Jeeni proudly announces that Sammie Venn has joined Team Jeeni as Official Writer, Columnist and Blogger.

Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Jeeni proudly announces that Sammie Venn has joined Team Jeeni as Official Writer, Columnist and Blogger.

Sammie is an award-winning entrepreneur, a writer, columnist and blogger. We caught up with Sammie this afternoon and she told us about her Soul Warrior journey.

"I began the Soul Warrior path after writing a series of poems based on my journey of self-discovery. Some were just late-night musings, others more conscious truths, but in essence they encompass the search for the strength that lies within ourselves. I love developing memorable stories and experiences through the emotional connection of words and images, and find writing a wonderful way to capture those inspiring moments and joyful experiences life has to offer.

Preferring wild spaces that feel spirited and untamed, I’ve always aimed to be part of nature’s green army. I grew up in the countryside and have finally wound my way back home after decades of living in a densely populated city and feeling almost a stranger to the natural environment. Mindful of the future, we are providing for our children and generations to come, I have strived to turn my business “Soul Warriors” into an eco-friendly company: one that has an holistic approach to life, embracing support, learning, growth and inspiration by taking an alternative path to a traditional business plan. The “Business Garden” needs to be planted, nourished, weeded and watered, given air to breathe, sunshine to blossom and have roots strong enough to endure adversity.

I believe that nature, love and adventure connect the mind, body and soul, the balance of each dependent on the other. Soul Warriors nurtures trust on both a personal and professional level, where positive and transparent ethics are key to its success. The vision embodies joyful soulful-entrepreneurship where positivity and emotional clarity are as important as the bottom line. I began making jewellery years ago and have loved the mindful dedication it takes to develop a bespoke product. Each collection is based on the poetry and stories I write and the collection of ethical treasures have been described as modern-day heirlooms that people can cherish, share and adore.

Having been in the retail industry for over 25 years and winning the Business Woman of Excellence Award 2019 in Sussex, I endeavour to work with other award-winning partners who embody fair trade and eco-friendly standards, like Jeeni. In September 2019 I was invited to be part of Gok Wan’s Dream 8 retailers for his UK roadshow, a fun and vibrant event that has led to some interesting collaborations.

From the moment I learnt to put pen to paper as a child, writing became a passion. My Grandmother was also a writer, I have many fond memories of typing her work on a battered Olivetti in her drawing room. My Grandfather was an accomplished saxophonist, so music has always been an central part of my life from a young age.

My writing journey has been an integral part of my emotional well-being: it’s freeing, mindful and allows me to explore unique, exuberant and imaginative worlds. Storytelling is the skeleton of all my work, both in product development and the poetry, articles and blogs I write. My work has been published in the US literary journal The Starlight Emporium, which explores wonder-filled ideas relating to art, music, travel, storytelling, and all manner of things creative. I am also taking on the role of columnist with Town and County magazine, later this year. Blogging for Soulful Life Club, a company I founded with my business partner Sharron Goodyear 18 months ago, has been a springboard for my work, in creating a wellness community for women. Now my entrepreneurial journey has found a new niche."

Welcome on board Sammie we are very excited to be working with you and know you will be a great asset to Team Jeeni. If you would like to find out more about Sammie please check out her website: www.soulwarriors.co.uk.

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04
Jun

A $0.003 reward?! We’re Twitching at the thought!

Twitch has always been popular amongst the gaming community. It was created initially in 2011 as a platform for gamers to use in order to live stream as well as broadcast live Esports events and competitions and has since retained on average 15million daily users. With so much more of our time spent online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Twitch has expanded in regard to what they broadcast and live stream: talk shows are growing in popularity as well as live streamed music to name but a couple. As the date for the resumption of normality approaches and with it the reopening of concert halls and live shows, one can speculate as to what will happen to those artists that have decided to make use of these live streaming platforms as a source of income. Twitch users reportedly spend three times as much time on the platform as on Sportify and YouTube so the potential for it to be a very lucrative platform for music makers and artists is what has been looked into by Will Page, an economist who runs Tarzan Economics. He worked alongside various teams in order to understand how live streaming and live music may co-exist in the future. “Live streaming won’t go away when live music returns.” -Will Page In 2002, one of the first music streaming services Rhapsody, offered a $9.99 monthly price which is the same as what we see today for similar music streaming services. What is provided is also pretty much the same as what was offered in 2002; fans remain largely disconnected from their favourite artists, they are unable to offer direct compensation to creators, and ‘cross-usage’ occurs frequently as a listener is often subscribed to multiple platforms. “None of the on-demand streaming services that have since sprung up enable immediate engagement, this is a relic of the music industry of old.” -Will Page User engagement is something that both Twitch and Jeeni offer, and not only does it allow the fans to be more involved with the artists they love, but it allows the artists to be fairly compensated, a huge issue which is now being petitioned against by the Broken Record Campaign. See our last blog post for more information and ways that you can support the campaign. According to Will Page, the typical music streaming model has approached the way in which artist are compensated in one way: “the platform aggregates all the streaming data and revenues from a specific market and product over a specific time period, divides an artist’s share by that sum, and allocates revenues proportionately. Get 1% of all the streams, and you’ll get 1% of all the money. This has spurred much debate within the industry, as heavy streamers are effectively subsidised by light streamers, or as Quartz controversially put it: Your Spotify and Apple Music subscriptions pay artists you never listen to.” In essence, the modelling simply just isn’t fair, and neither rewards the artists or their fans for supporting them. The way in which Twitch brings in money, however, varies across three methods similar to Jeeni: Creator Channel Subscriptions, Bits allow users to support creators directly on the service, and advertising. Will Page made a comparison between creator earnings on Twitch, which average at $0.15 per-hour-per-user, with that of global streaming services at which the rate per-stream is set at roughly $0.003. By taking the $0.003 per stream and multiplying by 17 (assuming a song lasts 3 minutes this equates to an hour of listening time), then applying an average 20% royalty rate, this results in a creator’s “revenue-per-hour listened” at just $0.01. My jaw dropped, did yours? Twitch has proved it can monetise over 10 times better than music streaming, however this only applies to creators’ most loyal fans that tune in on a regular basis. "If you keep the full $100 of each true fan, then you need only 1,000 of them to earn $100,000 per year." -Kevin Kelly, The Technium, 2008 Do you want to spend hours watching your favourite gamer and at the same time, fairly compensate and reward them for their time and effort? Well of course. What Twitch does for gamers, we want to do for music makers and artists here at Jeeni. Look out Twitch, we’ll meet you at the finish line.

