Oftentimes people in this industry are asked the same question over and over by struggling artists: "How do I get signed?" The answer is as simple as the question: fundamentals. Start with honing your skills as a musician and performer. Make sure your live show is as good as your record or better. Get your website, press kit, photos, bio, solid touring going, build your team (manager, agent, lawyer, etc.) and build a following. The last part being the most difficult - building a following.
To build a following you need to be playing the key rooms for your type of music in any particular market or even small town. What I have done in the past with a band I managed named Rolla is to network on MySpace to find bands in the same genre, contact them, see what rooms they are playing in their page under "dates" and contact both those bands and those rooms about playing there. Try to get your group positioned between two strong local artists if possible to maximize your efforts. This also gets you on the road slightly earlier, although you should always stay for the set of the band after yours. Key rooms will not have you back if you consistently do not draw well in there room. The best way to make the night good for everyone is to get someone else's crowd exposed to your music and build your base in each market this way.
To think like the promoter means you are trying your best to make the night a winner for everyone. When they make money at the door and also at the bar, it means they will have you back. It also means you maximized your trip to an outside market by playing in front of a much larger group of people. As the saying goes, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it..." Playing to larger group of people is great, but playing in front of another similar-sounding band means a higher rate of return on investment in terms of gathering a new fan base in that market. Make sure to get them signing your mailing list and to provide biweekly update e-mail newsletters. Many of these newsletter systems are trackable and allow you to see who opened them and on what they may have clicked. One tip: Build in lots of hyperlinks to get them bouncing around your sites. The longer they are there, the more of a chance they will buy something and be at your next show in the area.
At every show a band plays, they should make sure they are not only coupled with the right artists but also that the venue tends to bring a walk-in crowd. Without a walk-in crowd and /or fans from other locals bands, you can find playing in these outside markets frustrating and nonproductive. I tend to think of things as spiraling outward: local market, regional market and national. That's the most organic way to do things. Getting local press in Connecticut for instances, means then working up to statewide publications and coverage, then Boston, NYC, Rhode Island, and all of New England, then the mid-Atlantic region, etc. Some artists find that other outside markets work better for them based on genre of music. This definitely comes into play here. Artists should identify markets where their genre of music has been popular in the past and present and hone in on those markets.
Artists have to think like a promoter. If you owned a club, would you want to pay rent, utilities, staff, all overhead involved with opening the place, insurance and ASCAP/BMI licenses all to open the doors to 10 people? The fact is your future as a performer exists on your ability to get people to shows. Many people get radio play, television and film synchronization contracts (placements in shows and films), and in doing so they skip steps involved in building this network of fans and things happen faster due to automatic national exposure. The artist should always be on the lookout for these opportunities, but only ones that make sense for what your long-term goals are. The artist that is so shortsighted may make the wrong long-term decision in the end. Use the computer, word of mouth; ask around to see who is doing what in key markets, myspace, and various other online band services to act as a promoter. This way, for your first play in the new market you have developed fans via the mailing list and maybe even sold some merchandise. Certainly you will assure yourself a return play, and in the end this is what will matter most in your efforts to conquer the world block by block.
Author Resource:-
A&R Unlimited, LLC incorporates elements of A&R consultation, concert promotion, and Internet marketing, along with all other aspects of marketing and promotion
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