How Musicians Can Find Their Community Online
- One Submit Team
- Oct 14
- 4 min read
It used to be a lot more difficult back in the day, but thanks to the internet, it’s become a lot easier for musicians to find each other, meet up, share ideas, and work together, even across borders.
As an independent artist, your circle of collaborators isn’t limited to local jam sessions or your hometown scene – you can find people producing tracks in Seoul, sharing folk songs in Dublin, or running open mic streams from New York.
But the internet is a big, big place – you’re still going to need to make an active effort to look for those communities. And once you’ve found them, you also need to connect in the right way.
Why International Music Communities Are Important
Being part of international music circles means being exposed to sounds you probably wouldn't have heard otherwise – you get to meet people who understand what it's like to actually make art rather than just consuming it.
And when you're open to those connections, cool things happen – you end up working with someone from a completely different background, and suddenly you're blending things you never thought would go together.
Genres like reggaeton and Afro beats became popular worldwide because of the very fact that artists decided to collab across borders and blend their styles together. And as a solo artist, connecting with those groups could help you grow as an artist too – and who knows, you might even win a couple fans along the way.
Where to Search for Music Communities
Most global music communities are online, offering spaces where artists can socialize, trade, and collaborate. The following are some hub places to look:
Twitter/X, Insta, TikTok – search for hashtags related to your music. #OpenVerseChallenge is good.
Reddit & Discord – look for subreddits and channels where people share music & get feedback. (Often you find Discord links on Reddit).
Bandcamp & SoundCloud – also, are there any smaller sites for your genre? Worth checking.
Regional Platforms – local forums or websites which may be less well-known internationally but still rich in connections.
Online events – livestreams, listening parties, digital jams… they pull in people from all over.
You just never know who you'll connect with when you start showing up.
You’ve Found the Community – Now How Do You Connect?
Joining a new music community works best if you do a few things prior to participate well and build real connections:
Listen First
Avoid rushing ahead and posting yourself (no one likes self centeredness). Lurk, listen, see what kinds of comments people usually leave, what kind of tone they have and what kind of feedback people give. Check what kinds of topics get the most attention.
Engage Authentically
Share reflective feedback, ask questions, and submit your own work in a manner that contributes value. Don't overload the community with self-promotion, but instead establish authentic connections through your engagement.
Respect Local Culture
Every online community has its own little culture, lingo, and norms. When you join a community, take an interest and be respectful towards those practices. Follow the rules – and don’t be spammy!
Access New Communities
You might eventually run into a website that’s restricted in your country, in which case you could use a VPN to bypass those restrictions. It also provides some protection, which matters all the more now that we keep hearing about famous hackers going after random people.
Take Time to Build Relationships
It takes time to build real relationships. Treat it like you would any other and don’t be selfish – give feedback, help out where you can, share tips and be happy for others’ successes.
Keep this advice in mind and focus on being authentic – that should play a huge role in helping you find long-term collaborators.
How to Find Collab Opportunities
Collab opportunities can literally be anything – whether local or international. You can brainstorm lyric ideas, sing background vocals for someone else’s song (even from the comfort of your own home) or help someone out with a song in a different language.
There are also tons of indie artists “hanging out” online to jam, do remix contests, or work on songs together with friends. Going to virtual concerts is also a good thing. Listening parties, online boiler rooms and virtual festivals are pretty much the norm now.
It’s fun, you get to know the people behind the music, and after attending virtual concerts or listening parties (especially if they have live chats), you can try connecting with the other attendees too.
Making Sure Your Connections Last
Meet people through music? Treat them like real people. Follow up after you work together, check in sometimes, and actually care what they’re up to. Don’t just hit them up when you need a favor.
The people you work well with will naturally become part of your circle – that’s how managers, long-term collaborators, and even label deals often start. Just be reliable and genuinely interested in what others are doing. Being authentic goes a lot further than any networking strategy.
Final Words
Every musician knows that inspiration is everywhere. But if there’s one final word of wisdom to take with you, it should be this: sometimes, it's actually by connecting with people online that you find the most inspiration.
