Tips For Better Shows

You’ve updated your website; you’ve setup some great viral marketing with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, NOW WHAT?

Play live anywhere and as often as possible is the best way to build a following. The larger your following, the more in demand you will be. If you learn what makes venue owners happy and you do it, then most likely you will have a standing invitation to come back as often as you want to.

A few suggestions:

• Email blasts to your fans
• Create traffic to your website with regular, purposeful communication on social sites. And when you send fans to your website, make sure there is plenty of new video, audio, photos, and so on to give them something exciting and fresh to look at.
• Cold calls. Call every venue, promoter you can find and then follow up each lead. I understand these concepts are not new but they work.
• Work for free

We need to be creative and smart with our time and resources. Keep in mind that at the same time as you are cold calling, emailing, and communicating with fans, you could go to a church, a coffee shop, or some other venue and play for free. After all, most places will take a chance on someone who is doing the gig for free.

Then if you get in there you have a few options to make some money anyway. You can sell some product to make a few $$. If you have aligned yourself with a charity you can make some $$ (and help others at the same time).

But the bigger point is this: all of this is good (experience, exposure, and generating a little income) – BUT, if you are amazing LIVE, they will book you again. And the next time, they’ll pay you!

Bottom Line for Success remains: Live shows and building your fan base. You can have the best of everything else, but unless you focus on these two, it's unlikely you will play a venue more than once.

All roads do lead to the stage, where you and your band have the best opportunity to connect with fans by creating special moments and memories that will gain you the most important thing in your music career: TRUE BLUE FANS.

Yosemite

Fuck this!

That’s what John Muir said after being blinded in an industrial accident. A file pierced his eye and he thought his vision was history. But after a month in a darkened room, his vision returned and he walked from Indiana to Florida.

I know, I know, that was a hundred years ago. More, actually. But that’s not the point. The question is, are you working with your head or heart? At some point you’ve got to stop being who your parents want you to be and start being who you are.

I hadn’t been to Yosemite since 1973. Not much has changed. That’s how it is with the physical world. It outlasts us. We’re just a blip in time. We think we’re forever, but despite all the hosannas, even Michael Jackson’s music will soon be forgotten. It’s not human nature, it’s Mother Nature!

Yosemite is an amusement park of the mind. Rather than going on rides, being turned upside down by mechanical contraptions, you look at the landscape and your mind does somersaults. How did this happen? It’s hard to imagine a glacier that creates Half Dome, and how can El Capitan be almost perfectly vertical?

At the visitor center near Yosemite Falls there’s a bit of cell service. But you get no e-mail on your BlackBerry, you’re disconnected from everything deemed important. You’re placed in natural perspective. We’re here for such a very short time. What do we want to do, what do we want to accomplish?

Money won’t help you if you’re hiking in Tuolomne Meadows and it starts to rain. Rich people get no better view from Glacier Point than poor. In Yosemite, we’re all in it together.

On a nature walk behind the Ahwahnee Hotel, the ranger told us the John Muir story. It’s stuck with me. It’s shown me that those Americans not on the cover of "Us", not featured in the "Forbes" 500 are not losers, but in many cases winners. Money is not the only priority. You need it to live, but how much?

Would you rap if there was no Biggie, no Jay-Z?

Would you play the guitar if there was no Eddie Van Halen?

Would you be in the music business if David Geffen hadn’t made all that money?

If not, give up. Please. You’re hurting yourself. And you’ll leave no lasting mark.

But if you need to play, don’t lament that you’re not a millionaire. The music should be enough. If you’ve got a roof over your head, if you can pay the bills, you’re on the map. Affecting a coterie deeply is more important than being a momentary comet, burning brightly and then flaming out.

So don’t do what you should do, do what you want to do. Even if your chosen field is not perceived to be a road to riches. Who knew all those chefs would become stars on the Food Network? Who knew you could make a career in extreme sports? Who knew gaming would outstrip both music and movies in revenue?

I’m not saying to forgo an education. Fundamentals are important. Only by establishing a foundation do you have a place to build.

It’s time to establish your own independence. To make your own decisions. So when you’re on your deathbed, surrounded by loved ones who will soon reach their demise also, you’ve got no regrets.

