Tag: Musicians

The Top 10 Cities For Musicians Right Now

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date October 26, 2021

The 10 Best US Cities For Musicians In 2021 — As we slowly emerge from the global pandemic, these ten US cities are welcoming musicians with open arms and major opportunities.

As we slowly emerge from the global pandemic, these ten US cities are welcoming musicians with open arms and major opportunities.

Musicians no longer need to live in New York or Los Angeles when hoping to make it big. Today’s artists are writing, recording, and producing music from their bedrooms. The traditional music ecosystem remains in place for those who wish to use it, but for everyone else, an increasing amount of new ways to approach a career in entertainment exists. You can record and never tour, or you can tour two hundred days out of the year and release an album every four years. You can do whatever you want, but the location you call home still matters (to some extent).

Every great artist or group must begin somewhere. Your place of residence can play a role in determining not only the venues you can play but the other musicians you can meet, the potential audience for your art, and the availability of any supplies needed to make your career great. It would be best if you also had reasonable rent, a side hustle that helps pay the bills when the music falls short, and things to do that inspire creativity rather than block it.

A new report from Rent.com aims to help musicians find the perfect place to build their careers. With consideration given to cost of living, music businesses, music-related occupations, and more, the leading online platform found Glendale (CA), Boston (MA), Los Angeles (CA), Pittsburgh (PA), Atlanta (GA), New York (NY), Seattle (WA), Minneapolis (MN), Washington DC, and San Francisco (CA) to be among the best cities for musicians today.

Rent.com offers this reasoning for San Francisco’s number one position:

Janis Joplin. Jimi Hendrix. The Grateful Dead. Jefferson Airplane. The counterculture rock music of the 1960s and 1970s created the “San Francisco sound.” So many greats from this era cut their teeth and got their chops performing around the City by the Bay. From rock and punk to jazz, San Francisco’s music scene has been among the best in the country since the ’60s. That continues to this day, with San Francisco topping the charts to be the best city for musicians in America.
Obviously, as a city, San Francisco offers a lot to inspire musicians. From its iconic architecture to the scenic views of the bay, the city’s history, culture and atmosphere are sure to generate plenty of ideas for songs. Just walking around San Francisco will bring you face-to-face with famous spots from S.F. musical history, especially in the Haight district where many musicians lived.
Then it’s time to take your music to the stage at legendary venues like The Fillmore, The Chapel, The Saloon, The Bottom of the Hill and The Independent. Plenty of restaurants, bars and clubs offer live music nights, as well. San Francisco is also home to popular music festivals like Outside Lands and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. If you want to make music in a place where many other great musicians also played, San Francisco is a musician’s dream.
The high cost of living in San Francisco may be an impediment to some musicians who want to live and work here. The average price of a one-bedroom apartment is $3,557, making San Francisco one of the most expensive cities in our top 10 list of the best cities for musicians. But to live and make music in one of America’s most celebrated cities for the arts may be well worth the cost.

You can find the top 50 US cities for musicians below:

