House Concerts — Podcast — Making It with Chris G.

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One of the keys to business that I’ve learned from my mentors that it’s important to be genuine, authentic, and to be an innovator. In a very saturated music industry, this is more important than ever. Anyone can put up music on Spotify, Soundcloud, or YouTube, and book shows in clubs across the country. How do you stand out from all the noise? At the end of the day, every artist starts out as a small business. How do you grow that business? Fran Snyder is an innovator who thinks outside of the box, and doesn’t try to follow the basic rules of put your music and content online, book a bunch of shows, promote them like hell, and pray something happens.

This is part two of our house concerts series, and in this episode features Fran Snyder, a singer-songwriter and the Founder of Concerts In Your Home, The Listening Room Network, and the Listening Room Festival. In this you’ll learn about his company, Concerts In Your Home. We discuss how to be part of the network as a host and as an artist. The network has over 1,000 hosts all over the world. You’ll learn what hosts are looking for, and how to book a tour oversees through the network, and much more. We spend some time on Fran’s backstory of following the “formula” of grinding through clubs and the college circuit, until the switch flipped and he became one of the pioneers of the house concerts movement.

“House Concerts are the Emotional Anchors to a Tour” - Hans York

Highlights from this Episode
The resurgence of House Concerts [6:10]
When did the entrepreneurial spirit start for Fran Snyder [9:52]
The first time playing live and Fran’s booking process in the beginning [13:46]
When Fran discovered playing House Concerts [19:28]
How Fran finds hosts and how to become a host [25:31]
How does an artist become part of the network, and what genres work best [32:15]
What kind of video should artists submit [38:14]
How does the process work once an artist is accepted [41:12]
How do artists get paid and all the different opportunities? [43:48]
What types of artists are part of the network and how to work this into your touring strategy [50:22]
Countries that are part of the network and active and can artists use this to get overseas [52:18]
Stories of artists that are part of the network [56:32]

Quotes from Fran Snyder
“Recorded music wants to become free”
“I’m training this audience on listening rooms, because we don’t want to see the public performance disappear.”
“We want our artists to have a listening audience and a living wage.”
“If you want to be a musician, start now.”
“Once we started charging for the application process, it immediately improved the quality.”
“People really value the feedback that they’re getting.”
“House Concerts are becoming often times the anchor date.”
“(House Concerts) can be a beautiful working vacation.”
“What’s really fun is what happens after the gig.”
“Often times you become part of these people’s lives and become lifelong friends.”
“We play music because it’s our favorite way to connect with people.”
“Are you creating moments that you’re going to remember?”

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
People
Barry Manilow
Indigo Girls
U2
Shannon Curtis
Hans York
Buzz Cason

Places & Things
Concerts In Your Home
The Living Room Network
The Listening Room Festival
NACA College Conference

Keep in touch with Fran Snyder:
https://fransnyder.com/
http://www.concertsinyourhome.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fransnyder
https://twitter.com/CIYH

Definition of Making It by Fran Snyder
“Having a career on your terms. Every artist has to define success for themselves.”

You can also listen to this episode on iTunes | Stitcher | SoundCloud

Sometimes I bring guests on the show that are successful entrepreneurs, marketers, and content creators outside of the music business, and relate their lessons and insight to artists and students of the music business. Shannon Curtis has a completely unique approach to her music career, from which people in ALL industries can learn her lessons on community and creating genuine deep relationships. Shannon Curtis is an independent songwriter, singer, performer, recording artist, speaker, and author, based in Los Angeles. Her fourth full-length record, entitled Creationism, was released on June 17, 2016, and debuted on Nielsen's Top New Artists Albums chart.

Shannon Curtis is a fearless innovator of the music business taking her career completely in her own hands. In 2011, she performed her first house concert and was hooked on the art of building a community around house concerts. Shortly after she grossed over $25K and wrote a book about her experience called “No Booker, No Bouncer, No Bartender, How I made $25K on a 2-Month House Concert Tour (And How you can too)” Today, she’s performing over 70 house shows in less than four months every Summer grossing over $50K. In this episode she shares how she discovered house concerts, how she was able to build her own community through her supporters without relying on other networks or middle people. Shannon shares her beautiful philosophy on focusing on building community, not fans. We also talk about her new album, and all the projects she works on during her time off road, which also includes writing personal songs for people.

Curtis’s music has been featured prominently in independent film & in TV shows such as ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars, MTV’s The Hills, and ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Curtis lives in Los Angeles with her husband, record producer Jamie Hill. This was an incredibly inspiring episode for me. I meet so many artists and students of the music business every day trying to navigate their way through the business. I try to push and force them to think outside of the box, and figure out a way to stand out and be completely different form the norm and following the “formula.” Shannon Curtis is not only completely creative with her art, but had a complete creative and genuine approach to entrepreneurship that builds deep connections with people in her community.

Get a Copy of Shannon's Book:

Highlights from this Episode
Breakdown of Shannon’s house concert tour (04:40)
How to describe Shannon’s music (06:55)
What lit the fire for the music industry (7:50)
Four years of being an up and coming artist (12:30)
Story of the first house concert (15:05)
How Shannon occupies her time while she’s not on the road (21:55)
First concert and first album bought (25:50)
Who comes to mind when Shannon thinks “Successful” (27:12)
Advice for artists attempting a house concert tour (27:50)
DIY venue experiences (32:55)
Most effective way to run a house concert, beginning to end (36:15)
Asking process to the host of the house concert (43:00)
How Shannon does ice breakers (49:35)
Worst concert and what was learned (51:35)
Shannon explains fans vs community philosophy (56:25)
Advice for successful social media use (1:01:05)
What to expect for Shannon’s new work (1:04:40)
Crowdfunding done differently (1:07:55)
Shannon’s creative process (1:09:00)
Rapid Fire Questions (1:10:00)
Making It (1:15:40)

Quotes from Shannon Curtis
“We intentionally sound artful. They aren’t intended to sound like anything you’d hear on the radio.”
“You make decent money playing in colleges.”
“I don’t equate success success with money.”
“If you allow yourself to engage with those people as a human then maybe people will respond.”
“Once you give yourself the permission to step outside that and be brave, and you let yourself be seen a little more nakedly; honestly I feel like that is the moment people start responding.”
“The minute I stepped outside was the minute I started experiencing more connection.”
“They’re not people who host house concerts. They are people who know me.”
“We’re reaching new markets of people because we see new people.”
“They are other ways to do so much better for yourself.”
“If you can plan out the way you see the event happening, you can maximize you income.”
“The more you can make a connection. The more they will give in donations.”
“The people who love you the most want to see you achieve”
“You call them fans, I call them community.”
“They are likely to say yes if they have the ability to.”
“What I want to do is bring value into this world.”
“I’m make the conversation about getting to know them.”
“We learned that we needed to be a lot more specific.”
“You and I are made in the same life.”

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
People
Amy Grant
Tiffany

Places & Things
No Booker, No Bouncer, No Bartender
I Am Not Your Negro

Get in Touch with Shannon Curtis
http://shannoncurtis.net/
https://www.facebook.com/shannonkcurtis
https://twitter.com/shannoncurtis
https://www.instagram.com/shannoncurtismusic/

Support Shannon and Jamie’s Patreon Campaign:
https://www.patreon.com/shannonandjamie

Shannon Curtis’ Definition of Making It
“I’m making it. I’m making music and I can pay my bills.”

Shannon Curtis at TEXxArlington

After Shannon shared the link of her official bio, I noticed she did this beautiful TED Talk on her experience of house concerts, and the deep connections she's built with her community. Inspiring!!