General Music Chat

I'm working on a new project and would greatly value some words of wisdom. My focus has always been on original material, and after years of compromising, I've decided to promote myself strictly as an originals artist. I want people to see me perform in my natural enviroment-that is, doing my songs. The bottom line is this: How do I score gigs (especially in a small area such as my hometown) without having to play "Margaritaville" ten thousand times. I believe that I have the entertainment skills to build a following, but I need the opportunity to demonstrate those skills. Any suggestions?

I would first start by posting some content out here. I mean this with the utmost respect and many others here will echo my sentiments that talk is cheap. Give us content!

Get your music out into the public eye, whether online or on CD or whatever but get it out there and see what kind of interest it generates. See what kind of feed back you get and you will know right away what is working or not. If everyone raves about your stuff, then you know you are to something. If it gets a who hum, or no response at all it's probably and indication to re-tool.

I was in band years ago that only had been playing together for several weeks and we had 4 tunes. Every practice more and more people were showing up and I was being asked for tapes (yea, that long ago) faster then I could make them. We were so dense we didn't think anything of it until we started receiving letters from all over the country and Europe. Without ever trying or even thinking anything of it we were on to something.

Thus that is my advice to you.

Good luck to you and I would like to hear your stuff.

Find someone who's already playing out; someone with a 'kind-of' similar style. That is - just not TOO different . . .
Offer to play in between their sets for free. You'll find out if your music is accepted.
Also, go to open mikes, and hand out cards after you play. And, again, you'll find out how well you music is accepted.
I've found that a good indication of how well people like your music is to ignore the applause, and listen to the hoots and hollars, instead . . .

Thanks guys! THose are some great ideas, and I appreciate it. By the way, I have only recently begun getting stuff online, but you can check out some of my tunes at :
myspace.com/josephbinns
Hopefully, I'll have some songs on this site soon.
Thanks again.

First thing,

Let's dispel a myth!

The myth is, that you MUST find "originals venues" to play, if you are an original band. NOT TRUE.

A club is a business, first and foremost. If you show that you can CONSISTENTLY bring a respectable number of PAYING customers, then just about ANY club will book you.

You will have to pay some dues first.

You do this by letting the club get to know you, and your following. MANY clubs these days, have various events, like battle of the bands, or certain days of the week, like a normally slow day, Tuesday for example, that are geared toward not only making the club money, but bringing in new talent, which keeps the club relevant and the customers coming.

Some clubs these days, have a certain day set aside just for new bands to come and play, almost no questions asked. Play what you want. They want to see that your band brings people, and brings the kind of people they want there, i.e. paying customers that spend a decent amount of money, and are not trouble makers, i.e. not tearing the bar up and costing the bar money, instead of making them money.

Some clubs will put you on a ticket buying program to start off. In this scenario, they may "give" you 50 or 100 tickets, guarantee you a night to play, and the ticket will have your "mark" if not your band's name on it. This is for counting how many customers of yours showed up, compared with the other bands. You will sell the tickets, usually at a discount from the normal door price, to your fans, friends and family, and you will give them the unsold tickets back.

If you have sold a reasonable amount of tickets, let's say 50, the club will be happy. And it is possible that the next time, they will ask you to play WITHOUT worrying about selling tickets for them. Even still, this may or may not, be a paying gig yet.

That is the one downfall to cover bands. You will not make much money out of the gate. You will have to build a following and reputation first. Cover bands can get a regular paying gig in a club that wants a live jukebox, fairly easily, paying them from $50 per member (sometimes less) to a $100 per member, but not much more. Unless you desperately need an extra $50 bucks per week, it is not worth the trivial amount payed. You get stuck in a rut, and you have to spend all your time learning other people's music, which effectively stops you from creating your own unique sound and style.

All that said...

There are more and more originals venues these days as well.

It's always good to have a few covers in the arsenal, but make them your own. The value of them, is that it grounds people who are not familiar with your original music. They may hear a song or two per set that they recognize, and can sing along with. That keeps them happy, while they are learning YOUR music. Before long, as has happened with my band, more and more people are out there singing your original lyrics, just as if they are singing a more famous song from the radio. That is a GREAT feeling, to look out and see that, and your music is now connecting!

As has been said in the past "Cover bands will play if the price is right. Original bands play for the love of it, anywhere they can, and anytime they can."

This is paying dues.

But you are getting your name and songs out there, building more and more loyal fans, while perfecting your craft and your showmanship.

So, play everywhere you can, enter every contest you can, develop a press kit to send everywhere. FIRST and FOREMOST, get a quality demo, preferrably at a good recording studio!!!!! And have demos ready to give out whenever needed. you never know who you will meet just running the streets from day to day. Be ready for those opportunities. As soon as you can afford it, have a CD ready to sell. This will offset to a degree, not being payed up front by clubs at first. If your music is good, people will want to buy your CD.

While it is true, that you can get some very good recording equiptment these days and produce quality demos. It is almost NEVER as good as a decent studio. A good studio has someone engineering your songs, which has being engineering for many years, hopefully several decades. You are NOT as good an engineer as they are. Also, a good studio may have a Neuman mic, which itself may have cost 5 grand, maybe more. Trust me. There is NO microphone for 300 bucks that sounds like a 5 thousand dollar mic. A professional studio will have decades of experience, and tens of thousands of dollars in professional equiptment. A home set-up that costs a grand or two, does not compare to this.

Good luck brother!