What did that punter mean when they said the show was good but the guitar was too loud? How do you listen and deconstruct constructive criticism and use that to improve? Criticism is the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad qualities of something or someone.

Remember that criticism and music are subjective

Firstly, there is no hard and fast rule on what “good” music is. Music is entirely subjective and this means one person’s notion of great music can be entirely different from the person standing next to them. It’s often hard to take criticism because the music that you give to the world is ultimately a sonic expression of yourself. Often it is the rawest and most vulnerable parts of yourself that create your best work. Not everyone will agree it is your best work. This is based on what they grew up listening to, who their friends listen to, which artists were the most popular during their lifespan, and likely many more reasons.

So, in light of this – attempt to not take any criticism personally. Note that we use the word “attempt” because this is in all likelihood not entirely possible in every situation. We have all had our parents tell us to stop with that racket when we were practicing in our rooms as teens. It’s hard to not take criticism personally because it feels like a critique of you as a person. But, if you want to grow and learn as a musician, you need to strive to separate these.

Ask people who understand music to give you criticism

We all have those friends and family members who love to give us critiques at all moments of the day. It comes from a caring place, but it’s not always helpful. What is helpful is getting critiques from professionals in the industry who understand the fundamentals of music. The opinions of audience members are still important, but can only go so far as their expertise.

When you have music lessons, ask your teachers for critiques. Ask your fellow musicians for their opinions. The more granular you get, the more nuance you can create in your playing. Having other musicians around you who are better than you is crucial to improving. If you are the best player in the room, you have no one to aspire to. Make sure to surround yourself with people who have more expertise and knowledge to pass along. The path to improvement is to be the little fish in the big pond.

There’s no need to take on board everyone’s critiques

Whether people have valid points about your music or not, not everyone’s critiques need to be implemented. You need to take into account what kind of player you are trying to be. If you have a professional musician offering you constructive critiques on your sound, stop for a moment and think about what they sound like.

They can only teach you what they know. Do you like their sound? Do you want to sound similar to them? Or, are you going for a completely different sound? Don’t just blindly follow expert advice without first thinking about the overall impact on your playing and whether that is something you want.

Your biggest critic is yourself

No one knows you better than you. And simultaneously, no one is harder on you than yourself. Be kind to yourself. You play music because you love it. Take it seriously, but remember why you started. Be open to the idea that you can be better and know that it’s okay to have room for improvement. Figure out the ideal way for you to receive criticism. Is it with gentle encouraging words? Perhaps you require negative reinforcement to drive you to practice more.

You need to know yourself enough to know how you can improve efficiently and effectively. Think back to a time when you experienced a spike of improvement or growth in your playing. What came before that? Did someone compliment you on your playing? Maybe you had a really intense music lesson with lots of actionable and practical tasks that resonated? Perhaps your band member told you that you need to practice a specific part of the song more.

Identify and lean into the method that suits and serves you the most.

Want to know more? Read What Did They Really Mean? Learning How To Take Criticism and Improve Your Art.

When you are an emerging musician, it can be tricky to build an audience and know exactly who your fans are. How do you find people who will resonate with what you are creating? The answer is… there is no one answer!

Identify your audience

There’s no point making wild guesses about who your fans are. You could be completely off the mark. Luckily, with social media analytics being what they are today, you don’t have to make an educated guess about who your fans are, the analytics already have that information ready and waiting for you!

It is true that you need over 100 followers to start gleaning data on who is following you. This is a very achievable first step and once you get there, you can start building based on your audience demographics.

Every single social media platform has built-in analytics that tracks several things about your audience.

These things include:

This information is freely available to you. All you have to do is have a business account and you will get access to this critical information.

Now that you know who your fans are and what they prefer, gear your content towards their interests to further build your audience.

Use the information you have about your current audiences to build more similar audiences. Give them what they have already shown you they want!

Test and trial content.

