Local Followings and Live Playing

[crimsonhawk47]

I've been looking into doing live performance, since I have never performed live in my life. My friends showed me this local place called The Depot that has open mic nights. It looks like a good place to start getting live experience.


My only question is, how does on really get well known for doing stuff like that? My friend is getting paid for playing at this bar. He tells me you have to get well known to play there, but he didn't really do that. He is a sister act to another rapper who is well known there. So my only real question is, what is the chain of reactions that happen to get me to the point of playing at one of those places (for real, not open mic). Should I do open mic night at the other place? (A good day probably has like 20 people) or should I be doing something else?

 

[SFTRAXX]

On some real sh*t, you gotta pay your dues. Straight up.

Don't look for shortcuts.

Expect to work hard at your music, expect to work hard to create an awareness for your music, and be willing to perform wherever you can get a gig no matter how you feel about it.

That's the recipe for success.

Nothing more nothing less.

1

 

[Nytshade]

Music marketing is also a skill on it's own as much as making music is a skill. How you market yourself as an artist should be some form of art. That is why there's no one formula that works for everyone. Some may use freebies while some choose to sell their stuff right from the beginning.

I know a local band who released an EP of 6 tracks every month for free. But it wasn't just free because they took people's phone numbers and emails in exchange for the music.

Wherever they perform they always brought a crowd from the database they collected on their website. They created a lot of hype then event organizers and club owners started booking them and they got more gigs. They also attracted big record labels, getting radio interviews, TV etc, etc, etc...

You see? You just need a solid plan. Know the music you make, your territory, your target market and where they hang out a lot. There's also the internet and a lot of people will tell you social platforms don't work.

Yes they don't work if you post your song on soundcloud, leave it there and come back after 2 weeks and expect to see 10000 plays or downloads. It's called "social" for a reason, you need to interact with others so they can check out what you got. This also applies to facebook, twitter, youtube etc...

I can go on the whole day about marketing my friend but I hope this does give you an idea

Good luck