How Local Listeners Can Directly Support Colorado Artists

If you love Colorado music (whether you’ve been to a show at Hi-Dive, followed a Boulder band through their first album, or tuned into Indie 102.3 to find something new), you probably want your fandom to mean something financially for the artists involved. Streaming a song means a lot to you. It means about half a cent to the artist. Here’s what actually makes a difference.

Go to Shows

This is still the most direct way to support a working musician. A ticket to a local show puts money in the venue and often in the artist’s pocket directly. For artists playing smaller rooms on South Broadway or at Globe Hall, the door and the merch table are frequently their primary income sources: not streaming, not licensing, not radio. The live experience is also irreplaceable; seeing an artist perform in a 200-person room is a different relationship than listening on headphones.

Events like the Underground Music Showcase (25 years running on South Broadway), FoCoMX in Fort Collins, and regular programming at Swallow Hill Music exist specifically to make local discovery easy. Attending those events is direct, concrete support.

Buy the Music and the Merch

Buying a record on Bandcamp (where artists keep 80–85% of the sale price) generates more income per dollar spent than months of streaming. Buying a t-shirt or a vinyl at a show puts money directly in the artist’s hands with no intermediary. For fans who genuinely want to support someone’s career, direct purchases are far more efficient than streaming volume.

Bandcamp Fridays (days when Bandcamp waives its fee entirely, maximizing artist payout) are a particularly impactful time to buy. Following an artist’s Bandcamp or newsletter keeps you in the loop on when those moments happen.

Support on Patronage Platforms

Many Colorado artists have Patreon or similar pages where fans can contribute a recurring monthly amount in exchange for exclusive content, early access to music, behind-the-scenes updates, or just the satisfaction of directly funding work they believe in. Even $5/month from a committed local fan generates more income for an artist than that same fan streaming their catalog daily for years.

Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, and similar platforms offer lower-friction versions of the same idea: one-time contributions that go directly to the artist. If an artist you love releases something great, a $10 “thank you” on one of these platforms is worth thousands of streams.

Use Platforms Designed for Direct Support

The structural problem with current streaming platforms is that they weren’t designed to maximize the connection between listener dollars and artist income. They were designed for scale and catalog access. A platform built specifically around direct artist support (where your subscription funds flow to the artists you choose) changes that equation fundamentally.

Audibin is being built for exactly this: a streaming-era music experience where local and independent artists receive fair compensation, listeners retain ownership of their subscription contributions, and the Front Range community can support its own music scene through the same platform they use to discover new music.

Follow, Share, and Talk About Artists You Love

This one doesn’t pay directly, but it has real value. Local artists depend heavily on word of mouth and social discovery. Following them on Instagram, sharing their music in group chats, recommending them to a friend who’d connect with their sound: these actions grow the audience that can then become the ticket buyers, merch buyers, and direct supporters. Discovery is the bottleneck for most independent artists; helping solve it is a genuine contribution.

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Sources: - Colorado Community Media: Underground Music Showcase Celebrates 25 Years - CPR Indie 102.3: The Local 303: April 2025 - Kiosque QR: Alternatives to Patreon for Artists - Ari’s Take: Turn Your Fans Into Paying Subscribers - Bridge.audio: Best Direct-to-Fan Platforms for Music Artists