to do, especially since the music industry is set up to support bigger artists over smaller ones. The more fans that do their part to attend concerts, follow artists on spotify, buy records and buy merchandise, the more music we’ll all be able to enjoy together. As much as possible, spread the word about your favorite musicians on social media and in person with your fellow music fan friends, this is something you can do for free to help grow a band's fan base. It feels great to support your favorite musicians directly, so take on of these tips and buy some merch and the next show you attend!