Each month, trial new content and then check back on the analytics to see what performed the best. Lean into content that is doing well and create more in a similar vein. Make sure you are doing the basic things to appease and optimize the algorithm.

These things include:

Social media is meant to be just that, SOCIAL. Make sure you are interacting with anyone who is commenting or engaging. You can’t expect others to stay in touch with you if you aren’t reciprocating!

Never pay for bots to build your audience.

Why? The way these bots work is they go onto other accounts as you and like, comment, engage and follow to encourage that account to do the same back. When that account does follow you back, the bot then unfollows them so your following count stays low whilst your follower count gets higher. This looks good from the outset, but you can always tell when a bot has been at work because organic engagement numbers do not at all correlate with the number of followers you end up with. In short, you paid for a single number to go up but this number will not have the same impact it normally would if you built it organically.

This is a waste of your money and never truly reflects an authentic audience.

Often, bots won’t pick accounts that are super relevant to you or your interests. This means that eventually you are left with a bunch of accounts that are not interested in your content and are likely to eventually unfollow you. It also skews your data and analytics on the back end. You may notice more random audience members in different countries that don’t relate to you or age groups that are not in line with the style of music you perform.

BUT, you can still pay for followers in a careful and calculated way. Facebook Ads Manager has a campaign objective that is aimed specifically at obtaining more follows and likes. Ads Manager allows you to granularly target the audience that will receive this ad from you. Thus, allowing you much more control than if you were to just pay for a bot. These audiences can be lookalikes of your current audiences. A lookalike audience can have different levels of similarity, but you can select that they are similar by 1% meaning they are as similar as possible without being the same person!

This is a safe and strategic way to build an audience and find your fans on top of a consistent social strategy.

Build your audience by making friends at live shows!

Whether you are supporting or headlining, aim to connect.

Every time you play, you should hang around and talk to the people who came to see you. These are your literal fans in the flesh! Don’t waste a moment and try to get to know them. This will give you even more insight into what your audience looks like and presents as in real life. It is the perfect chance to connect with them on a deeper level and thank them for showing up to support you.

If you are supporting another band or you are the headliner, always be kind and friendly to the other band. Generally, support acts and headliners tend to choose similar genres in order to create flow during the night. This means that the other band’s audience may also be potential fans of your band. Always tag and share a gig if you are supporting, not just to show literal support, but to get in front of the eyes of their audiences. Ideally, you will get some cross-over the more you perform with different bands and your audience will compound and become larger.

Want more in-depth information? Read How to build an exemplary online presence.

Here is a comprehensive music release checklist of all the things you should be across when releasing music.

Before you begin… remember that a music release is a huge task. It can often seem overwhelming and neverending. The best way to tackle something so long-winded is to break it down into sections. Focus on refining the creative parts first. Have all your music and assets ready to go. Organize your songwriting splits. Doing all of this in advance is going to save you a big headache down the track.

Once you have your music release creative assets organized, move on to the promotional aspects. How will you tell people about what you have created? Make a list of all the press people you want to reach out to. Craft a press release and start sending! Finally, start planning your marketing strategy. How will you expand your reach by strategically using social media?

We have broken it up for you so you can stay calm and organized throughout the process!

The Music for release

✔ Single/EP/Album artwork in 1:1, 4:5, 9:16, 16:9
✔ Mastered mp3. and wav. files of your music
✔ Who you will distribute through? Ditto? CD Baby?
✔ A clear breakdown of all of the songwriters’ and music contributors’ copyrights by percentage. (e.g. 50% to X and 50% to X)
✔ Written out lyrics
✔ A blurb about the meaning and theme of the song
✔ Vinyl artwork or merchandise artwork if needed
✔ The name of the people who contributed: Producer, mixing, mastering, videographer, photographer, etc.
✔ If you are releasing more than just a single, i.e an EP or album; decide which single/s you will release first and in what order

