Pricing yourself. How do you know you’re doing it right?
Today’s question comes from Pittsburgh jazz artist, Maggie Johnson, who also happens to be the founder of JazzSpace – a foundation created to keep the art of jazz alive in the Pittsburgh scene. THE QUESTION: Pricing yourself. How do you know you’re doing it right? THE ANSWER: This is a really excellent question that I think [...]
Is It Possible to Play Several Shows in One Month & Get Great Turnouts at All of Them?
This question is the average local artist’s biggest dilemma. You don’t want to dilute your show turnouts, but you do want to play out as much as possible to get as much exposure as possible. So how do you do this while ensuring that each show is good, well-attended, and worth it. Here are some [...]
Should I Drive The Distance If the Gig is Only 20 Minutes Long?
THE ARTIST: Silence Kid (Baltimore, MD) THE QUESTION: Here’s my dilemma: My band is playing it’s first out-of-town gig this weekend, and we were just informed that our set would only be 20 minutes long. Obviously, my drummer and I are both pretty disappointed about this. We’re a dedicated and hard-working band, this won’t be a short drive [...]
Putting Things in Context
Have you ever walked down the street and accidentally evesdropped on someone’s conversation. You’ve caught 1 sentence in a discussion and what they’ve said makes no sense whatesoever! But you know, if you could have kept listening or jumped in earlier on the conversation, you’d be on the same page. This is the same idea [...]
Making the Most of Your Club Gig
On Monday’s post, we talked about the pros/cons of booking nightclubs: Coffeeshop or Club? Pros and Cons of “Nightlife” Booking. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of your show. Who’s on the Bill? Don’t just play with any artist, play with artists who will willingly help you promote the gig. You can get [...]
Lets Be Realistic, k? Things You Don’t Want to Hear But Should
…ABOUT YOUR DRAW Never assume that you’re going to get a good turnout at a show…especially when you’re not actively promoting. Liz Rueger of Independent Artist Representatives says it best: “You should go into every show assuming no one has ever heard you.” That said, don’t just expect people to come. This is especially important [...]
Sonicbids & Electronic Press Kits (EPKs): the Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Sonicbids more or less introduced the world (and independent artists) to EPKs – Electronic Press Kits. EPKs provide a cost effective way for musicians to submit their music to potential booking agents, venues, festivals, reviewers, radio stations…etc. An EPK allows artist to post, a bio, pictures, press, upcoming shows, audio, video, and even sound requirements for [...]
Perception is Reality
It took me a while to figure out what my first write-up for this blog would be. But I’m going to start with something that will probably tie together any subject matter covered in this blog. Perception is Reality. I should preface this by saying that you wont be reading anything extremely profound but just some things [...]