Rank	City	Population	Music Businesses Per Density	Proportion of Music-Related Occupations
1	San Francisco, CA	881,549	2.77	4.92%
2	Washington, DC	705,749	1.13	5.80%
3	Minneapolis, MN	429,606	1.02	4.42%
4	Seattle, WA	753,675	0.58	4.45%
5	New York, NY	8,336,817	0.57	4.50%
6	Atlanta, GA	506,811	0.57	4.12%
7	Pittsburgh, PA	300,286	0.60	3.06%
7	Los Angeles, CA	3,979,576	0.40	6.26%
9	Boston, MA	692,600	0.94	2.81%
10	Glendale, CA	199,303	0.33	6.33%
11	Providence, RI	179,883	0.94	2.72%
12	Chicago, IL	2,693,976	0.51	2.84%
12	Portland, OR	654,741	0.39	4.30%
14	Long Beach, CA	462,628	0.48	2.82%
15	Oakland, CA	433,031	0.30	4.61%
16	Fort Lauderdale, FL	182,437	0.80	2.63%
17	Denver, CO	727,211	0.44	2.75%
18	Saint Louis, MO	300,576	0.66	2.56%
18	Cincinnati, OH	303,940	0.38	2.90%
20	Orlando, FL	287,442	0.46	2.64%
21	New Orleans, LA	390,144	0.38	2.77%
22	Austin, TX	978,908	0.28	3.76%
23	Miami, FL	467,963	1.50	2.08%
24	Saint Paul, MN	308,096	0.31	2.79%
25	Rochester, NY	205,695	0.50	2.16%
26	Richmond, VA	230,436	0.28	2.79%
27	Tampa, FL	399,700	0.42	2.15%
28	Tempe, AZ	195,805	0.30	2.57%
29	Baltimore, MD	593,490	0.36	2.39%
30	Grand Rapids, MI	201,013	0.30	2.61%
31	Philadelphia, PA	1,584,064	0.40	2.03%
32	San Diego, CA	1,423,851	0.21	2.64%
33	Las Vegas, NV	651,319	1.04	1.77%
34	Eugene, OR	172,622	0.25	2.50%
35	Nashville, TN	670,820	0.14	4.15%
35	Salt Lake City, UT	200,567	0.15	3.00%
37	Knoxville, TN	187,603	0.16	2.64%
38	Sacramento, CA	513,624	0.42	1.85%
39	Dallas, TX	1,343,573	0.25	1.99%
40	Saint Petersburg, FL	265,351	0.24	2.00%
41	Buffalo, NY	255,284	0.30	1.81%
41	Milwaukee, WI	590,157	0.29	1.86%
41	Huntington Beach, CA	199,223	0.15	2.50%
44	Scottsdale, AZ	258,069	0.18	2.07%
45	Durham, NC	278,993	0.15	2.35%
46	Anaheim, CA	350,365	0.36	1.68%
47	Boise, ID	228,959	0.15	2.18%
47	Madison, WI	259,680	0.16	2.15%
49	Salem, OR	174,365	0.19	1.97%
50	Omaha, NE	478,192	0.30	1.74%

The worst cities for musicians

These cities just don’t have enough music in their souls to support thriving music scenes. Here are the worst cities for musicians. You could even say these cities fell flat.

Rank	City	Population	Music Businesses Per Density	Proportion of Music-Related Occupations
1	Moreno Valley, CA	213,055	0.02	0.88%
2	Brownsville, TX	182,781	0.03	0.67%
3	Chesapeake, VA	244,835	0.01	1.09%
4	Peoria, AZ	175,961	0.01	1.15%
5	Port Saint Lucie, FL	201,846	0.03	1.11%
6	Fontana, CA	214,547	0.02	1.15%
7	San Bernardino, CA	215,784	0.05	0.78%
8	North Las Vegas, NV	251,974	0.02	1.24%
8	Aurora, IL	197,757	0.04	1.00%
10	Augusta, GA	197,888	0.04	1.10%

Tags best cities, cities for musicians, Music Business, music careers, music industry, Musicians, where to live

Industry News News

87% Of Musicians Believe The Pandemic Has Hurt Their Mental Health

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date March 17, 2021

With no definitive end in sight, the devastating impact of COVID-19 on musicians’ mental health is becoming increasingly clear.

A new report from Health Musicians UK has found that 87% of professional musicians believe their mental health has deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 100-year-old charitable organization released their findings of a survey conducted with 700 musicians earlier this month.

The report also found that nearly 70% of those surveyed said they weren’t confident that they would be “able to cope financially” over the next six months. Half of the respondents (51%) said they were currently earning nothing at all from music.

24% of the musicians who took part in the study admitted that they are currently considering leaving the music profession for good due to the pandemic and Brexit’s effect. Other factors impacting musicians’ mental health over the past year include a lack of certainty about the future (91%), not being able to perform (81%), and having no purpose (66%).

