Sasha M, Author at Sasha M Online

The first ever Patreon Creator Census: A Summary

May 10, 2022 by Sasha M

business, creators, data, independent artists, Patreon

Patreon recently released the results of their first Creator Census, collated from over 13,000 earning creators. As an independent artist this is extremely exciting for me, not least because this is the first time I’ll get to place myself within a community of independent creators worldwide. Having this data also helps independent creators like myself to plan for the future.

Here’s what I believe are the most significant takeaways for independent creators moving forward:

Not a lot of creators are into crypto.

I’ve seen this anecdotally and within the artist communities I’m in, but the census proves it. Of the survey respondents, the vast majority (73%) said “please don’t” or “don’t care” to crypto payments as a potential feature. This makes sense to me as income stability as a creator is already relatively unstable, so independent creators hoping to rely on patronage in the long term may tend to be more risk averse.

Patronage is viewed more as supportive than transactional.

This is also something I’ve noticed from my own community and am happy to be able to benchmark against a larger pool of data. The #1 reason why creators have Patreon is to give people the ability to support them and their work. A close second is access to exclusive content, which I would view as a reward for supporting a creator’s work, along with all the (many) other benefits that come after.

Only writers use websites.

Discoverability happens less on owned websites and mostly on social media for most creators. In terms of platform(s) where creators first found and grew their audience, websites are only used by writers, and even that only 14% of them. YouTube is the main discovery platform for both video creators (50%) and audio/music creators (30%) – underscoring the importance of video or visual content for music creators.

This also implies that independent artists should focus on social media platforms for their content marketing efforts, and hence would benefit greatly from knowledge of social media marketing.

(I also noticed Twitch isn’t mentioned here – which is odd because I’m sure I had selected it when I took this census!)

Everything needs a video.

Video content (38%) is more than twice as popular as compared to the next creative medium (17%, writing). As content creators in this day and age, it’s essential to look at how we can create video to accompany anything we release.

—

That’s the gist of it from my POV. I’ve also made several interesting discoveries relevant to my own work, which I’ll share with my Unicorn tier patrons (feel free to support if you’re interested in the thought process behind the way I do my music business!).

If you found this interesting or helpful in some way, do share it with your friends. I’d love to compare notes and findings as well!

Spot the cameos in the Glass Shard music video

February 8, 2021 by Sasha M

Stories

cameo, did you know, Easter eggs, friends, Glass Shard, independent musician, Made In Singapore, music video, production, Singapore

By now you’ve probably already watched the Glass Shard music video – a story of the highs and lows of friendship. You’d have seen that Zaleia and I have a commemorative photo wall, with photos from across the years. But there are some things you may not have known about us that I’m happy to share with you now.

Zaleia and I have 10 years of friendship together
You heard that right! We met while singing, in a school a cappella group, and have been singing together ever since. Some of you may know that we even used to be in a girl band together. However, even though I’ve started a solo project, we are still very close friends.
Several local artists make a cameo appearance on our photo wall
Over the years, we made many friends in music as well. While our photo wall commemorates our friendship, it actually also acts as a subtle shoutout to the music friends who have been part of our journeys in some way. Some of the local artists include rapper and wordsmith THELIONCITYBOY, vintage songstress Miss Lou, and legendary beatboxer and musician Charles, also known as Stitch FM from AnchorBlanc. (Charles also wrote a super sweet blog post about his cameo!)

In case you missed the cameos, they’re around the 0:42 mark:

Everything was filmed and made in Singapore
Though the aerial shots of the island may seem like we’re somewhere in the Maldives or perhaps one of the many beautiful spots in Indonesia, we actually shot the entire video within Singapore waters. Of course, we had to – the entire production happened during a pandemic! Even the carpentry was done in Singapore; in fact, we actually built the mirror frame ourselves. The glass frosting and cracking effect that was created within the mirror frame was also done by a local team. Talk about #MadeInSingapore!
The video was produced by an all-girl power team
Between Zaleia as our Executive Producer, and the co-producers being myself and our friend Ray, we had a lot of girl power on our hands. It’s really a testament to how much we were able to achieve with a female-oriented creative vision!
We did an impromptu photoshoot on set
For the scene with purple lights down the corridor, the set looked so attractive that I just couldn’t help but do a quick athleisure themed photoshoot, with pictures taken by Ray. However, this special set of photos will only be available to patrons – so if you’re already on my Patreon, look out there for more information!

