DIY Music Tour – Part III
Read DIY Music Tour – Part I to find out how to start out showcasing your songs and then read DIY Music Tour – Part II for how to put a band together.
If you are an unsigned songwriter with a well-rehearsed band, good quality recorded album and stable fanbase following you from gig to gig – then you are on the right track. Being unsigned, you are probably holding down a day job, playing cover gigs whilst earning little bits and bobs of money from performances and CD sales. The reality of planning a full-scale tour (like a record label would) on your own whilst is unlikely. By this stage if you have the above in place, your costs will already incorporate the following: CD, website and merchandise (studio, production, design and print £5000), band (rehearsals and gigs £2000), personal costs and time (£1000). That’s £8000 before even planning a tour. For a small budget tour, keep it simple and successful by keeping it local.
In every region of the UK there is a major festival, recognized by the music industry (which provide Music jobs). Do everything the promoter says (on a professional basis) to be accepted into this festival. Submit good quality photos, press releases, songs, numbers of your fanbase and do it within the deadline – show them every aspect of your wonderful reputation in songwriting and as a band so they have no reason not to say yes.
Assuming all goes well that you and your band are well-organised, start to form a following of fans and are scheduled to play at an industry-recognised festival – look at how to gain more exposure than the other unsigned artists playing. Create a buzz about you, call radio stations and press offices in your area for interviews, announcements and airplay – at this level no costs really apply as most press offices and radio stations are always looking to play new material (if it is any good). As well as that, a major festival in any area will already be linked up with the press offices and radio stations, so call them up until they answer your call. As a general rule don’t leave a message, just keep calling until you reach the right person and then email them straight away with your press pack and songs for consideration. Then follow up and follow up until they say yes. You most likely find in local areas that press offices and radio stations actually answer their phones, are happy to speak to you and promote you.
Most festivals nowadays require unsigned artists to sell a certain amount of tickets to play – they call it pay to play. So all the exposure you make and gig opportunities you have beforehand ensure you start selling and promoting your festival. If you need to sell a certain amount of tickets – put your tickets online for sale through a ticketing company like Ticket Source. Print professional posters and ask all your local shops to put them in their windows – sometimes they will even keep a handful of tickets to sell on your behalf. Head to your local record store and ask them to stock your CD and put a poster in the window as well. Remember when creating the poster to put your band name, festival date, where to buy the ticket from and website or email for reference them to contact you.
Whilst the promotional buzz is underway, you need to have a schedule of show dates in the lead up to the festival. Do not go all out and save your full set for the main festival date. Especially when playing in your local area, some people may not like festivals or want to purchase costly tickets when they can see down the road for free – so be clever about it. A good way to do this is to focus on the fact that your fanbase will see your band perform a longer set with new songs not yet released. By limiting the amount you play with the band, by doing more solo showcases instead, will help you keep band costs to a minimum and you’re your fanbase something to look forward to. The chances are that your fanbase will also pay more for festival tickets so they can also see the superstar artists as well. You need to utilize all these fabulous ideas when selling your tickets: ‘Come see my band play on the same bill as U2 at Glastonbury Festival on 24th June 2011’. At every gig, network, network, network, sell CDs and festival tickets and keep signing up people to your mailing list – capture everyone’s details that buys your CDs or tickets.
Sponsorship to help with budget is hard to come by. Companies offering sponsorship, like Yamaha, Diesel, is only for signed male or female singer-songwriters. They only work with record labels because these bigger companies have ready-made relationships based on return on investment. Sponsorship is based on branding, so if a no name person on stage is wearing their clothing or playing their music equipment at a festival – this is not enough exposure to receive payback for their investment – these large corporations expect national radio airplay announcements, billboard advertisements and televised events for maximum gain. However, you can ask a local fashion designer to sponsor your clothing for the band playing at the festival or sometimes major fashion designers do loan their wardrobe our, for instance Vivienne Westwood. You will need to ensure their logo is on all of your merchandise and special mention made at the festival as well.
Two weeks prior to the festival work solely on; blogging about press releases, interviews received and guest appearances on local radio, rehearsing with the band, promotion preparation for the festival selling last tickets, and ensure you rest.
During the festival, organize a team of your friends to walk around with your CDs and mailing list whilst you’re backstage and on stage. Ensure you and the band are all on time backstage as needed with your equipment in full working order and ready. At large scale festivals, security and organization is tight, so have the utmost respect for this by doing as they say and always smile and thank everyone. Under no circumstances should anyone in your band be drunk or dosed with drugs for your first festival performance – you will lose all merit and respect if you are. Focus, focus, focus! Before going on stage to set-up after the band playing before you – lift everyone in the band’s spirits by filling them with confidence – normally ‘let’s just rock it and have fun…wooohooo!’ works.
Then as the lights go up give a big warm welcome, speak clearly and energetically. Remember there will be people in the audience that have not seen your band yet – so give it your all, like it’s the first time. Smile, have fun, rock it, interact with your band and introduce them to the crowd. Throughout the performance tell the audience facts about where you started as a musician, where you come from, what’s next show date, get a CD from street team – the sexy chick with the bright pink t-shirt – keep it short, just the important stuff and add a little humour where you can. Do not waffle on about songs meanings; just do short introductions and talk to your audience like people (because they are people, yes really!). Remember all the hard work and talking you’ve done up until now – well now it’s time to sing, play and show what you’re all about, so enjoy every moment and involve your band too. At the end of the show, thank the audience, your band, your street team, festival promoter and sponsor for wardrobe – do all of it – it is important to say thank you, as they rightly deserve the acknowledgement.
After the show, get your equipment off stage and packed up as quickly as possible, so you can head back into the audience to network, sell CDs and reflect back on your performance and all the hard work that went into it with everyone’s help.
Once the festival is over write a blog about every part of your journey, add photos and press reviews from the show and do a big shout out THANK YOU to all parties involved in making it a complete success.
Then most important, write to PPL with a list of your songs and dates you performed to claim performance royalties for the festival, radio and other music venues you performed at. Even as an unsigned male or female singer-songwriter, you can earn up to £3000 for a major festival performance – that’s your return on investment for money spent upfront.
A DIY Music Tour is a worthwhile venture when organized properly with a headstrong determined, consistent and business approach. Now it’s time to start thinking about how to go big time with a label, publisher, promoter and manager – with all your experience you have added to your portfolio, pick up the phone to make your next break.
The author is a music band owner which offers its services to a variety of class especially five star hotels in Asia. There are several music bands which performs live shows six days a week. The band offers band job and Musician jobs across the world.
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