Speaking about the findings of the study, Help Musicians’ Chief Executive James Ainscough said:

“We can’t sugarcoat these findings – we are facing a mental health crisis amongst musicians on an unprecedented scale.”

“Whilst there may be light at the end of the tunnel with a roadmap out of lockdown revealed, there is still substantial uncertainty around how quickly the music industry can recover, plus the catastrophic impact of the Brexit deal on musicians’ ability to tour. After a year of hardship, the ongoing uncertainty for musicians is taking a huge toll on mental health.”

“We have been offering ongoing financial support to thousands of musicians throughout the pandemic, but offering money is just one part of what musicians need – we have also had to completely revamp the mental health support we offer to address this rapidly unfolding crisis. Musicians who cannot work don’t just suffer financially; they grieve for the creativity and connections that their music usually brings.”

Haulix Daily has not found a similar survey focusing on musicians in the United States, but it’s easy to believe any such polling would return similar results. While many are rushing to find some semblance of “normalcy” between soft reopenings and vaccine appointments, musicians will be among the last to return to work.

If you know a musician, please take a moment to check on them. You never know what someone is going through until you take the time to ask.

Tags covid-19, mental health, Musicians, Pandemic

News

This band is fighting their leaked sex tape by selling the tape themselves

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date May 10, 2016

UPDATE: Yacht lied about this story in order to promote a new music video. Follow this link to Jezebel to read all the details. That said, we’re leaving this post up because we believe it has good points to make should this kind of thing actually happen to someone down the line.

ORIGINAL POST: Some of our readers may be too young to remember this, but the digital world changed forever when a sex tape featuring actress Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee surfaced back in 1998. The tape, which was initially stolen from the couple after their honeymoon in 1995, quickly became a talking point throughout the entertainment world. It also signaled the start of an era where celebrity sex tapes were in high demand, earning top dollar from porn sites regardless of how they were obtained. Some thought such clips would destroy careers, but in the nearly two decades since that time the opposite has proven true more often than not. From Kim Kardashian to Farrah Abraham, there are now dozens of celebrity sex tapes available to the public, many of which were released with the sole intention of raising the public profiles of those involved, but it’s important to remember not everyone wants their most intimate moments seen by the world’s digital voyeurs. Still, if a clip does exist, the chances of it getting out are infinitely more likely than if no such footage were ever shot.

This brings us to Yacht, an indie-pop/rock group that has been tearing up the underground since 2002. Frontman Jona Bechtolt and frontwoman Claire Evans – who have been romantic and artistic partners since 2006 – revealed this week that a sex tape they created for themselves has been leaked online by quote, “a morally abject person.” The duo has already spoken to legal council about what can be done to take action against the individual in question, but they also recognize there is no way to stop the clip from circulating online. So, in a move that has shocked many in the music community, the duo has chosen to not fight the clip and instead embrace it by selling the footage themselves through a new website launched yesterday morning, May 9.

Here’s an excerpt from the group’s open letter to fans, which was posted to their Facebook on Monday afternoon:

This is an uncomfortable and pretty bizarre situation for us to be in, but it’s made better by the evidence that we have fans like you.

Since this happened we’ve been researching sex tapes. It shouldn’t have come as any surprise that Pamela Anderson never saw a dime from the tape she filmed with Tommy Lee, and Paris Hilton lost a court battle with the man who leaked their private video. We’re not as savvy as the Kardashians, but something occurred to us this morning: we could try and distribute the video directly to you ourselves. Lemonade?

This video is out there now. We can’t change that. But we can try to be “as YACHT as possible” about it and take some kind of ownership over what has happened. So we’re asking you one thing: if you feel like you 100% have to see this tape, don’t stream it on some tube site, or download a torrent. Instead, we beg of you to download the video, Louis C.K.-style, directly from us.

