A Musician's journey in setting up a Rocket Fuel Mission
In the first of a short series of blogs musician Simon Pritchard explains his journey with music and his experiences in coming across Rocket Fuel and how it could help him to develop his career in the direction he wants to take it.
Hi I'm Simon. I’m a twenty something musician who sings (slightly) and plays the guitar. As a child, I grew up listening to whatever music the parents had in, notably “Now 22” - I was deprived. Over the years, and after learning my first instrument of the violin, my music tastes diversified from the horrors of “Now 22” and in my late teens did what every teen back then used to do and started a heavy metal band after learning a few chords on the guitar. Achieving mild success, a UK tour and a modest following on Youtube and Facebook, I decided that heavy music wasn’t for me; I wanted something that I could turn into a proper career path. I ended up leaving the band, quitting my job and enrolling on a University course to start taking my music seriously.
During this time I whittled away the endless spare hours that a typical student schedule has by writing a more laid back style of music in the same kind of vein as the late Jeff Buckley or Bon Iver. With this music, I embarked on a mission to make this a success story and make proud my friends and family, and make music I could be proud of and tell the Grandkids about. Despite early career success with the aforementioned heavy band, I took the same approach to success with this music. However, the industry had changed over the years. Not for my lack of trying or a professionally recorded single, “Ember”, but the music wasn’t quite reaching the audience I’d expected. I needed some guidance, someone, something to let me me know what to do next.
As luck would have it, I met a lady on a course I attended that put me in contact with Joel Toombs from Rocket Fuel, who help artists such as myself to take their music to the next level. I ‘hummed and harred’ about it, but after a very nice informal chat with Joel about what this could actually do, I decided to embark on the next step of my journey to success and invest a little time in their RocketFuel campaign; a crowdfunding platform designed to help artists get off the ground. It sounded all good to me, it has to be better than uploading a video on Facebook and only getting my Dad saying, “that’s bloody marvelous, Simon”, I mean thanks Dad, but he’d say that if I threw my guitar down the stairs, stubbed my toe, recorded it all and called it a song.
I need real feedback, and the right hands to guide me.
So after looking at the ol’ bank balance, and being a typical musician, there’s never a whole lot in there, so now I’ve decided to go for it. I’m now currently setting up a profile on Rocket Fuel to help me get the funds to launch my music into the ether. It asks you to think of ‘rewards’ for potential funders to receive as a thanks for getting behind the music. So far, and thanks to the guidance of the guys over at Rocket Fuel, I’ve come up with a few: Guitar lessons, handwritten lyrics, guitar picks, your name on the EP sleeve, and my band, “Fleets”, playing stripped back songs in the privacy of your front room. All cost about nothing to make, but can be sold as a product and will go towards the cost of getting my music out there.
So from here on, it all looks up. If I can keep plugging away at the RocketFuel page, get people interested with my incentive, then who knows? I could be headlining Glastonbury next year. I’ll keep things posted on here with updates about how it’s all going - and if this is really going to work.
If you have any questions about Rocket Fuel or how to take your own music to the next level do get in touch with the team at hey@rocketfuelHQ.com or call 0114 327 24 74 and ask to speak to Emily or Joel.
