11 (of 27) Things Touring Bands Can Do NOW To Make a Difference
Here are just a few ways to make your show more than just another show:
Tour:Smart's Martin Atkins discusses 11 things bands of all sizes can do to make a difference NOW in building your business of touring.
01. Use the five pointed star inward-facing CRUSH technique!
I understand that you want and NEED to perform more than once every 9 to 12 weeks - so start to travel in a 50 mile radius. Find out of the way places to build your audience instead of playing the same club over and over and over to fewer and fewer punters. Use the five pointed star inward facing crush technique!
02. Don't overplay your local market.
Make your show an EVENT! The simple rule of thumb is playing every 9 to 12 weeks OR whenever you have a new t-shirt design. Don't ask your friends if playing every two weeks is too much. They are your friends – it's their job to lie to you and they will!
Here are just a few ways to make your show more than just another show: free tickets, low cost drinks, out of town band, all cover night tribute, golden lottery ticket winner gets a song written about them, guest member of another band, perform an album in its entirety, play naked.
03. Play for free!
Think about how much you would pay to see you?? And, how many of your friends have any money??? EXACTLY! It makes your show immediately more attractive than many of the others that week. People will have more money for beer and merchandise. You're not giving anything away really. If you are good, you're just pulling in more people to be randomly EXPOSED TO YOUR amazing ARTISTRY and become fans FOR LIFE.
Think of yourself as a drug dealer. The first few hits free and as long as you have a good product the people will come. Just remember not to sprinkle too much baby laxative on your product!
Tip #11: Pay for stuff that works for you – we are using Eventric's Master Tour at the office to help make sense of the insane amount of our events that are happening around the world!
- Martin Atkins
04. Pay attention to geography! In the US - tour EAST of a line from Minneapolis to Texas.
There are more shows and less mileage expenses in a WAY smaller area. You'll have more time to socialize, meet people, explore, market, make friends, fix your equipment, your brain, and SHOWER once in a while. Sixty percent of the US population lives within a one hour flight from Philadelphia.
05. Book yourself.
No one cares more than you about your band, your brand, your music, or your art. Only YOU can make decisions about playing the RIGHT venue for free because it's a great long term career move. It's very difficult for an agent to do that!
When you head out on tour play/perform/do something 11 times a week. (Yes, that means Saturday and Sunday afternoons, BUSKING in the car park, someone's basement, a train, a coffee shop, outside a sold out show). The more small steps you take, the quicker you'll get to wherever the fuck you are destined to be! And real people in venues like to have real relationships with artists – as long as you're not a dick.
06. Get the fuck out of bed!
Before you hire someone you don't really know to help you – help yourself! An extra few hours every morning or late at night (unless you are a drunken fuckhead) start to add up pretty quickly. An extra five hours/day equals = 35 hours/week = 140 hours/month.
07. Aim low - get high.
Stop thinking about HOW you are going to fill a stadium with 20,000 people. The enormity and complexity of the task will overwhelm you. Instead, simply make the next show better: invite more people, perform better, be more welcoming before, during, and after. Use the shampoo technique........Rinse and repeat! Smell like oranges! You know for a fact that you can make friends with two more people per show, right? Do that, 9,998 more times and there you go!!
08. Perform, don't play.
Stop gazing at your shoes. Put on a show. People go to see a show, not to hear a show. Watch a video of your performance and do more of the good stuff and less of the silly stuff. (Unless the silly stuff is amazing silly stuff then ignore my advice.)
Play songs people want to hear not just your newest ones. The audience won't know them ......yet.....and they might not like them. Just because the songs are new to you doesn't mean jack. Familiarity is important. You are working for the audience, not the other way around.
09. Practice for catastrophe!
It's not about being able to be put on a great performance when everything is perfect (monitors, underwear, churning feeling in the stomach, quantity of whisky, stage height, lights, PA system, dressing room, availability of toilets, crowd response etc.).
It's about being amazing when you absolutely shouldn't and any self respecting spoiled artist would have thrown down their instruments and stormed off stage in a huff.
Practice at being great in impossible situations. Laugh in the face of adversity, practice in three inches of water with only four strings on your guitar with the ceiling falling on your head and the microphone cutting in and out while the drummer is so angry at you he is throwing lit cigarettes into your backpack which contains charcoal and lighter fluid in the event of an impromptu barbeque.
Use nipple clamps, literal and metaphorical and smile smile smile, give yourself electric cattle prod shocks every time you gaze at your shoes...and, when all of this happens at your opening slot on Lollapalooza....you'll be amazing!
And professionals, critics, people who can make a difference to all of your next steps, will notice how amazing you are (not at playing your instrument because that's boring these days – but at overcoming adversity!) YES!
10. Free is the new black.
Be prepared to give away anything or EVERYTHING that you have made; not all of it all the time to one person, but whatever a person wants – give it to them.
Sell more than your studio album or EP. Sell a live album, remix, demos, b-sides, whatever. Always give away your most precious item, your most expensive, newest coolest disc. People will buy something else once you have shown them how much you like them. That said, don't actually give it away - exchange your stuff for email addresses. (There are many elegant tools to help you do this.)
If in doubt – think like a bakery. Should you give away a sample of your best, nicest, most expensive, time consuming to make muffin or the leftover, stale, ones?
11. Use good tools and the Internet, find out where your fans are and play there.
It's easier to deal with problems of equipment, staging, or no dressing room than it is to be well taken care of, but not have anyone buy a ticket. (We like Reverb Nation's Fan 360, Google Analytics, The Orchard's Heat Map and YouTube Insight.)
Pay for stuff that works for you – we are using Eventric's Master Tour at the office to help make sense of the insane amount of our events that are happening around the world!
Once again, we welcome Martin Atkins – drummer, author, entrepreneur, father, label-owner, screen printer, and all-around renaissance man – to our blog! Martin will be providing monthly commentary about and insights into the wonderful world of of touring and the music business.
His book, Tour:Smart, is available wherever books are sold…including Amazon.com
Find me on the Warped Tour to get a discount to Master Tour, hang out with me, Sarah Saturday, and Kevin Lyman and more backstage for a scene meet-up, and more cool stuff!
Vans Warped Tour
Thu - 08/12/10 - Sleep Train Amphitheatre Marysville, CA
Fri - 08/13/100 - Idaho Center Amphitheatre Nampa, ID
Sat - 08/14/10 - Gorge Amphitheater George, WA
Sun - 08/15/10 - Washington County Fairgrounds Hillsboro, OR
- Tags: Artists
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