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10 Best Ways To Sell Out Your Next Show

10 Best Ways To Sell Out Your Next Show

by | Apr 18, 2024 | Music Marketing, Music Production

Imagine showing up to a venue to play your show and seeing it overflowing with all your fans. Think about the energy in the room, the screaming fans who waited weeks or even months to see you perform… There’s no better feeling. But for that to happen, it takes a ton of networking, planning and consistent promotion for your audience to be ready to go when the time finally comes. In this post, you’ll learn how to promote your next show to ensure it’s everything you’ve dreamed of and more. Here’s the rundown…

10 Best Ways To Sell Out Your Next Show

Reach Out To The Venue

To get started, the first thing you need to do is reach out to the venue and ask what they’ll be doing to promote the show. If the venue is making flyers and distributing them all over town, don’t waste your time doing the same. Whatever they end up doing is a great contribution, but whatever they don’t is up to you to take care of.

Divide and conquer!

Assemble All The Contacts You Can

If you’ve done this before and promotion isn’t news to you, you probably have a decent list of contacts you can reach out to. If you don’t, you can hit up the venue and ask them to send you their media list. In most cases, the venue will have a list ready to send to bands who are out of town, so it shouldn’t be any trouble for them to send you one too. This list usually consists of emails and phone numbers for local music journalists, editors, bloggers, radio show hosts, etc. In addition, this is a great time to use your own connections within your community to grow this list as much as you can.

You can also seek partnerships with local businesses, organizations, influencers, or artists who have a similar target audience. They can help promote your show to their followers, and you can reciprocate by promoting their work as well. Whether you ask your other touring friends or even your management if you have it, these people want to see you succeed!

Music and community go hand in hand. You are not in this alone, so don’t be afraid to utilize your relationships in the industry. If there was ever a time to do so, this is it.

Hit Up Those Contacts

I’m sure you saw this one coming… You really want to make sure that your show is getting as much coverage as possible. A couple months prior to your show is the time to start reaching out to all the people in the list you collected from the previous step and getting yourself on all the local concert calendars. Doing this in advance is crucial, as it gives them time to set everything up without stressing at the last minute. Not to mention the longer your name is out there, the more people have time to see it.

Lastly, and this should go without saying, be nice. Be genuine, humble, and respectful of their time when you reach out. If you can offer them some free tickets, that’s even better. They don’t have to go out of their way to help you, so if they do you should be forever grateful. In this business, relationships are everything. Be remembered for how personable and kind you were, and they’ll have no problem coming through for you again in the future.

Utilize Online Event Platforms

In the digital age, you can’t ignore online event platforms like Eventbrite, Meetup, Bandsintown, Facebook groups and local event directories. These platforms have a built-in audience and can help increase your show’s visibility. Bandsintown even automatically scans your music from services like Apple Music or Spotify when you sign up for the first time so it’ll show up on your profile, too.

Try Paid Advertising

Consider allocating a portion of your budget to online advertising platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads. With these, you can target your advertisements to reach the right audience based on location, interests and demographics.

There are so many ways to learn more about your fanbase, and this can be vitally important for knowing what your fans want to see. Once you analyze your audience, you can then create your Average Fan’s Profile. You can then use this profile to help make business decisions such as where to tour, where to spend your time on social media, and more.

It’s leg day…

If the venue isn’t creating any posters for your show, do it yourself. People generally respond better to posters that are creative and stand out among the rest. Consider reaching out to local artists in your area to create a dope design together. Once you have the perfect posters/flyers, go out on the town and put them up in places like coffee shops, record stores, smoke shops, on telephone poles or anywhere you damn well please. Anywhere that has a lot of foot traffic is sure to gain the attention of someone who’ll be interested.

How To Start Emailing

About 6 weeks before the gig, it’s time to send out your first round of email invites. (If you’re struggling with constructing and utilizing your mailing list, this post will help you out.)  Remember, the first email is the most important. Think about what you want your audience’s first impression of your event to be, and go from there. Include all the details of when it is, where it’s happening and what to expect.

At the same time, you should start announcing the event on all your social media platforms. Start with a big announcement, then remember to keep posting about it throughout the entire time it takes for your show to finally arrive. You want to keep reminding your audience that your show is coming up so they’re well aware and ready to go when the time comes.

