What would you do to jump start growth for a brand new band?
If some young kid came up to you and asked you this question, what would you say?
It’s funny, we have answers and a plan for everyone but ourselves.
What, you need me to tell you what to do??!! You want my opinion on how not to be an idiot??!!
Yes, I can help you with that. And you can help someone else with that. Easy.
But can I help me with that? That’s a lot harder. But chances are most of the things I would tell a young band, business, person, friend, are a lot of the same things I should be listening to and doing.
So, if you weren’t in your band (or business), what would you tell your band to do, or not do, in order to experience growth?
Here is the intro to my eBook called Likers & Lovers, which you can read and download for free here.
Introduction
I had just started a band (several years ago) in Nashville, and soon through hard work and some lucky breaks we began drawing a decent number of people to our shows in the city of Atlanta, GA.
We were playing at Smith’s Olde Bar or Vinyl every four or five months, pulling about 250 people. Really exciting for a new, young band.
But there was an interesting thing happening. The group of 250 wasn’t always the same group of 250 people. Each time the band played Atlanta, I’d know and/or recognize 75 or-so people.
But on top of the 75 regulars, the other 175 were a revolving door. A seemingly different group of 175 each time on top of the 75 regulars. Obviously the 175 weren’t die hard fans of my band, or else they would have been showing up at least often enough to be part of the group of people I recognized.
So who were these 175 people and why were they there? (And a few other questions…where did they come from? How many different groups of 175 existed in Atlanta? What motivated this giant group? How did this group want to be communicated with?)
As it turns out, the people people in the groups of 175 LIKED my band (enough to come out once, or once in a while), as opposed to loved my band.
And after catching my breath with the realization that there were people on the planet who didn’t LOVE my band, I began to understand that the Likers were vital in achieving the goals we were chasing for our live shows in Atlanta at that time. The Lovers were essential too. But they’re two very different groups of people.
Have a simple, easy to follow “Contact” part of your website.
Along with your management, booking and PR contacts, have a band/artist contact email. People want to believe they can reach you. And if you’re not as big as Aerosmith, they SHOULD be able to reach you.
And don’t use one of those pre-fab forms. Those are the worst.
Ya know, the forms where you fill in your name and the reason your emailing from a drop down menu. No one believes they’re going to get read…so they don’t even bother.
You’re at your 4th of July gathering, but it’s not living up to your expectations so you pulled out your phone and prayed for an email so you can justify having pulled out your phone.
You’re welcome.
But seriously, put it down, eat another hot dog, engage in conversation even if it’s awkward, and if you need some entertainment…
…just ask different people you’re with what it is exactly we’re celebrating today. I bet you get some wrong answers, and then you can laugh with superiority…like an American.
