It goes without saying that being an independent artist in 2024 can be an extremely taxing job, requiring one person to oversee all aspects of their own career, including the parts they don’t enjoy. This process proves only more difficult when it’s done alone, which is why having a solid network is vital.
Most artists don’t have an expansive network when they first start out, making it all the more challenging to do things correctly and in a timely manner. With the right people to guide you, all operations run more smoothly and accelerate the progress of your career. Personal connections are everything, so any opportunity to forge new ones is very attractive.
Enter Groover, the platform that closes the gap between emerging artists and industry professionals. In a few short years, it has become one of the biggest music promotion platforms there is with over 450K users, and aims to make independent artists more equipped to move forward in their careers, and more confident along the way.
1. What is Groover?
Groover is an online platform with roughly 3,000 partners in the music industry that allows artists to create a “campaign” for their music to send to curators of their choice. These partners include:
- Labels
- Media Outlets (bloggers, journalists)
- Radio Stations
- Influencers
- Playlist Curators
- Managers
- Publishers
- Sync Agencies
- Music Supervisors
- Sound Engineers
- Mentors
A campaign, or pitch, can be made on any occasion – artists are not limited to only unreleased work or music that has already dropped. At any point in their creation process, they can upload a private or public link to their song and ask for feedback, playlist adds, a meeting with a mentor to ask questions, or truly anything that comes to mind. You can even set up a meeting with a label; hundreds of artists have gotten record deals by contacting a label through the platform. The idea is that Groover provides artists with access to the inboxes of professionals that could take their career to the next level.
On top of offering their pitching services, Groover also hosts artists showcases, has a separate department called Groover Obsessions, and runs a music business blog, all of which you can read about below.
One of Groover’s standout features is its truly global community of curators. Spanning a wide range of countries, these curators bring diverse cultural perspectives and tastes, offering artists the chance to connect with music professionals from all over the world. This international reach is not only a testament to the platform’s inclusivity but also a powerful tool for artists looking to expand their audience and find opportunities beyond their local scene.
2. How it Works
Signing up for Groover is free and only requires an email. Once an account has been created, users can browse the list of “pros”, visit the Groover playlists, or find tips about the music business on the Groover Blog.
Once ready to start a campaign, users are brought to a simple form that asks for the track title and other relevant information so that the platform can assess what pros might be of interest. Links to the song can be added at this point or later on, either works. Groover will then filter through their pros and offer suggestions based on the information given, but users are now free to look through the list themselves until they find what they’re looking for.
Once curators have been selected, users can then personalize their campaign by writing a message to the pro giving context to their project and explaining what they’re looking for in reaching out. This is where you can really specify what opportunities you’re hoping to get from sharing your music with them.
After the message has been crafted, it’s time to fill the Groover wallet with credits, called Grooviz. Each campaign can be sent to multiple pros, and each pro is worth a certain number of credits, starting at 2 Grooviz – which is the equivalent of 2 Euros (converted to your own currency). With Grooviz in tow, the campaign is sent off and each message’s status can be tracked in the artist’s campaign dashboard, where they’ll be able to see all responses and status updates all in one place.
Accountability for the Pros
Credits hold value, no matter what. Groover has made sure to hold their pros accountable and keep the service budget-friendly by having a 7-day response policy. If a user does not get a response from a curator within 7 days of sending them their pitch, they receive their credits back. No credit goes wasted, and it is returned to a user’s wallet to be used on another curator. It’s only right!
The Filtering System
Arguably one of the best features available on Groover is the filtering system. In searching for curators, you can filter by genre, subgenre, country, impact (how much exposure they have given to shared artists), verification on social platforms, and more. You can even filter curators by what they can provide: either 1) visibility and media coverage, 2) collaboration opportunities, or 3) detailed advice.
Groover makes sure to vet all their partners, and incentivizes them to put real thought into their responses by offering users a list of “high quality feedback” curators as well as “high opportunity rate” curators – those who have a great track record of sharing submitted music and working with artists after receiving a pitch.
