How to Publicize Your Band's Show (Basic)

After you confirm a show hang up your booking agent hat and put on your publicist one. yeah it's great 'n all that you booked a show but now comes the hard work of getting the word out there. in an age of information overload and a billion bands vying for your attention you're going to have to pull out as many stops as you can in order to get some bodies in the room.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• a graphic artist friend
• email
• cell phone
• a big mouth
• a big heart

1. Make a Graphic - Because of the lead time on this task i always make it a point get the wheels in motion for any graphic designs started immediately. in west indian girl's case i call one of few poster artists i work with. usually this happens to be mark sgarbossa in san diego. mark designs a bunch of my "tour posters" . i will not only use the image he creates for actual tour posters but more importantly on the web. these images take time so make the call now so you have the graphic at least a month before the actual show.
2. Print It - Armed with the cool graphic you just had made get it to a print shop or copy place to make posters (11x17) and or hand bills. once these are made take or send them to the club to post. you should also make sure some get hung around town in the appropriate place. this is street level promotion 101.
3. Post It - Once the details of the show are set post it your website and myspace page as well as any other social networking sites (purevolume.com, last.fm, friendster etc etc) that your band is a part of. if you have a blog - and i wholeheartedly support this notion, post the shows there too ... with the graphic ... it will look cool. i will also put a link to the club or to the page where tickets are available. this is just a given.
4. Email Blast - You have an email list right? well all the emails that you have been collecting at live shows and at home or while you're working your day job now come into play. about 2 weeks prior to a show send your whole email list (sorted by area) an email blast announcing the show. this email blast should be in the form of a newsletter but it could just be an email with a graphic and links.
5. Call Your Friends - The week of any show you'll always find me calling people in my phone book trying to get them out. even for out of town shows i'm calling every one i know in that area. let's be honest folks, there is finite number of times you can ask your friends to come out and support your band if you are indeed horrible. think about it ... would you keep going? actually, even if you're great you can't expect your friends to come out and see you play once a month. go to the well sparingly.

Tips & Warnings

• when posting shows links i always use the html code (target="_blank") in order to make sure that when they do click on a link a pop up window appears. this insures that you don't send them away from your site. hey - it's tough enough getting them to your page so why let them go.
• rock poster art is awesome - find an artist that will grow with your band - one day you will have a great collection of tour posters.
• when email blasting - don't spam your friends/fans all the time. 2 times per show is good plus the occasional announcement is ok. i think this is abused all too often by bands. use is sparingly
• when inviting friends to the show - pull out the friend card sparingly if you play around a lot.
• don't be a hypocrite - if you ask your friend's to go see you make sure you go see your friend's band. it's just not cool and doesn't help create any unity within your musical scene. just go - it's another reason to be out there publicizing your own band
• the only way you are going to make and keep fans is if you are indeed an entertaining live act.