November 1, 2009 Posting and announcing your gigs.
So you have a show and you want to promote it. Many artists take this pretty simply. They post on their website, announce it on Myspace, share it on Facebook, sometimes list it on Craigslist and then maybe send it to a local music magazine. There is this idea that people will just make the effort to find out about you. Now in some cases that can be true, but with each gig and show it is much more effective to pull those that already know you, reach out to those that might be some what familiar with you and connect with people that have never heard of you before.
When you take the approach of announcing a gig where you are reaching out to every one possible for that show but also keeping in mind you are continuing to work on your overall promotion for other shows to come as well as your awareness in that given town or city, you are taking the most effective path. So use the three-way effect when you announce a gig. Make that announcement, work for your existing fans, then the ones that might have heard your name and the people that have never heard of you before. Ads, posters, fliers or what ever that are designed that way are designed for the optimal effect.
Who, What, When Where, Why, How (much) Detail = good
Give people the information they need to see you. Do not assume you are that well known, even if you are. You can always attract new fans, new customers and a bigger audience. Make sure in the release about the show or the event posting you cover the who, what, when, where why and how much scenario. Give them all the information they need so they will come to see you. Too many people go too simple. Remember the economy is bad, people are going out less or they are going out to see their favorites. What can you add to your listing, announcement or release to inspire a new fan to check you out?
Don’t just list the venue, give the address, give a phone number and a website and add the bands site as well. Draw them in with information. In an over saturated world of music right now, the more information you can deliver, the better results you will have at some one looking at you as not just being another band in the blur of the hundreds of bands playing every night.
This goes for the poster too.
Make sure your poster is easy to read, clear with your logo, your tag line, the date, the venue, the address and all the other pertinent information so that the potential person walking by that has never seen you might take a second look and then maybe even show up. Put some more effort in to the posters and use them to attract those that know you but also those that might have heard of you and especially those that have no idea who you are.
Web, Magazines, Radio, TV, Newspapers
With your announcement that has all the information one would need to have a basic idea of what you are about as well as where they can find out more, the show, the location and the rest of the basics, you need to get it out to for the best most productive effect.
Remember, when you are posting online or sending out a release or announcement, it is about that show of course but it is also about bringing attention to your group, your music and why you are interesting as a whole. The more the word is out about you and what you are up to, the more chance some of these sites might look to doing a story, a feature or a review on you. Yes, you want people to come to the show, but if you are advertising the show, while building your marketing, your name recognition and your promotion, then you are getting the most opportunities out of a single action.
Where to post
Of course post to your websites and your networking sites but shoot for other places too. Set up a database of contacts of websites, magazines, radio stations, newspapers and TV stations. Collect emails and information so that each gig you have, it can be easier. Make sure to individualize the email and send to the right people. Do not spam or you will set up a bad reputation for your name. Give a good subject header and address the email to the right person.
This can include colleges and local show reviewers. Entertainment bloggers and any one else that has a pulse on the music industry in that given area just reach out and make that list. Now this is a list you are not going to want to over abuse if you have the weekly gig. Personally, I think an artist should not be playing in a given area too often but if you are going to, then choose the best show every six to 8 weeks and do the full scale send outs for that. Do not overly hit the list too much or you become the option to maybe go see instead of the must see. Again, I don’t think you should play a given 25 mile radius more than once every six to eight weeks and spend the time working to play elsewhere instead of over saturating a scene, then in turn build up the excitement for the show.
When to post
By starting to send out four weeks or so early, you are also adding to the chances about getting a story or some build up in one of the papers, magazines or websites to have an interview, feature or some kind of additional review for your coming show. It also clears all deadlines for getting posted in as many places as possible.
This does not need to be done all in one day either. The most effective way to promote is to do the large announcement and then once a day, continue to work that list you build up. Just spend five minutes a day sending to reviewers, bloggers, writers, editors, posting websites, event listing sites. This will build more possible listings as well as more contacts and more optimization across the scene, city or area you are playing in.
As you build up the list, find out when the best times are to send information and how they prefer it formatted. The more you can specify the information to how the specific media outlet or media person wants it, the more that person or outlet will recognize you both as professional and potentially as story or listing worthy. Some places are going to want announcements or releases a few weeks out while some radio stations may want the information the day before for some calendar listings. Find out and send accordingly.
Conclusion
Stupid simple….Advertise, market and promote your shows the right way. Work to bring people through the doors for the night you are playing but also keep in mind how sending out announcements, releases and information for shows can help for future shows and other media opportunities. Work smarter not longer or harder. Make every minute you are working on the promotion count so you can spend more time with the music.
© 2009 Loren Weisman
www.braingrenademusic.com
www.twitter.com/bgellc
Watch out for Loren Weisman’s “Realistic Music Careers 101 Seminar” coming to a city near you and Loren’s book “The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business” coming in 2010.
Reader Comments (3)
Thanks for the article
I'm currently booking and promoting shows for my band.
This article gave me a guideline on how to do that better.
Thanks again
Very good and helpful points. But perhaps the erm, promoter, should do that too? Or else the band is simply doing their job while they take 90% of the door take, as has been my experience!
A good promoter will promote but you never know, always good to do it yourself to be safe :) Promoters for the most part have a lot of overhead and expenses to cover in order to run a show, often times their profit margin is only 5% of the $ they put up to make the show happen. They also have a large risk of losing money if the show is not a success.
A good way to learn if you'd make a good promoter would be to put 100k of cash into a barrel and light it on fire, if you flinch or get upset during the fire you would make a bad promoter. lol