If you’re a musician with your heart set on sold out
stadiums and tour bus jacuzzis, it would do you some good to glance down every
once in a while. You might look around at
your local scene with contempt, dismissal, a feeling of superiority, maybe some
jealousy you’re not willing to admit to yet.
You might see these people as standing between you stardom, and you’d be
right. But they’re not so much like a
wall, but more like a staircase.
In most
local scenes, there is more than a few terrible bands who consistently get
great gigs and great exposure. This
isn’t because the promoters and music writers in your town have bad taste and
it’s not because of anyone they’re sleeping with or blackmailing. It’s because they’re good at networking. The bad news is that someone’s already a few
steps ahead of you, the good news is that it’s not hard to catch up.
The
best way to navigate through your local scene is to become a part of it. Before you get your name up on the marquee,
you first need to get it on people’s contact lists. Go to as many shows as you can and talk to as
many people as you can, especially music bloggers and bands, whether you like
them or not. Treat them like people who
are sharing your struggle rather than people you want to leave in your
dust. This means getting them to talk
about themselves, get them to talk about their bands or their work, and most
importantly, wait as long as you can before soliciting favors. This may seem cynical and scheming but get
over it. This is how creative industries
often work and chances are, they did the same exact thing somewhere along the
line. To find more, click the link
below.
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