How a young musician pivoted to rebuild decimated revenue for himself and other musicians when the pandemic shut down the live-entertainment industry.
Trent Michael is an accomplished young musician who, like so many in the arts sector, had the rug completely pulled out from under his feet when the pandemic struck. Having to find other ways to make a living, Trent hit upon an ingenious idea that has helped both him and a number of his fellow entertainers continue to pay the bills. We spoke to Trent about his novel revenue-generating solution.
ISB: How did you generate your revenue pre-COVID?
TM: As a freelance musician, I held regular gigs at three local cafes and bars near my south-east Melbourne home – Southside Billy’s in Southland, Rubia Cafe in Moorabbin and Sonder Bar in Bentleigh. On top of this, I performed at one to two special events per weekend, such as weddings and engagement or birthday parties.
“I have high ambitions and a hungry mentality to keep chasing more and more growth and providing more opportunities for musicians.”
The imbursement for a freelance musician with regular gigs is quite reasonable, with most special occasions paying upwards of $500 for a solo, acoustic singer/songwriter and most local bars/cafes ranging between $200-300 depending on the duration of the set. I was earning a very practicable living prior to COVID from doing something I love, generating four to five thousand dollars a month.
ISB: With the pandemic trashing that revenue stream, what did you do to keep your head above water?
TM: During COVID, the entire arts and music industry collapsed. Being a part of multiple music community groups, and from past dealings with many talented artists, I could see and feel everybody sharing the pain. With all my regular gigs culled due to lockdowns and no weddings or parties taking place, I saw my revenue as a freelance musician literally drop down to zero. With a guitar and mic in my possession and some home-studio software in my bedroom, I acted on an idea that had been circulating in the back of my mind for some time. I had previously always offered to learn specific songs for any client who had booked me, as I know how special it is for them to hear their favourite song. I thought to myself, is there a way I could continue doing this online and monetise it to help me during lockdown? And that’s when the idea finally came to fruition of creating original, personalised songs for everybody, through Songly. Songly is the unique gift of a personalised song, with your favourite stories, memories and feelings transformed into a studio-recorded track from scratch.
ISB: How did you promote Songly’s services once it was up and running?
TM: I honed in on three online strategies well-known amongst most business owners: Google Adwords, paid social-media marketing, and search engine optimisation. Product awareness was one of my biggest challenges – not many people knew this product/service existed – but once they discovered it, the feedback was overwhelming. It had a very healthy click-through and conversion rate, so I directed the marketing budget towards people searching for gifts, couples in long-distance relationships, those with upcoming anniversaries and so on. The positive feedback I was receiving after each song reassured me that the more orders I completed, the more word-of-mouth would spread organically, and this has certainly been the case, with many clients referring their family and friends for their own song.
ISB: What did that pivot do for your revenue stream, both initially and now some time after you initiated it?
From day one, I had a generous amount of traffic hitting the website, all sourced from either Google Adwords or social-media marketing. The plan was always to introduce more artists and genres as soon as possible, as I wanted other affected artists to benefit from this platform. But understanding the sweat equity needed to get a business off its feet, I was writing and producing every song myself to begin with. This allowed me to take an income immediately from the business and achieve a similar wage as a freelance musician on the road. Having launched in November 2020, I entered the market at a strong time, with online gifts at an all-time high and leading into Christmas. This allowed me to generate that consistent wage I was generating before lockdowns, and with so much excitement and passion for the product, I was happily completing any and every order I could attain.
In early 2021, I introduced my first selection of new artists to enhance Songly’s offering. While I have some understanding of the SEM and SEO space, I wanted to bring in an expert from each field, so I employed two freelance marketers on a month-to-month basis to really drive Songly online. I also committed more and more of my revenue to the business’s marketing budget and orders just kept pouring in, to the point where I was generating almost three times the amount I was earning as a freelance musician, upwards of $12K per month. Each month continues to surpass the previous one and I have high ambitions and a hungry mentality to keep chasing more and more growth and providing more opportunities for musicians.
ISB: Please tell us about the impact that bringing fellow musicians on board has had on the business and on them.
One of the most fulfilling and rewarding aspects of launching Songly has been the ability to work with so many talented Australian artists. We feature a selection of our artists on our website, all with a bio, song and photo that generates cool exposure for them, along with a wealth of other benefits: being able to earn an income again doing the thing they love most, sharpening their songwriting and recording skills, collaborating with other artists, and creating unique songs and memories for clients that will last a lifetime. All our artists will testify to how Songly has helped reinvigorate their music careers after being affected through lockdowns. It has provided a unique income stream for them at a time they needed it most and I am stoked to be able to provide these talented and hardworking artists a platform for their music to be heard and to get paid for it.
ISB: And, finally, with live venues starting to reopen, what do you see as the future for Songly and how much of a role will it play in generating revenue for you as you start gigging again?
I believe Songly is the perfect companion for any musician looking to turn their passion into a living, and superbly supplements a freelance musician gigging on the road. As most special occasions, bars and events are predominantly booked for weekends or evenings, time during the week is often plentiful for musos. Being able to earn an income on their quieter days during the week through Songly brings musicians one step closer to making a decent living out of their passion. Songly continues to surpass its previous month in terms of orders, even outside lockdowns, so we plan to continue churning out as many custom songs as we can for years to come! We have delivered songs to clients in every state around Australia, so we plan to hold Songly gigs in the future, where our artists can perform to a live audience.
This article first appeared in issue 35 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
