How Singer-Songwriter Raye Zaragoza Cracked the Code to Connection

When requested concerning the relationship she’s cultivated along with her patrons, singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza confidently iterates, “We’re simply folks and we’ve been linked for one thing so pure as music, as songs. They’re seeing me for who I’m they usually’re accepting that they usually’re becoming a member of this group. At this level, it’s simply group. We’re all simply hanging out.”

That sentiment of her patrons being extra than simply followers not solely got here up a number of occasions throughout our dialog along with her, nevertheless it’s additionally current in the way in which she talks on to her supporters on her web page. An excellent instance can be the request accompanying a current Patreon aim Zaragoza shared in assist of her sophomore album. It reads:

I’m searching for 300 of my core supporters who wish to experience shotgun with me on this album creation journey. 300 individuals who will hear the songs first, give me suggestions in the course of the course of, and be my emotional assist as I dive into deeper locations. These 300 folks will probably be my warriors! And would be the cause this one girl band with no file deal can launch this album.

Core supporters. Emotional assist. Warriors. These easy and succinct phrases mirror precisely how she feels about her supporters, and why she chooses to attach with them instantly, independently, and never by means of a label or agency. Zaragoza has discovered the candy spot between enterprise, creativity, and connection. Nevertheless, this direct relationship along with her followers didn’t occur in a single day.

“Individuals have checked out me and been like, wow you bought actually fortunate, issues labored out for you fairly fast. And I’m like, I used to be simply all the time wanting ahead. Each time folks had been complaining, I used to be scheming about what I used to be going to do to resolve this downside as an alternative of drowning,” Zaragoza shares when requested about taking the non-traditional path to funding her music. “Whereas everybody else is speaking about that, I’m within the different course operating the opposite manner, attempting to determine the right way to make it work for me.”

“Whereas everybody else is speaking about that, I’m within the different course operating the opposite manner, attempting to determine the right way to make it work for me.”

And what path did Zaragoza discover whereas operating the opposite manner? She found that, for her, it made sense to get funding from the individuals who had been probably the most invested in her work — her listeners. As an alternative of happening the everyday file label route, she made her personal manner. She knew that if she was ready for somebody to return and provides her a profitable profession, she’d nonetheless be ready.

“My biggest recommendation to anybody is that you simply’ve received to roll with the punches. You’ve received to swim with the tide as a result of in the event you maintain attempting to battle the present and to stay in some idealized previous that you’re wanting as much as due to your heroes, [you have to remember] that’s how they made their profession 25 to 30 years in the past,” Zaragoza shared when requested about her choice to remain impartial. “Individuals are on the market who wish to assist. You’re each searching for one another. My biggest recommendation can be to not await anybody to do one thing for you and to simply take it into your individual fingers. We’re residing in a time the place there are such a lot of avenues for that, Patreon being the way in which I consider in most. It’s a considerable a part of my revenue. Don’t wait round for anybody.”

“We’re residing in a time the place there are such a lot of avenues for that, Patreon being the way in which I consider in most. It’s a considerable a part of my revenue. So yeah, don’t wait round for anybody.”

Zaragoza’s inclination in direction of impatience has labored in her favor. So has her need to make her personal selections with out asking anybody else. On the subject of the membership of music business success, it’s secure to say she’s the one bouncer.

“I’ve all the time been very impatient, I would like this now. I don’t need anybody telling me I’ve permission to do one thing. I’m simply going to do it as a result of I’ve been impartial since I used to be tremendous younger. I feel that’s why the direct to patron relationship was so engaging to me as a result of nobody may inform me I can’t do one thing. There’s no gatekeeper,” Zaragoza shares. “It’s simply me and the human being.”

So how did Zaragoza organically construct a relationship along with her viewers? It took placing herself of their sneakers and seeing the worth of her personal music from the angle of her followers.

“To start with I wrote the emails as if nobody was on the opposite facet which is simple since you’re gazing a display. However, I all the time attempt to put myself within the sneakers of the patron as a result of every time I learn one thing that one in every of my favourite artists put up, it seems like they’re speaking on to me, like they’re speaking to a good friend or they’re speaking to somebody that they know very intimately. It simply feels so great. I really feel so heard. I really feel so seen, you realize? On the finish of the day it comes with humility. I don’t actually see my Patreon as like an artist to fan platform, I see it as a human to human platform.”

I don’t actually see my Patreon as like an artist to fan platform, I see it as a human to human platform.

One other stunning aspect of Zaragoza’s success with patrons is how she chooses the rewards and advantages she shares on her Patreon web page. She makes these selections based mostly on two essential components: if she enjoys creating it and if she’d create it anyway.

“When somebody asks me, ‘I wish to begin a Patreon, what ought to I do?’ I inform them to solely do issues that excite them. Solely do issues which are enjoyable. For me, nothing I do for my patrons is a chore. I really like writing poetry, so promising a poem each week is definitely a very good train for me. Nevertheless it’s additionally nice as a result of I used to be co-writing yesterday in Nashville and I actually simply opened up my Patreon web page and I used to be studying my co-writer poems after which we had been pulling concepts for songs from my Patreon poems. So it’s type of like killing two birds with one stone. I’m doing one thing for folks, nevertheless it’s additionally offering me with content material for my work, so I take pleasure in that.”

Past content material creation and the liberty of being impartial, Raye Zaragoza by no means forgets that what she’s creating isn’t simply concerning the artwork she makes innately, however who she’s creating that artwork for. As Zaragoza shared in her personal phrases, “There’s no energy dynamic of I’m higher than them. I see them as my equals and I wish to be taught from them, as a result of generally the individuals who admire your work can see issues in it that you may’t as a result of we’re so clouded by our ego and our fears and our insecurities. I feel on the finish of the day cracking the code to connecting with patrons is to deal with them like folks. Don’t deal with them like followers.”