If you’re an up & coming musician looking to build a fan base, almost ANY opportunity to perform in front of people can be turned into an effective marketing tool.
Even if you have a show that only two people go to, with the right photographer, video clips, and approach, almost any performance can be framed to make you look good.
Aside from the audience that shows up, it’s great to practice your live performances to start and feel more comfortable on stage.
What to Look For
Set realistic expectations. It is super unrealistic to believe that your first show is going to be a huge smash, thousands of people show up, and you make a bunch of money – that would be great! – but first you’ve got to figure out what you’re doing, how to put on a good show in front of an audience, and how to get people to GO to your event.
Depending on where you are at with your career, you’ll have different bargaining chips at different types of venues.
Venues don’t necessarily care about you or your talent, they are after your fan base. They want the fans you bring to buy tickets and drinks from their bar.
Venues would much rather have an artist with average or mediocre talent and a huge following than an artist with phenomenal talent but no fans to sell to.
The Takeaway
As an artist you can take data and metrics from your music and from your audience to package up and sell a product that a venue can see value in. You need to show them why they should pay you. If it’s a great venue, many bands or performers will want to play there, why should the venue give that night to you?
Data and metrics can help you show a venue that YOU are worth investing in over someone else.
We can show you how to do this as part of our Spotify Promotion Services