Your team is now in place, and you’re ready to start promoting your music and talents. You have released music online and the public has begun streaming a few of your songs. The next step now is going out on the road. Of course, because you are a new artist, you won’t be doing regional and nation wide shows to start, so it is best to start with local shows and possibly state wide events.
As a new artist it maybe a little difficult at first to get paid to do performances (although as I spoke about in my last article, your manager should be attempting to get you at least a few paid gigs) so there are a few options for different types of shows, gigs, and events that are going to beneficial for you as a new artist. Paying to perform, selling tickets to perform, talent shows, local festivals, showcases and possibly putting on your own shows/events are all good places to start.
Before you consider going out and doing a live performance, it is crucial to rehearse your live performance. I can’t express enough how critical it is to be prepared to go on stage in front of an audience. Just because you can record in a studio, and perform in front of a camera for a video (remember these are edited for the best takes) doesn’t mean it will translate to a live show. A good live show that showcases your energy and can get the crowd involved can be that driving factor in winning over an A&R or industry representative even if they have never heard your songs before. If you are able to captivate a crowd at a show that may or may not know who you are, you have just created a fan base that will now stream your music purely from the fact they loved your live show. The opposite holds true as well, if your live show is boring, you lack energy, you are missing cues with your hype man and not performing all of your lyrics, the crowd will be less engaged and become uninterested in you as an artist, most likely forgetting your name after the next performer.
What are some of the ways you can rehearse? You may think this is a simple question to answer, but I have seen a laundry list of artists who not only rehearse wrong, but that don’t know where to start when it comes to rehearsing. Of course, rehearsal is different for a one man show (maybe including the hype man and/or a DJ) than it would be for a full band. For a one man show, you will most likely have a DJ to accompany you, playing your songs, with different cues of when to play the next record and different drops to keep the audience engaged. Most artists also have a hype man to keep the energy up during the performance. However, it is also possible that for your first few appearances your are performing alone, in which case it is best to practice stage presence so you are not standing in one place, but rather working the entire stage, and engaging with the whole crowd.
First, let’s begin with the DJ. You as the artists are dictating when you want the next song to play, when you want (if at all) there to be drops in the records by the DJ, if you want the DJ to be part of the performance (acting as your hype man and engaging with the crowd) or just in the background playing the records. These are all different roles the DJ must understand, as a missed cue or fumble in record change can hinder the entire performance. Rehearsal with your DJ to make these transitions flawless is tantamount in creating a great performance. Even if you as the artist is completely on point during your performance, if your DJ is not on the same page as you, how well you performed won’t matter. The audience, in most cases, won’t see the DJ as the problem, they will only see a bad performance an attribute that to you as the artist and the performance as a whole (of course unless the DJ is working with all artists performing that night, and is messing up every performance, in which then the audience might understand the DJ was bad and not the artists). Adding in the hype man creates another layer of synergy to your performance. The job of they hype man is to keep the energy up through out the performance and emphasize what you are doing and saying as an artist. You and your hype man should be almost performing in tandem, and have a sudo routine in place for every step and song you plan on performing that night. They should know every word, line and adlib to every song, and be prepared to emphasize what you are saying when you would like them too. They hype man is essentially a live stack track, but also serves the purpose of keeping the crowd engaged while the artist is performing. A great hype man can take over a performance for an artist who maybe struggling on any given night. Flavor Flav for Public Enemy and Spliff Star for Busta Rhymes, are recognized as some of the best hype men in hip-hop for how they were able to accompany their leading acts.
