Dude, I know where you're coming from, and I'm 25. A lot of responses on this thread are philosophical but worthless. There's a couple things that work, and here's what they are:
- Knowing the right people ... regardless of what kind of music it is, getting gigs is usually dependent on who you know. In the rare occurrence that you can actually play open mic at a regular event like Pulsewave / 8static / etc, you might be able to impress the organizer enough to earn yourself a gig, but open mics are few and far between. Usually it's all about who knows the promoter, the venue owner, the headliner, etc. Let me put it this way: if you are at a club and you hear a really awful DJ, and you're wondering why he/she gets to play that club when they suck so bad, chances are they know the owner of that club. They might even be related.
One nice thing about the chipmusic scene is that you can make friends with other musicians via a couple web forums, and you can use those connections to help you get gigs. And a chip event usually guarantees a good crowd. Most bands play their first shows to an empty venue. My first show had 15 of my friends, and no one else. I know DJs who spent a whole year playing the same club to just a handful of people that wandered in each night. It sounds like you've already experience a little of that.
- Getting representation. A lot of bands / musicians have a record label and a booking manager that represent them. These people have connections. Record labels can put together artist showcases for everyone on their roster (this is why getting representation from a local label is important), and booking managers have a long list of promoters / venues that they can contact. If you can convince a record label or manager to represent you, then you just have to split some earnings with them. If you can't get them to like you, then maybe you need to make music they'll like... but that's up to you.
- Paying to play. Most any band will tell you that their first gigs were pay-to-play... every venue wants to know your draw before they will book you, and if you haven't played successful shows before and you can't guarantee a good number, they'll make you buy 10 tickets or so upfront and sell them yourself. It sucks and it's not supposed to exist, but it does. My first gig made me do this.
Another example is sites like ReverbNation and Sonicbids that let you sign up for gigs. You basically pay money to send your "electronic press kit" to open opportunities, and then the promoters / venues decide who to choose. You'll get rejected a lot, and you have to really have a good press kit, on top of already paying for consideration, but it's how I landed my first gig. And this goes back to who you know, because the organizer for my first gig offered me a DJ residency, and I was able to bring in another DJ to play with me (so for him, it was who he knew), and I could potentially bring in more people down the line. And if it does well, I could shop around to other venues with a guaranteed draw. But while I'm playing these gigs, I have to promote myself entirely and build my own email base... so it's still hard work.
- Get lucky. If you can get a million views on Youtube, or featured in every indie blog, then people will probably be trying to book you for shows... but good luck with that. Also remember that people who get lucky usually spend years producing music before they have that one indie hit that gets them into the spotlight where things just "fall into place."
p.s. 17 is young and 2 years is not that long.
Hope I made sense in all this.
haha