Publicity for release

✔ Completed press release
✔ Bio
✔ High res press shots (at least one if not all should be in color)
✔ A list of press contacts with their emails, titles, and names you will reach out to
✔ A list of radio contacts with their emails, titles, and names you will reach out to
✔ Clear pitch for Spotify Editorial playlists
✔ A list of publisher contacts with their emails, titles, and name you will reach out to
✔ Music video link

Marketing for release

✔ Social Media Strategies or tactics you will employ
✔ Ads budget
✔ Campaign Timeline
✔ Clear goals for the campaign – be specific. (How many followers? Streams? Conversions?)
✔ Clear method of tracking and measuring metrics
✔ Assets for organic and for paid strategy (Likely to include 1:1, 4:5. 9:16, 16:9, spotify canvas, music video etc.)
✔ Content Calendar
✔ Comms Plan
✔ Overall story you are trying to convey

What’s the next step? Planning a live show to launch your music! Read How to book a live performance as an independent musician and then head to our live performance checklist for every musician to make sure you have covered all bases!

Getting a live performance as an independent musician can be overwhelming and hard to navigate. Here are some helpful pointers on how to book live music gigs and what types of deals you can get.

What are live music gigs?

A live music gig or live performance is when a singular or group of musicians plays their music at a venue or premise publicly in a live setting. Playing and watching a live performance is an experience that is shared between the performer and audience members.

The live aspect means there is room for new kinds of sounds and improvisation, that you can see the person or people performing the music and there is a more personal interaction able to be had.

Live music gigs can be eclectic and inspiring, a raw display of talent and excellence. Most definitely something all musicians should consider doing regularly in order to build a career in the music industry.

Who is in charge of booking live music gigs?

There are two main options to book live music gigs:

1) From the venue perspective

Depending on the size and capacity of the venue, the person booking the shows may be a specific employee who handles the booking schedule or a team.

When the venue is mid-sized, the person who books live music gigs is called Venue Booker, band booker or bookings manager. If the title has the word booking in it, you can safely assume you have the correct person!

When the venue is large and holds capacities of 800 or more people, the venue may employ a team of bookers to handle its extensive calendar. Bookers can be part of the internal staff team at a venue and can also be an external booking company.

For smaller venues with less space and less budget, the owner tends to be in charge of booking live performances.

2) From the independent musician’s perspective

When you are starting out, you will need to book your own shows. You will liaise with the venue booker, handle the deal negotiation, book the support acts, promote the show and be the point of contact for final payment. That’s a lot for just one person or band.

However, as you become more well-known, build an audience, and start getting some experience under your belt, you may reach a point where you can afford a booking agent.

A booking agent will book all the shows for you! Sounds great right? The catch? The industry standard for booking agents is 10% of gross income. What does that mean? You won’t pay a booking agent out of pocket, but every time you play a show and earn $1,000 the booking agent will get $100 of that amount.

Booking agents are extremely helpful because they often have connections to venues and festivals that they have cultivated over the years and can often book live music gigs for you that you would never have had a shot at before.

So when should you have a booking agent? Once you start playing bigger shows and getting paid more, it makes more sense to get someone to manage the bookings for you. If you are only getting paid $100 a show, it’s unlikely a booking agent will want to do all of the show organization for $10.

How to find the right venue for live music gigs

The best way to know is to go! Go see a bunch of shows at the venues you are considering booking. Ask the musicians who played how they found the booking process, the name of the booker, and how they got in touch. You can look online, but seeing it for yourself and being able to visualize whether or not it is the right place for you is invaluable.

Think about how many audience members you brought to your last show. 50? 100? If you are pulling less than 100 audience members at your performances then you may want to stick to venues that are between 50-100 capacity. If you find that easy, move on up! Find a venue that has 150 capacity and see how you go filling the room. Make sure you don’t get too overconfident and attempt to sell a 300-capacity room when your biggest show was 150 people. Be sensible and strategic.