For live bands the rehearsal is exponentially more important, because now there are any where between three to some times 10 or more people playing instruments that all have different cues and aspects of what they are doing for each song. The drummer is keeping the beat and usually the one giving cues to the rest of the band. The bass player is keeping the grove. The piano and guitar players are coming in and out at different points, and sometimes playing multiple instruments depending on the song, (sometimes also acting as background singers) and have effect pedals they have to use as well. If as one person in the band does so much as plays a single wrong note, is a beat ahead or behind, or loses their place in the song or plays the wrong song at the wrong time, it will hinder the lead singer and the entire performance. It is extremely important that the band knows what the set list is for each performance, as deepening on the show, the setting, and the city, the songs in the set for the night can change. The lead singer usually creates the set list prior to the show, but I have seen singers take up until the last minute (literally five minutes before the show starts) to hand out the set list to the band on what songs they will be performing that night. This is stressful for the band (yes they should know all the cues for any songs that the artist may want to perform, as they have spent weeks and/or months rehearsing with the lead singer) but if the band doesn’t know what songs and in what order they will be playing that night, it could affect the performance. As a band, you should be rehearsing weeks and sometimes months leading up to the show (especially if you are doing multiple shows). It should be second nature for the singer and the band for each song that they could perform. Now, this could differ a little bit if the band has been together for years, (as I have heard stories of top tier bands doing little rehearsal before tours, unless they have had a substantial amount of time off, and most top tier bands no longer do sound checks, leaving it up to their live engineers to ensure they have the right sound for the venue they are playing that night) but even then the most popular bands rehearse for months leading up to their live shows, because in some cases, the live performance is slightly different from the recorded one, (and can change from performance to performance, year to year, so the band is not giving the same live show every time they go on tour, giving the fans a reason each time the band is in a certain city to come out and buy tickets) and certain band members can change from one tour to the next (mostly in the case of accompanying instrument players, as the main band members will stay the same unless there is a reason for change and/or one or more band members leave the band).
Now you’re at the point where you have rehearsed with your DJ, band and hype man and are ready to start doing the live shows. So let’s speak a little on the difference in the local live shows I briefly mentioned above that are good starting points for new up and coming acts (for the moment and sake of this article, I will be excluding regional, national and international tours and large scale shows, as most artists going through the stages I have been speaking on are not at the point of performing those type of live shows, and preparing and performing those type of shows will come in a later article).
First, is paying to perform. As a new act it is unlikely that hosts will ask you to perform on their bills, and most times you will have to pay for your performance slot. The price range on this will vary depending on the show type, the venue, the popularity of the show, and who the headliner is (if there is a headliner). Local shows generally range anywhere from $10-100 and this will get you on as an opening act (usually with a handful of other opening acts who also paid to be there) where you will have a specific amount of time to perform (some where between 3-7 minutes is the average). Sometimes these shows serve the specific purpose of showcasing local talent to patrons of the venue hosting the showcase (usually a bar or night club) which can sometimes include (and if they do the flyer usually promotes this) industry representatives and A&Rs. These are a good place to start (even though you have to pay to perform) as you will be able to get your name out there not only to a new audience, but to the event hosts (who based on your performance and crowd reaction could invite you to perform at some of their upcoming events) and some of the other performing artists, which you can make connections, create relationships and do collaborations with in the future.
Second, is the ticket shows. This entails the artist paying for a number of tickets that they then have to sell in order to perform. If you don’t sell the tickets you can’t perform and you lose the money you paid for the tickets and your slot on the show. There is a benefit for these types of shows, as normally the artist gets to keep a certain percentage of the profits from the tickets they sold, (usually somewhere between 10-20%) and this usually guarantees at least a certain number of your fans to attend your performance, which can increase crowd participation, stacking the odds in your favor for a better reaction to your performance. This can also enhance your opportunities with the promoter for future performances if you are able to sell all of your tickets. If you show that you can bring out a crowd to these type of events, the promoter is more likely to invite you back to future events because they know you will bring and/or draw a crowd. Another benefit to these types of shows is if they offer a prize for the best performance, if you bring out the largest crowd, you are stacking the odds in your favor.