04
Jun

Top Ten Tips on How To Promote your Music Independently

Let's set the scene. We believed there would be a load of "How to Videos..." giving expert advice to help musicians, artists and performers along their merry way. We thought just Google it and the rest would be simple. But the quality of what we have found raises the question, "how helpful are these videos really, and do musicians and performers use them"? Do these videos add real value? To find out more, we're asking the new 400 Unsigned Artist Community members what they think. Maybe they have found a video or a blog which changed their fortunes, and they are willing share and let us know why it had such an impact. Let's see how far this forum opens new discussions and debate. Having listened to Jasmine from Ditto in the video below, we started to think that our first job might be to start a discussion around "how to promote and market your work". So you don't have to watch the whole 7 minute video, we have just listed the headlines to get a discussion going. (approx. 60 seconds read time) 1. Making great music, music always comes first. 2. Play as often as you can, make them remember you. Put on a killer live show and make an impact. 3. Start locally, go nationally and then head out on tour. Ed Sheeran says he played at least a thoiusand shows, before he became known in the music industry. 4. Create a website and build a mailing list - which links to your music, bio, promo images, tour dates, mailing list and sign-up form. 5. Get your social media sorted! Keep a consistent brand identity! Include competitions, polls, track snippets, press shots, backstage videos. Use targeted social adds, do not use mass advertising. 6. Check out what other successful performers are doing and learn from them, rather than starting from scratch. 7. Get your tracks PLAYLISTED. 8. Manage your own PR and contact journalists directly. Create an Electronic Press Kit, write a press release, upload your music, send to bloggers & journalists. 9. Surround yourself by the right people. Just because you are independent, that does not mean you have to do everything on your own. 10. Know your audience and focus on your niche! So that's it folks, let's create our own list and add value to this vital conversation. If you would like to join the new Unsigned Artists Community check us out and send in a request to join today. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2529935880656436/?source_id=459365401133253 https://vimeo.com/396502327

01
Feb

Maple Sky, ‘Vision’ Single Review

The already multi-faceted smooth jazz outfit, Maple Sky broaden their sound once more with this explosive, brand-new funk banger, named ‘Vision’. Maple Sky have been a key component of Jeeni’s jazz channel (https://jeeni.com/channel/all-channels/jazz/) since last September and after a few different iterations, it seems that the group have found their most effective formula of members and mindsets. Maple Sky have evolved. Their sweet lounge jazz tracks have their place and are performed and written superbly however, the control and dare I say, vision contained in this piece is so far, unparalleled in their work. Each instrument expresses individuality and flows with different breathes and personalities, yet they still exist solely in the context of each other and act as a part of a dynamic and expressive synergy. Maple Sky told Jeeni that drummer, Ed Jordan handles the production of the group’s latest work and he’s done a fantastic job handling all of the energy that Joel, Olivia, Christian and of course, himself brings to this track. Ed gives more space to the instruments via natural-feeling reverb which creates physical dimensions and atmosphere to the funky soundtrack. Keyboardist, Joel Bamigboye also has a hand in production and produced the entirety of the group’s self-titled EP from 2020. The group’s consistent musicianship has meant that this change-up of producers has so far not created any kind of conflict or contradictions in their tone and sound. Following ‘Free Her’, their new EP, set to be released later this year is shaping up to be their strongest yet. ‘Vision’ is set to be released on Saturday, the 5th of February. Follow Maple Sky on socials: Twitter: https://twitter.com/mapleskyband Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MapleSkyBand/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapleskyband/ Check out Maple Sky’s showcase on Jeeni here: https://jeeni.com/showcase/maple-sky/ How can Jeeni support artists like Maple Sky? JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience. • We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make. • We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way. • We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. • Access to artist liaison and a supportive marketing team.

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