We'd like to take a moment to express our gratitude to the Michigan Music Community for supporting the Michigan Artist Relief Fund through Spread The Music Festival 2021 last week!
Please help us keep the mission rolling forward by letting your followers know we are still accepting donations here: https://linktr.ee/michiganartistrelieffund. We expect to disburse more funds to artists in need after May 1. Please keep an eye on this page for more information on how to apply for a share of the grants: https://www.michiganmusicalliance.org/news
Michigan, give yourself a pat on the back. We have powered through over a year of uncertainty for our careers, future of our stages, and lives. It has been constant adversity, with each moment challenging us. Because of this, we are stronger. We have taken the opportunity to band together and create something special with this rich, state-wide community that loves Michigan Music. Thank you for being art of the magic.
This production was a fully volunteer undertaking, which truly shows the heart of the artists, venues, and other industry professionals who took it upon themselves to help struggling artists. Please take a moment to read through the complete list of sponsors, partners, artists, and volunteers on spreadthemusicfestival.org. They each deserve a song!
Festival Fact Sheet
Wednesday, March 25 - Sunday, March 29, 2021
The second annual Spread the Music Festival expanded to 5 days, streaming from 10am to 11pm each day. This is an additional day from the first festival in 2020.
Volunteer performers streamed live from home, safely from select venue stages, or pre-recorded their sets to allow for proper COVID precautions.
Live streamed from the stages of…
Listening Room, Grand Rapids
The Foundry, Port Huron
20 Front Street, Lake Orion
Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey
Seven Steps Up, Spring Lake
Featured 47 female fronted acts, almost 200 artists total
A vast array of genres were represented, including but not limited to: folk, jazz, blues, pop, funk, rock, hard rock, indie rock, garage rock, surf, gothic, traditional, singer-songwriter, Americana, country, alt-country, bluegrass, rap, R&B, EDM, Celtic, contemporary classical, and more.
Male to female ratio - 2 to 1 for all musicians, .95 to 1 for all acts
Artists from all over the state were involved representing towns like Houghton, Marquette, East Jordan, Harbor Springs, Grand Haven, Petoskey, Traverse City, Port Huron, Detroit, Cadillac, Big Rapids, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and many more!
All volunteer production- performers, stage managers, organizers, venues, etc. See the whole list here.
Partnered with GRTV from the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, Blissfest Music Organization, and more.
Launched a Digital Program for viewers at www.spreadthemusicfestival.org
Featured Headliners Brian Vander Ark (over 12k views), The Accidentals (over 5.6k views), Jackson Smith, and Vin Dombroski (almost 2k views)
Average watch for each video is between 600-1,000 views and climbing
Audience originated from 14 countries: United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Nigeria, Germany, Bangladesh, Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Argentina, and Italy
During the festival, our Facebook page views went up 519%
1.7k people responded to the Facebook Event
Invited people to donate via credit/debit card, Facebook, PayPal, or Venmo, resulting in over $10,300 being raised during the five day festival.
Applications for the Michigan Artist Relief Fund reopen
See all of the press from Spread the Music 2021 HERE.
You can get involved by continuing to share the live streams, donating, and purchasing our Support Michigan Music merch, which supports the Michigan Artist Relief Fund.