Jeeni crowdfunder success!

Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Jeeni crowdfunder success!

Fantastic news! Jeeni has reached its funding target and is now fully funded.

Thank you to all our investors for helping fund the wonderful artists! We are delighted that so many investors share our vision.

It's been a very happy, valuable experience, and our heartfelt thanks goes out to every one of our investors for making it such a success. You have been brilliant.

Thanks too to Crowdcube for all their help. As for Team Jeeni, we've been working seven days a week since the start of the campaign, so tomorrow is a day of rest.

First thing Monday morning our expansion and scaling up begins, on plan, on budget and on schedule.

Thank you all for your enthusiasm, your sanity checks, your due diligence, your discussions, your pledges and your support in helping us make it happen!

Here’s to a better future for online entertainment,

Mel Croucher and Shena Mitchell, Co-Founders, Jeeni

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05
Jun

Beta-Testers Wanted

Jeeni is a platform that we have been developing for over a year now, for Independent Musicians and Performers and is in a new beta testing phase. JEENI is a multi-channel streaming service for original and unsigned talent. Jeeni provides a showcase for musicians and performers to put their talent in the spotlight, giving superfans the power to make them stars. The Jeeni promise, is to treat their creative talent ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. Most importantly Jeeni is committed to – No hype. No adverts. No rip-offs. No Fakes, and making sure that the artists get 100% of their direct sales. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the last year very difficult for new and emerging artists as well as established ones, which is why we believe it is now more important than ever to support not just music makers but artists across the creative industries. Jeeni is presently looking for beta-testers to help us improve the site. A beta-tester simply registers for a FREE account, then designs their own showcase by uploading their music and videos and give us feedback on their user experience. Please contact Shena@jeeni.com or call 07703567196 if you are interested and want to find out more. Check out Jeeni today: https://jeeni.com/

06
Jun

Meet The Curators Behind Spotify Playlists - the A and R Dictatorship

Landing on an official curated Spotify playlist is for many artists a holy grail. To provide some insight, we hear from a Spotify editor about how they find the songs which eventually make the cut. Spotify seems to be the opposite of Jeeni, where the process is democratic and those artists that start trending are based on real votes, and whilst technology has moved on they are still in the dark ages where their music is still decided and dictated by A&R agents. And unlike Jeeni.com, with Spotify if they don't like the look of you, then you're not coming in! Guest post from Spotify for Artists by Khalilia Douze A Spotify editor explains how they discover songs to include in their curated lists. Being added to a Spotify playlist remains the dream for most emerging artists, as it exposes their work to some of the most-clicked on playlists in the world. But for many musicians and their teams, the behind-the-scenes process still feels shrouded in mystery. While there’s no formula for scoring a coveted slot on Pollen or RapCaviar, there is rhyme and reason to how the massive team of editors curate tracks. We spoke with one Spotify staffer, who helps oversee R&B playlists such as the genre flagship Are & Be, The Newness, Soul Coffee, Soul Lounge the Black Lives Matter playlist and more, to learn about their process and tips on how musicians can stand out when pitching unreleased music through Spotify for Artists. Spotify for Artists: What strategies do you use to curate playlists? The strategy is based on the playlist itself. Each has its own hypothesis, theme, or audience that we’re thinking about. If it’s one of the genre-specific playlists, like Are & Be, that’s the home for the current, biggest songs in that space. The Newness is new releases or developing artists. Chilled R&B, Soul Coffee, those playlists have a mix of current and some legacy and catalog artists. It really all depends on what the goal of the specific playlist is. What are you listening for when you’re curating? I’m listening for lyrics. I’m listening for melody. A lot depends on the playlist itself, and sometimes that’s the filter that I have. When I’m listening, [I’m like] Oh, this song would do good in this playlist or, This song could fit here for this moment. A lot of it is based on the audience. You have the specific genres, but then there’s a lot of cases where those lines are blurred. The instrumentation and the beat can determine an audience, so [we think about] where we believe the audience is for that particular song. Does song length play a role in how you’re curating? It depends on the playlist. Soul Coffee is more of a relaxing [vibe]. In our minds, that’s one of those where you would just get up in the morning and that’s what you throw on while you’re getting ready, eating breakfast, or reading a book on Sunday. I know that the people will just have it on, so that playlist has a longer time spent listening as opposed to the flagship, Are & Be, and The Newness. For The Newness, when people are listening to that or one where it’s developing artists and new releases, that’s more about discovery. People may not spend a lot of time listening to that playlist—it’s about skimming and seeing what’s out. Can you walk me through how you use the submission tool to discover music? Labels pitch to us every week. We’re able to get their submissions through there, but they also communicate with our Artist Label Partnership team. We’ll talk to them [about] what their plan is for their priorities. There’s a ton of music—it’s countless. That’s pretty much the majority of Mondays and Tuesdays, listening to the pitches that come in for that week. It goes to our whole team. We listen to everything. The rest of the week is updating the playlists and finding the space for them, reviewing what songs are already in the playlist, looking at the performance, and things like that. When it comes to tags in the submission form, what advice do you have? People should be as specific as possible and fill out every single thing to make sure it goes to the right people. Different editors might have different filters to differentiate. I’m listening for if it’s a cool song first and foremost, but past my opinion of it, do I know if there’s a home for it? It’s about being able to find it and [seeing] where it can fit. I’ve seen entries where it would literally just be the artist name and their title—that’s how it gets lost in the abyss. We’re not omnipotent, so we don’t know what we don’t know. Are there any rules about how many times an artist can be playlisted? No. Every curator is different and has [their] own philosophy on what songs are in a playlist. There’s no concrete rule. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