Huge thanks to our friend Daniel Bogan for cobbling this site together last night, and to the people that make free tools and easily accessible platforms like Let’s Encrypt, Bootstrap, and Stripe that made it much less painful. At the very least we can laugh about this URL:

https://fuck.teamyacht.com

It should go without saying that the link above should be considered not safe for work, but just in case you need us to spell it out: THE LINK ABOVE TAKES YOU TO A SITE THAT EXISTS TO SELL PORN. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU ARE NOT IN A PLACE TO SEE PORN.

Yacht’s decision to take control of how their leaked sex tape is distributed online marks the beginning of a new era for celebrity sex tapes. Before now, celebrities who wanted to control who saw their sex tape had also made their tape with the intent of sharing the footage with the public. This is not the case with Yacht. What people witness when viewing the Yacht sex tape is two people being intimate in a setting and situation they never expected anyone other than themselves to see. Their decision to try and profit from the leak may not be something everyone could stomach, but from their perspective as well as our it’s the only move that can be made that offers any real benefit to the group. The tape is already online, so removing it would be next to impossible, and if they didn’t sell it themselves you can bet someone else would. If not, the clip would be available for free on porn streaming sites and the site owners would make money off the advertising that appears alongside the footage. Either way, Bechtolt and Evans would get nothing.

Whether or not Yacht’s decision becomes the norm in future sex tape leaks remains to be seen, but it very well could. After all, if you cannot undo something you might as well try to profit, right?

Tags advice, Celebrity Sex Tape, music, Music Business, music industry, Musicians, Porn, Sex Tape, Yacht

News

7 Practice Habits All Successful Musicians Have in Common

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date February 4, 2016

The following post is a continuation of our ongoing content collaboration with the fine folks at SonicBids. If you ever need advice on the industry and cannot find it on our blog, try theirs. Seriously.

If you want to become a successful musician, the only way to achieve that goal is through regimented practice. It’s no easy feat – for most people who pick up an instrument the activity stays a hobby, or a dusty Stratocaster in the corner of a room. Undoubtedly, the biggest factor in this is whether you’re truly willing to put in the work to become a proficient musician, but knowing how to practice can lead you to better results faster.

Research has shown that developing a skill is nothing like cramming for an exam. It’s a capability that slowly blossoms to maturity through consistent use, like working out a muscle in your body. That means, despite what your spam folder may tell you, there’s no cheating your way to the top. This statement is true no matter what your specific goal is regarding your instrument. It may not be as straightforward as nailing a solo or achieving a certain level of proficiency; you may strive to be a more expressive musician or bring out a certain stylistic component of your playing.

No matter whether you’re practicing your sweep-picking or your skills at a digital audio workstation, your level of success will depend on the practice that you put into your skill, even more so than innate talent. By practicing efficiently and using tried-and-true methods, you can stack the odds in your favor to reach success in your field. Cultivate these practice habits exhibited by all successful musicians to play your best and achieve your goals.

1. Operate on a schedule

Charlie Parker saw the level he wanted to play at and famously practiced upwards of 12 hours a day to reach that level. Now, you don’t have to practice for that many hours a day, but you do need to apply the same kind of structure and discipline. To reach maximum potential, keep a structured schedule and stick to it. Successful musicians set their goals in stone and don’t quit until they’ve been reached.

2. Break goals into manageable chunks

The most effective way to achieve your goals is to break them down into small, manageable, actionable steps. Did you ever take piano lessons and receive stickers for each completed exercise until you completed the whole book, a feat that previously seemed impossible? Surprise! Your teacher was training you how to become a successful musician. Next time you decide to practice, don’t just wander. Set a path.

3. Warm up every time

This is an easy one! If you jump right into a grueling workout, it’s likely you could hit a snag and walk away frustrated. Every athlete has a warm-up, something to get not just their body, but also their mind, in the zone. They do it at the beginning of every practice, and you should, too!