Hope you found these trivia interesting, and the video enjoyable! We feel very lucky to be able to do all these as independent artists. Do stay tuned for upcoming news and events – sign up to my mailing list to keep in touch!

Turning a Bad Situation Around: My Cancelled LA Show (and Other Stories)

December 31, 2019 by Sasha M

Personal Growth

collaboration, discovery, journey, learning, motivation, reflections, songwriting, work

This year has certainly been one of ups and downs, and one particularly bad situation that I had to pull myself out of.

There are times when it seems as though things are going super well. Someone notices your hard work, likes what you do, and wants to work with you. Even better if they’re someone from the industry you’re in (music), and seems to have accomplished great things of their own already. You feel validated, for all the effort you’ve put in, that finally is being recognized.

I’ve been approached this year by a few (musical) propositions that started out promising but didn’t end so well. One of them was looking for a vocalist for his song, but as it turned out the song contained lewd, crass lyrics disguised as “empowerment”. He said I was allowed to say no, but seemed offended when I did.

But the one incident which made the largest impact on me this year was the producer who wanted to launch his solo career with a collaborative album full of features. He got several artists to write his album with him and sing on his tracks. He had a plan to raise funds through merchandise sales (before releasing the album or having any following) and fly the artists in to Los Angeles for his album launch concert – within a very tight time frame, and with very little prior experience. Needless to say, he was unable to execute his plans.

To top it all off, I tried to help him out as I had prior experience with fundraising, but what I thought was kindness completely backfired. I started the fundraising on my end to have a chance of raising enough funds to fly me from Singapore to Los Angeles (which costs at least US$1,000) by selling custom designed merchandise on my website. But instead of recognizing and appreciating my efforts, he started accusing me of “stealing money from him”… that is, funds raised from my own fans through my own hard work.

I’m sharing about all this to say that music is a struggle. This industry is really complicated and difficult to navigate. As independent artists, we don’t necessarily have the support and guidance of industry veterans to help us make the right decisions – or even know if they would be the right ones, since the industry is always evolving. All we can do is stay true to ourselves and keep on going, no matter how hard we’ve been hit.

In my case, I’m glad to say that I came out of this all the better for the experience. I decided to go on the trip anyway (well I had already bought my tickets lol), and it turned out to be an epic one. I met six-time Emmy award winner Eddie Wohl, who had also co-written the song with me on aforementioned producer’s album. I wrote a whole new song about this incident and it’s a total banger (it’s called ‘No Sorries’). I had sessions in person with people I had been working with remotely, and some whom I had never been able to work with before. I met new friends and old ones, and they were all very very kind to me and helped me make the best of my time in LA.

Turning a bad situation into a great song

And the producer? He really did himself in by basically being a jerk to people in public. He announced that he would release another co-written song for another artist without said artist’s permission, and pretty much the entire music community we knew disassociated themselves from him. The best revenge is the one you didn’t have to take.

If you’re a musician or an independent artist like myself, and you’ve gone through struggles in 2019, this is for you: Stay strong. Play smart. Make the best of a bad situation. Keep going, and don’t give up. 2020 holds many more opportunities for you as long as you keep showing the world what you’ve got.

And if you’re not a musician but you’re reading this anyway, I hope you have a slightly better appreciation of artists and what we do. Celebrate our big wins with us, but also our smaller ones, because no success ever came easy.

With that, let’s set our sights on the year ahead (2020 Vision!) and focus ourselves on making it an awesome one to come. Here’s wishing everybody a wonderful 2020 ahead!

(And if you’d like to watch my vlog from the LA trip this year, you can view it below:)

Singer-songwriter blog: The story of Loaded

May 30, 2019 by Sasha M

Stories

My first release as a solo artist was a collaboration with the talented producer Hasso from Germany, and we made a song called Loaded.
This song was important to me because it was the first song I wrote in collaboration, and I was new to the process of co-writing. I learned a lot from this experience about working with an EDM producer, writing music with someone from another country, and releasing music under an electronic music label.
A big part of this music journey also involved Berlin. After writing the song remotely, Hasso and I met up in Berlin and hung out for a few days.
In Berlin I was kindly hosted by another talented singer songwriter friend of mine, Another Nguyen, and we made a cover video together of a song by a Singaporean band. My friend showed me the vibrant music scene of the city, bringing me to club shows, open mics, karaoke sessions, and of course, street busking.
The best part is, thanks to her I got to perform at an open mic in Prachtwerk, where I sang two of my original songs, which were very well received by the German audience – they even gave me a standing ovation!
Back home in Singapore, we released Loaded, and it was surprisingly well received on Spotify. I was inspired to make an acoustic version for my listeners as well, who may not listen so much to EDM, or electronic dance music. Many of my friends gave me feedback that they liked the acoustic version. I was also lucky enough to get to make a music video made for it as well with some professional videographer friends.
Hasso and I opened up the song to remixes, and we received three killer remixes from three producers from different countries – Clectica from Finland, RIKI from Italy, and WARINER from USA. Each of the remixes have their own style and I love how each of them reimagines the song I had initially written with Hasso.
With that, the chapter of Loaded is closing. It has been a very exciting journey of new discoveries, new experiences, and new friends. I’m very excited for the musical journey that lies ahead.

