Performing

Performing is still one of the most vital means of marketing your music. There is nothing like the excitement of a live performance to make people go out and buy your CD or better yet, buy them right there at the performance. Performing will bring people to your website, spread the word, help you become a better musician and it's even fun (most of the time).


But here’s the catch: You've got to be good.

Let's face it, with digital recording, amazing editing capabilities and plug-ins like Autotune, you can get away with a lot on a CD. But live, that’s a different story. Yes you can lip-sync and even use Autotune live, but people see through that quickly. Unless your career takes you directly to TV (where sometimes you are forced to lip-sync), you will most likely be performing in clubs, festivals, schools, libraries, museums, concert halls and the like. And people are not as dumb as they look (only kidding).

Your friends will support you through a few less than perfect performances, and the first few gigs is the time to be making mistakes, but you can’t rely on 30 of your friends to make a career. You have to move on to other venues, other cities and other fans. Anyone whose made their own CD will tell you, it’s easy to sell those first hundred CDs, but it’s those other 900 that may give you some problems. Of course, selling CDs is not the only reason to be performing, but if you want a real career in this business, you’ve got to have the whole package.

Putting the excitement of performing aside for the moment, let’s look at some advantages from purely a business perspective:

1. Performing helps sell CDs. The best way to do this is if you can set up a small table manned by a personable friend. Try not to do this yourself. Your time is better spent performing and then socializing with your fans. Make the price easy, $10 or $15 is perfect. One Latin band that I produced, Los Mas Valientes, has three CDs and we offer a special at performance only; all three for $25. About half our customers buy all three! By all means, get yourself a credit card swiper from CDBaby, and if you aren’t working with CDBaby, stop reading and get set up with them now! Or take a look at Tunecore. Try something asap.

2. Performing helps you market other goods – t-shirts, buttons, stickers etc. as well as your website. Make sure you web address is everywhere. Postcards simply inviting people to your site are a great marketing tool.

3. Performing helps you get better as a musician. Self-explanatory. There is no substitute. Audience reaction helps you get to know what really works and what doesn’t.

4. Performing provides contacts in the business. You never know who you’ll meet. People are generally not discovered by accident, and the days of the A&R guy walking into CBGB’s and offering someone a record deal are as gone as the club itself. But you do meet musicians, producers, fans, manager, club owners, artists etc.

5. Performing is fun!