Coyote Music on Fluence
I’ve been giving feedback to musicians for years. Whether they’re bandmates, bands sharing bills with mine, or other artists I’ve run across online or through Coyote Music, folks tend to ask my opinion on their songs, performances, websites, etc.
While sharing ideas and tips is a pretty communal thing, and I really enjoy helping people, at some point there’s a boundary between “we’re sharing ideas” and “I’m giving you valuable professional advice and receiving nothing in return.”
Recently I ran across what might be a pretty neat idea. Fluence is a website where music Creators and Influences and share their art and professional knowledge. Where Fluence differs from every other online medium for sharing is that it incorporates a (very affordable) monetary value system for the feedback of music industry professionals.
“Influencers” set their own rates, and “Creators” submit either a SoundCloud or YouTube URL. That’s it. The Creator is then charged based on a per-minute rate posted on the Influencer’s profile, based on the length of the submission.
I set up a Fluence profile for Coyote Music and set a rate of $1.49/minute. So for a 3-minute song, an artist pays me a maximum of $4.47 to listen to their song or watch their video. In return, I give it a thumbs up, thumbs down, and provide some feedback (usually a few paragraphs’ worth). Then, in cases where the song or artist is particularly striking, Fluence has a Share feature built-in so I can immediately share the music via Twitter and Facebook.
Submitting to Fluence is easy: just post a YouTube or Soundcloud URL
I was skeptical at first. There are so many places where artists can post their music and get feedback. Why pay for this? But after a few weeks, Fluence seems to attract artists who are serious about their music, and who want valuable, honest, constructive feedback from objective music professionals who have nothing to gain from their success or failure (other than a few bucks).
I like Fluence because it allows me to be very candid, in a completely confidential environment. My feedback is for them to read, take to heart, or completely disregard. Fluence seems designed only to help the artist gain insight into what others think of their music. And at the same time, it gives tangible value to those who have worked really hard and invested a great deal in gaining their experience in the music industry.
