Department of Touring

It’s possible to start from scratch and grow your audience, show by show. Here are some ideas that I have successfully used to increase a bands audience.

Remember that your potential audience doesn’t just see and hear you at your gig or when you get radio play. Your posters, merch and online photos of your last show – are all making an impression on the people who have and haven’t seen you play. Without selling your soul to any devil here are some ways that you can promote yourself and build an audience.

Really great band photos: I think this in one area that bands can be very, very boring. Photos are cheap to produce and in this day and age bands should have a lot of photos turning over so we don’t have to keep seeing the same photo all the time. This is where you can really win over a new audience as well – I have managed to get important gigs on the back of an excellent photo that was both creative and told something about the band. If you are all out of creative photo ideas I recommend a trip to the library or book store for a flick through some big coffee table photography or film stills books for inspiration.

Posters: You can see a bands poster around town and never go to the gig – but something about that poster tells you about the band – so get really creative with posters. From a purely information point of view – keep the gig details prominent but to a minimum. Never include the door price. Have people come to the venue before they know what they have to pay.

Merch: I have bought albums and t shirts of bands that I have never heard because the artwork was so good. I have also decided not to buy t shirts of bands that I love because it was so ugly. The annoying reality about merch is that the upfront costs of producing it can be very high – but if you can do short runs of good designs that 10 people you have showed them to love – then you should sell them out pretty fast. Cheaper merch options are stickers and buttons – stickers are awesome for their longevity. In the past I have made small ziplock bags combining stickers and buttons and substantially increased their sell-ability and also revenue. Merch is the one place you can make decent money so it’s worth investing and getting it right.

Your interviews: Some bands are really great at talking on air and on camera and some are rubbish. But for the rubbish ones I think you just have to get over yourself. At the very least go into an interview with something you want to say. Think of it in advance. It is likely going to be when your next gig is, or when your album is coming out – so get those things in your head before the interview. If you are doing rounds of interviews do not say the same thing in every interview. If you are answering the same question, answer it in a different way. But if you are really bad at interviews, nominate the best person in your band for the interview and keep away from doing bad interviews – you’d be better off.

The gig experience: Don’t forget that your gig is an audio and visual experience. As an audience member it’s great to walk into a venue and see something more than three colours of lighting and the regular gat, drums, bass set up. It’s quite easy and inexpensive to include props on stage to make the setting a bit more visually exciting, from old fifties lampstands, shagpile carpets, couches, artificial flowers, movie footage, fairly lights, slides and backdrops. These things not only look good on the night, but in the photos of your shows that will end up online. They also show that you are putting some thought and imagination into your show. The other side of the gig experience is your appearance, how you talk to the audience, and if you look at the audience or only manage to dart nervous looks to your fellow band mates. All of these things make an impression, and if you are playing to 20 or 200 people… you want all of these people to come to your next gig and to each bring a friend. So everything thing about your performance matters. I know as a musician you feel embarrassed if you make a mistake on stage or if you are having technical difficulties throughout the night. But I honestly can not say this enough…. the audience probably doesn’t notice. Honestly. Even if your bass drum skin rips through. When things go wrong on stage that can make you feel angry, disappointed or humiliated, you have to believe me when I say it is highly likely most people watching haven’t noticed so DO NOT APOLOGISE. If anything, laugh, joke or just carry on through the technical difficulties. Part of watching a band live is that things go wrong and you can win over an audience by the great way you handles these difficulties. O, and don’t forget to mention when you are next playing.

New venues: If you live in a small town where all bands play at the same place, then I recommend trying to find a new and interesting place to play once in a while. Be it a café, church, cinema or outdoors some where. Provide new experiences for your audience so they can start on their word of mouth promoting the great night you just provided them with. This also gives journalists an angle to mention when plugging your gig.

A well run show: There is nothing fun about waiting for a band to set up. Especially if you can’t get to the bar or can’t afford to buy drinks – you just have to stand there and wait. So two things I recommend. Have a great pre-planned playlist that you can play over the PA so your audience is listening to some great tunes while they are waiting. And… have a stage manager or friend, someone who can help you quickly set up, who can run back and forward to your sound engineer, who can pull your cases off stage and tidy them away. Getting on and off stage fast and not having the show run really late are all things that make it a positive experience for the audience.

Audience incentives: Think about how you can reward your audience for coming to the show. If you have anything free you can give them or at least the first 30 people that show up – from buttons to CD burns to drinks that you can organize a local brewery to provide in exchange for a mention on the radio ad… anything like this adds to the positive gig experience.

Contacting your audience: A super easy way to do this is to photocopy and cut up flyers and flyer the car park at the venue a week or two before you play, as well as making sure your posters are up in the venue a few weeks before your show. If there is a student radio station in your town, make a point of personally dropping in a poster so it gets hung in the DJ booth and in the station it self. In addition there are of course all the usual things you are most likely doing – including myspace mailouts, online flyering, facebook and tweets etc. But don’t over email or over contact your audience.

How often should you play: If you are going to play once a month, then it’s imperative that you play at different kinds of venues, otherwise you are not really providing anything new for your audience. I am a great believer in not over playing, but instead taking the time to make sure every show is really great. Well rehearsed and with all the things above in place. Keep your audience wanting more.

This article was published in the June/July 2009 issue of New Zealand Musician magazine.