Keywords

Late night dinner..

About 10 years ago at a late night dinner I had the privilege of speaking with one of the Lyons Brothers (who happen to be owners of all the nightclubs on Lansdowne Street in Boston, MA). At the time I was in a band and luckily during the course of dinner someone mentioned it to him. My musicial inclinations were noted but the dinner conversation went on as usual and for a moment I thought nothing would come of it. I was quickly blowing my opportunity to make a powerful contact. Finally, towards the end of the night, my new friend turned to me and said, "I'm going to give you some advice". My ears burned. "Personally, I don't care how good you are. I don't care if you're the next Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana or Brittany Spears. And I don't care what the papers are saying about you. I do care about one thing and one thing only.. how many people you can bring into my club. Bring the people and you'll always have a place to play."

It seemed to make good sense. But the more I thought about it, it made the best sense. Having a following for your live performances doesn't just get club owners interested in you (which means income from live performances) but it also gets managers, record labels, entertainment lawyers, publishers and others knocking, and in some cases even pounding, at your door. Do this one thing and everything else will come naturally. Only one question.. how do you do it?

 

Local Strategies Part 1 - The CD single give away

 

It takes a lot to get someone to a show. You've got to call all your friends, pass out flyers, network with other bands and more. All that work and on the day of the show some of those potential fans show up and watch you play, and go home. Did you make the most of your efforts? Did you turn the guests at your show into devout fans who will do the job of marketing your music for you? No? Why not?

Most likely when the bar empties out and the crowds go home and wake up the next day.. they have forgotten about you. Yeah, sad but true- there are a lot of bands out there in the world.. a lot of GOOD bands. You're just another good band. Ouch. In fact most of the people who came to the show probably did so because they always go to that bar on Friday nights. Whatever band they have playing is just part of the fun for the night. If you're really really entertaining some will remember you, but if you haven't done something to reach out and reinforce your music in the mind of your audience, you've most likely wasted tons of momentum that could have been used to catapult your band into the phase of local notoriety.

So how do you break this vicious cycle and get these people to remember you? Reinforce who you are by giving your audience something to take home with them. I recommend putting 2 or 3 of your best songs on some CD's (that you can burn from home) and handing them out. Announce on the mic you've got someone going around giving away the free CD and taking names for your email list. If you have a full length CD for sale let them know they can buy that as well.

Now almost everyone in the club has given you their email address and is leaving with a copy of your free CD (and some with a full CD).

In one simple step you have:

1- Given your potential fans material that will help create the needed repetition of your music in the mind of your audience.

2- Given them material they can share with their friends.

3- Rewarded them for going to your show (everyone loves free stuff right?).

4- Gotten them on your email list so you can touch base with them again.

5- Increased the likelihood they will attend another show in the future.

Does the CD have to be expensive or have printing on it? In today's "one-man with a camera gets millions of views on YouTube era" one thing is proven: production and sparkle are less important than content. Just burn off some CD's at home and give them to your fans. At a cost of 25 cents apiece, it's more than worth it!