Fellow’s Tea at Tembusu College

April 9, 2019 by Sasha M

Stories

academic, community, panelist, Tembusu College, university

Recently, I had the honour of being invited to speak at Tembusu College not once, but twice(!), on the topic of how I use social media in my work as an artist. It was a very interesting discussion with the students about the various aspects of social media use, from how we actually use it, the kind of audiences we interact with, and even the technology itself.

On the first week (25 Mar) I was paired with Brenda Tan, a social media influencer who focuses on beauty and lifestyle topics such as skincare products and food. On the second week (1 Apr) my fellow panelist was Charissa Goh, a YouTuber who amassed her following through Kpop dance video tutorials.

It was an educational and eye opening experience for myself as well to be able to discuss the different ways all three of us use social media, and of course the similarities too. And I was happy to be able to come back to my alma mater and contribute to the community through the work that I do. Special thanks to Dr Connor Graham for putting the events together and inviting me to speak.

Here are photos from the second week, taken by the university (NUS)’s official photographer.

Voice acting for #FacetimeWithHistory

December 30, 2018 by Sasha M

Work

acting, history, interactive, National Museum of Singapore, voice acting

In October this year, I was selected as one of the voice actors for #FacetimeWithHistory, an interactive programme run by the National Museum of Singapore to commemorate its 131st anniversary (yes, the museum is older than our nation state!).

As a voice actor, I was to play the role of one of the grandstand seats at the Old National Stadium (which many of us used to call Kallang Stadium). There were three of us playing seats, and we formed a “Sisterhood of Seats”, which made it really fun. It was a great experience chatting with unsuspecting museum guests, sharing stories with them about the historical events that happened in the museum. We even got them to sing along to National Day songs and do the Kallang Wave! You can see the highlights from the event in this video made by the National Museum of Singapore.

And here’s a photo of all of the voice actors!

Putting Together My Own Show (A 2018 Retrospective)

December 14, 2018 by Sasha M

Personal Growth

2018, DIY, independent, musicians, reflections, retrospective, review

As you guys know, I recently did a show at the Esplanade as part of Voices – A Festival Of Song, where I performed my own original songs, most of them for the first time. It was an incredible honour to be invited back to perform at the Esplanade, and I could not have asked for a better opportunity to debut my songs. (I sang 8 original songs in total. You can catch the show on Facebook live here and here!)

While there’s a lot that can be said about the show itself, I’d like to spend a bit of time talking about the work that went behind putting this show up. Being an independent musician means that I pretty much handle everything that needs to be done, or am responsible for finding someone to do it. And I’m looking back on the work I’ve done so far not to brag about it (not sure who really cares, lol), but more for myself to celebrate how much I’ve managed to accomplish so far. Because it’s important to celebrate the little milestones!

So, taking stock of what I’ve done this year:

1. Made a website

Alright, the first step to launching an artist identity is making a website, I suppose. This was really unplanned, I was initially looking at setting up a very different kind of website, but it somehow evolved into making my artist website (which I thought was a bit too early because my songs were still works in progress, but after a while realized it was just the right timing). I spent two solid weeks labouring away at the website, but am very satisfied with the end result, and just love how it looks now (especially the smoky effect on the main page, which moves with the mouse on desktop view, I think I’ve squealed about this before. Squeals again!). And now I have a web presence that I’m proud to show to people!

2. Planned a fundraising campaign

How did this fundraising campaign come about? Looking back now, I remember thinking I needed money for production expenses, and with my unstable freelance work I wasn’t able to raise it very quickly by myself. I needed help. That’s when I came up with the idea of selling USB drives containing the acoustic version of Loaded (which will be my very first song release under my own artist name).

It was risky, but it paid off. I actually raised my target amount after only selling half the USB drives, thanks to extremely kind and generous contributions by several strong supporters (I am so, so grateful). Another important thing this showed me was that I could conceivably sustain my artistic career. And now I have money to do other things with!

