Author Tim Sweeney is head of Tim Sweeney & Associates, who are entering their 18th year of being, "the only true artist development company in the world."
Tim is one of the music industry's most sought after experts and consultants, and has written several influential books including "Tim Sweeney's Guide To Releasing Independent Records".
Send comments or questions to Tim Sweeney.
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Click here for a printer-friendly version of "Playing Live In Your Home Market".
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Dear Tim Sweeney:
My band seems to have this ongoing discussion, (more like an argument),
about how many times a month we should be playing in our home town.
Friends in other bands tell us not to play in town more than twice a
month. According to them, we will "burn out our fans". But I think they
are wrong and we should play as much as we can. What's the right answer?
The answer to this ongoing question is to try to play in your home
market between 2-4 times a month. But instead of just leaving you with
that thought, let's explore the answer so you can have a full
understanding of why this is the right number.
As I have always preached, your career needs to be anchored on your live
shows and it needs to start in your home market. Especially since your
live shows and the "proper" preshow promotion will be 75% of all your
future sales.
Your home market needs to be a large metropolitan city near you or that
you are living in, that preferably has over 1 million people living
there. If not, focus on the largest metropolitan city in your state that
has at least 500,000 people. With that in mind, let's get down to
business.
Artists will quickly say, "Don't play more than a couple times a month
because you will burn out your mailing list." They are right! If your
primary focus for promoting your next show is to merely let your mailing
list know, then it is true, your existing fans will get tired of being
promoted to. Especially if they have come to a couple of your shows in
the past and have bought your CD. You can bet they are "burnt out" by
your ongoing requests for them to come to your future shows.
Most artists do not think creatively when promoting their next show.
They make the mistakes of handing out flyers instead of sample tapes or
sample CDs, or spending hundreds of dollars on a newspaper or magazine
advertisements, that no one can hear their music through. So let's start
from scratch.
Let's use Los Angeles as the major market that you live in. LA itself is
approximately 90 miles in size (counting in the smaller cities around
it). This is important to know because of the following reasons.
Music fans who go out to live shows will generally stay in their "own
area" when it comes time to see an independent artist. (If it is a
major, established artist, who rarely plays in the area, fans will
travel further to see them.) One of the primary reasons people stick
close to home is the issue of drinking and driving.
Research has shown that people feel they can have a couple of drinks (or
more) and safely drive home if it's only 2 or 3 miles away. Most people
as you can imagine, don't have a desire to be on "Cops" or the nightly
news with the police chasing them down the freeway. Wrong in their
thinking about drinking and driving or not, that's one of the main
reasons people don't drive 20 or 30 miles to your future shows.
However, that brings up a good point for us to talk about. If people
generally won't drive more than a few miles to go to a show, doesn't
that mean you will have different audiences at each show? That's right.
Using LA for an example, even though Santa Monica and West Hollywood are
right next to each other, people from the respective areas "hate to
drive" 5-10 miles. Beside the concerns about drinking and driving, they
complain about finding parking and the "safety" of each other's
respective areas.
So doesn't this mean, since there are clubs spread throughout the major
market you live in, shouldn’t you play 2 or 3 times a week all over the
city? No. The reason I suggest 2-4 times a month has nothing to do with
your existing list, who has come to past shows and already bought your
CD. It is based upon allowing yourself enough time to "effectively"
pre-promote your shows.
Creating the sample tapes and CDs, doing your market research on the
targeted areas around the club, where your potential fans hang out and
shop, allowing for the time to hand out the 200-300 tapes or CDs
minimum, you are going to need to generate new fans. Plus the extra
time, you will need to "redesign" the club for your show. If you find
that you can do a couple of shows in the South part of your city and 1
or 2 in the North, East or West and adequately promote them, you can
consider 4 to 6 shows per month.
Keep in mind that your city is a big place with over a million people.
You are not going to get the same people at your next show, unless you
invite them. Even though your city may seem limited in places to play,
or even geographically on the map, don't let your mind become "limited"
on what's available to you.
Review the section in "The Living Room Sessions" about market research in
regards to your live shows. It will help you generate a new larger fan
base in a shorter period of time.
Additional Columns by Tim Sweeney
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