So you got dreams of making it big playing music? Or maybe just having fun with some friends? Well if you've got a band and want to play a better stage than the slightly elevated floor near the bathroom at some dive bar listen up!
As a venue owner I can tell you that if you've never played at my venue or any other actual venue, it's going to be tough to get into my place. I need to know that your going to bring a crowd so unless you have a proven draw in town your not getting a good night right off the bat. You may swear up and down that you'll sell the place out, but if I had a dollar for every time a band promised me that, I'd be on the patio of my dream house staring at the beach thinking about the good old days when I owned a music venue. You may worthly of playing in front of a few hundred people, you may have a few hundred people who swear they'll come pay a cover and see you, but most likely when you first start, you ain't going to draw shit. It takes a while to build a good crowd and before you play at my place, your going to have to build at least a little following before I even consider letting you open for free for a band.
So first off, if you're a local band look up all the open mics and play them. Pick a few and invite all your friends. Make sure to use facebook, myspace, twitter, etc to get the word out. Call and text your friends, beg and plead for them to come see you. A crowd attracts a crowd, and you got to cheat a bit sometimes to get things going. The good thing about open mic events are there usually are a few people/bands just like you there who did the same thing so hopefully you can steal a few of their fans/sympathetic friends. At the very least you can meet other aspiring musicians. Networking, as with any profession is key.
House Parties are another good way to play for a bunch of people. Just don't get whoever owns the house in trouble with a noise violation.
Play your bars, your open mics, house parties, etc. Your not going to make much money, but hopefully it's a lot of fun.
Once you built up a bit of a crowd it's time to try to book at a venue. One of the easiest ways to get in, is to look at the venue's event calendar and try to find a band that plays in the same/similar genre and see if you can get an opening gig for them. Again you probably aren't going to get paid. But you are getting your foot in the door. You can contact the venue about this but sometimes it's a bit easier to contact the band and ask if you can open for them for free. Either way you'll be opening for free but it's a great chance to get in front of people who've never heard of you.
Another approach (which doesn't necessarily have to be a seperate approach) is to try to play an off night. Sundays through Tuesday is always hard to book and if someone wants to play for whatever they can make at the door, it's usually better then not being open. This is where those bands you met along the way are important, you'll want to present the venue with a lineup, "So we'll headline and ____ and ___ will open for us." This is especially important if you can only play an hour set. If you've got 3 hours of music an opener would still be good but not absolutely necessary.
Go in and meet the owner or booking agent. Get a business card and make sure send a few emails, make a few calls. Be careful not to annoy the shit out of them but make sure they don't forget about you. Case in point a band came in few weeks ago after emailing us a few times to get a show booked. We kicked around the idea and decided against it. A week later when the band came in we hadn't booked a show yet for that date which was fast approaching and after speaking to the band in person we decided to give them the date. Being persistent paid off.
(Just because I forgot to mention earlier, make sure to book 4-6 weeks out whenever possible to promote. Speaking of which....)
PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE! Now is your chance, make a decent showing and you can move on to bigger nights or at least a good opening spot. Promote hard and make sure to use all the free advertising you can get such as facebook and myspace. Many papers like the local Fort Collins Coloradoan have a free event submission page online. As mentioned earlier hit up your friends and their friends. And harasses the hell out of them, send a few text messages day of show and send an email reminder. Let them know they're not really your friend if they won't pay a $3 cover to watch you play and you'll hate them and their mother if they don't show up.
So that's it. If after working your ass off you still can't get a gig there is always the option of renting the venue. You'll pay the venue to play but you'll keep a 100% of the door, so hopefully you'll recover your cost and then some. Also if you actually do pack the place you probably won't have to rent the room or at least get it discounted next time you come through.
Now get to work!
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