New partnership alert! Muso has teamed up with Groover for the collab of our dreams! In this case, the big one: getting aspiring musicians SEEN and HEARD all around the world!
Just like Muso strives to connect local artists with more gigs, Groover is using their platform to take over the artist-promo space by getting artists’ music into the hands of the right tastemakers and industry pros. In their case, that’s through helping 100k artists make meaningful connections with over 2000 curators, labels and music media platforms worldwide, starting from their home city of Paris.
If you’re keen on learning about what this means for Muso’s brightest stars (that’s all of you btw), stay tuned. We took the opportunity to chat with co-founder Dorian on behalf of Groover to cover all the big questions, like, UMM… HOW?!
He talked us through the problems with current promo, and the opportunities that artists have secured through Groover, like ACTUALLY getting their music heard and breaking into overseas audiences.
Best of all, Dorian covers why Groover’s provision for getting their artists quality feedback within 7 days is so important to the mission, as well as the networking component where artists can build their industry contacts.
Badass.
You’ll also find a Muso X Groover discount code at the end for you to use on your first Groover campaign.
Shared dreams bridge scenes. Groove on Musos (see what I did there?)
MUSO: Dorian, what first sparked this idea to create a promo platform a.k.a Groover?
Dorian for GROOVER: When I started writing independently about music in 2013, my intention was to shine a light on artists that weren’t getting the right exposure and that were often overlooked. I started organising a few gigs in Paris and recorded live sessions at home with around 40 indie artists such as Leif Vollebekk, Pete Yorn, Plants and Animals, Asgeir etc. The drive to give independent artists the visibility they deserve became even stronger.
After meeting my co-founders in California in 2018, we came together around the idea of helping indie artists. Romain had encountered difficulties in promoting his latest EP and I was receiving so many requests from artists wishing to be featured on my music blog that it was overwhelming.
After speaking with over 200 artists, we felt they all faced the same problem. Once a song was released, artists didn’t know how to get more traction for their music. And even more than that, they were helpless regarding how to get people to simply listen to their music. This is where the idea of Groover was born. The motivation has always been to support artists and give them a platform to allow their music to reach as many people as possible, while ensuring their music will be listened to and they won’t feel like sending a message in a bottle.
MUSO: Could you tell us more about how Groover works for (and with) musicians, and how the pricing works?
Dorian for GROOVER: Sure! On Groover, musicians and their representatives can send their songs to the blogs, radio stations, playlisters, record companies, and music industry professionals of their choice for 2 Grooviz by curator/pro (1 Grooviz is equal to €1).
You’re guaranteed that your music will be heard and that the contacts you have selected from a list of 2,000+ currently active ones will provide written feedback on it within 7 days. If not, you get your Grooviz back to reach out to additional curators & pros! On the other side, the curators and music professionals that range from media outlets to recognised playlists, choose whether they want to feature your track.
In 4 years, more than 1.5 million pieces of feedback have been given to over 100k+ artists, triggering over 300k+ sharings & opportunities, and more than 600 signatures on record labels. Those numbers are currently growing very fast!
MUSO: What are some of the use cases for Groover, whether you’re an artist completely new to the game or experienced in the scene?
Dorian for GROOVER: Groover is for all independent artists who want to get more people to listen to their music, to build their network and progress. We’ve been amazed by the kinds of artists who have used Groover to increase their coverage through blogs, radios and playlist curators so far.
From amazing projects such as Nico & Vinz or La Femme, to complete discoveries and artists releasing their very first track. You can even use Groover to get detailed feedback on your unfinished track from mentors and sound experts, and also get in touch with record labels, publishers & managers.
Let’s also note that Groover is also a great tool for artists representatives such as managers, record label owners, publishers. Record labels such as Ninja Tune, Bright Antenna Records and Wagram Music use Groover for most of their releases. They can capitalise on their recurring use of the platform to target even better the right contacts for all the artists they work with.
MUSO: The guaranteed feedback is a gamechanger. Could you tell us more about the process?
Dorian for GROOVER: What Groover guarantees is that artists will get their tracks listened to and feedback from the curators and pros they’ve reached out to. If some don’t answer after 7 days, the artists get Grooviz – the name of our credits on the website – back. The current answer rate on Groover is around 90%. This means that if you send a campaign to 40 contacts, you’ll get in average 36 answers and get Grooviz back to send your track – or another one! – to four more music curators & pros of your choice.
On top of the feedback whose quality we monitor closely to ensure it checks out our guidelines – and especially that it is informative and constructive, explanatory and sincere, benevolent and encouraging – curators and pros on Groover can share the tracks they receive or get in touch with the artists. It happens on average in 20-25% of the cases, with huge variations based on the quality of the music and the accuracy of the targeting.
MUSO: You guys are already partnered with Australian industry pros. Who are some that artists can connect with?
Dorian for GROOVER: Australia is such an interesting market and one that we’re keen on building further, knowing we already have around 1,500 artists and representatives who have signed up to Groover. Dan Howls, Tanya George and Finn are a few examples of artists who got really great results from their Groover campaigns.
Some of our curators & professionals include The AU Review, Source Music, RKJ Music, Chilled Cat and Acid Stag to name a few. But, as always, we recommend artists to look beyond their home markets as opportunities globally are all over Groover!
MUSO: Tell us about your favourite times that an artist successfully managed a release through Groover!
Dorian for GROOVER: There are so many artists who handle successful releases by including Groover in their promotion actions every day, it’s hard to choose!
Recently, we explored a case study on the Groover Blog with Mathieu Saïkaly’s recent track “Neptune,” explaining how it got into a lot of relevant independent playlists and triggered Spotify’s algorithms.
Then there’s French rapper Alvin Chris(pictured above) whose project has been growing quite well in the past years. Alvin told me that the first comments he received on Groover in 2019 were pretty harsh and were also pinpointing the same points of improvement. Curators were finding him interesting and charismatic, but the beats were found to be too basic and the melodies not original enough.
At that point he realized that he needed to collaborate with other beatmakers instead of producing his beats on his own, and he spent a lot of time finding a way to be more authentic and stand out. Once he did, he started to get amazing feedback on the website, his track “Coucou c’est encore moi” buzzed on TikTok, his audience became even more solid after he signed with a great distributor and played at MaMA Festival in Paris in 2021!
He then signed with a booker and opened for amazing artists since. He’s one of the flagships of our artist accelerator Groover Obsessions.
Muso: Major!
For more general helpfulness on all things “artistlife”, check out the Muso blog.
You’ll find more tips and resources like:
- Why every artist needs a contract
- Tips for planning your next band tour
- And the importance of a press release
Want to try Groover out? Muso users can now enjoy a 10% discount.
Sign up on Groover and use the code MUSOGROOVERVIP on your first campaign.
*see how to apply the special discount here*
Follow Groover on Instagram and Spotify
