In this podcast I chat with Groover co-founder Dorian Perron about how their platform works, how Groover differs from the competition and paths artists can take to get their music heard.
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Important Points:
Dorian stresses the importance of musicians being a part of tight-knit local communities. This helps them find support for tasks they’re not skilled in and build genuine connections.
Both Andrew and Dorian agree that musicians need to promote themselves to make their pitch materials stronger. Building a strong artist’s image is key. But Andrew suggests choosing PR services that get you exposure organically, not ones that promise results for money. This way, it’s authentic, not just paid.
Dorian advised Groover users to focus on two (2) to three (3) music jars. This will help you avoid random recommendations too. This helps you avoid random suggestions. Groover costs more because they want you to submit intentionally. Just keep in mind that Groover has a highly localized community, so it’s best to connect with local curators.
Andrew recommends that if you’ve set aside money for curation, spread it out on different platforms. See what works best for your music by checking the results and feedback you get from each one.
Podcast Outline:
[00:14] In 2017, Dorian and some friends started a blog to help independent artists. — Dorian
[01:52] After talking to 200 musicians at Berkeley, Dorian, and friends found a crucial need: a musician-focused marketplace for tasks beyond their personal capabilities. — Dorian
[04:29] Back in France in 2018, Dorian noticed the need for a local music marketplace. This led him to form a community of music creators and professionals. — Dorian
[05:24] Andrew points out how Groover has local curators focused on music from their country. — Andrew
[06:21] Dorian emphasizes the power of creating intensely localized communities, a user-friendly platform that allows for genuine engagement. — Dorian
[09:37] The platform includes these main categories: blogs, radios, journalists, Spotify playlist creators, and influencers (TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch). — Dorian
[12:55] The platform was designed to address the different challenges and seasons the musicians are in. — Dorian
[14:33] The first change Dorian and his team worked on was to change music inferences that people don’t understand and use simpler words in the platform’s menu. — Dorian
[15:11] When curators don’t bring value and don’t follow community guidelines, Groover’s team deactivates their accounts. — Dorian
[16:36] Dorian talks about what’s the difference between Groover and Musosoup, with the latter focusing on big creators. — Dorian
[18:32] Andrew shares his experience with some Musosoup curators and how the others missed that what he was sharing was actually an album, not a song. — Dorian
[19:47] Dorian talks about how they had to ban some users who reached out to others and offered to publish an article if they pay more. — Dorian
[21:82] Dorian believes that musicians still value PR because it strengthens their pitch. — Dorian
[24:00] Andrew recommends choosing PR services with organic pitching over those promising guaranteed results. This ensures a genuine approach, as opposed to paid initiatives. — Dorian
[26:24] Dorian thinks that the difference between Groover and SubmitHub is that the latter is focused on helping content creators manage their submissions. — Dorian
[29:31] Derek Sivers story sounds a lot like Jason Grishkoff’s Story. Some founders, according to Dorian, are really amazing at developing and coding. — Dorian
[35:11] Dorian gives tips on how to set up your profile on Groover and what features to use. — Dorian
[38:48] Groover gets high traffic from their informational blog, which really helps people understand how to market their music. — Dorian
[41:44] Groover’s product team continuously improves the platform from the user’s feedback. — Dorian
[42:41] Groover’s platform and community are highly localized curators who have organic relationships and curate based on the music’s sentimental connection. — Dorian
[44:30] Andrew emphasizes how he appreciated how curators give detailed and specific feedback on Groover. — Andrew
[47:07] Dorian shares that their team created a PDF guide for curators to give feedback to make sure they provide musicians with helpful insights. — Dorian
[49:37] Dorian designed the price points to encourage musicians to reach out to curators and creators. — Dorian
[54:00] Groover offers discounts for first-time users and an accelerator program for artists. — Dorian
[56:03] Dorian encourages listeners to check out the artist success stories of Alvin Chris and Alex. — Dorian
[1:06] Based on experience, Andrew usually has around a 10% acceptance rate on Submithub. Meantime, Dorian shares that Groover has around 20% acceptance rate. — Dorian
[1:15] Based on feedback from the community, Dorian and his team created a metal rock music jar and related sub-jars. — Dorian
Wise Words:
[06:21] So we had this idea from the start of building these kinds of communities, and we did that in a very human way. Because we work with ambassadors, and they work with us, some of them have become full members of the team. — Dorian
[12:55] It was this idea of really bringing the people who can help the artists, and it’s not always easy. ‘Cause, for the message, it can be different because when you are looking to releasing your track and you trying to get visibility, it’s not the same at all. At the same time when you want to reach out to record labels, and you want to build some partners around you if you want to get some feedback. It’s like three very different values, and some artists want to get it all. Some want to focus on something very specific on the platform, and it was what we wanted to help them target. — Dorian
[1:02] It’s just nuts when, when you see the thing that you’ve made kind of make a positive impact. ‘Cause you know, it’s like to you, you’re just in the moment working on it, and you see like the little stepping stones that you’re helping people make. Like, “oh, cool”. Like “We helped this artist hit the hit 10,000 monthly listeners for the first time”. Or we helped ’em hit a thousand followers. Which you don’t see or you might not notice. — Andrew
[1:10] I would recommend people, if they have a budget they want to spend on curation, probably spend a little bit on several platforms. You can’t really do that with playlist push, but then see what feedback you get from each platform. — Andrew
Get 10% off on Groover with code ANDREWGROOVERVIP (tutorial on how to apply discount: https://help.groover.co/fr/articles/4700654-i-have-a-promo-code-where-should-i-use-it)
Resources Mentioned:
What is Groover.co?
Groover is a platform that connects music artists to music curators, radios and music pros to help them spread their music and/or get valuable feedback. Artists can research places to submit on the platform and pay 2 ‘Grooviz’ (2 Euros) per submission. Those curators must give at least 15 words of feedback for each track they listened to (sharing the song is 100% up to them, just like Submithub / PlaylistPush), and the curators receive 1 Grooviz in exchange.
Groover has separated themselves from the competition in several awesome ways. They’ve developed by focusing on specific local markets, starting in France and then Brazil etc. – this means you’ll find sets of localized curators you may have never found elsewhere. They also allow for 7 days for curators to reply, and provide plenty of training and support for their curators to understand the best type of feedback to give. In my experience feedback on Groover is better than the alternative. The filtering options are also unique, allowing you to find exactly what you’re looking for and even focus on localized markets.
More
If you want to see my interview with Jason Grishkoff, the founder of SubmitHub check out this podcast episode here: https://musicgrowthmachine.com/submithub-curator-talks-to-submithub-founder-jason-grishkoff/