Venue bookers are more likely to book bands several times if their live gigs go well. They want to see that you sold out the show, not that you played to an empty room. An empty room can be very intimidating for other audience members too. Avoid large spaces as much as possible! Try to pack out all of your shows.

What you need before you reach out to book your show

Before you contact a venue booker to book your next live music gig, you need to carefully curate an email. It should include a link to your music, links to your social channels, your EPK or one-sheet, and any impressive information such as playlists you were added to or other shows you sold out.

Make the email short and sharp. Venue bookers are busy people trying to fill their calendars at least a month in advance. Tell them who you are, where you are from, what dates you are available to play and a snippet of your music with social links. You can include YouTube links to music videos if they are high quality.

Be careful of being too chatty over email and of sending low-res imagery or videos. Represent yourself in a professional manner so that you make a great first impression.

Lock in the date of your show

Once you lock in a date with a venue booker for your live gig, a number of things will happen. The venue will likely send you an agreement to sign. You will then receive some paperwork/worksheet that will tell you the following:

Understanding different live music gig deals

Before you book live music gigs, it’s important that you understand the different types of deals that you may be offered. Every venue has a different deal and they often change deals based on who is playing.

There are 5 main types of deals:

1) Door Deals

‘Door deals’ are one of the most common ones. It’s where you set the ticket price and the venue takes a set amount off of the top of each ticket. For example, you may set the ticket price at $25 and the venue will take $5 off the top of each ticket. The venue will often keep all bar sales as well in this kind of deal.

These deals can be risky if you don’t sell enough tickets. If you have promised a specific amount to the support acts and the sound engineer, you need to sell enough tickets to break even.

2) Percentage Deal

Other deals include the musicians getting a percentage of all bar sales (sometimes 15%).

3) Guarantee Deal

Some venues have a guarantee, which means no matter how many tickets you sell, you will be paid this flat amount.

4) Versus Guarantee Deal

A versus guarantee deal is similar but with a twist. Say you are guaranteed $2,000 to perform and then promised that if you sold higher than the value of the guarantee, you will receive a percentage or agreed-upon amount for any extra on top.

So, if each ticket costs $20 and you sold 100 tickets and hit your guaranteed target of $2,000, any ticket sales after that would be available to you as a bonus (depending on what deal you struck initially). If you sold less than 100 tickets, you are still guaranteed $2,000 no matter what.

5) Venue Hire

Many venues may offer a door deal but instead of a few dollars off the top, they may require a flat venue hire fee. This is deducted at the end of the final invoice after all the sales have been tallied.

Promote the show

Once you have negotiated a deal that works for both you and the venue, you need to promote your show. The venue booker will expect you to send through some assets like a bio, press shots, event blurb, and event poster. They will also expect you to create a Facebook event or accept a co-host invitation after they have made one. After that, share and talk about your show.

The more dedicated the venue booker sees you being with promotion, the more likely your tickets will sell and there’s a higher chance that the venue booker will have you back to perform again.

Get paid for your music gigs!

After your show is done, don’t forget to follow up with payment! Often the show is not officially finished until all the venue gear has been accounted for and put away by the venue manager or sound engineer on the night.

If you agreed to a door deal, you need to get the door person to count up the tickets sold. In some venues, the bar will pay you this amount in cash if it’s on the lower side.

Other mid-sized venues will supply a door person who will count up the sales at the end of the night and send them to you along with a summary of online pre-sales in the form of a reconciliation report. You will then be required to invoice for the amount that is owed to you, so make sure you have an invoice template ready to go.

And that’s how you book live music gigs! Any other tips that you can add? Let us know in the comments below.

Want to know more about live performances? Check out Vampr’s latest blog a live performance checklist for every musician

Topic: Tips and Tricks to Networking

Couldn’t make it to Vampr’s Accelerator Session with Sarey Savy back on June 17th? No problem, we have the chat transcribed for you so you can re-live the conversation and get all the tips and tricks that he dished out! 🍽

Vampr: Today we’re going to interview Sarey Savy about tips and tricks to networking in the music industry. 

Sarey: Thank you so much for having me! And a big shout-out to everyone for coming. 🌹 

Vampr: There will also be opportunities to ask questions at the end of the interview. We ask that you please be respectful when interacting in this room.

Vampr: We had to have you Sarey! Let’s get started with our first question.

Sarey: Ask away! 🌹 

Vampr: If you don’t mind, could you tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Who you are and where you’re from?

Sarey: I don’t mind at all! Hello everyone! My name is Sarey Savy – a Cambodian American singer-songwriter and producer from Seattle, WA! I’ve been doing music for about 14 years now. I started when I was 12. I primarily do pop, R&B, and House music! I’ve been working with record labels in Europe for the past 3 years. 

Vampr: Haha, love it! 14 years is a long time. What got you into music when you were 12?

Sarey: My sister started dating a guy who previously worked at an indie label when I was 12 and introduced me to Cubase and FL studio 🌹. I use both to this day to track vocals and make beats❤️. 

Vampr: Cubase is a throwback! That’s awesome. Did you have any musical influences early on? 

Sarey: Yes!! You can probably hear it in my solo, independent music outside of the label stuff – I’m HEAVILY inspired by Aaliya, Timbaland, Ava Max, Camila Cabello and a lot more. Aaliyah is part of the reason why I started singing. Timbaland is the reason why I started making beats. When I heard his “Shock Value” album, it made me look at music differently.

(Live attendee question) _quityourdayjob: In your 12 years, what tips have you gathered for new artists looking to make connections and build a fan base? 

Sarey: I would HIGHLY recommend that you use the resources available at hand, you couldn’t tell this by looking at my IG or videos, but I’m actually a very shy person. 

When the cameras come on, or it’s time to perform, I become a whole different person but the truth is – your success is dependent on being able to be outspoken. Use Vampr – Vampr changed my life and gave me amazing opportunities. Attend social mixers, talk to people who are performing on the same bill as you, and DO NOT FORGET – building connections and making new fans isn’t a “business transaction.” It’s a humanity thing. Be genuinely interested in what OTHER people are doing instead of always thinking about what you could gain from your network or fans. 

I promise that when you think of others and how you can help them, those long-term relationships turn into enriching opportunities. Me being here is an example of that. I’ve been with Vampr since they started 4 years ago. Never expecting anything from them but instead helping them spread the word about their app and look what happened. I’m here with you.

Vampr: Loved what you said there. What’s it like performing a show? Do you have any tips or tricks for performing a show? 

Sarey: Are we allowed to curse on here? Because right before my name gets called on stage to perform, I feel like I’m going to sh*t myself. My biggest tip and trick is OVER PREPARE. Don’t just practice at home, invest in yourself. Go to a rehearsal studio and practice with a real PA system – you’ll sound different and need to adjust accordingly. For all my singers in here – DON’T EAT SPICY OR DAIRY FOOD THE DAY BEFORE A SHOW. It f’s up your vocal cords and makes them clogged up.

Vampr: Curse your ass off this is a safe space haha and no worries regarding grammar.

Sarey: Haha, good to know lol. 

Vampr: What’s the toughest part about trying to make connections as an artist?

Sarey: Ooooo I love this question because there are layers to it.

Vampr: Nice! Let’s deep dive for your supporters. Give us the raw truth. 

Sarey: The toughest thing for me is this: 

I’m a Pisces. What does that mean? It means I’m sensitive and always over-give. The music business is exactly that – A BUSINESS. It’s hard to find genuine connections with people who want to build with you. The music business is built off of who you know and what you can do. Unfortunately, a lot of people WILL USE YOU to get to what they want. You need to be vigilant in who you keep around you. Be clear about what your intentions and other people’s intentions are. Is this collaboration purely transactional? If that’s what you’re both agreeing to cool. If not, turn it down. Who cares how big of an opportunity it is, you’re in a time where you can build your own house if you know what I mean. It took me 10 years until I signed a record deal that ACTUALLY WORKED.

I was signed when I was 15 AND 16. I was dropped from both of those labels in only a matter of months. Nobody in Seattle wanted to give me a REAL chance. I thought it was the end of the world.

Vampr: What are some key things artists should look out for if they wanna make sure they’re making good connections and not shady ones? 

Sarey: If people really do care about you and want to work with you, THEY WILL wait until you’re ready. People who pressure you and make you feel like you have to sign the dotted line asap or want you to work for free WHEN YOU SAY YOU DON’T WORK FOR FREE DON’T RESPECT YOU.

I can’t tell all of you how many mistakes I’ve made when people in the business who owned labels or were powerful took advantage of me. Get to know people outside of the music. Sit down and have coffee with them and just talk. TRUST WHAT YOUR GUT TELLS YOU ABOUT SOMEONE.

Vampr: A lot of musicians assume you should only build connections with people in the music industry. Are there any other industries that you’d recommend musicians get familiar with? 

Sarey: haha. Oh man – that was a mistake when I was younger. You should DEFINITELY branch outside of your industry.

GET. TO. KNOW. YOUR. FANS.

Get to know photographers, videographers, lawyers, and people in the film industry (for sync licensing opportunities). These people can help you win!!! 

Plus, as an artist, it’s good to know these people anyway. People who can help understand your vision and goals as an artist. You can’t do it all alone.

Vampr: Loving these tips! Building a team is so important. Has Vampr helped you build your team in any type of way? If so, how?

Sarey: YES BITCH OMG

Where do I even start? Lol

Vampr is the reason why I started working with labels in the first [place.] Because of Vampr, I was able to meet producers, engineers, and A&Rs from all sorts of labels. I got the opportunity to work with LoudKult/Sony Music Sweden because of Vampr. These opportunities led to other opportunities outside of the app. It was a busy 3 years haha.

I still connect with these same people from these labels every now and then. They’ve helped me get to where I wanted to be.

Vampr: Now that’s fire! We’re getting to that one-hour mark. One last question before we open it up for the audience to ask you questions. 

What’s your most proud moment as a musician thus far and what can we expect from you in the future? 

Sarey: These questions just keep getting harder haha

My most proud moment was when my song “Games” with Chris River & Pards played at the UEFA Championship League back in 2019 as an opening song while people were going in. It was a dream come true. 

As far as what comes next? I JUST dropped a 7 track EP with my best friends Emanuel Brown (who’s actually in this room right now) and KingDow. We just dropped it on 06/13/22 so make sure y’all go stream the EP on Apple Music and Spotify! 

I’m currently in the middle of negotiating an exclusive license deal with a well-known label in the Netherlands so I’m excited about that! I’m also currently working on solo music that I’ll be releasing independently later at the end of the year or beginning of next year. 

I’ll be performing in Seattle as well over the next couple of months as well 😍.

Vampr: Wow! You don’t stop these are incredible achievements 😭🔥 kudos to you and we’re so happy to call you family here at Vampr. 

Sarey: STOP I LOVE YOU TOO FAMILY 😭🌹

Vampr: Last but not least we’re now opening up the room for questions. If you have anything you’d like to ask Sarey now is your chance!

Also Sarey please feel free to drop your latest project in the room for us to give it a listen  

Sarey: Yes!!! 

Check out my EP ‘K.S.E’!

If anybody has any questions in the future, feel free to message me on IG at @sareymusic. Thank you everyone for tuning in!!! Thank you so much Vampr for having me! I love you all!!! ❤️🌹 You’re gonna kill it out there! 

The Spotify link goes to my latest EP with Emanuel Brown and KingDow! ❤️

Vampr: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. This was amazing. Any final words? 

