ussually the next month is already planned out in a good venue due to promotion at least over here, mostly even 2 or 3 months ahead get planned as much as possible at professional venues. Check the agenda of the veneus maybe there is a hiphopshow that would be suitable for you to do a opener for.
Good ways to perform more is form an alliance with other similar artists that can act pro and have equal goals, doing features at each others shows and when the time is right form a tour package that you offer at venues and promoters.
Always state in your press kit (if you had several performances) where you did shows before, dont mention shows where you had a fight with the promoter and/or owner.
Plus keep promoters and owners on your good side, they ussually know each other and word travels fast if you are a sucker.
What is a sucker? A sucker is an artist that thinks he is a pro but fucks up the backstage, acts like a moron, arrives too late for his show, gets into fights, is drunk and stoned at shows and manages to get a packed venue empty.
Always bare in mind you are a guest and the venue/promotor is doing you a favor (providing the means to get your music to people in the most direct way).
Dont forget to put your adress and contacts on your presskit, a presskit with no contacts gets thrown away immediately. Give your presskit a personal touch but keep it professional. It has to stand out but it doesnt need to be a gimmick.
Once you got the adress where to sent the presskit and whom it should be adressed too. You give the promoter a call a week after you sent it. Ask him if he already checked the presskit and you would like to do a show at his venue. Dont say is it possible to do show or if you could do a show, say you would like to.
If the venue is familiar to you and you have seen a good show there recently you can bring it up as some chitchat, so the both of you instantly get more familiarized but dont be chitchatting too long stay on point as much as possible. You could also keep the chitchat about it for when you meet him personally.
Ussually the promoter hasnt checked the presskit already and he still wants to check it out or think about it. No pun that is standard. Ask him when it is best to call him next week and give him a call again then.
Also when heading to a show, have the phonenumber with you cos if you get in some trouble (flat tire or something) let them know! Communication is essential, everyone can be late once just let them know and they will understand what's the deal.
Keep the promoter up to date, dont bother him daily or weekly but always make sure you are in his mind and he knows that you are still busy making music and doing shows. When you meet him, hit him up with some free stuff, album, mixtape, merchandise all that crap. There are millions of artists out there, as long as you keep in the buzz you will be out there doing shows. But never overdo it and if you dont get booked at a time dont be angry, try again at a later time.
Some other thing to improve your live performance...
Also try and hook up an md or something to record the show you can relisten and improve it. Always remember a live show often needs a different setup to be succesfull than an album. Skip things like too long intro's and outro's, you dont need to do a chorus 20 times, but be sure most of your tracks do have a chorus. Cos a chorus gets the crowd participating more into your show.
Choose the right tracks those that will appeal live and put your set together so it will keep the crowd interessted and it builds up to a climax. Try to end your show with a banger.
Try to take your producer to the shows too so he can listen how his beats sound and improve on them and he can communicate with the soundman.
Always keep your soundman on your good side, most of the times the technicians arent familiar with hiphop and how it should sound. Most soundmans are frustrated assholes with minimal skillz to communicate that is why it is essential you dont fuck up with them, cos they can kill your show even more!
Have a friend or producer in the crowd who is not drunk or stoned to communicate with the soundman about the vocal levels, since technicians are mostly doing things like rock, punk whatever it is about singing and they level it less loud. With rap it essential people can hear your lyrics as good as possible. Cos it is all about lyrics and beats. Ying and Yang.
You can also ask your friend producer to give you a signal after the first track if everything is okay.
Also dont irritate the soundman at the soundcheck, a soundcheck is a soundcheck and not a pre show. So dont go perform at the soundcheck. Check your beats and levels and keep in mind the sound at the soundcheck will be a bit different than during the live show. Cos an empty venue (during souncheck) sounds different than a packed venue.
After the show give all the people at the venue a personal thanks for the good night (promoter, people at the bar, soundman and so on). They will remember you a nice guy and will get you back sooner and give you a more warm welcome next time and things at a second time there will go smoother. Give them the feel that during a concert you all are one big happy family that pulls of a succesfull night.
Okay i typed a lot more then i wanted and ussually do but hell i think it's a nice addition to shadeeds article. Keep in tune with those articles, things are more simple than artists think but most simpleminds dont realize it is.
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