RTP-area local music and culture

[Brian English <Brian.English AT sas.com>]

I rarely reply on this list, but this thread was interesting to me. I play 
primarily in Raleigh, which may or may not make a big difference vs the 
Chapel Hill scene. My current band has gone from playing for tips in coffee 
shops to regularly drawing 350-400 people to clubs like the Pour House. Now 
we're kind of a 'favorite' for a couple of clubs if they need to book someone 
that can draw some people at the last minute in our genre or just want a 
dependable act to fill an opening. We rarely call to solicite for a date any 
more, usually they call us.
It took about 4 years to get to that point. We all have day jobs, we don't 
attempt to play full time and don't tour out of town except for the 
occassional weekend in Charlotte or something. We're entirely self-promoted, 
no management or anything. We're really not that great of a band, but we can 
draw a crowd that will drink a bar dry and that's all that counts for booking 
a club gig.

Some things we've learned about how to 'make it' around here, like it or not.

1)Play anywhere you can, play for free, play often, get heard. This builds a 
fan base. Clubs don't care about your music, they care about how many people 
will come to your gig and spend money while they're there. Keep that in mind 
when dealing with the club folks.

2)Private parties!! We have had more gigs come from someone hearing us at 
their cousin's friend's wedding reception or BBQ than from any other source. 
It's an awsome way to make contacts and get heard by basically a captive 
audience, and the pay is better than any club gig. Nothing like playing for 2 
hours at a rehearsal dinner and taking home $400 apiece. :)

3)The typical RTP area audience doesn't give one shit about your original 
music. They want to hear stuff that they already know, they are brainwashed 
by Clear Channel. If you want to be popular around here, you have to be easy 
to party to,and that means playing covers. It often sucks, but that's just 
the way it is around here. Your reputation in this area is going to be based 
on how much 'fun' you are, not how sweet your guitar licks are or how 
thoughtful your lyrics are. Usually you are not playing for people that care 
about music, you are playing for people that care about a fun social event 
where they can party. If you can facilitate that, you will be popular, and 
the clubs will love you.

4)Promotion. All those stupid social networking sites are amazing. Myspace, 
Facebook, ReverbNation. The best marketing tools around. Another valuable 
tool is an email list. Have your website set up so people can join the 
mailing list. Have sign-up sheets at your shows. We probably have 750+ people 
on our email list. We send out an email about once a month with show 
information. Enough to be informative, not so much as to spam people and 
annoy them. Finally , as already mentioned, put up flyers EVERYWHERE. Bug all 
your friends to come, and to invite their friends. In college towns the kids 
will go to a show if they think their friends will be there, it's all about 
the social scene more than the music scene.

5)When you get sick of playing covers for drunks and need a good musical 
outlet, invite over fellow musicians and play in the comfort of your home, 
and spend some of your well earned gig money on beer for everyone. It'll be 
more musically rewarding and re-charge your musical spirit for when you have 
to 'sell out' to the crowd again. :)



-----Original Message-----
From: ch-scene-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
[mailto:ch-scene-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Garfield
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 7:59 AM
To: ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: Local music... who decides?

My two cents:
For a new band, the first thing to do is to play anywhere and then
promote the hell out of that event.  Tuesday night at a gas station?
Bring your friends!  Sunday afternoon show with no cover in a parking
lot?  Put fliers on every wall in Chapel Hill/Whereeverville!  If you
can draw a crowd to podunk events, then you can be sure a club will be
interested.  This isn't (necessarily) because club owners are evil.
It is because they have to make a living to, and unlike most of us
music isn't just their day job.  If you want to make your band a
commercial entity, then you need to show that your band has commercial
potential for your partners (the venues) too.

Or you just play for fun, which is just as good and maybe better.
Some of the best music I've seen this year has come from community-
supported venues like BCHQ showing bands who are playing in large part
because of the love of the music (which is not to say those bands
aren't also commercially viable).

-Garfield

-- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene