The ‘New Normal’ is here to stay, so we’re giving you five creative ways to bring back touring as soon as humanly possible.
The spread of COVID-19 has changed the music business in ways we never imagined. Fans and artists alike want things to go back to the way they were before March 2020, but that is a fantasy. The past is dead, and no amount of begging or wishful thinking will resurrect it.
We live in a new reality where the old way of doing things no longer works. We can either complain or adapt, and we at Music Biz believe change is always a positive. Discovering new ways to do things challenges us to be more creative, more inclusive, and more understanding. All of that is something we as a species could use more of right now.
The biggest obstacle the music business faces right now is touring. The vast majority of artists make the bulk of their living by being on the road. There have been no tours for the last three months, and there is only a handful currently scheduled for the fall. Those that are daring to step out and perform again do so with the knowledge their dates may be canceled when the “second wave” of COVID-19 takes the US by storm this fall.
With all the questions and concerns surrounding touring, it’s easy to understand why so few feel comfortable announcing or discussing their plans at this time. Still, the conversations around live music are ongoing, and the fan demand for talent has rarely, if ever, been higher than it is right at this moment.
In this episode of Music Biz, host James Shotwell shares five ways touring can resume in the near future. No solution is perfect. At least one is inarguably terrible. But all these ideas need to be considered and at least attempted if we have any chance of discovering what works best for everyone.
Music biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Join today and receive instant access to the same promo tools used by Bruce Springsteen, Slipknot, Tool, and thousands more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
Touring is an increasingly important element to a successful music career, but getting on the road too early has inevitably lead many promising talents awry.
There are few things more exciting or fulfilling than being on tour. Not only are you afforded the opportunity to perform your music for people who want to hear it, but you can see the world as well. Being on the road allows musicians at every level to see how the rest of the human race lives, and through doing so, many find the inspiration to create their best work.
There is a catch, however, and it’s a big one. Artists who attempt to tour before they have the right elements of their career in place are destined for hardships and failure. You may be able to string together a tour, and you may be able to make a little money doing so, but unless you have plans in place you will, eventually, burn out before your dreams of success in the music business come to fruition. It has happened a million times already, and it will no doubt happen a million more in the future.
In this episode of Music Biz 101, host James Shotwell breaks down the five (5) things every artist and group needs to do before they consider getting on the road.
This post is the latest in our ongoing content collaboration with the fine folks from Sonicbids. Make sure you visit their blog when your schedule allows.
It’s a truism of being in a band that opening for an established act is a sound method to promote your music and get your name out there. When you’re starting out, the chance to open for your musical heroes is a reward in itself; playing on the same bill as a band whose albums you’ve pored over just years before can feel like a dream come true.
But along with the exhilaration that comes with getting the gig, we shouldn’t forget that playing a support slot requires a different approach than headlining the back room of a pub in front of your friends. Here are six ideas about how you can make the most of that short time onstage and maximize the experience of your support slot. Who knows – with a little hard work, the headlining band might ask you to play a few more dates the next time they’re on tour.
1. Get on and off the stage on time
First and foremost, understand this: It isn’t always writing a killer tune that gets you asked to go on tour with an established band. Just as often, it’s getting on and off the stage quickly and efficiently, being courteous and professional to the crew, being friendly and respectful to the headlining band, and sticking around to watch them. No matter how great your set is, if you’re making life stressful for the crew, devouring precious minutes of line-check time, or, heaven forbid, impeding the headliner’s chance to sell merchandise, you’re blowing your chance.
The scenario of the stage manager running around backstage to find the opening band two minutes after they’re due on is common enough, but it’s unacceptable. You won’t get a written warning for this impasse; you simply won’t be asked back. Unless otherwise clearly stated by the headline band’s TM or the promoter, the stage times are not a rough guideline of how they want the night to go. They are strict, absolute orders that denote where your slot is in the running of the night. Follow them.
2. Manage your expectations
No matter what stellar reaction you normally receive when headlining to a familiar crowd, opening for another band’s fans can bring you back down to earth fast. As far as your expectations towards a cold room full of fans of another band, it’s best to have none. Check your ego at the door, and approach the show as an opportunity to understand how your music gets over on its own terms.
Without expecting anything from the audience, you’ll quickly learn to pick up on the fact that just because they aren’t leaping around the mosh pit and cheering your name, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t enjoying your show. And if you do get the room dancing to your tunes and reacting to your every gesture, then you know that you’ve earned it. And if you know you’ve earned it, consider howyou earned it. Understand that, and you’re on your way to being able to make it happen every time.
3. It’s not a competition
If you aren’t a fan of the band you’re opening for, for the duration of that evening, keep it to yourself. Don’t make subtle allusions to it onstage, don’t begrudge a bandd that’s on the road for months at a time a backstage of their own, and don’t discuss them on the internet after the show. Going in with the mentality of “blowing them offstage” is counterproductive; if you manage to impress, it’s with your music, not your contrast to who is headlining.
If you dislike a band to the extent that you can’t bite your lip, then don’t do the gig. But there’s nothing more foolish than the musician who refuses a perfectly good gig because he or she isn’t a fan of the headlining band’s music. A much more efficient use of time would be to take the gig and watch the band from the side of the stage, contemplating what it is that has them over with this capacity crowd to the extent that they’re asking you to open for them and not the other way around.
4. Use your time wisely
For the vast majority of support slots, you’ll have just 30 minutes to seal the deal, so it’s worth planning the set accordingly. Song lengths vary between bands, but I err on the side of caution; it’s better to play seven songs comfortably, perhaps stretching out the last tune, than rush eight. A good rule of thumb is to build to your biggest and best track as song three (meaning people have time to get back from their cigarette or the bar) and end on your next boldest banger.
Time spent talking to the crowd between songs could be time spent playing the music you’re there to perform. Choose a couple of points in the set to speak – after songs three and six, plus during a breakdown in the final song, is ideal. Introduce your band, your latest release, and your merchandise, but keep it short and sweet. And I’ve said it once before, but it bears repeating: don’t keep thanking the headlining band!
5. Be smart about your merch
Before setting up your merchandise at a support slot, it’s worth considering if you require a change of prices and stock. Often, you’ll find that the main band’s team will ask you to price match your T-shirts and CDs to theirs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be savvy about it. Consider manufacturing some cheaper items: wristbands, sticker sets, and posters. These make great pocket-money purchases for cash-strapped youngsters, advertise your band wonderfully, and make perfect giveaways.
The audience members are potential new converts to your music, so win them over tonight, and they may be fans for life. From the stage, announce that you’ll be at the merch table after your set, and potential fans will be only too happy to head over and chat. Giving away signed CDs and items might mean a little extra financial outlay, but include a flyer and website links with every giveaway, and you’ve got yourself a neat little investment.
6. Network – gently!
One of the most maligned, misunderstood, and frankly groan-inducing concepts surrounding the music industry is “networking.” Forget networking. It’s a pretentious word and a counterproductive term for something essential that should come naturally. Introducing yourself and expressing gratitude to the people you’re working with is not a radical marketing strategy; it’s basic manners.
Networking needn’t involve pushing your way into conversations and handing out embossed business cards or foisting your demo into the hands of the headlining band’s singer with a note quoting their lyrics from a rare B-side. Make the acquaintance of the tour manager, crew, and band, thank them for this opportunity, and explain that you’d like to open for the band again any time they’ll have you. If it feels like your presence is unwanted at that particular moment in time, leave it at that. Simply establishing a face to a name is a solid strategy to ensure that next time they’re considering local openers, you’ll be in the running.
P “Barney” Barnes is a campaign manager and blogger at direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic.com, drawing on extensive gigging and DIY music business experience with rock/ska/electronic mashup merchants Sonic Boom Six. SB6 has released four studio albums, performed headline tours of Europe, America, and Japan, and have written and performed songs that have appeared on BBC Radio 1, Channel 4, BBC 2 (TV), Rock Band, and Sims 3 video games. Barney takes his coffee strong, black, and often, and would one day like to visit Australia.
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