Third, is the talent shows. These are usually specific to high schools and colleges, but are sometimes offered by different promoters and local studios as well. If it is through a school, generally being a student can get you a slot and there is nothing else to it (however, sometimes these school events will allow outside acts to perform for a price, which can be beneficial as well). If it is not a school function, you most likely have to pay a fee to perform, as you will be performing (in most cases) in front of industry personnel as well as a crowd. These types of opportunities can lead to further showcases and meetings with the industry people in attendance. These talent shows generally allow for the artist to showcase their best song and a brief introduction to who you are as an artist and where they can find you and your music online. Have your best song ready, as you will only get this one song to impress the people in attendance.
Fourth, is the showcases. These are put on by different promoters in an attempt to find emerging talent. You will always have to pay to perform at these types of events, however, at the same time there will always be at least one or two label representatives in attendance scouting the performing talent. These showcases are strictly for the purpose of finding emerging talent for the industry representative to either keep an eye on or create a relationship with for future work. Most of the time you will not get signed based off your performance at these showcases, but you will get your music heard by label representatives, who can put you in meetings and connect you with the right people to further your career, all for the final goal of making you apart of their label in some capacity.
Fifth, is the local festivals. Most towns have a park or designated area where each season they will host a certain type of festival (generally in the spring, summer and fall). These festivals almost always have live performances on a center stage, either throughout the entire day (or weekend) or at specific times during the festival activities (generally at night to close out the festival for the day or close out the entire festival). As a local act you may be able to get on as a performer in a variety of ways. Knowing the festival host, knowing a promoter through the festival, paying for a performance slot, or simply being a local act can afford you an opportunity for a slot to perform for the festival audience. However, be mindful of the type of festival it is, as this could affect the crowd reaction you get. It may not always be in your best interested to perform at a certain type of festival, if the audience you are going for will not be in attendance. However on the flip side of the coin, performing for a different audience can be beneficial as well, as it will open your music up to an audience that otherwise may not listen to your music. For example, in my home town, each year in the end of summer going into the fall there are about five different festivals that are all centered on a national theme (Italian fest, Irish fest, 4th of July, etc.). These festivals all have live music, but most of it is soft rock and geared towards an older audience, as this is the demographic of the town. As a hip-hop artist, you may not be a good fit to perform here as most of the people attending these festivals don’t listen to that type of music. However, if you go to Asbury Park or some of the shore towns that hold larger festivals, a broader audience attends and a wider range of music is played, giving you a better opportunity to connect with the audience.
Lastly, you can put together your own event. This can be a bit costly and little tricky. You will need to find a venue that will allow you to throw your even, and allow you play they type of music and have the specific crowd you are going for attend. Not every venue is open to all audience of all music genres and age groups (mostly because the genre doesn’t fit with the esthetics of the venue and/or the reputation of the music genre crowd is not one the venue wants to deal with, especially depending on the age group). Once you do find the right venue, you will have to pay for the time you would like your event to happen, (the longer the event, the more money it will cost) and in most cases you will have to pay at least half of the deposit up front (this will be non refundable, so if anything happens that makes your event have to be canceled, other than possible a natural disaster that you couldn’t account for, you will not get your money back). However, if you are throwing the event, this affords you the opportunity to generate money to both cover the overall cost to throw the even and to make a profit. By doing some of the different show options mentioned above (local artists paying to perform, artists selling tickets to perform, and selling tickets yourself for people to attend the event as guests) you can make money. You may also be able to work out a deal with venue owner, where because you are throwing an event in their space, thus bringing in a certain number of people who otherwise may not come to this venue, to split door and/or bar profits for the night. Be careful though, as you will be responsible for all parties in attendance, (with the exception of people who normally come to the venue and don’t not attend your even, as your event in most cases will be in a separate room from the main room of the venue) and any thing that happens to the venue during your event will be your financial responsibility.
These are a few of the most popular local options for show types that new up and coming artists have access too. I recommend you do research on the events in your area and some of the hosts and promoters as not all will be beneficial to you as an artists, and some promoters look to take advantage of new naive artists. If you do start performing live, be sure to have all of your rehearing on point, and put on the best show you possibly can.
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