LRN Kickstarter – Impact on artists

You might know that I started as a singer-songwriter, and ConcertsInYourHome grew out of the challenges I had trying to find house concerts and inspire new ones. I decided that if the resource was good enough, I could share it with other artists and it would pay for itself.

We’ve launched a Kickstarter to take these efforts to the next level. I’m asking you to check it out, and consider sharing.

Here’s why a successful campaign will help you, as a member of CIYH and LRN.

1. Our sites will attract more hosts and fans. Let’s face it… our sites are ugly. They are built on a 10 year old framework, and they are not mobile friendly at all – 30% of our traffic is mobile and we are losing all of them. This campaign will help us rebuild our sprawling websites into attractive, mobile-friendly resources to inspire more people to join up and see you at a show.

2. Fan memberships will engage more attendees, and allow hosts and venues to plug into a growing ecosystem of people who adore the listening room experience. When a host stops booking shows, those music fans are lost, because we haven’t connected them to the network. In the future, a new host could pop up and have instant support from area fans who feel underserved by the amount of activity in their area.

3. Hosts will be able to collaborate on bookings, potentially turning one show into two or three for you.

More hosts and venues

More fans more attendance

More activity and connections

Please check out the campaign, the fun video, and consider sharing our inspirational message with your friends.

Your fan,

Fran Snyder

founder, CIYH and LRN

Click and visit our Kickstarter!

LRN Kickstarter – Why not just make ConcertsInYourHome better?

Excellent question. After all, we’ve spent 11 years developing and promoting CIYH, it’s what we’re known for, and it’s where we lead. We certainly haven’t lost any passion for house concerts, either.

I’ll run through some bullet points, but first let me remind you of our core mission.

We inspire, promote, and help connect “gigs where people listen.” We help touring artists earn a living wage and find appreciative audiences. We help music fans who appreciate a deeper connection with artists, and those who want to play an important role in the development of music careers.

Although house concerts are wonderful expression of “gigs where people listen,” they are not and should not be the only place where deep musical connections happen. Listening Rooms, public and private, need to be supported and promoted.

Here’s why the Listening Room Network is important, and why we are dedicating ourselves to its success.

1. Artists and fans need public venues – these spaces offer more possibilities, more space, and more exposure to new fans. Compared to solos and duos, bands have trouble finding house concerts. Bigger sound systems, lights, stages, all help to elevate music in ways that don’t always work in a house concert setting. We need to support  public venues.
2. We need to make booking shows and tours easier. Booking is hard work, and our artists need to be able to find more opportunities in one place. LRN allows them to find and connect more shows, beyond the limits of what a house-concerts-only site can provide.
3. House concerts and listening rooms should be allies. Although most people still don’t know about house concerts, even fewer know what  listening rooms are and why they are important. Our house concert community will benefit from being affiliated and friendly with listening rooms in their region. House concerts are creating new fans – fans who can enjoy and support listening rooms too.
4. The work of running a listening room is very similar to the work of house concerts. The platform we built for CIYH is a great start for serving listening rooms, and we’ve already begun adapting it for their use. In fact, we already have members who host house concerts and help run a listening room.
5. Fans need more attention and more fun. Our concerts need fans, and fans need a place to connect and engage. For more than a decade, we’ve focused on connecting and supporting artists and venues. While this creates lost of shows, it does not provide enough support to attract like-minded music fans – which are the lifeblood of successful concerts. LRN will feature robust fan memberships, where they can support, review, and share the artists and venue the enjoy the most.

There are plenty of music sites trying to be everything for every artist and every venue. That’s not where we are headed. By staying true to our love of LISTENING rooms and an affinity for places where artists can make a living wage (without the pre-requisite of being famous in that town), we can include public venues and still maintain a community that engages the right kinds of fans.

Please support our kickstarter campaign before November 15th. I’ll be expanding on this post.

LRN Kickstarter – Message for hosts to share with friends.

MESSAGE FOR HOSTS TO SHARE – campaign ends November 15th!

Subject: A fun and worthy music project you can support.

Dear Friends,

You might already know how much house concerts mean to me, but you might not know how vital they are to the music world.