Sarey: Be who you needed when you were younger. Go out there, advocate for yourself, and don’t sit until people listen to what you have to say.

Vampr: Love it! Thanks to you and everyone who pulled up today! Enjoy your weekend! Follow Sarey, and be sure to check out Vampr Academy. 

Sarey: Bye everyone! 🌹

Join the Vampr community and download Vampr today! >> https://www.vampr.me/

A live performance checklist is always handy to have to ensure you haven’t forgotten any key tasks before a show!

So, you’ve locked in a live performance date with a booking agent or a venue to perform with your band. What now? 🤔

Create an event poster for your live show ✔️

This poster should include the door time, date, ticket price, where to buy tickets, social media handles, location and bands performing. A well-designed event poster can be the thing that gets someone to stop and pay attention. Bold colors, big impactful text, and high res. imagery is important in capturing the onlooker’s attention. Make sure you have all the correct sizes, versions, and file types of the poster for maximum impact. If you are having it professionally designed, ask the designer to include the following:

An event poster has many uses. You should send a copy to the venue booker, post it on your feed and stories, update your banners, create a Facebook event, print your own posters, and hand out or engage with a poster distribution company to have your poster plastered up in nearby neighborhoods.

Send the venue any promotional assets you have ✔️

Collate all of your assets together in a drive or Dropbox. Assets that venue bookers want to receive include at least two high res. press shots, your event poster in the correct sizings and formats, your bio, a show blurb, your social media links and website, a press release if the show is tied in with any new music, and any video content that is relevant to the promotion of the show.

If you give the venue everything they need to help promote you from the very beginning, not only do you show the venue that you are organized and professional, but you give yourself the best chance at being promoted on the venue’s social platforms in the lead-up to your show. Venues often have large followings that they have cultivated over time, make sure that you leverage this!

You should also provide the venue booker with your tech sheet which includes your stage plot and any gear you require. If included in the deal, you should also provide a hospitality rider which tells the venue exactly which food and drink you require from them.

Create a Facebook event for your live performance ✔️

Most venues will either ask you to make your own Facebook event or they will create it for you. Either way, it is an important promotional tool and something to tick off the checklist. Don’t forget to include the geolocation of the venue, the correct date and time, the official ticketing link, and add the venue and any other support acts as co-hosts.

After that, share with all of your friends and get the word out!

Send a mailout to your subscriber audience ✔️

Ever seen that ‘sign up’ sheet at gigs and people write down all of their emails to be on the list? Now is the time to use that! If you have a subscriber following you should send them regular news about your live performances. It could be argued that as a reward for being loyal subscribers, they should know about the event before anyone else.

Make sure to include the event poster in the email and add links to the ticketing page so that if people click on images they are redirected correctly. Give your audiences a run down about the show, why you are performing it, what special merch there may be available and that you can’t wait to see them there. Ensure there is a clear call to action at the bottom such as ‘BUY TICKETS HERE’ so it’s easy and obvious how they can support you.

Post about your incoming live performance ✔️

Announce on your socials with the correct-sized event poster that you will be performing a live show! Don’t just announce and then go silent right up until the gig. Drip feed out important enticing information about the incoming show so that your promotion is steady and regular. You may want to champion your support acts and give a bit of information about them and why they are an asset to your live show. Mention any merchandise you will be selling at the live show. Be sure to make it clear if there are exclusive items available in a limited run. Use older video content or teasers to show audiences a snippet of what they can expect. Include pre-save links to incoming music if the show is a launch and be sure to remind people when your new music is out and available. Every post doesn’t have to be ‘salesy’ or ‘promotional’, there just needs to be quality content so your audiences are engaged.

When there is limited time left or limited tickets, be sure to say so – ‘ONLY 10 TICKETS LEFT!! Hurry up or miss out!’

Don’t forget to re-share stories you are tagged in on the night as well! Plus, everyone loves a good throwback or thank you post the next day.

