Alternative Touring Projects Get Attention For Creativity Beyond The Music

Josh Urban is touring by train and playing on the streets. Yet he’s “taking the world on tour” via hashtags and social media. Jack Kennedy’s traveling by bus and recording musicians along the way. He’s posting his recordings plus audio shows and odd snippets to SoundCloud who are helping fund the trip. Both men are getting press and making new connections while expanding their presence via social media for creative approaches to going on tour.

The Josh Urban Rail Tour

The Josh Urban Rail Tour kicks off on Friday, September 7th, and its got a blog but feels like it could still use a unifying presence. You can check the dates in this intro post. He’ll be showing up in those towns on those days and playing on a street corner somewhere.

He’s also encouraging people to come along by posting what they’re doing cause “everyone has a story to tell.” So Urban is encouraging people to “tag your view of the world with the hashtag #JURT (Josh Urban Rail Tour) back to” any of a variety of social media accounts including Twitter (@dontjoshme), Facebook (officialjosh) and Google+ (to Josh Urban).

Once it’s all over he intends to pull the various media sources together to share more widely.

Urban discusses his project in a guest post at Dotted Music including his hoped for outcomes:

• New friends and connections in eight media markets
• A new platform to meet new friends and fans
• Elevating my status from a local to a regional artist
• An exciting event for existing friends and fans to get behind
• A unique way to add value to people’s lives
• Fun

It’s already begun at Twitter: #JURT.

Jack Kennedy’s NightBus Radio

Jack Kennedy is traveling by bus from New York to Los Angeles stopping at various points to meet musicians and record them for NightBus Radio. He’s getting support from a SoundCloud Community Fellowship but swung into action before he got that good news.

So far the SoundCloud account is a bit low on actual recordings of musicians but overall it seems to be more about a process than a specific product. According to Wired, Kennedy’s band NightBus has an album coming out on Universal Records next year. Till then he’s got some time and decided to put a chunk of it into wandering and making recordings.

Don’t Confine Your Creativity to Your Music

While Josh Urban set out to raise his profile, Jack Kennedy seems to be more focused on the experience. But both appear to be doing tours that grew organically out of their musical interests and aren’t just coming up with press-worthy concepts to get attention.

Both are a good example of artists who are applying their creativity beyond the acts of songwriting and expanding their presence via social media.

Remember: You’re an artist. Don’t confine your creativity to your music. You might end up an even bigger deal than you already think you are!

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.