Uniform Motion is an indie folk band that combines music with visual art. Formed in 2008, the band releases music along with comic books and illustrations, experimenting with different models of online distribution and fan engagement. While initial success is limited, the band's mailing list and social media following grows over time as they leverage crowdfunding, merchandise, and collaborative projects with fans. By 2012, their fan base has expanded significantly from their original 100 email addresses.

1. Uniform Motion
@uniformmotion

2. Andy, guitar-vocals
Illustrated Indie-folk
Renaud, illustrator
Olivier, drums-keyboards

3. Uniform Motion is an indie folk
band combining music with visual
arts with Renaud on pencils,
Olivier on drums and keyboards
and Andy on guitar and vocals.

4. 2008: Uniform Motion Pictures
1 VIDEO
1 MP3
1 comicbook
2 / month

5. It all begins in 2008 with the launch of
www.uniform-motion-pictures.com
Andy & Renaud decide to collaborate on a
project comprising music and comics.
With the help of a f lmmaker, a recording
i
studio and a few musician friends, the team
releases a video of a live performance, an
interactive comic strip and an MP3 f le,
i
every 2 weeks.

6. Success!

7. The band wins a contest organized by
Les Inrockuptibles, and plays its f rst
i
two gigs in Paris (Apple Expo, La
Maroquinerie) before appearing on
i>Télé (French News Channel) to
discuss the novel approach

8. But where's the fan-base ?

9. You call selling less than a hundred
albums a success?
The band doesn't get discouraged and
starts working on a new album and
some new ideas.

10. bandcamp & tumblr Integration
Collect email addresses

11. At the end of 2009, they integrate
Bandcamp, a service that allows you sell
CDs online with an immediate download of
the album in many different digital formats,
with the possibility of streaming the album
in full.
The band also starts spending more time
on socials networks inviting people on the
mailing list to join them on Twitter and
Facebook and vice versa.

12. 2010: New website & album
l
Virtual Concert

13. 2010, Uniform Motion launches a
new website and releases Life,
their second album, along with
poster packs (1 illustration for each
song) and a Virtual Concert
developed in Flash.

14. Success?

15. The band gets featured on
drawn.ca, The Stranger, College
Music Journal.
Airplay on NME Radio, BBC
6music, byte.fm, and some pretty
good reviews

16. But where's the fan-base ?
Hi, I'm Bob and
I live in
Accrington.

17. OK, the band's still not hugely
successful.
But the mailing list is slowly
growing, they know more about
their fans, especially where they're
from, and their facebook page is
starting to liven up.

18. 2011: Crowdfunding
-Pressing CDs
Playbutton

19. 2011 : The band turns to crowdfunding.
After recording their third album
(incidentally in a sound engineering
school to save money!) the band puts two
songs online along with a video game
and asks their fans to pre-order the
record in order to help pay for Mastering
and manufacturing costs

20. Flash Video Game

21. The game is pretty simple, you
jump up and down trying to catch
l
f ying objects while listening to the
song.
A month later, they had enough pre-
orders to pay for the first batch of
CD's and PlayButtons.

22. What about Vinyl!!!

23. Being active on social networks starts to
pay off
A fan leaves them a message on
facebook asking if they will release the
record on vinyl. So they improvise a
funding campaign using Google Docs
and Bandcamp for pre-orders.

24. Hurrah!!!

25. And 2 months later!

26. A little bit of virality doesn't hurt

27. Uniform Motion continues to document their
adventures on their blog.
After receiving a few questions from fans on how best
to support the band, they wrote an article on what
streaming, digital downloads a physical formats pay.
The article was republished on Techdirt, Geek.com,
Gizmodo, Digital Music News and Hypebot
Later, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, Forbes, BBC
Radio (even MTV) discussed the article or published
excerpts.
There were thousands of comments and lots of
debates about Spotify.

28. So where's the fan-base ?

29. Well, the fan-base keeps growing
and we know a lot more about
them.

30. Some numbers
Beg 2010 : 100 2010 : 230 albums -
Email addresses 10 000 streams
End 2011 : 1 250 2011 : 500 albums -
email addresses 30 000 streams

31. Collaborative Video

32. In 2012, Uniform Motion continue their
experiments by launching a
collaborative video project where the
fans can download a printable character
from their last album (Little Knight) and
take a photo or shoot a video with him.
The band then edits a video using all the
photos and video footage.

33. Kickstarter concerts

34. As kickstarter is only available to US
bands, Uniform Motion sets up
OneCityPerSecond.com using Ignition
Deck, a wordpress plugin. The site
allows the band to organize a concert in
Sweden, 2 shows in Spain, and a 9 day
tour of Germany

35. Selling Merch

36. The band is rather successful at the
merch table and often doubles its
revenues selling customized CD's and
Vinyl. Renaud draws a unique picture on
each CD and this has a sort of viral
effect as people tend to show their
drawing to their friends. The drawing
session can sometimes last longer than
the gig itself!

37. Google+ Hangout
Tutorials

38. The band has also experimented with
online concerts using Google+, and
provides tutorials for fans who want to
learn the songs.
They're also running a sound donation
campaign for their fourth album.

39. Thanks for listening !
andy@uniformmotion.net
www.uniformmotion.net