How do you promote your gigs/sell tickets ?

OU812

Years ago (almost decades at this point). We used to have a couple of friends walking around before, during & after any gigs we were lucky enough to do with clipboards & get people to write their names & addresses on them (pre internet).

We'd mailshot a flyer for our next gig & we tried to grow the following from that. We did see a moderate increase over time, but we always ended up breaking even on these people with the cost of postage Vs the cover charge.

It was the way it was done though.

Obviously now, theres the internet, email & mailing lists, social media... Bands/Artists have myspace & facebook & can push things that way, but it is worth your while ? You still have to rely on the person actually seeking out your website/facebook.

Does one person in the band have responsibility for social media ? Is it effective ?

It seems to me that our old way - modified to collecting email addresses instead of physical addresses would be the best way.

cathal02

Hi,

I think it's worth your while but you have put the work in to make your event stand out, if everyone in the band is it-savvy maybe designate everybody to cover one of the basics (facebook, youtube, soundcloud, maybe myspace as a link). There's a lot of advice on forums and online in general on how to promote your gigs and event.

If you have videos post them to youtube and share the links, I think myspace is pretty dead, only musicians that use it really), use facebook pages, there are a lot of music community pages out there now, try not to overkill it though, can be annoying if you have one friend who's sending you on update after update all the time, try and do something to stand out and make everything look professional if you can, if it shows effort people will respond better, give them the sense of an occassion, an event worth investing their time in, use boards too, whatever you can, promotion is mainly free so why not, you can do group texts as well but don't overdo that either, keep them short and provide a link to your webpage, promote each gig as a separate event

Ask the venue well in advance can you put up posters, use anything you can, don't be afraid to pick up the phone, call your local radio station, send a press release to your local paper (they'll be online as well), they're often looking for things like that. Whatever you do try and do it well it all reflects on the band

Hope that helps

Cathal

cathal02

Also support other bands and their gigs, good when bands can support each other in that sense

Nervous Wreck

I always try seek out one new band/act that I don't know/haven't played with to play with me. They bring their friends/fans along, which promotes me and the other acts on the gig and then maybe they'll return the favour sometime too.

OU812

I think one of the big problems is the space is so crowded. You're relying on the punters to be suitably impressed enough to remember who you are & then actually go looking for your Facebook or website the following day(s).

Nervous Wreck

OU812 wrote: »

I think one of the big problems is the space is so crowded. You're relying on the punters to be suitably impressed enough to remember who you are & then actually go looking for your Facebook or website the following day(s).

In fairness, you should be relying on yourself to give them a reason to.

OU812

Absolutely, but if they have a few drinks or other on board...

At least if someone's collecting email addresses (& we'd always send them a verification email), you know you've picked up some potential new audience member (hate the term "fans").

cathal02

Could you do up some small cards maybe to give out at the gig, can get a lot done online now quite cheaply, they don't have to be overly business-like cards, even a link to your website, some basic info on the band and a thank you for supporting the gig maybe and info re the next gig, a lot of extra work but extra work pays off in the end, just try and get your whole band involved in this side of things, share the load!

OU812

That's a good one. We were thinking of getting beer mats made up with our details & leaving them around but no one seems to make them anymore

cathal02

That's a shame, but it's also an opportunity, I'd look into it, they might be easier to make than you think, some thick low quality paper and a suitable printer should do the job, most printers can print on thin cardboard these days

skimpydoo

Take a look at the Grey Federation they will be of major use to you.