THINKING LIKE A PROMOTER Part 5

Artists have to think like a promoter. If you owned a club, would you want to pay rent, utilities, staff, all overhead involved with opening the place, insurance and ASCAP/BMI licenses all to open the doors to 10 people? The fact is your future as a performer exists on your ability to get people to shows. Many people get radio play, television and film synchronization contracts (placements in shows and films), and in doing so they skip steps involved in building this network of fans and things happen faster due to automatic national exposure. The artist should always be on the lookout for these opportunities, but only ones that make sense for what your long-term goals are. The artist that is so shortsighted may make the wrong long-term decision in the end. Use the computer, word of mouth; ask around to see who is doing what in key markets, myspace, and various other online band services to act as a promoter. This way, for your first play in the new market you have developed fans via the mailing list and maybe even sold some merchandise. Certainly you will assure yourself a return play, and in the end this is what will matter most in your efforts to conquer the world block by block.

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