If you’re a traveling musician who doesn’t have a desire to settle down anywhere in particular, there’s a lot of precedent for you (bohemians, Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan), but the modern world doesn’t necessarily seem friendly to your lifestyle. At least that’s what it seemed like until now. Luckily, you came across this handy little guide. This world may be friendlier than you think, you just need to access the right resources. Here are some of the best ones for you.
New York City is a mecca for live music and there’s no shortage of label scouts looking for talent. Nothing wrong with a short-term stay to find out where you can go with your music in NYC. But it can be tough to roll there without a place to stay. Bedly has the answer: on-demand housing. You’re not required to sign a lease, your apartment is furnished, and all you have to do is pass a background check, fill out the app online, and provide a verified payment option. Once you figure things out, you can pick up and head to the next town or the next apartment whenever you want.
Of course! If all you have is a backpack and a guitar, you can go practically anywhere with the Couchsurfing platform and stay for free. Just book your gigs on the go, or busk in any city, and crash on one of 400,000 couches worldwide. This is also a great way to meet people. You could lease a short-term storage space for your gear month-to-month in any big city and couchsurf all over town until you’re ready to move on.
Through Hostelworld you’ll pay less than you would for a hotel, and there are 36,000 of them in 170 countries. There are private rooms in some hostels where you can sleep and keep your gear. This site also has a pretty handy guide to
traveling on a budget. As with Couchsurfing, it helps to have a plan for your gear — a car or van with tip-top security, someplace to store it — but never discount the fact that plenty of world travelers go all over the place with their instrument. You’ll just have to make sure your baby stays safe with whatever means necessary.
This app can help you manage your finances and keep your tour schedule on the up and up. It’s a tour manager in your pocket. You can DIY with everything, including merch, guest list, ticket requests, tour expenses (which you’ll want to keep track of for tax purposes), and of course, agreements with venues.
What’s one of the hardest things about running around and booking your own shows? It’s that oftentimes you need bands to play with, and if you’re not well-established there isn’t always a local promoter to help you out. Enter SplitGigs. This is a social network where you find other artists to share shows with you. Obviously you can use Facebook to find bands in any city, but it helps to have multiple apps at your disposal.
ReverbNation has a database of over 600,000 venues, and you can customize your gig based on your needs. If you’re touring solo, look for solo-friendly venues. With an 8-piece band? Find an auditorium. Through the app, you can search each city for venues and submit an electronic press kit directly to booking managers.
With Sonicbids, you can pick gigs and apply to play them through the app with an electronic press kit. You can also search for session musicians and other bands to play with. In the website’s words, “Whatever career stage you’re at, we have the gigs you’re looking for. From local shows to international festivals, plus contests and licensing deals, it’s all here.” Plus, the site has a very useful blog for all things music.
What’s the key to promoting your music through search engines? Maintaining a good website with a quality blog. ServiceScape gives you important information on how to build a blog audience and how to write well. As a result, music fans in cities all over the world could know about you before you ever visit. If someone does a search for “music blogs,” yours is more likely to pop up because it’s high quality. If you’re short on time and have the funds, you can hire ServiceScape’s writers to do the work for you. Travel blogs are huge. Imagine one that doubles as a music blog — that’s pure gold.
Hootsuite is a social media management tool that helps you save valuable time by giving you a single place to post on multiple social networks. You can also curate other people’s content and share it so that you’re actually being social instead of just promoting yourself. Furthermore, you can filter and monitor what others are saying about your band or related topics, so you can stay on top of what’s going on throughout the social media sphere.