3. Expanded my merchandise

With the capital I raised from the campaign, I thought about what was best to invest in. What could give me some returns or grow my capital? My conclusion: more merchandise.

Several of my followers had told me they would buy tote bags or t-shirts, so I checked out the feasibility of getting those made. While doing so, I also considered other cheaper items that I could make, and ended up with button badges, postcards, and stickers. The button badges are actually handmade by myself and my dear friend Nik, a super talented artist (you can find her art on her Instagram)! Now I have more items to offer for sale along with the remaining USBs, to raise a bit more funds to support the production expenses I need to make (which I consider to be sunk costs).

4. Put on a show

Of course, an artist can’t get caught up in the business side of things – at the end of the day, it’s all about the performance. So I pulled out all stops to make the show as appealing and engaging as possible. From figuring out my look, to working on acoustic versions of my songs with my talented guitarist Pat, to sorting out harmonies with my guest performer and music bestie Zaleia, to incorporating audience participation wherever I could, I tried to make sure people who came for my show would enjoy it and remember it.

And of course, behind all of this…

5. I wrote a bunch of songs!!

None of this would even matter at all if not for the songs I’d written over the past year (or two). I’m really grateful to be able to have good friends to work on these songs with, who were there to give feedback or a second opinion, and be my sanity check whenever I wanted to put in something weird (not sure if one or two weird things may have slipped through though). Especially to the producers, Si Hao for being like the most talented and versatile producer ever plus a genuinely awesome person, and Riki for being so fresh and creative, and just super easy to work with. Very proud to have created music with awesome people like these guys!

For other aspiring musicians out there, starting out like me – this is by no means a “how to” of any kind. I’m also just starting out and figuring things out as I go. This is just my own story, of how I’ve gotten here, at the end of 2018. It’s also a bit of closure for me, so I can gear up for the exciting new plans ahead for 2019!

What’s next…?

I’ll be focusing on a few things for 2019:

1. Web store

This should be up soon, as soon as I can figure out how to set it up, anyway!

2. Recording music

Now that my songs are more or less written, I foresee myself spending a lot of time in the studio recording and working on finalizing the production.

3. Releasing music!!!

No explanation needed!

Look out for my music in 2019! I hope you guys are excited!

Performing for Halloween Horror Nights 8

November 21, 2018 by Sasha M

Work

bellydance, choreography, dance, HHN8, tribal, Universal Studios, USS

Danse macabre. Photo by Dejiki

In the blink of an eye, it’s over. One and a half months of performing my own solo bellydance piece as part of the cannibals’ show, two times a night, four nights a week. It’s been a dream for me and I’m so happy to have gotten this chance to be part of Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Horror Nights 8.

It’s amazing to be part of a large scale production like Halloween Horror Nights, with the beautiful costumes, makeup, sets, lighting, and conceptualization of the shows. It’s my first time working in a production of this scale, and it’s been a really eye-opening experience for me.

Lara Croft, Egyptian version. Photo by Maddy T-Rex

Being part of a scare zone was definitely fun for me because of how much we were able to interact with guests during meet and greet sessions. It was funny to scare people as they walked through the zone. Of course, this format also made for a lot of phototaking!

The sorceress. Photo by Maddy T-Rex

I got to know some of the regular guests at Universal Studios Singapore (USS), and drew encouragement to perform my best every day by seeing them come to watch our show. Many of them were also amazing photographers and took all of the photos in this blog post!

In her element. Photo by Jeremy Quek

Guardian of the gates. Photo by Tong Ming

I’m also grateful to be with a group of extremely fun and talented scare actors in the Cannibals zone. There was a lot of interaction between the performers during our meet and greet sets, which kept things always interesting for myself personally, and which I hope the guests found entertaining too! Thanks to my fellow performers, it was honestly not hard to immerse myself in my character and in the world we helped to create, every single evening.

Queen of the cannibals. Photo by Michelle Muay

Trick or treat. Photo by Michelle Muay

A cannibal procession. Photo by Maddy T-Rex

If you missed the show, or just want to see the dance again, here’s a video for you:

Did you come for Halloween Horror Nights 8? What was your favourite part? Let me know in the comments!

First Rehearsal for Halloween Horror Nights 8

November 10, 2018 by Sasha M

Personal Growth

bellydance, choreography, dance, HHN8, tribal, Universal Studios, USS

[Note: This blog post was written on 9 Sept 2018.]

