“Music is the most famous and popular language in the world” – PSY
I agree, music is not only a popular and famous language, but a unique one because there aren’t necessarily words. Still, everyone can understand the language a song can speak; the moment when the hairs on your arm stand up from pulsing bass, or your heart feels like it’s soaring during a beautiful ensemble, or when you get teary eyed when a singer oh so perfectly hits their notes?
You have to know what feeling I’m talking about, music speaks this universal language. How that language gets across the universe, though, is due greatly to social media.
Social media & music streaming is a relatively new relationship. Stewart Copeland, former drummer of the band called The Police recalls a time where “tagging,” or spray painting, was the most effective form of advertisement.
“I remember running around the city spray painting ‘The Police’ all over London, and that stuck in peoples heads.”
Old school forms of promoting music were not only authentic, but stuck around more physically and mentally, unlike some social media posts that can get overlooked. Having to put a little elbow grease into your advertisement instead of clicking a few buttons, also resulting inhave all the more value.
The downfall, though, was the small number of eyes that were seeing it. Now’a’days, this problem is quite the opposite. Releases and promotions are hitting such a big audience, it’s hard for an up-and-coming artist to make it.
“The competition part sucks, but on the bright side it is good for culture. It brings campfire music back in the sense that everyone can do it.” Copeland states, “Before it was more based around specialization ‘I am the musician, you are the audience. I play the music, you sit there and listen’. This isn’t now true today; Sally is got a laptop so she can make a record, Bob’s got a laptop, Joe’s got a laptop. Every damn fool is making a record”, which also means every damn fool has a profile in which they can promote their stuff. If all it takes in today’s world is technology to be a musician, you can understand how the good undiscovered music can get lost in the noise on social media.
That’s where LÜM comes in.
If everybody and their grandmothers have the ability to make music nowadays, how are you supposed to know when a good song comes out? More importantly, how can you easily weed out the bad? Musicians have a tough time with this too; although it doesn’t hurt to put your music out there, it can easily go unnoticed in a sea of streams. Luckily, social media and music birthed an app called LÜM that has managed to tackle this monster problem
I interviewed CEO and Co-Founder Max Fergus, and found his passion for the project stems from the universal language of music. “There was this one night after me and a couple of friends went out to a show, and we all got back to the house and just sat there in in awe over how amazing that concert was. Every part of it, from opener to closer, I just wanted to shout from the rooftops how awesome they were. That’s literally how the idea of LÜM was born. From a fan wanting to rate artists and have them gain recognition”. Stated Fergus.
So what is LÜM exactly?
LÜM stands for Live Undiscovered Music. Available as a downloadable app, you can sign up for LÜM either as an artist, fan, or venue. This makes LÜM unique: these portals give options that no other music streaming apps do.
Venues can explore all kinds of artists to fit their needs, book acts affordably, and give up and coming artists needed exposure.
Artists can become their own promoters, calculate analytics, and build a community through listeners and venues.
Fans can listen to local music from different locations, find tracks that aren’t your average mainstream radio tunes, and possibly discover the next big thing.
Their mission statement promotes LÜM as “A music discovery and streaming platform that focuses on giving power to up and coming artists and dedicated music lovers so that more musicians can earn a livable income through their passion for music, and fans can discover that music in a way that does not currently exist.
LÜM’s streaming platform is built on a social network that enables emerging artists to circulate their music and grow their fanbase.
By rethinking the interaction between social media and streaming, LÜM will eventually become a digital “talent pool” for live entertainment around the world that is constantly circulating new artists.” says Fergus.
This app is contributing to the revolution of the music industry by giving the power of discovery to the listener, and the promise of an audience to an up and coming artist. LÜM is a prime example of the influences social media has on the music industry because they have collided so much that LÜM is literally a combination of the two.
I’m excited to see what’s in store for this startup, the vision & passion this team has will drive them to inevitable success. I look forward to the impact they’ll make on many individuals, and the change they will ensue on the world of music.
All the love
-Katy