05
Jun

Is the virus an opportunity for us to evolve and come out of it better than before?

The industry is being very responsive and coming up with lots of ideas, like allowing artists to keep earning by adding donate buttons on streaming platforms. Some organisations are making grants available, some are discounting their streaming platforms, whereas others are allowing artists and fans to sign up for free. We expect to see many online services partnering with one another to combine their overall membership offerings, such as Soundcloud and Twitch. And we are very interested to see what the major global companies do and how they respond to these new and unknown market conditions. Musicians, performers, artists comedians and several actors are using social media to engage wit their fans like never before. https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18361081.stars-social-media-help-lift-spirits/ Many performers are moving their live show to Facebook Live and while many artists have given lessons before in person, most have never given an online lesson. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, Zoom, a video calling app, has been downloaded 50 million times on the Google Play Store alone according to BBC. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-musicians-can-advance-their-careers-despite-covid-19/ Apple Music is quietly making a $50m advance fund avilable for independent labels and distributors, to support the indie sector with vital cashflow during the uncertainty of global COVID-19 lock-down. https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-launches-50m-advance-fund-for-independent-labels-hit-by-covid-19-impact/ Even famous musicians like Chris Martin of Coldplay, Hunter Hayes, Keith Urban, and Backstreet Boys have already performed or are scheduled to perform online performances as most concerts have been canceled. James Naleski, a musician and social media marketer who’s trained under songwriter Azara and interned under Grammy-award winner Will Champlin, believes this is the perfect opportunity for musicians to branch out and expand their following. When asked about the current situation musicians are coming face to face with, Naleski responded, “Now more than ever, it is important for people, especially artists and musicians to stay connected while we are all quarantined. Various musicians are doing an exceptional job of using their platforms and live videos to relate to their fans. In particular, Hunter Hayes has begun streaming-live high-quality concerts on YouTube to help people stay united.” For most people stuck at home during this time, it’s been the perfect time to finally get back into home studios and produce. Some of the greatest artists wrote masterpieces while in isolation. When The Beatles were coming to an end, Paul McCartney hid himself in his St John’s Wood house in London, where he wrote and recorded his solo album, McCartney, by himself. It was in this period of isolation that he wrote one of his greatest songs of all time, “Maybe I’m Amazed” as a tribute to his wife Linda at the time. Bon Iver wrote his debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago while alone in a cabin. Prince wrote Dirty Mind, Stevie Wonder wrote Innervisions, and Steve Winwood wrote Arc of a Diver in isolation. Tyler Donahue, Founder at Aessential Store states that: "While many creatives are concerned with where their next paycheck is going to come from, others are beginning to take advantage of the forced isolation of COVID-19. By transforming your live shows into Facebook live shows, offering music lessons, and stepping back into the studio for intentional, dedicated production time, you can come out ahead of this virus better than you entered". How practical these ideas are in real terms, only time will tell, and we will keep an eye out for scams, as in this very sad and challenging time it’s inevitable that many will try to profit from COVID – 19, by introducing unethical and downright crooked practices. We are making it our mission to name and shame projects and organisations that are under scrutiny and suspect, and encourage our members to do the same. The Independent Musicians and Performers Community powered by Jeeni is for everyone and anyone creative: musicians, voice-artists, performers, poets, singer-songwriters ... hey, the list is endless. We aim to connect, collaborate, share and support each other, while we have fun and make a real difference. Come and join us today https://www.facebook.com/groups/2529935880656436/about/

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