Recently I ventured into Kingston for the first time to see an artist I love, Rachel Chinouriri, playing at a very small and unique venue, Banquet Records. I had never been to a gig like it before, where instead of being part of a large crowd looking up at a singer on stage, I was one of twenty people lining up between the shelves of a shop listening to an artist only a few feet in front of me. It was an incredibly new and exciting experience for me that has awakened a desire to see artists playing in more intimate and unique settings, rather than always frequenting Wembley or the O2 to get my live music fill. This desire has prompted the question: how can you support Indie artists? I am on a journey to find out.
As I said above, my experience at Banquet Records was fantastic, not just because of its intimate setting, but because of the distinctive ticket-purchasing process. Striving to support small artists, Banquet Records makes buying a physical copy of an artist’s music a requirement to purchase a ticket. This works brilliantly because it means that through buying a (in my case very cheap) ticket to see an artist perform, you are directly supporting the artist and the record shop instead of a third party. So, for the price of what you would normally spend on a CD or LP, you get a ticket to a gig thrown in too! To see Rachel Chinouriri, all I paid was £11.65 and when her debut album comes out in May, I will receive the CD that I pre-ordered. I absolutely loved this ticket process because it felt mutually beneficial for both artist and fan, and it felt richly nostalgic. When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to get my favourite artists’ new music via CD, but with the switch to digital streaming services, the desire for physical copies has fizzled out. Now I have an enormous stack of CDs that I once treasured dearly, sitting quietly in my room gathering dust. The prospect of receiving a CD excites me now and reminds me of how I used to feel at 13. I look forward to holding this new CD in my hands and dragging my CD player out of retirement to listen to Rachel Chinouriri’s hotly anticipated album. Had I not been subject to Banquet Records’ uncommon ticket process, I would not be experiencing this familiar feeling again.
While other small venues do not require the purchase of a physical copy for entry, there are multiple music venues throughout London, and the UK, that champion indie artists. Union Chapel in Islington is surely among the most striking of these brilliant venues. Adorned with an ornate, high ceiling and stained-glass windows, it is a feast for the eyes. The acoustics in this venue are also particularly spectacular and create a perfect environment for stripped-back performances. The Windmill in Hackney takes a different approach, offering drinks on the cheaper end of the scale and a focus on new and exciting music. It may not be as visually striking as Union Chapel, but it prides itself on discovering new talent and playing good music. Artists like The Wombats and Florence and The Machine have played there before so they must know what they’re doing! Similarly to The Windmill, Evolutionary Arts Hackney, known as EartH, has gained a reputation for hosting exciting new music, but it also has a significant interest in innovation and gender equality. They not only pledged to work towards a 50/50 gender split in their programming by 2022, but also prioritise the safety and comfort of venue attendees by being signatories to the Good Night Out campaign and the Mayor of London’s Women Night Safety Charter. There are many more fantastic music venues throughout London that support Indie artists and the generation of new and exciting music, but while attending live music is a great way to support small artists, it is not the only way.
I have already mentioned that buying an artist’s music is a great way to support them, but I have not explained in greater detail why. Most of the population, myself included, will use streaming services to access our favourite artists’ music, and while this is a good source of income for very popular musicians, it can be next to nothing for small artists. It is estimated that Spotify pays £0.0031 per stream, which means that an artist would need around 366,000 streams to even reach just minimum wage for their music. When you look at music this way, it is really off-putting and makes it seem impossible to make a living as a full-time musician. This is why it is important to buy physical copies of music because a much larger percentage of profit will go directly to the artist.
Another way in which you can directly support an artist is through buying their merch. Similar to buying their CDs or LPs, purchasing merch is a more direct way to financially support an artist, and importantly is a way to act as free advertisements for them. Merch is a vital way of spreading the word and drumming up buzz around their music. So, buying a fun t-shirt with your fave’s face on it benefits them in multiple ways! Along with the rise of streaming platforms, social media has become an important part of the music industry in recent times. This means that interacting with small artists’ social media platforms can be an important, free, way to help them out. Liking and commenting on their posts, and following their accounts boosts their visibility and means that more people are shown their content. In a similar way, pre-saving their songs on streaming platforms helps to make them more visible to a larger audience. Pre-saving a song before release shows the streaming platform that there is excitement around this artist, and so they are more likely to add the song to public playlists, which means more people hear and stream their music. This goes to show that there are many ways to support Indie artists without reaching into your pocket at all, and highlights what a digital, algorithmic age we are living in!
The music industry is notoriously difficult to break into, but not impossible. If we take the example of the amazingly talented singer-songwriter Raye, who recently broke records for being the most nominated artist at the BRITS in a single year and the recipient of the most wins in a single year, we can see that success as an indie artist is possible. She broke away from her record company after seven years of not being allowed to release an album and went independent – and now look at the flowers she has finally received! This is just one example of how important it is to support indie artists because we cannot settle for a music scene entirely made up of industry plants and brilliant, but undeniably privileged, musicians. Keeping the independent music scene alive is so vital to ensuring that music remains exciting, innovative and filled with genuine emotion and gripping songwriting. And it isn’t impossible to do! If all of us could commit to supporting independent artists in the ways that I have listed, who knows how the music scene could change in the next decade? Even if you do not have dreams of a music revolution like me, taking the time to engage with an artist’s social media platforms, or buying a physical copy of their music, can be such an impactful way of directly supporting their artistry. If you’re unsure of where to start, Banquet Records is a great place to begin your journey.