4. Record yourself

No great musician ever shied from his or her shortcomings. Quite the opposite. These are the areas you patch up to become an air-tight, sight-reading, pitch-perfect, musicianship machine, and the best way to find these areas of imperfection is to record yourself playing. Your recordings will clearly lay out your progress so you can hear your every note as many times as you want. Recording yourself will not only show you your shortcomings, but you’ll be able to fully appreciate the fruits of your labor as you progress as a musician and your skills grow.

5. Sing your part

If you feel that your progress is becoming stagnant, an extremely useful technique is to put down your instrument and sing your part. This will remove any instrumental inhibition you may have and take you straight to the music. You’ll actually have to feel the pitches firsthand instead of just pushing through them. Plus, you’ll never know when you have to bust out those singing chops!

6. Switch up your techniques

Don’t waste your time on mediocre results, and don’t get completely stuck in dated methods. You’re a developing musician and your regime should develop with you. The biggest, most successful companies – even those that seemingly couldn’t operate any more efficiently – are constantly pouring resources into improving their processes. Lean on proven successors, but never become completely content. Periodically reevaluate your methods, and in doing so, you’ll continue to learn about yourself.

7. Keep a clear head

Above all else, the goal of practice is to improve a skill by addressing and correcting mistakes in an effective nature. Using the above techniques, you can lay out clear goals with methods tailored to your own skill set and give it your all. When you’re in the middle of a grueling practice session for a big performance, the most important thing in that moment can often be remembering to take a deep breath and remain calm. Once your have your path laid out, all that’s left is to keep a clear head and focus.

As explained by world famous cellist Yo Yo Ma, you’ll find that after you’ve taken care of all the logistics and organization, you’ll reach a higher level of focus than previously thought to be possible. This is the state where you achieve greatness – where successful musicians live. Great practice habits all aim to minimize interference, to drive your progress towards your goal on as straight a path as possible.

Don’t be afraid to set a big goal. Find the techniques that work best for you, work hard, and implement what may be the most important secret of them all… enjoy yourself!

Tags 2016, advice, bands, diy, Marketing, music, Music Business, music industry, Musicians, Practice

News

Advice: What To Do After You Receive Press Coverage

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date July 28, 2015

Gaining the attention of blogs and their readers is no easy feat, especially for unsigned talent with little-to-no history. You can write the best songs and have the nicest videos, but if you do not know how to network and pitch yourselves no one will ever learn about your talent. Once they do however, there will only be a small window of time for you to capitalize on having won a moment of their attention, and this afternoon we’re going to learn what you should do in the hours after first receiving media attention.

1. Take time to celebrate, but realize there is still a lot left to accomplish.

I was never in a band that became popular enough to appear on sites like Absolutepunk or the like, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t spend many nights wishing one of the influential tastemakers of the scene mentioned my efforts in their publication. If your music/video/album gets mentioned, celebrate! You’ve taken yet another step towards your goal of a career in music, and while it’s certainly not enough to pay the bills it does serve as a strong reminder other people in the world care about your art. Don’t take that for granted.

2. Tell everyone in the world about the news (and ask them to share it).

This one probably goes without saying, but the unwritten rule of exposure on music outlets is that the band featured will publicly share and/or promote the publication’s content once its live. Don’t just share link to stories with fans, but ask them to share it as well, and don’t be afraid to request they comment on the post if time allows. Sites that see a bump in traffic or discussions from coverage of your band are likely to cover your band again in the future because they believe there is a value to your content that other unsigned acts cannot provide. In order to show them that value you will need the help of your fans, and its up to you to sell them on sharing your work.

3. Engage the comments section, but don’t antagonize them.

If the reason you’re reading this post is because the first article about your music just went live, you need to understand the response in the comments section may be very slow at first. As much as sites love to help expose young talent, people are not always quick to comment (especially in a positive sense) about something they are unfamiliar with. A great way to combat this is to actively participate in discussions taking place in the comments section of articles about your band. Answer questions for people, offer insight into your creative process, and generally speaking do whatever you can to be a decent human being that is open to criticism. It’s not that difficult, but it can make a world of difference in how quickly people become engaged with your art.

