Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Team Jeeni- 4 months today since Lockdown.

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Team Jeeni- 4 months today since Lockdown.

LOCKDOWN
The impact of the pandemic crisis on the Jeeni project continues to be remarkably positive, not least because we have genuinely been able to help hard-hit artists and performers. The decision to open Jeeni for free subscriptions to all-comers in response to lockdown has seen mass sign-ups via our website and online community. 

Yesterday, Jeeni returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. Jeeni founding director Mel Croucher says, “We’re ahead of our original schedule, but there’s still so much more to do. We need to scale our online platform globally now and build our mass artist showcases to hit all our targets, and give our new artists the recognition they deserve.” We have already reached 90% of our target so if you want to see our pitch click HERE.

Shena Mitchell, Jeeni founding director, says: "I have never worked so hard in my life, but it's actually been a welcomed distraction. I am fortunate that I have been working from home for many years, so no change there, and fortunate to be living in a house with an office and a garden. Living on my own 24/7 for 120 days has been a challenge. Working with musicians and performers in lockdown has been a massive privilege, listening to music all day and watching magical performances is a treat for me, as up until 2 years ago I was mainly working in academia and public sector fundraising for start-ups, which I loved. But working with Team Jeeni creatives is a dream come true.

Most importantly, during this time of lockdown we have been able to reduce the cost of acquisition from £3 an artist to zero, and has again proved the concepts successfully pioneered in our Directors' previous marketing campaigns. We are connecting, collaborating, sharing and supporting each other, while we have fun and make a real difference, and we are delivering well.

We now have over 27,000 unsigned artists waiting to be uploaded, with over a 1,000 new artists joining every day. As predicted, once the flood gates opened we would have plenty of content and could easily reach 100,000 videos relatively fast at no cost. However, we need to carefully balance our success against storage and streaming costs and that is why we have decided to relaunch Jeeni as a paid subscription service." 

Jeeni aim to raise £100k for 2.4% equity with a pre-money valuation of £4million.

Jeeni is needed more now than ever and we have proven that the demand is high. Jeeni Generation-4 will only support 100,000 videos, so we must now embrace Generation-5 as we head for global roll-out.

TEAM 

We are pleased to welcome five new members to Team Jeeni.

Andrea Harding: Social Media. Dedicated to reaching out to new audiences, spreading the word about Jeeni artists, and helping build their fanbases.

Sharron Goodyear: Image Maker. Photographer of the Year Winner, Jeeni official photographer for artists, performers, promotions and events, specialising in online virtual shoots. 

Sammie Venn: Writer, Columnist and Blogger. Syndicating Jeeni news, interviewing and promoting our members, and spearheading our poetry and drama channels.

Louis Mitchell: Video Wrangler. Identifying up-and-coming unsigned musicians, performers and dancers focused on Asian Hip Hop, Grunge and Rap.

Lizzie Crow. Popular presenter for the BBC and top commercial broadcasters, and our go-to expert for voice-overs, podcasts, jingles and spoken word channels. 

Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

10
Jun

Let’s celebrate the “F” word – unlocking the power of our feminity. By Sammie Venn

