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#107553 - 09/20/02 09:15 PM Live playing?
zuki Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/20/02
Posts: 4716
Hi all,
Spent the entire summer putting a solo act together. Used a PSR2000, files and all back up harmonies through my 1180CD. Booked my first gig at a coffee shop and played to absolutely no one! Discouraged, now gonna write and trade up to the 9000 Pro. Will keep playing one way or another. Bless....
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Studio: Korg PA4X/Yamaha DGX670/Yamaha PSR SX900/Boss BR900CD/Tascam DP24SD/MTM Iloud/Senn 935/K&M stand/Shure SM57/Sony C80 (2)/Blue Encore 300

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#107554 - 09/20/02 10:26 PM Re: Live playing?
Uncle Dave Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/01/99
Posts: 12800
Loc: Penn Yan, NY
Did you promote the coffee house job? Signs, posters, anything?
The first time anywhere is the toughest, but after you get out there it gets easier. The word of mouth spreads and prety soon you'll be as busy as you want.
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No longer monitoring this forum. Please visit www.daveboydmusic.com for contact info

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#507343 - 01/01/23 09:23 AM Re: Live playing? [Re: zuki]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15556
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
Jim, UD hit the nail on the head. You have to promote yourself and the locations where you will be performing. I had a big 24 X 36 inch, color poster made that I could place at the locations where I would be performing and at the bottom of the poster it listed the time and dates of the performances. Worked like a charm.

Essentially, in the OMB entertainment biz you have to be a jack of all trades and master of all as well. You could be the best musician and singer on the planet, but if no one but you knew about it, your audiences would not exist. I was never a trained musician, however, I was blessed with a good singing voice and could sing the telephone book to any audience. But to get those audiences, you must be a good at promotions, public relations, advertising, and most of all, interact well and responsibly with people from all walks of life. Add to the previously mentioned list, you must be a good book keeper, tax accountant and salesperson. You are selling a product - your entertainment skills. And, you must do all those things effectively and efficiently, every day of the week, including weekends and holidays. No one would have known I performed in Baltimore's Little Italy had I not put the word out where I was performing using every tool at my disposal. With the owners permission, I was able to place that large, framed poster on an easel or hang it on the wall near the entrance of the restaurant a week prior to my performance. It was extremely effective and the owners liked it because it drew in customers the night of the performance that normally would not be there that particular evening.

DNJ had an extremely successful dance club job that he established in an American Legion Hall. He agreed to rent the hall every Thursday evening, do the clean up afterwards, 52-weeks a year. Prior to his grand opening, with permission of the owners and managers, he placed 8-1/2" X 11-inch posters, advertising the event, in gas stations, grocery stores, senior centers, etc..., any location where he could hang one. Within a few weeks, it was a huge success, drawing 250 people or more to his 3 hour, Thursday night dances. He charged a cover charge of $8 per person, which included snack food, coffee and soft drinks, which he purchased in bulk to keep the overhead expenses down to a minimum. The American Legion gave him a break on the rental price as well because he rented the hall on a night when it was unlikely to be rented and he was renting it for the entire year. Additionally, anyone that wanted something stronger to drink, mixed drinks, beer, wine..., could order it from the adjacent American Legion Bar, which provided them with a lot of added income every Thursday night. Donny did this very successfully for more than a decade.

Once you've become established, word of mouth helps keep those audiences attending, however, without additional promotion, those audiences will eventually die off and you'll be out of a job. This is an ongoing job that requires a lot of effort 365 days a year. In order to accomplish some of this, I utilized National Pen Company https://www.pens.com/us/ where I purchased pens, calendars, thank you cards, and other neat, advertising tools, all of which were very, very effective. For just a couple hundred dollars you can reach out to hundreds of potential customers using direct mail and targeting your audience.

Jim, don't get discouraged - you CAN do this. Guys like UD, DNJ, and others are more than willing to help you in this endeavor.

Good luck,

Gary cool
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PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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#507344 - 01/01/23 09:29 AM Re: Live playing? [Re: zuki]
cgiles Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 6703
Loc: Roswell,GA/USA
Gary, you DO realize Jim's post is from 20 years ago.
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"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]

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#507345 - 01/01/23 09:53 AM Re: Live playing? [Re: zuki]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15556
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
Just figured it out, Chas. Something went nuts on my PC, and it was bringing up all the oldest post in reverse order. I had to readjust my settings to get this back to normal.

Happy New Year, Chas,

Gary cool
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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#507346 - 01/01/23 10:31 AM Re: Live playing? [Re: zuki]
cgiles Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 6703
Loc: Roswell,GA/USA
And a happy new year to you. Hope your health takes an upturn in the new year; mine is going downhill at a rapid rate. I'm starting to enjoy listening to music more than playing it.

chas
_________________________
"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]

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#507347 - 01/01/23 11:41 AM Re: Live playing? [Re: zuki]
Steve A Offline
Member

Registered: 02/08/08
Posts: 388
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
About THIRTY years ago I was asked to perform inside a recreation park basketball gymnasium.

As I played my acoustic the only "audience" I played to were 3-4 kids on bicycles & tricycles doing circles through the whole performance from the back of the court up to me & my guitar.

I brought the house down that day...
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Steve A http://www.stevealtonian.com
Korg Pa4x 76...TASCAM DP24 & DP24 SD. Studio One 6 Professional with a FADER PORT 16. 1969 Yamaha FG-300 Yamaha Red Label Nippon Gakki. Breedlove American CME 25. Neumann TLM-49

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