Getting people to your shows (Page 2 of 4)

hehe I reckon half of our twitter followers are from overseas, but good point!

Hey dosPrompt, I don't have anything at all to add, I just wanted to say that I always marvel at the level of effort and commitment that you go to when organising shows, and in my honest opinion it pays off quite well. Thanks so much for doing what you do!

If you read what I posted with a bit more detail, you will realize what I meant is to recruit a bunch of people that are frequent show attenders and offer them rewards, as possibilities allow, progressively. How do you know your friends won't like the show? Why not try? That's pretty low confidence.
Doesn't seem like PR people down here work the same way as you, because you seem to be doing press work also, which is not something a PR does here (that's what the press agent is for). Besides getting press exposure, what else it is your task? PR people here are in charge of inviting people to the show. That simple. And that was what I suggested, I think the best people who can invite and express the apreciation for a show are those who already love the show.

OK a good read on Wikipedia notes the sociological difference here:

That's what we call here a "Press Agent", not a PR.
What would you call what I described? A host?

Last edited by akira^8GB (Jan 13, 2010 11:51 am)

I think they call it a "street team" here in the UK. Lame name, I know.

The best way to get people to your shows is to play a shit ton of other shows.

I've only been playing shows since October so I don't claim to be an expert in this shit, though I've been getting a lot of show offers lately so I guess I'm doing something right...anyway,

Rather than trying to set up straight up chip gigs, try doing some shows with already established artists first. Doesn't matter the genre, though it shouldn't be incredibly far from what you're doing. I mostly play with Rock / Punk / Metal / experimental bands, and at each gig I've played, I've had no problem drawing a crowd and getting people dancing. Maybe it's using the "Woah! He's making music with a Game Boy!" thing to my advantage, but it definitely works.

The problem with trying to set up a "chip night" in an area with a small chip scene / following is that if people aren't familiar with that kind of music, then they're not going to know to come out. I see flyers and show listings all the time for genres and styles I know nothing about, and thus, I don't go to those shows. But if you can build a reputation for yourself as an artist, I'd imagine it's easier to set up whole gigs dedicated to chip music and get people to come out to them because they'd be familiar with your music from seeing you at other gigs. It expands the listener base as well.

It really helps to have friends involved with whatever local music scene you're trying to get into...my success has all been based in Phoenix AZ, which sucks because I don't live there, but I have a good number of friends in the music scene there and they've been doing a lot to get my name out there by inviting friends to shows and stuff like that, also passing my name along to promoters. So while social networking and flyers and stuff like that have definite advantages, it's easier to start off with word of mouth and then move to those things once you have a small following.