Gig promotion strategies with “Ain’t Yo Mama” (part 1)

Had a little chat John Wilder, guitarist of Ain’t Yo Mama, on his band’s gig-promotion strategies. This is how they do it.

How they deal with concert promotion:

I approach club owners different than most people. I’m not looking for a gig for a hundred bucks in their club. I’m looking for a venue to hold a show in. Most of the time I get the venues for the door. Some resist and I have to eat crow.

1. The first thing I do after getting a date at a venue is come there one Saturday night between 11pm and 1am and see who the party girls are. I get to know them and give them a couple of t-shirts, some stickers, and a cd. I tell them to wear the t-shirts to all the clubs they hang in particularly the venue we are playing in. I go in the men’s restroom and put stickers above all the urinals, and instruct the girls to do the same in the woman’s, and also to put them in any restroom they happen to go to.

2. weeks before the show I go visit the local newspaper and inquire about running some adds for the gig. Then I ask for a free story or writeup in the paper, if you buy a couple of adds they will do whatever you want and papers need special interest stories to fill space.

3. We make up large posters for the show and place them in Wal-Marts, grocery stores, high traffic mall areas and if we can get away with it around other clubs or venues.

4. We are developing an email list, and  everyone I see or meet I mention it to them.

5. I also call the local chamber of commerce office and inform them of what is going on.

6. The weekend before the show I take piles of flyers to my party-girls and have them plaster them on cars that are in the parking lots between 12-1am, I figure this is the peoples cars I need to get at.

You have to take a shotgun approach to getting people. If you are just starting you can count on friends, but over time no matter how good you are they will get tired of going to the shows. I catch a lot of flack about being a sexist on here, but I give 90% of my personal attention to the females to get the word out. Why cause if you can get the hot girls the guys will follow, did everyone read that? Bring the women and the men will follow.

I’m working on a bigger show for later this fall where we will start using radio ads, also I have some friends that own a furniture business that may, and Im keeping my fingers crossed, they may sponsor us and pay for advertising and provide us with a TV or Appliance to give away at the shows. In my case the Band is called Aint Yo Mama, before the last set we are having the AYM “HOT MAMA” contest, we pick 5 of the best looking women in the house get them on stage and judge them by crowd response with our soundman’s db meter. The winner would then draw a ticket out of the bucket for door prizes like the TV or appliance.

If you are in the music business somehow you have to separate yourselves from the pack. It doesn’t matter how good you music is or isn’t, what matters is getting attention to your band.

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The way bands promote shows (2)

5 pointer method:

How to get people to keep coming to shows:

1) Post about your show on MySpace, Facebook, and any other site where you can post events for your band

2) Every time you are talking to someone, if they ask you what you are up to these days (and this comes up in almost every conversation I have!), mention your show and be very enthusiastic about it. Be sure to have business cards handy that sends them to a website (be it MySpace or a homepage) that gives all the details about the show they need!=

3) During a show, encourage the audience to come talk to you afterwards. Offer to take pictures, sign autographs on CD, whatever! Talk to everyone you can at the end of every show and thank them for supporting you. Show an interest in what they have to say and LISTEN to what they have to say carefully. Take an interest in the lives of people who support you. Remember people’s names! Or at least some things about them that you talked about at the end of a show. It will come in handy the next time they come to one of your shows.

4) Find fresh faces… whether it’s a local independent radio (colleges and universities are an awesome source for radio airplay if they have a station), or local publications, your local paper, wherever. FIND NEW PEOPLE and tell them what you do. Give them a business card. Be enthusiastic but not overbearing. Again, show an interest in what other people have to say, because it’s not all about you!

5) Practice, practice, practice!!!! Make your shows the best they can be by being well-rehearsed and make sure you sound awesome at every show!
Union of Lanterns www.myspace.com/unionoflanterns

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What else?

Nothing beats getting out there and chatting with people about your music.
www.myspace.com/sylvanlane

It’s good to build up a mailing list to tell people about shows, but you have to get out there and get to know people and be a part of what is going on. (Think about how many shows you go to based on emails you receive…).
World of Melon www.myspace.com/worldofmelon

The best advice I can give you (other than finding a super motivated indie booker type) is to go out and meet the club owners personally or use contacts you have in different locals to get into places. It’s all about relationships… the more you know, you know?
Tims Myth www.myspace.com/tmyth

Concert promotion: it is a mixture of everything! Spreading the “word”, local press, fans, radio… difficult to say. If they pick you up it goes quickly, if not it is tough, but keep on working! That’s all you can do! Forcing prople to love your music is only done in the commercial music, but that i often don’t like…… :-).
Chrysteraerts www.myspace.com/chrysteraerts

For more quotes on band promotion:

• The way bands promote shows (1)

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The way bands promote shows (1)

The Band’s tale:

Booking gigs is easy. It’s getting a person to come that’s hard. So here’s how it works:
You look around at coffee shops and little bars that no one goes to and the owners are thrilled to have you come and play. But they can’t afford to pay you. You go and tell everyone you know to come and bring friends. The first gig you play you get 50 people to come. Then you’re thinking “This is so sweet! I love playing for a packed little house! And I made three hundred bucks selling CDs!” So you book again.You get pumped for another show and another $300. This time 20 people come. It’s a little disappointing because you don’t have the feel of a packed house, but you put on a good show and have fun playing your tunes–knowing that the crowd loves you because these 20 people bought your CD at the last show. So you don’t sell anymore CDs but they love you give tips so you end up with $26 and you had fun.You book again but his time you advertise, put up posters in music stores, churches, colleges, and you’ve only spent $15 on the posters. Now you’re ready to make another $300 on CDs.You show up at your gig and the place is quiet. You talk with the owner of the place for a half hour and decide to start playing just to practice hoping that car-fulls our people will show up late to your 2-hour show. You know college students are never on time anyway. After you’ve played through a couple songs 2 cars enter in the parking lot and in walk one groupie from the first two shows and your parents.
Ry Edwards – www.myspace.com/ryedwardsmusic

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The AR’s Tale:

What I hear artists say is the hardest thing (about booking shows) is getting people to attend! Sometimes bands are great about getting fans or friends to one show… the trick is find those fans who like you enough to come to your next one AND bring someone who wasn’t at the first one. Then turn that new person into someone who brings someone to the next one. Tough. And you’re up against things like weather (just ask the members of Boston Molasses Disaster (www.sonicbids.com/bostonmolassesdisaster), whose last show was canceled due to a blizzard), time slot, etc. But concentrate on the people you know who like you so much they’re willing to bring someone new. Those folks are KEY!
Benjy Kantor, Artist Relations Manager at Sonicbids : www.sonicbids.com

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gigDoggy’s Tail:

Some bands get along fine just doing the usual flyers /posters / word to mouth routine, others promote actively through social networks. Lots do both. Many bands get in touch with the local media and press, radio stations, music associations, local promoters, booking agents and what not. All of these techniques are tools that a band can use to get some buzz. But in the end, the best promotion strategy for any type of band is to tour and the tools should serve that goal. Sharing and swapping gigs with other bands is indispensable because fans of each border will communicate and get the word-to-mouth going.
GigDoggy, http://www.myspace.com/gigdoggy

For more quotes on band promotion:

• The way bands promote shows (2)

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