Right now, there’s a fun campaign to help more people discover and connect with these events around the world.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/365553320/listening-room-network-house-concerts-and-so-much

Please check out the short video, the meaningful goals, and fun rewards you can choose if you decide to contribute.

Thank you for your generosity. Hope to see you at our next show.

Your friend….

 

Release: Kickstarter for Listening Room Network

For Immediate Release (10-23-2017)

Listening Room Network re-launch and Kickstarter Campaign

Listening Room Network (LRN) promotes concerts with an intimate, “listening room atmosphere.” These types of events include the growing global phenomenon of house concerts, which have become a vital resource for small, independent touring acts.

Listening Room Network is consolidating its websites to include equally vital public spaces that foster close proximity and deep listening. “Listening Rooms” are the types of places where someone is likely to say “shhhh” when people talk during the show.

“We believe a good live performer deserves the same respect you’d give to a fine movie. It’s not cool to talk during a movie – so why would it be OK to talk during a concert?” — Fran Snyder, founder.

LRN aims to raise $32,000 to upgrade it’s websites, provide new services, and launch fan memberships. “For 11 years, we’ve been serving artists and venues… it’s time we provide more for our fans.”

Living room concerts have a lot of history, going back (at least) to the days of chamber music in the Renaissance. LRN began in 2006 as ConcertsInYourHome.com, specifically to promote this concept to music fans, and to inspire them to try their hand at hosting concerts and promoting them to friends and neighbors. The site now creates thousands of events per year around the world, with 80% of the activity is still in the U.S. They also hold the annual Listening Room Festival, in St. Petersburg FL every spring.

The Kickstarter Campaign runs from October 25th to November 15th, 2017.

Campaign Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/365553320/listening-room-network-house-concerts-and-so-much

Press Photos:  on Google drive. 

Site Link: http://www.ListeningRoomNetwork.com

Contact: Fran Snyder

727-280-6208

Listening Room Network is based in St. Petersburg, FL.

Can Wineries and Distilleries be Listening Rooms?

The primary qualification for being in our network is a “listening room atmosphere.”  Although wineries and distilleries can offer a cool vibe, most don’t really push for patrons to be quiet and attentive during the show. Of course, we love to see exceptions to that generality!

We’re developing our Listening Room Network for those die-hard music appreciators who want to be able to hear the lyrics, and enjoy a show without distractions… we think music deserves the same respect as a fine movie. 8^)

If we’re on the same page, join us!

 

Kickstarter for Listening Room Network

Subscribe to get the first look at the campaign

We can no longer maintain the value of recorded music. Anything recorded is available for free. The people who pay for music usually do it because it is coupled with another experience; typically, a live one.

More than ever, we have to affirm the value and the experience of live music.

House concerts have answered the call, allowing volunteers across the globe to affirm their deep love of music and artists by hosting concerts, offering their spaces, their time, and their friends. ConcertsInYourHome has led the way for more than a decade.

In just a few days we’ll be going live with our first-ever Kickstarter Campaign. We’re taking the ConcertsInYourHome community to the next level, and creating a support system for public listening rooms as well.

We started this work in 2006, and while that put us at the forefront of house concert movement, it also means that our sprawling internet platform is dated and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.

We have some really nice plans for the needs of our community, and we’re looking to include more friends on our journey.

Some of the perks we’ll include are (of course) music, and a very nifty, soft first-ever Listening Room Network t-shirt – our coolest design yet.

Our campaign also features rewards linked to our Listening Room Festival in St. Petersburg, FL – VIP tickets, hotel packages, sponsorships, and more. This is a wonderful and unique festival, designed to inspire hosts from all over the world to meet their tribe – in person, surrounded by great music. Our biggest contributors can even co-create a Listening Room Festival in their home region, based on the platform and reputation we’ve already developed.

Another set of rewards focus around the music and expertise of Fran Snyder, the founder of CIYH who toured a million miles with his acoustic guitar and original songs before directing his energy and passion into this network. You can book Fran for a house concert as well as a house concert workshop, designed to inspire more activity in your area.

After 11 years of work, there’s no doubting our commitment to helping and growing this community. Today we face an opportunity together – let’s create the resources and new friends we need to make this community more vibrant than ever.

The campaign starts October 27th. Subscribe to get the first look at the campaign and exclusive rewards.