For my very first blog I'd like to talk about the first 12 months of a band / musicians life. This period can make or break your band, set your identity for the future and is really all about making an impression which will set you up for the long run. Think of it as an investment or taking an unpaid apprenticeship. (Yes its unlikely that you will make a profit during your first year)
1. Register with PRS. PRS offers musicians in the U.K real money for performing original material, the payments per gig may be quite small, think £4-£6 but multiply this over a year and the money soon adds up, you could use this money to make a debut recording. Join PRS
2. Don't burn your bridges - be polite to promoters and don't slag them off if you are not selected to play or are dropped from a gig, it will come back to haunt you! If you played a venue which had horrible turnout or the crowd wasn't paying attention, you are either playing the wrong venue or you need to work on your engagement with the crowd.
3. Show an interest in other artists material by networking with similar bands. A little niceness goes a long way.
4. Don't try to play gigs which are more than 50 miles away for the initial period unless you are supporting a breakthrough artist or you are been covered for your expenses. Spending £100 on fuel and over night stay to play in london to a room of 10-15 people isn't a good way of using your finances sensibly. Travel costs make up the musicians main costs so don't bankrupt yourself or put yourself into debt by being over ambitious.
5. Play as many gigs within your 50 miles radius as possible as there are no shortcuts to experience of playing in front of people. Don't turn down gigs because you cannot get travel costs, you are a new band finding paid gigs is very hard, but by all means ask.
6. Keep in touch with your fans by using social media, the main one here is a Facebook artist page. Let the fans know that you are serious by keeping up a presence, if people come to your page and they see a few out of date posts, they will leave.
7. Don't complain about how tough it is to get heard when you've not done everything you can for free promotion such as Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud, emailed local press, played at open mic clubs, flyered the streets, etc By thinking 'I want this so bad' will not get you by.
8. It's inevitable that you will have quiet times when you are not gigging, use these periods to work on new material and record demos, youtube videos.
9. Create an identity. Decide whether you want to be an original band or covers band and stick to it. For you will be known for this. e.g a prominently covers band who throws in the odd original song will not be praised for their songwriting, and you're unlikely to have people sing along to your songs. Whilst playing a full set of covers can get you pub gigs and quite often paid this will more than often sidetrack you from what you set out to be. Don't fall into the 'covers trap' as I call it!
10. If you put the effort in by being proactive in your first year, you will get to a stage where you can start looking for paid gigs and be happy with a decent following. Remember gigging in the real music scene is not like X factor, it can take years to get noticed. Very few artists make it 'overnight' Most of all enjoy the early stages, it is somewhat of an eye opener.
I am Ben Parcell an Independent musician/producer/singer songwriter from Yorkshire. Please follow me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/benparcellmusic
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