Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Jeeni Live Music Festival

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Jeeni Live Music Festival

By Kelli Richards: Jeeni USA MD

I’ve decided that I’m going to write blogs periodically about some of the cool clients I’m fortunate enough to work with.  One of them is a UK-based venture called JEENI  run by long-time client, colleague and friend — Mel Croucher; a legend in the UK games industry.  

Simply put, JEENI is a multi-channel streaming service for independent musicians and performers, providing a unique showcase to put undiscovered talent in front of a global audience. JEENI artists get to keep 100% of everything they earn from the sale of their music and merchandise. JEENI audiences are given the power to vote, donate and be rewarded too.

JEENI treats its members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. Their numbers have been growing steadily over the past year or so, and this past weekend they ran a Live Music Festival featuring some of the amazing musicians in the global community.  As an homage to my former A&R role at EMI, I was really impressed with the talent of several of the featured artists.  The highlights reel runs about an hour, and that’s time well spent to discover some wonderful talent and be entertained by artists you others might not hear about — not yet anyway.  It’s quite an eclectic line-up but some of my personal favorites from this festival include:  red-headed wunderkind Harvie Joy, teen guitar virtuoso Toby Lee, vocalist Jem Cooke who appears to be channeling Adele, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Gerendas, and a spine-tingling track from Zeeteeah Massiah.

I promise if you invest an hour in watching this online music festival, you’ll be very pleasantly rewarded.  And consider joining JEENI as well!

The incredible talented Zeeteah Massiah who starred in the Festival will be playing at The Crazy Cogs on Thursday the 8th of October 2020, if you fancy seeing her gig live. https://www.brasseriezedel.com/crazy-coqs/

05
Jun

Jeeni announces FREE Membership for all Musicians, Performers and Fans, whilst artists keep 100% of everything they earn.

Live venues are out, but your audience is still there. That's why we have turned our online streaming service, from subscription based membership to absolutely FREE. We are determined to support all Musicians, Performers and Pros to earn money while the COVID-19 pandemic prevents them from playing live shows. As the entertainment industry pumps out new ways of thinking to support creatives in this troubled time, we as a team are agile and committed to change the platform day to day if necessary. In the meantime we have spent the last week working hard behind the scenes to make sure Jeeni is there is help and removed membership fees and restructured the platform so you can get paid directly to your bank account or PayPal account, with no hidden fees or charges. So How Does It Work? Jeeni is an online showcase that puts your talent in front of a global audience. We do all the work and you reap all the rewards. No hype, no adverts, no scams, no rip-offs, no fakes, no charge. We give you all the tools you need to showcase your talent, and reach out to your target audience in safety. You will be able to keep 100% of everything you earn from the sale of your music, donations, live streaming and merchandise. We have responded fast to update the platform this week to reflect the changing offer, our sole purpose to support musicians and performers in such uncertain times. We are looking for members of the Independent Musicians and Performers Community Group to join us and help us beta test and develop the platform faster, so we can scale and showcase your music globally. You may not have a showcase and just love listening to your favorite bands or acts for free, but as a FAN you can also join and help us test the site. So what's the catch? There is none... you have nothing to lose, everything to gain, all in a completely free and in a safe environment. Jeeni promises to treat you ethically, honestly and with respect, so that you can stay creative and stay safe. Check us out and join us, just two easy steps entirely for FREE. www.jeeni.com

05
Jun

How to grow your Facebook group.