4. Say “thank you” and/or support the publication that wrote about you.

You would not believe the power the phrases “please” and “thank you” have in the music industry. From labels, to bands, publicists, and everyone in between you would be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks they hear either of those phrases too often. People tend to do as they please and take what they want without giving much though to the process behind it all, but you can stand out from the countless unsigned artists of the world by voicing your appreciation to the sites that give you space on their front page. It does not have to be anything formal, but it should be sincere. People remember those who are kind to them, and they’re far more likely to want to work with you again in the future as a result.

5. Don’t be afraid to begin teasing your next announcement.

Once people learn about your art it’s very likely they will want to know everything they can about your current efforts. Using social media and the comments sections on posts about your work, take a moment to tell people about everything else you have going on while your name is still fresh on their minds. They might not buy the album or see the tour you’re trying to promote, but at least they’ll know of it and will have the ability to share that information with others if such opportunities present themselves.

Tags advice, advice for bands, diy, Diy Marketing, Marketing, Music Marketing, Musicians

Job Board News

Lessons from the Tour Bus

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date April 24, 2014

Hello, everyone! It is a beautiful Thursday here at Haulix HQ, and we could not be more thrilled to share with you a very special advice column. This feature was created with the help of Zach Stepek, a professional music photographer and freelance writer who has spent traversed many American miles while seated on a tour bus. We reached out in hopes of sharing his insight from his time on the road, and his response can be found in the paragraphs below.

You spend nearly every waking moment of your life away from your family in order to pursue your passions, risking everything on the possibility that you’ll achieve success doing something you love. You work more than you do anything else, and everyone you know thinks that you’re crazy for giving up the stability of a “normal” job. But you can’t help it. You either jump, or you wallow in the misery of mediocrity and conformity that’s been causing you to lose your mind in your dead-end job.

If this describes you, then you are an entrepreneur. Whatever your passion is, you’ve chosen to pursue it as your career, building something from the ground up with your skill, knowledge and tenacity. It’s hard to take that initial jump off the metaphoric bridge; I’ve done it many times, and it’s always equal parts terrifying and exhilarating. The rewards far outweigh the risk if the various pieces come together correctly. Sometimes, you just have to leap and hope the parachute appears.

From my experience, nobody leaps with more abandon than musicians. Most entrepreneurs go “all in” by spending a ton of time at the office. Musicians go all in by leaving their friends and family behind for months at a time to live on a tour bus or in a van with their business partners, sleeping in a different city nearly every night.

I personally feel that I’ve learned more about business from observing musicians than I have from reading countless books. I’d like to share a few of those observations with you:

Have A Plan

Like any entrepreneur, musicians spend their days selling their existing products, doing research and development for their next product launch, handling the press and interacting with their customer base. Most don’t just jump in and hope for the best every day, though. They have a day sheet that contains their plan for the day, and normally it’s divided into a couple of main sections; interactions with the press and production for that night’s show. Before they get on stage, they have a set list in place that details the game plan for the show. They follow these plans closely to make sure that everything runs without a hitch.

Build A Dream Team

Like a company, bands are only as successful as the teams they build. Every band starts with a core, founding team, and normally it’s comprised of the people performing the band’s primary function, playing music. As a band grows, though, they add people to the core team to supplement their own abilities. Touring requires juggling a lot of moving pieces, and the larger the tour, the more pieces there are.

Most entrepreneurs only have to see their employees for, at most, eight hours each business day. Musicians, on the other hand, spend a ton of time with their team, especially their tour support staff. Band managers, tour managers, stage managers, audio engineers, lighting technicians, drivers, instrument techs, booking agents, public relations coordinators, record label executives, marketing and creative services, social media managers, commercial licensing specialists, producers, recording engineers, photographers… the stronger the team, the stronger the brand.