3. Groover Showcases
Getting the opportunity to play a live show doesn’t come easy for artists who have never performed before or have very little experience onstage. For those who have past gigs under their belt, playing in popular venues is a career checkpoint.
Groover has put on numerous artist showcases in different cities across the US, Canada, the UK, France, Italy, and Brazil. These showcases are hosted in partnership with venues, music festivals (notably SXSW and Mondo), other music companies, and local event organizations to provide a stage for emerging artists.
These showcases are announced on Groover’s Instagram account (specific to the country the show is taking place in) and detail what type of artist(s) they’re looking for, particularly what genre and whether it’s a solo act, band, or either. Artists apply through the application link in the bio by providing information about themselves and their music, and the winners are selected shortly after applications close! Depending on the location, Groover will sometimes provide a photographer and content creator to come document the evening.
4. Groover Obsessions
Groover has a team dedicated to helping the most promising artists on the platform excel further in their careers by offering Obsessions Artists opportunities, extra visibility, and inclusion on Groover Radio and the Groover Obsessions playlists. Getting selected to be an Obsessions artist means additional exposure and added support from the Groover team before, during, and after releases.
In order to be an Obsessions artist and join the accelerator program, you must submit a song to the Obsessions team through Groover with a campaign, as they are listed as a curator. The Groover team also listens to all submissions sent through the platform regardless of who they’re pitched to, so it’s possible to get noticed that way as well – a data detection system allows them to see artists who have a high acceptance rate among the curators they listen to. These standout artists are contacted by the Obsessions team and asked if they would like to join the accelerator along with the artists who submitted to them directly.
⚠️ Do not reach out to the Obsessions team by any means other than through the Groover campaign process, as external submissions will not be considered.
Once a month, Groover Obsessions puts together a free event called Groover Discover to showcase a handful of their artists and give industry players a chance to come scout out new talent. There have been 12 Groover Discover nights thus far, each hosting artists from a mix of genres and following up with a live DJ set to end the night. Though they have all been in Paris, Groover is looking to expand in the near future!
5. The Groover Blog
The Groover Blog is host to over 350 articles in 7 different languages about the ins and outs of the music business, ranging from songwriting tips to types of contracts offered in a record deal. It is a hub of information and a go-to place for musicians (and the generally curious) to get detailed breakdowns, walkthroughs, tips, and tricks about subjects that can be of real use to independent artists.
The goal of the blog is to teach artists how to 1) make their music, offering articles on how to create a song from beginning to end or using autotune for live shows, and 2) promote their music, with pieces on how to pitch songs to Spotify playlists, grow their social media following, and get on the radio. The site also covers everything in between, such as what the best venues to play at in New York are, gift ideas for musicians, and how to choose a digital distributor.
The blog’s dedicated team makes sure to include real world examples and evidence of big artists’ strategies and how they can be applied to you.
6. Groover Club
The Groover Club is a subscription-based service that gives members access to exclusive events, content, and support. The community is offered access to masterclass videos, a VIP event every month (ex: open mics, conferences), an online coaching session every 6 weeks, career guidance, and 10% of all Groover campaigns.
The industry experts in the Groover Club come from every corner of the industry and are ready to answer any questions that community members have. Joining the Groover Club allows artists to build personal relationships with other artists as well as seasoned professionals that can help them navigate the business.
Subscriptions are available on a one-month, 6-month, or 1-year basis and are €79, €66, and €59, respectively. If you use a different currency, the Euro will be converted.
7. Lofi Milk – Case Study
Lofi Milk is one of the many emerging bands that successfully used Groover to pitch to Spotify playlists. The Japanese lofi hip-hop duo now boasts over 100K monthly Spotify listeners, and their track “Green Tea Time” has raked in 2.1 million streams since its release in April of this year. Lofi Milk shared that there were playlist curators available to pitch to on Groover that weren’t available on other platforms, giving them broader opportunities, both locally and globally.
—