--By Bob Lefsetz

Booking/Getting Gigs

1. Think Locally - The best place to start looking for gigs is in your own backyard. Get to know the music scene in your area. What venues and promoters are willing to give up and coming bands a chance? What bands in your area play live often and might need a support act? What venues in your area put on touring bands, who might need a local opening act? To get a gig, all of these factors can come into play. Approaching the right venues will open doors to you, and there is strength in numbers, so working together will the other bands in the area will increase the opportunities for everyone. (Plus, you can share gear!)

2. Get your Promo Package Together - Have a standard package ready to introduce yourself to venues and promoters. Much like the package you use when you send a demo to a label , this promo package should be short and sweet. Include a short demo CD, a short bio or one sheet to introduce the band, and some press clippings, if you have any (especially ones that review live performances). If you're going to approach people by email instead, cut and paste the info into the body of an email and include a link to a site where your music can be heard. Don't send attachments - most people won't open them.

3. Approach the Venue - To get a gig directly with a venue, call and find out who is in charge of booking bands and send them your promo package. They may tell when to contact them again. If not, give them about a week, and follow up by phone or email. Keep trying until you get an answer. If you've haven't played live much, your best bet is try to get on an existing bill with a band that already has a bit of a following. Keep in mind that if you book with a venue, you may be in charge of promoting the show yourself and paying venue rental fees, unless you are invited on to an existing concert bill.

4. Approach the Promoter - If you'd rather not self promote and take on venue fees, you can approach a promoter to get a gig. Send your promo pack to the promoter and follow up in the same way you would with a venue. If a promoter agrees to get you a show, they will book the venue and promote the show for you, but you may need to send them posters you have made yourself to do so.

   If the promoter doesn't want to put you on by yourself yet, ask them if they have any shows you could play as an opening act. If they say no, check in from time to time to remind them you are always available as a support act.

5. Understand the Deal - This is the trickiest part for most bands. First, understand that when you are just getting started, you often will not make money on your shows. In fact, you may even end up out of pocket. That doesn't mean it was all for nothing - building up your fan base will mean you do make money on future gigs.

   If you do make money, you will either have a deal where you get paid a pre-agreed amount no matter how many people turn up, or you will have a door split deal . Either deal is fine and fair. Focus on building your audience and not the money right now.

6. Play the Gig - Sounds obvious, I know, but the way you handle the gig can have a lasting impact on your ability to get future shows. Show up on time for the soundcheck and if there are other bands playing, remember everyone needs time for their soundcheck. Be professional - there is likely to be free drinks around, but remember everyone is there to hear your music, not to see if you can handle your beer. Don't sell yourself short by getting on stage in anything but your top shape, ready to play a great show. Play a good show, be courteous and professional, and you'll soon be getting more show offers!

Tips:

1. Don't Get Caught Up on the Deal - This is worth repeating. Your goal is build up your audience. Promoters and venues are taking a chance on you when you are just getting started - they will be more willing to give you a chance if you don't have a lot of financial demands.

2. But Don't Pay to Play - If you're putting on your own show, of course you may have to pay a venue hire fee and you may to pay some promotional costs. However, don't pay money simply to get on a bill, and don't trust anyone who asks you to.

3. Invite the Press - Keep the entertainment writers at your local papers informed about your activities and always invite them to the show. Also, keep your local radio stations up to date on what's happening with your band and when you're playing.

4. Respect the Guest List - Guests lists have a way of getting out of hand, fast. Don't push it with promoters with the guest list when you are trying to build up a name for yourself. If you're part of a larger bill, you may not even have any guest list spaces. If you do, use what you have and be done with it. Don't try to get 50 of your closest cheapskate friends into every show for free. You'll get a bad name for yourse

True Blue Fans (TBF)

Up & Coming Artist should be aware their livelyhoods will depend how well they learn these two very important pricipals that will lead to them, developing successful careers:

1. Fan Base Building....I call them True Blue Fans. These are your tribe members, that will purchase/spend at least $100 / year on merchandise/door fees. They will bring at least 5 new TBF into your tribe each year.

2. Realizing ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE STAGE. This is so much more than what any artist may think.