Partnership is Stronger than Competition

The other people in your industry aren’t just your competition, they’re your peers, your brothers and sisters. Don’t tear them down. Strive to lift them up and help them achieve their goals and dreams. This is especially true when bands tour together. The level of camaraderie that I’ve observed between touring bands is amazing. It provides a sharp contrast to the backstabbing, kill or be killed mentality we seem to have adopted in the corporate world, both internally between co-workers and externally among competitors. I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen in the music industry, it just seems to be less common.

Research and Adapt

Musicians perform constant market research, testing not only their existing products, but also their prototypes, with focus groups, the fans and potential fans who attend their concerts. Many constantly change their pitch, or set list, to see if they get a better response from their fans. A vast majority have a very vocal feedback loop in place, because they’re experts at converting customers into raving fans. Music awakens passion in much the same way that our favorite products or brands do, and musicians know how to cater to their target demographic.

Success Takes Practice

When musicians aren’t on the road, they still spend time together regularly to practice. This is where they hone their craft for the road, preparing for the next time they’re on stage pitching their product. Practices don’t always go smoothly, but they’ll power through the same song, verse, measure or note until it’s right.

The only way to get better at being an entrepreneur is to put yourself out there and do it, day in and day out. Sure, you’re going to break a string in the middle of your solo, or somebody is going to decide that your pedalboard is a great place to put the contents of their drink, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t good at what you do. Learn from your mistakes and continually improve yourself and your business.

Zach Stepek is the founder and editor of Rock Insider Magazine, which plans to launch a fully redesigned website in early May. He loves photography, touring, and talking about ways to better optimize your readers’ experience. Follow him on Twitter because that’s how people show support in 2014. You should also follow Haulix.

News

Haulix Advice: Setting Up Tour Press

Post author By James Shotwell
Post date July 24, 2013

Today’s Haulix Advice column is intended for artists with more than one tour under their belt. We understand those of you just getting started may be excited by notion of having press cover your first tour, but we highly recommend waiting until you’ve crossed stateliness a time or two before taking the following steps.

As you move forward in your pursuit of national acclaim, touring offers a number of unique promotional opportunities that will help drive awareness to your music and (hopefully) add a little boost to ticket sales. In oder for any of that to happen, however, you will need to put together a plan of attack far in advance of your first date, and that is what we’re going to discuss today.

It may seem a bit premature, but artists hoping to maximize the exposure they are able to pull out of a single tour would be wise to begin planning those effort almost as early as they begin booking said shows. As a band, you should work together to develop a list of everyone you want to invite to a show, all the content you hope to create during the run, sites that offer pre-tour promotional options (playlists, interviews), and a list of potential sites and publications who may be interested in hosting said content. Be specific. Know when you plan your tour to start, as well as the promotion, and use a calendar to plan when you would ideally like your content to run. Once you’re on the road, finding the time to plan is going to be near impossible, and you’ll likely have a number of other issues and needs to attend to as well. Having a plan helps to not only suppress the stress of last minute organizing, but also creates a blueprint to follow if/when things do go off the rails (and let face it: they probably will).

As soon as you confirm your dates, take time to research writers who may work in the vicinity of your shows and email them with details on your performance no later than one month prior to the tour. Invite them to come, but be careful to not beg. Writers want to believe they’re either going to see the next great band no one has heard, an underrated juggernaut deserving of more attention, or an established act whose live show is even better than their album, not a group of musicians trying too hard to be famous. Pick an angle that works for you and use it to entice the reader. Remember: This may be your first time interacting with this individual, so make sure your initial impression is a good one. Being friendly and concise goes a long way.