Get your support acts to post about the show ✔️

The more coverage you can get, the better. Support acts should have relatively similar audiences to yours and you should ensure you encourage any supporting band to post and promote the show. Give them your event poster in all formats and you can even send suggested copy to make it very easy for them. Reshare any stories they tag you in and vice versa. Always encourage tagging for more reach and engagement!

Rehearse and prepare for the gig ✔️

Make sure that what you are offering is something of high quality. If all of your marketing attempts are successful and you sell out all the tickets to your show but you play terribly, no one will want to come to see you again. Rehearse regularly before the gig, get your band tight, and organize your set list in advance. Make sure you write this down somewhere so you can collect on live performance royalties afterward!

Plan something unique and special for each gig if possible. No one wants to come and see the exact same thing every time you play. Maybe you bring a guest vocalist on the stage to perform as well? A special dance break? Do you go down into the audience and perform from ground level? The more creative you are the more memorable it will be!

Introduce incentives ✔️

Everyone loves a discount or a prize. You could introduce a competition on your socials and offer discounted tickets to the winners. This is a great way to get your audience to spread the word for you. The rules for the competition could be, ‘share this post to go into the draw to win a free ticket to my live performance.’

This could also be a great way to spotlight some of your exclusive merch. ‘Whoever purchases the most tickets will win our exclusive EP vinyl in limited cherry red. You must attend the show to receive the prize!’ You shouldn’t give out prizes at every gig as this will reduce the effectiveness, but every now and then can be a game changer.

Book a live performance photographer and/or videographer ✔️

You have put in so much work to prepare for this performance, it is always worth capturing these moments so you can repurpose them for future promotion and social proof. It can be quite expensive to have both a videographer and photographer so you may need to prioritize one over the other. If you have plenty of great photos saved up, then opt for a videographer. Remember, video has the highest performance across all social media, so this is a worthy investment. An alternative and affordable option is to ask a lower-level photographer and offer a few free tickets and drinks in return.

Run an ad ✔️

Ads are very affordable and effective to run via Facebook/Meta Ads Manager. The great thing about having already created a Facebook event, means you have already done half of the work. You can run an event ad that asks people to click interested/going or a traffic ad that takes audiences directly to the ticketing link for the live performance. Both are useful and do not require much spending. You can spend as little as $5 a day on Ads Manager.

Do a radio interview to promote the performance ✔️

Radio interviews are a great way to create more awareness about incoming performances. Look up your chosen radio station online. Go through their list of presenters and find the ones that are most suited to your genre and audience. Also, make sure that the show times are at times that your audience will be actively listening to the radio. Each radio station will either have the individual presenter’s contact details or they will have one main person you can reach out to who will organize the interviews and send you to the right people.

Make sure you have a clear and concise email ready to send. It should be short and sweet and include key information like who you are, your band name, the date, a link to the ticketing page, and an example link of your music. Specify the time and date of the radio show you would like to be interviewed for.

When you hear back, be prompt with your response. Radio presenters often don’t have a lot of time to prepare and they like to line up their guests well in advance. You may be asked to come in and do a live interview, a phone interview, or a recorded interview. Whichever one you get offered, be on time and prepared.

Let your audience and followers know when they can expect to hear you on the radio and give them a link to listen when the time comes!

Obtain press ✔️

Online and street press can be another helpful way to boost ticket sales. The important thing to have ready for this is a press release. A press release includes everything a publicist or journalist will need in order to write a story or article about you. Collate a list of your favorite publications online and hard copy and do some googling to find the right emails to send your press release to. Once again, short and sweet with all the information they could possibly need. Don’t send anything they will have to download. These people receive hundreds of emails a day so make it as convenient as possible for them to help you!

Some of these people will not respond, some will and some will just publish without telling you. It is important to check back on all of these publications so nothing slips through the cracks and you can re-share this on social media. Be sure to follow up politely with the people who don’t respond and get back to those who do respond promptly.

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