Times are moving fast when it comes to social media, in particular the use of community groups to target your audiences with event, streaming and watch-parties going live every second of the day all around the globe. All of a sudden it feels like everyone except me is an expert at creating successful Facebook groups, so I decided I would take some time to try and unpick why are Facebook groups so successful. Had the groups been going for years and grown their members organically? Did they have large budgets and were they spending loads of money on Ads? Were they all marketing experts? Did they engage large teams of enthusiastic influencers?  To my surprise I found that in most instances these assumptions were just not the case. Rock The Lock Down, founded by Lucy Pardoe & Ollie Hughes, is a great example, with over 887,000 members in less than 6 weeks. I finally had to admit I was missing the critical ingredients for a successful campaign.  I only watched a selection of YouTube Videos, so not exhaustive, and I will watch some more tomorrow, but in the meantime to save you time, these were my key take-aways. 1. Make sure you take extra time to set up the group correctly, with an accurate, yet brief description. Check to make sure you have completed all sections, not just the about, which is the mistake I made. 2. Get as many people as possible to like your landing page, so that you can invite all of those people to your community group. Really simple and easy to use, but Facebook only allow you invite 50-100 in one day to stop you spamming. Which is what I also did!! 3. Make the group public, as you want as many members as possible to grow and contribute to organic growth.  4. Create as many discussions and engage with all your members as often as you can, be as helpful as possible, share and like and answer their questions. Be a guru, be supportive, open, honest and kind.   5. Use a bot to run competitions, contests, have freebies and giveaways , looping the bot back to join the group. 6. Join other relevant groups, share those groups and contribute as much knowledge and wisdom as you can helping members in those groups. It’s all about genuine and engaging conversation. Write guest posts and contribute wherever you can. Share and reuse your work on different sites, saving time and money. Keep the content helpful and meaningful. Cross-promote as often as you can and contact group's admin to share your group. 7. Test, test and trial Facebook ads that are targeted and specific, making sure you have set up demographics and location settings.  8. Create an exciting and interesting email campaign to support engagement from existing and new customer databases. 9. Interlink and entwine your groups posts and comments on You Tube and use back-links to improve your SEO. 10. Remember groups are for genuine enthusiasts who love music, or food, travel etc, and members do not want to see any information that is not relevant to what they love. At the end of the day this is all about them after all! In the meantime, please feel free to invite friends to our Independent Musicians and Performers Group and we will soon be at 2,000 members.

04
Jul

Alice Milburn - ‘Not Yours’ Single Review

Alice Milburn continues to perfect her innovative blend of glossy jazz chords with empowering upbeat pop with the new and improved version of 2019’s ‘Not Yours’.  Alice has only just begun to expand on a variety of Jeeni’s channels, including but not limited to: jazz, pop, indie and lounge. Fresh, new talent is what powers Jeeni and with artists such as Alice, Jeeni couldn’t wish for much better fuel for our mission of uplifting and supporting unrepresented artists. Check out Alice’s young and expanding showcase on Jeeni here. On this redesign of ‘Not Yours’, Alice displays her flexible and adaptable comprehension of musicality clearer than ever. The willingness to broaden both the understanding of jazz and pop whilst also incorporating rock elements without resulting in a confusing mess of a composition is an absolute feat. Alice’s attitude to music is totally refreshing and it’s more often the attitude and approach to creation that separates the greats from the rest, not just superb musicianship.  Immediately, this re-telling of Alice’s popular 2019 single holds more atmosphere and impact than its predecessor. The guitar cuts through so much cleaner thanks to less muddy settings on both the amp and after effects during the mixing process. And this fresher, more attentive approach isn’t limited to just the guitar parts; the bass guides the harmony much more seamlessly, the drums snap harder and as a result of these perfected parts, Alice’s soulful, impassioned vocals sit in this new arrangement so much nicer. Her voice is never drowned out, overshadowed or squashed, although the guitar solo certainly takes its fair portion of the limelight, and rightly so.  Another key improvement can be found in the addition of the horn parts. Tasteful trumpets can be heard reinforcing the chords in the choruses and do so well to glimmer and shine up the composition’s instrumentation. The key difference between the 2019 version and the new 2022 version is the brightness and rejuvenation in the tone of the track and not much brightens up a mix as well as horns. A live performance where the horn parts get their own moment to solo and shine would surely be breathtaking.  It could possibly be argued that a song about a romantic betrayal shouldn’t be so bright and that maybe the first, slightly darker version is more apt for heartbreak, however this song is more empowering than it is hopeless. The title itself, ‘Not Yours’ is a triumphant announcement that Alice can’t be owned or manipulated, especially not anymore.  It’s not always easy to perhaps acknowledge that a previously released track could be realised and finished in a more polished way, however Alice is the type of artist to take that brave step in improving her sound and raising the standard of her craft up another notch. Check out more of Alice Milburn’s fantastic work here.