A month out from your first date also happens to be the ideal time to begin locking in your tour content exclusives. This could be any number of items, but the two most popular tend to be tour blogs and acoustic performance videos. Both are great tools for furthering awareness of your efforts, and neither is all that difficult to create. Once you know what your content will be, develop a list of sites you would like to partner with for the premieres and begin contacting them. Again, being specific is key. Make sure your message includes information about your efforts, the tour, and as specific details regarding the content you would like to share with their readers. If it’s a tour blog, tell them how often you were hoping to run it. If it’s a performance video, give them a target week for release. Being too specific may turn some away, so make sure you allow room for customization. The sites you want to work with have a lot of experience in this type of content, and more importantly they know what works best with their readers. Trust them.

When you’re a week out from the tour, send reminders to outlets you have not heard from and check in on everyone who said they may attend. Provide contact information, including a phone number, and request the writer do the same. Every venue is different, and you nerve know when your press plans may have to change on account of an outside force.

Check in with your contacts again the day of the show to confirm their travel plans, as well as yours. Coordinate a time that works with your schedule for the day and do whatever you can to be early. If you’re completing an interview with said writer, check in advance for type of interview (voice or video) and prepare accordingly. We’ll have more tips for video interviews in an upcoming edition of Haulix Advice.

As with every Haulix Advice column, we asked a number of industry professionals to offer additional insight on setting up tour press. You can read what they had to say below.

If you have any questions or comment, feel free to leave at the end of this post and we’ll do our best to reply soon.

“My best suggestion to any up and coming artist who is looking to do their own press would be to 1- know their music websites and 2-Contact as many journalist as possible. Start off with doing a google search to see who has covered artists like you, or other artists you have toured with. After making a list of what outlets covered those artists, as well as their contact information, reach out to each journalist individually. Tell them about your band, when your last release came out, send some examples of music as well as tour dates. Always include the best way to reach you! It’s a ton of work but absolutely is worth the effort. Also, whenever you send physical music to a journals ALWAYS include contact information and a bio. The worst thing you could do is waste your time sending a CD to a writer and then them having no clue how to contact you” – Jenna LoMonaco, Kobalt Music Group

“As a smaller band, especially without a publicist, getting press for your tour is a daunting task. Even if you’re only playing 10-15 cities, that’s 10-15 unique local markets that you have to sift through and try to find the best way to promote your show. The best thing for your band is going to be getting local newspaper and radio stations to run any sort of coverage *before* you play your show in the area, to try to encourage turnout. However, many writers will only want to cover your show post-event and many radio stations will ask for tickets to give away in exchange for coverage. This shouldn’t be a worry for you – you’ll want to commit press passes and free tickets at each show in exchange for promotion. In terms of national and online media, make sure you know where writers are located, especially the ones that like your band. If a website gives your EP a good review, make a note that the writer is located in X market so you can offer him a free ticket to review your show. Keep an organized list of contacts that help you out in each local market, too – this (hopefully) won’t be the last time you play in that area, so you’ll want to hit these people up again in the future.” – Thomas Nasiff, Fuse/Bad Timing Records/Paper+Plastick

“There are two sides of tour press: Before, and after. Before you go on tour, you should be setting up press with sites that do pre-tour features. PropertyOfZack does Playlists, a way for touring packages to let us know what they’ll be listening to on the road. We include the tour dates in there for extra press.

Then for after, you have Road Blogs, interviews, acoustic sessions, and more. Make sure people haven’t forgotten about the tour once it ends. Keep the content coming” – Zack Zarrillo, PropertyOfZack

“Always plan to start your tour press no later than a month out from the first date. The less time you give yourselves, the less chance of an effective press campaign. The less effective your campaign is, the less impact it will have in show attendance.” – Patrick Ryan Williford, Persistent Heart Media

“No outlet is too small – if you’ve got the time and a .blogspot-type writer has reached out, make the relationship and take the interview. Any press is good press, and you never know where a writer will end up – taking that interview when a site is small could benefit you tenfold down the line.” – Jack Appleby, Siren Records

Tags advice, advice for bands, Alternative, artists, band advice, Haulix Advice, music, music biz, music industry, Musicians, musicpr, Publicity, Punk, rock, setting up tour press, tour help, tour press, touring 101, Touring Advice