I get asked questions by bands all the time. Ususally it’s something along the lines of:

“How do I get fans?”

or

“How do I book gigs?”

It’s almost as if musicians think that If the right person hears about them, the floodgates will open and all of a sudden they will be headlining a show at the All State Arena. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. Bands don’t get fans by the thousands or gigs by the tour. Everything happens one step at a time. Even if you’ve got a great booking agent or manager doing the work for you, its not magic. Someone has to set up every show and every fan has to decide for themselves if they like your band.

So, when you’re trying to get fans, gigs, press, or anything else for your band keep that in mind. You’ve got to make people care one person at a time. The best way to make someone care about you is to show that you’re also interested in what they have going on.

If you’re trying to book a show, tell the talent buyer what you like about their venue.

If you’re going for press, let the writer know that you’ve actually read one of their articles.

If you’re pushing your demo to a potential fan ask them what sort of music they like first. If you see them bobbing their head to a band that sounds like yours complement their taste in music and thell them that if they like what they’re hearing, they will probably like your band too before handing them a demo.

If you do this three hundred times, you’ll have three hundred fans or three hundred gigs. Most of us don’t respond to spam, so why would you expect someone else to?