ARTIST: I, Us & We
GENRE: lndie Rock/Electronic
LISTEN: iusandwe.com
The Temecula, CA indie rock/electronica trio I, Us, & We (brothers Jordan, Evan and Aaron Doverspike) garnered 30k streams on Soundcloud and 20k on YouTube in just a few months after catching the ear of Spotify curators who inserted them into their Discover Weekly playlist. The band currently live in the Los Angeles area.
Which social media platform (or real-life platforms) have proven to give you the best results in regard to interacting with fans as you prepare for an upcoming release?
Twitter is great for connecting with other artists, Instagram is good for introducing people to behind-the-scenes, and Facebook seems to have slowed since the algorithm was put in place that now limits connection with people who already like your page. Shows are king. Playing good shows to attentive crowds will do more than a few weeks’ worth of posts on any platform. We also have a substantial mailing list that we use to present new music and exclusive content.
What’s your favorite way to communicate with your fan base digitally, and non-digitally?
Instagram is the easiest. It seems as though users are more likely to connect with pictures rather than just words. I guess the saying a picture is worth a thousand words is correct. YouTube is almost impossible if you don’t post a video a day. Interaction at shows is the best. When you can present your music then put a face and personality to it, you connect with people on a much deeper level.
Where do you post new music? YT? SC? Spotify? FB? iTunes?
With new music, what we try to do is give teasers across all of our social media platforms, paired with visuals, typically the album art or something similar. Spotify playlists are really the key to have any song do well on Spotify. We feel that you have to make it as easy as possible for people to access your music.
What do you think is most important (in both the digital and non-digital world), to do after a new track is put out?
There should be a good bit of PR and marketing going into the release, and from there you just have to trust that what you are putting forward is a quality song that people will connect with. From there the numbers do what the numbers do.
Finally, if you have ONE statement to lend other musicians about what you’ve learned thus far in your career to keep organized in today’s age of digital confusion, what would it be?
Don’t get outworked, always be willing to learn, treat your career like a business and others will do the same, and most importantly, be you and make the music that moves you. If the music moves you, it will move other people as well. Oh, and if you feel overwhelmed you’re probably doing it right. •
