Archive | July, 2011

28 July 2011

How to organise your first national tour – part 2

In part 2 of this post we look at more of the things you need to think about when organising your first national tour: Make sure you have an AMAZING live act – It seems obvious but don’t tour until you are experienced in playing live and your live act is really tight. No mumbled [...]

26 July 2011

How to organise your first national tour – part 1

A national tour is an amazing experience for a band but it needs a lot of work to ensure the venues are full, the fans are happy and the band doesn’t end up freezing in a ditch or in prison. You need to put a lot of effort in if you don’t want to end [...]

21 July 2011

9 things bands do that waste time

DIY musicians rarely find themselves with any spare time, they need to focus on the important things that will build you an audience. Important tasks like listing your gigs on Live Unsigned, talking to fans, sending messages to your mailing list, dealing with the industry and booking gigs are more than enough to keep you [...]

19 July 2011

How do you create great album artwork?

Unsigned bands are expected to be many things, from booking agents to web designers to social media content creators. One thing that you will need that is essential is a great album cover. For some artists the physical album is less important but some sort of artwork that you associate with a release will always [...]

14 July 2011

Is being enigmatic the best way to build an online following?

On this blog we often talk about how you need to blog, use Twitter and play live as much as possible to build a following. If you want a career in music this is probably your best chance, the theory is that the more you do, the more chance you have of making things happen. [...]

12 July 2011

Should you put your music on Spotify?

Now is a great time to be an independent musician, you can post videos on Youtube, communicate with fans on Twitter and list your gigs on Live Unsigned. Another useful way to spread the word is Spotify, a streaming service for music available in the UK, Finland, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden and soon [...]

07 July 2011

20 ways to get 10 more people to your gigs (part 2)

In part 2 of this post we look at 10 more ways you can get 10 more people to come to your gigs. If you do all of them successfully you’ll soon see attendance at your live shows rise. Don’t forget to list your gigs on Live Unsigned and on social media before you do [...]

05 July 2011

20 ways to get 10 more people to your gigs (part 1)

How many times have you spoken to a promoter about a gig and they have said you need to bring 30-40 people if you want to play at their venue? This happens a lot (and you can always set up your own gig). Successful gigs are not about big gestures but about a combination of [...]