By Sammie Venn Jeeni's Official Writer, Columnist and Blogger. Here at Jeeni.com we celebrate and support all musicians and performers, and poetry has its own dedicated channel for artists and performers to showcase their work and earn 100% of their sales, ticketing, merchandise and donations. Last week Jeeni returned to Crowdcube to raise more funds for helping new talent. We have been very encouraged with the positive response as we reached our target in just 6 days and now overfunding If you want to see our pitch click HERE. Today we showcase Sammie Venn as a very talented and creative writer. “For I conclude that the enemy is not lipstick, but guilt itself; we deserve lipstick, if we want it, AND free speech; we deserve to be sexual AND serious—or whatever we please. We are entitled to wear cowboy boots to our own revolution.” After reading Dr Naomi Wolfs powerful words I dug my cowboy boots out of the closet, turned the radio up and attempted to work through my own solitary revolution. I too wanted lipstick, love and liberty. I wanted to dance to my own beat and feel ecstatic about it. I have been in the retail industry for over 25 years now; understanding what women want and correlating that to how they feel, is a task both meaningful and joyful to me. It is something I continue to learn and explore daily as finding our inimitable style is part of the process of discovering our femininity; for me it is about how we show up in the world. I have never been an avid follower of fast fashion, the clothes we wear and how we choose to adorn ourselves is part of being authentically who we are. At heart I am a boho gypsy who longs to live her life in maxi dresses with no shoes, in the sunshine. This is of course not always practical but I like to kiss the earth with my toes as often as I can and working from home, especially at the moment provides me with that luxury. Celebrating our femininity should be a practice that connects both the pleasure and magic of being a woman. It’s easy to berate ourselves, finding fault in the smallest of details but it is those elements  that we should embrace and nurture more than anything; it is after all what makes us unique in this world. I had a hip replacement a couple of years ago at the age of 45. As painful and heart breaking as it was, I learnt to love the scar I see every day, as it was that very operation which allowed me to walk again. Falling in love with your body, scars and all, is about accepting everything that is wild, vulnerable and rampant about it. Listening to our intuition and feeling the emotions that accompany it, is a practice worthy of time and dedication. I have always appreciated music, the soundtrack that accompanies my life is as varied and eclectic as the decades I have lived in. Maya Angelou wrote that “ a bird does not sing because it has the answers, it sings because it has a song”. So when we write, listen or perform, we give something of our heart to a receiving audience. I have been working on a series of practices that will hopefully help to reclaim our pleasure both internally and externally. Here are a few rituals that harness the wisdom that we all carry within ourselves. Something for the mind, body and spirit. Reclaiming Pleasure. When we feel pleasure, we radiate it. Our skin glows, our eyes smile and our bodies feel more fluid and engaged with life in the moment. Finding pleasure in our daily activities is all part of a healthy sacred self-care regime. Notice what brings you joy, is it walking in nature? Dancing slowly to a rhythmic beat? Eating delicious food? Meditating? Soaking in a candlelit bath? Whatever it is, write it down and designate some time to your desires. Fulfilling our deepest needs brings us joy and harmony. Date Yourself. Have a date with yourself, be your own lover. Imagine your ideal soiree then recreate that for yourself, it can be wildly extravagant or very simple. A few years ago I took myself out for dinner, I dressed as if I were going out for the perfect first date. It was an odd experience as I had never done anything like this before. I was as nervous about being alone in a restaurant as I would have been meeting a prospective partner. But after my first glass of prosecco, I eased into the evening. I pulled out my notebook and listed everything I wanted to attract into my life; health, the feeling of safety, oneness with myself and those I loved,  a man who respected me on all levels and a career I could be proud of. I ate my dinner mindfully, observed those around me and then smiled to myself, I remember feeling happy for the first time in years. I still have the journal I wrote in that night, I see it as part of my self-healing revolution. When you commit to choosing you, that loving vibration will radiate into all areas of your life. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

03
Sep

Victorious Festival - Colour of the Jungle

Colour of the Jungle are a five-piece rock band, performing at this years Victorious Festival. The bands captivating songwriting and energy has resonated with audiences from Munich to the South coast of England. The group of five friends jammed for fun before moving to the studio, where they soon discovered their true potential and recorded their debut EP The Jungle Book. Their catchy-but-emotional, approachable-yet-raw sound is built upon sexy bass-driven rhythms and edgy instrumentation. Creating music that sticks in the head and the heart. Following the release of their debut EP The Jungle Book, Colour of the Jungle dropped ‘Steel Tray’. A summer anthem that captures the complex bass lines of John Harris, confident drum beats of Dan Fiford, rhythmic riff and leads of Joe Costello and Brendan McVeagh, and intriguing lyrics of Jack Evans. Inspired by iconic rock and roll greats such as Kings of Leon, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Growlers, Colour of the Jungle are sculpting their own identity of modern garage rock. To date Colour of the Jungle have played many festivals. Including Victorious, Wickham, Street Party and Hayling Island Kite Festival. Along with playing many events and venues from their hometown Portsmouth, all around Hampshire, right through to London and also venturing out to Munich… you could say there are truly creating a stir in the jungle. The Pompey band continue to make a name for themselves, gaining an impressive reputation with their live shows. Winning “Best Local Band’ in the 2021 Southsea Folk Awards. Colour of the Jungle at Victorious Festival 2021 Victorious Festival is the UK’s biggest metropolitan festival and returns to Southsea Seafront this this August Bank holiday weekend (27th-29th August). With an excellent line-up including Madness, The Streets, Royal Blood and many more. COTJ will perform a set including music from their new EP ‘Monkey Mind’ on the Seaside Stage at Victorious Festival. Nick Courtney, will present the Seaside Stage, showcasing the best up and coming talent from Portsmouth and surrounding areas. See cruise liners soar past while watching the next big thing. Catch Colour of the Jungle on the Seaside Stage on Saturday 28th August 2021 at the Victorious Festival, Portsmouth. Or check out Colour of the Jungle’s showcase here: Colour of the Jungle | Showcase | JEENI #independent #victorious #festival #portsmouth #jeeni #colourofthejungle #showcase

12
Oct

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