In addition to this, this is a great time to offer incentives for your attendees to spread the word about your show. Offer referral discounts, exclusive merchandise, or freebies for anyone who brings in friends or share information on their social media accounts.

Rinse & Repeat

2 weeks after your first round of emails, it’s time to send out a second round of emails. You can either send the update to everyone you sent it to the first time, or you can segment it up and send different emails to different groups of people. (For example, the people who didn’t open it the first time can get something different than the people who already RSVP’d.) If you end up deciding to send it to everyone from the first round of emails, just be sure to make the email look and feel different. (ex: different copy, a new color scheme, etc.) — This email is essentially just a reminder disguised as an announcement. Whatever updates you have about the show, whether its a venue change or you’re offering new merch, be sure to include them in this second round of emails.

Once it’s two weeks out, it’s time to send a third email out to everyone with a sense of urgency to it. Remind them the event is coming up and tell them to get excited for everything to come!

Let’s Talk Socials…

Now this is a given, but social media is one of the best places to promote yourself. From the start of your promo journey to the very end, you should be working on developing engaging content related to your show like behind-the-scenes videos, teasers, interviews and sneak peeks. Every week, you should be sharing content on your website, socials, AND through email to build anticipation and generate interest.

Not sure where or what to post? Your social efforts should stretch from Instagram Reels and TikTok’s to collaborative posts with other artists and cross-promotion across any and all the platforms your fans frequent. You can post recap clips from your last show, teasers of what’s to come, or even do a giveaway for the first 100 people who RSVP. Many artists go Live on IG to hype up big news, too.

Whatever you decide to post, make sure you keep posting consistently before show day finally comes.

Partner with Vendors

If there are any food, jewelry, (or any other vendors for that matter) at the venue, consider hitting them up beforehand and collaborating on some social posts with them. Together, you can hype each other up and get double the reach with each post. Not to mention it’s always good to involve your creative community in anything you do. So when the next event comes around, they’ll think of you and how you may be able to work together again.

Utilize SEO

Taking advantage of Search Engine Optimization is a great way to ensure as many people see your event on Google as possible. For example, using keywords that pertain to your event like “metal show in South Florida” or “Miami event this weekend” can help you rank higher in Google searches. In addition, posting regularly and sharing your content to as many platforms as possible can also boost your visibility.

Final Reminders

Ok, so the show is this week. This final reminder needs to be a bit more personal. If you can, send out a text to everyone who’s coming to remind them one last time. Your effort will be greatly appreciated and people will feel more connected to your band when they receive a personalized reminder from you.

If you don’t get a lot of feedback at the beginning of the promotional period, don’t worry. Most of your RSVP’s will end up coming in a week or so before the show. And when your show day finally comes, make sure to enjoy it! Watch as all your effort and preparation pays off as you pack the venue with excited fans. At the end of the day, every show you do will be a learning experience for the next one. If you don’t sell out this time, you can try again with the next one! It’s all a part of the process of independent musicianship.

Good luck!

5 Things You Need To Document For Every Song You Write

5 Things You Need To Document For Every Song You Write

by | Nov 9, 2023 | Music Industry, Music Production

On top of monetizing your songs through media like TV, advertising, and film, publishers are masters of making sure copyrights, song registration, and general admin are taken care of. Within that general admin comes making sure every detail of each artists’ submitted work is in tip-top shape. While you’re writing your next banger, it helps to keep everything in order as you go to make sure you don’t lose anything along the way. Among those key details, there are 5 main ones to make sure you have saved and ready to go. Let’s dive in…

5 Things You Need To Document For Every Song You Write

Lyrics

These are important to have on deck, as an artist might need them to cut the song or a music supervisor may need them for a film/tv placement down the line. Making sure you have them documented ahead of time saves the stress of locating them later if needed.

Splits

Great songwriting is the basis for some of the biggest hits ever created, and collaboration is one of the best tools to get them there. When it comes to joint songwriting, it’s important to decipher who will get credit for what before the song ever comes out.

Typically, this is done through Split Sheets. A split sheet is an agreement that identifies who wrote what percentage of the song such as the producer(s) and songwriter(s). Each creator has to agree about how the percentages are defined. Some artists will divide it evenly based on who is in the room writing and producing the song. Some will base the percentages on the person’s specific contribution lyrics, hook, melody, and beats.

