It's important to be commercial if you want to make a living at it.

Here are a few tips (not all of them - feel free to add your own):

  • Know your market, and play the music people want to hear. Songs they know by heart
  • Read the audience of the day. Look at their shoes, the way they dress, how they style their hair and everything else - these are all clues
  • After you have read the crowd, play something safe, something that always works, and see how that goes over -- give them more and during the night you can try some things slightly out of their comfort zone to see if they work or not
  • Then pace the crowd, mix slow, medium, fast, and specialty songs to give the audience what they want, when they want it, even if they don't know when they want it
  • Start on time, do not take long breaks, even be flexible, if the audience is having a great time, skip your break
  • Play at the appropriate volume for the gig and audience
  • Dress appropriately
  • Be friendly and kind to everyone
  • Price your services not too low, or too high. At first, before you have a reputation, use the going rate, as your reputation grows, if you are indeed better than most of your competition, you can ask for more money.

As a band, you are a small business in the service industry. You want to have a better product than the rest, and you want your audience to have such a good time that they come to see you again. If playing for a restaurant or bar, you want to focus on making the cash register ring. In your mind, pretend that you are getting a percentage of the money it rings up. That helps you make your best decisions.

What makes you go back to a particular business that you are loyal to? Use that to treat your clients/audience the same way you would want to be treated.

Yes, it's about making music. And yes, it's about having fun while you are playing. But without treating it like a small business, you won't get to have that fun as much as you want.

I enjoy playing music. Pop music, jazz, classical, folk or whatever. When the song starts, I get into that place where there is no space, time, or me. It's the most fun I can have with my clothes on. And treating it as a business, gets me more gigs.

The average duo gigs 4 or 5 times a month in the two deadest months around here, August and September. We did 16-18 gigs in those slow months. And we're still doing 19 this month (just got another)

When I was young, someone told me this. You can play for yourself, you can play for other instruments, or you can play for the general public. If you are good enough, you will get the audience you asked for.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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