For those of you who may not yet know, I was selected to perform as a bellydancer in Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Horror Nights 8 (HHN8) this year. In my brief I was told that in HHN8, I will be doing a solo tribal bellydance as part of a mini show. I thought I would write this blog post to put down my thought process from applying to the job up til the first rehearsal, which was yesterday.

When I was asked to audition, I was very surprised. I have always been bellydancing out of sheer love of the dance. For various reasons I figured I would hardly be called upon for a job because of my bellydancing abilities. But I submitted my application, and was chosen, to my even bigger surprise.

Once I signed the contract, I told myself, I need to do my best. In thinking of how to prepare for the dance, which I had to choreograph as well, I figured the best thing to do was to go and learn tribal bellydance, because I’ve been learning Oriental bellydance and some Saidi all this while. Luckily, I found someone who teaches tribal fusion in Singapore, and took a trial class, though I was unable to take a course because their course was just ending. I also watched a lot of Youtube videos just to understand what tribal bellydance was about. That was unfortunately all I could do to prepare as I didn’t know what the stage directions were going to be during my segment, which I would only find out during the rehearsal.

At the first rehearsal, the stage choreographer showed me where I should move onstage. Then we did an initial run-through of my segment, and I had nothing except freestyle. There was no choreography or particular technique I had in mind, I just moved according to how the music made me feel. At the end, the choreographer and everyone applauded. That was unreal.

We did a couple more run-throughs where I had more choreography worked out, but according to the notes I received afterwards, it turned out the choreography was getting in the way of my performance. That was a significant realization for me, because I had to start thinking about my approach in a different way. I realized I had been focusing too much on the technicalities of dancing, whereas what the production needs, is a damn good performance. With this in mind, I modified my approach to the dance, and tried to respond organically and fluidly to the music, rather than worrying too much about a fixed choreography.

I am very grateful to every theatre and dance production I’ve been a part of in the past, because all of those experiences have helped me keep my mind open and flexible to be able to adapt to the needs of this production. Though I love bellydance and really enjoyed learning a new bellydance style, I cannot lose sight of the overall impact that I need to make in my role in the production. And can I say, I am so proud and happy to be part of a production again – and one that’s extremely well-organized, with amazing performers and behind the scenes people. I’m so looking forward to a month ahead of Halloween Horror Nights 8!

Teaching Dance Choreography for Secondary School Choir

August 27, 2018 by Sasha M

Work

CCA, choir, choreographer, choreography, instructor, secondary school, Singapore, teaching

Recently, I had the honour of being invited to choreograph a dance routine for a secondary school choir. I was told that I had been sought out specifically because of my experience choreographing for a cappella groups in the past… which is, frankly, the greatest honour! So, even though I don’t often teach, I was very happy to do two sessions for this choir.

I had a great time teaching the students (13-15 year olds, a big group of 33 students), they were very tuned in and applied themselves with earnest. When I used to teach music in schools (also as a freelancer), it was always a big game of chance as to whether the students would be positive and keen to learn, or if they would play punk with you (it has happened to me). So this particular choir was really a very pleasant surprise.

Some of my teaching points:

The Responsibility of the Performer: to take care of yourself so that you can do your best
Doing well cannot happen without doing your homework; PRACTICE
No performance is perfect; every run through is a learning opportunity to improve the next time round. Keep Improving!
Work as a team, look out for and help each other
Most of all, Have Fun! (And don’t forget to smile!)

While I won’t post any photos of / with them here, you can find a snippet of the choreography on my Instagram.

I really hope the students had fun during my two sessions with them. I did get a lot of positive comments afterwards and it really warms my heart! Especially this message I received afterwards:

“Thanks so much for your help and spreading the passion for dance to the students” – choir teacher-in-charge 🙂

Very happy to be able to do this kind of rewarding work. Thank you again to the school for putting their trust in me. I’m looking forward to seeing the students perform!

sasha-m

The first ever Patreon Creator Census: A Summary

Not a lot of creators are into crypto.

Patronage is viewed more as supportive than transactional.

Only writers use websites.

Everything needs a video.

Spot the cameos in the Glass Shard music video

Turning a Bad Situation Around: My Cancelled LA Show (and Other Stories)

Singer-songwriter blog: The story of Loaded

Fellow’s Tea at Tembusu College

Voice acting for #FacetimeWithHistory

Putting Together My Own Show (A 2018 Retrospective)

Performing for Halloween Horror Nights 8

First Rehearsal for Halloween Horror Nights 8

Teaching Dance Choreography for Secondary School Choir