When it’s time to copyright your music, it’s always a good idea to double check who gets what and how much.

Writer / Publishing Info

Writer and pub information is important for admin purposes when the song is registered. (For example, information like your PRO, IPI#, publishing name, etc.) If this data is broken, the writers don’t get paid and nobody gets the proper credit they deserve.

DOC

This one’s self explanatory, but keeping track of the DOC (aka date of creation) is a popular detail that may come up down the line. Take note!

High-Quality MP3’s

It’s also important to have both an mp3 and a WAV version of your track on file. MP3’s are the most important, but if your song happens to get the opportunity to be placed in movies, TV, etc. (aka sync), a WAV will be required.

In Conclusion…

The takeaway here is to always be prepared for anything. The last thing you want is to be asked for a detail you don’t have and have no idea how to find it. With all these in order, you’re on the right track.

Good luck!

How To Get Into Music Production As A Beginner

How To Get Into Music Production As A Beginner

by | Nov 2, 2023 | Music Industry, Music Production

If you’re a singer, instrumentalist or songwriter, learning how to produce your own music can be an absolute game changer for your artist journey! In this post, Xylo Aria, founder of the online music production learning platform, Music Production for Women (MPW), breaks it down and gives you everything you need to know…

How To Get Into Music Production As A Beginner

I started as a singer songwriter who was always reliant on other producers to make music and I remember feeling quite frustrated as my ideas often got lost in translation. Learning to produce opened up a whole new world of possibilities that allowed me to bring my musical vision to life exactly as I heard it. To help you out on this journey, here’s everything you need to know about taking your first steps into the world of music production.

First, start with what you have.

It can be very tempting to go to a music store, ask for recommendations, and spend lots of money on new gear. Unfortunately, I made this mistake starting out, and 10 years later sold a few things that I ended up never using! There are very few things that you actually need to produce music. These include a laptop, headphones and some sort of production software.

Start with the laptop that you have if it’s powerful enough to produce. You can get a decent quality pair of headphones for around $100, and oftentimes production software companies will offer free trials of their software for you to get started with. If you want to build from there, you can add an audio interface and microphone to record audio and then a pair of studio monitors to listen back on something other than your headphones.

Find a teacher.

This is a point that I wish I realized the importance of earlier! Many people decide to learn on their own from YouTube, and although this can be an accessible place to start, it can easily take five times as long to learn. In addition, not knowing what you don’t know makes it difficult to know what to search for. Getting some lessons or finding a short course, even if it’s just to learn the fundamentals, can drastically cut down the learning curve.

📚 Pro Tip: MPW runs a free Intro to Music Production class you can register for which is an excellent place to start for someone taking their first steps.

Allow yourself to make bad music.

I often see students who are very new to production feel discouraged, because they listen to pop music on the radio and feel their creations don’t sound as good. This is like comparing a toddler taking their first steps to Usain Bolt in a 100 meter sprint. They are two completely incomparable things!

So as you’re learning, set your main goal to enjoy the process rather than to create high quality music. Understand that what you make when you start will likely not sound good, and that’s all part of the process. As you spend more time with it, you will get better!

Be consistent in your learning.

Setting aside an hour twice a week is much better than setting aside a whole day once a month. Producing music involves muscle memory and understanding your tools. Building consistency in your learning will slowly bring you the familiarity you need with the software over time.

Find a community.

Learning to produce on your own can be a lonely journey, especially as a bedroom producer. When the going gets tough, doing it all on your own might even cause you to give up. Finding a community that understands what you’re going through can be a really useful resource. There are great producer communities around the world, for example Ableton has various User Groups in different parts of the world that can be a good place to start. There are otherwise also many other communities online that meet regularly who you can connect with.

In Conclusion…

Starting your production journey is the hardest part, so just take that first step! Whether that’s downloading a free trial of a software or enrolling into a free class to start. I completely understand the frustration of not knowing how things works and wanting to give up, but as you chip away at it one session at a time, you will see your skills develop and evolve. When you get to the point where you’ve created something you love and can pump it up in your car during a summer’s day drive, trust me… it will all be worth it.

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👀 Want to learn even more?

Claim your FREE music production mini mentoring session with Xylo here. In addition, you can join her mailing list with additional resources right here.

Good luck!