Finding the Fans
Last week, I was looking at the tour dates and locations for a popular music artist. It was pretty clear to me that her manager just booked her at large venues in the most popular cities in the country. LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and so on. You've probably heard of most of them. This is common with big name acts.
My question: are the big cities where a lot of the fans actually live?
Sure, it's not a stretch to say that if you're a popular musician with a loyal fan base, you'll draw a larger crowd in big cities, simply because more people live there. And people on the fringes, in smaller cities, will likely make the trek to big cities to attend a show.
I still think the big-city tour schedule just assumes an even distribution of fans. I also don't think that's always a safe assumption. It's an easy one, because it means the manager booking the tour dates doesn't have to make any effort to figure out where the fans actually live.
Imagine you're a big musical act...not the Rolling Stones, but let's say you've sold a couple hundred thousand albums. You're comfortable enough to have options. On tour, you skip Boise, ID, because less than 10,000 people live there. And that's your right. But...what if there are 500 really dedicated fans who love your music? What if they really want to see you perform live? What do you think it would mean to them if you performed in their town? Isn't it worth figuring out where the dedicated fans live and going to them?
Maybe big name acts are worn out, tired in their old age, or maybe most of them don't have to care. I can buy that possibility.
But I still think most of them don't know where their fans actually live. Maybe there are tools for this for bands with MySpace pages, that let you analyze where clusters of fans live based on their location. But not everyone is on MySpace. And it's not clear from looking at those numbers who the dedicated, passionate fans are, versus the occasional listener.
So, if you're a smaller act just getting off the ground, here's a suggestion if you really want to thrill your fans. I'm not a touring manager, and I've never been on tour as a musician, so this is untested, but I think it could work if done correctly.
Record every live performance you do. How you do it is up to you, but it can be as simple as hooking a simple mic up to a Sony Digital Voice Recorder, recording the whole set as a single MP3, and then splitting it up into separate tracks later with a free program like Audacity.
In the middle of your set, tell the audience that you're making a live recording of your set, and that it will be available for free download or purchase in a few day's time. Tell those interested to sign up on a list by giving you their email address. (I'm assuming you're not playing to a stadium full of people, but in a much smaller venue.) When the album is ready, you say, you'll send everyone an email with a link to where they can download/purchase it.
Follow through on your promise. Ask them if you can contact them again in the future if you come back on tour through their town, or if you release a new album. Let them opt-in to receiving relevant news about you. Save this list of emails in a database, noting the location where you got each email address. It can be an Excel file or Google doc spreadsheet, but use something you are capable of managing, and don't lose it. On future tours, update it with new entries. Make note of the people who showed up a second time.
It's an imperfect approach. I know that for acts with a minuscule fan base, this tactic isn't worth the trouble, and for quickly growing acts, it would quickly become unwieldy. And it's difficult to say what portion of a dedicated fan base would actually take you up on your offer. But I think it would help smaller bands out, because it helps engage them directly with their fans, and later, when you plan your next tour, you have permission to contact your fans to let them know you're coming.
And if nothing else, at least you know where they are.
My question: are the big cities where a lot of the fans actually live?
Sure, it's not a stretch to say that if you're a popular musician with a loyal fan base, you'll draw a larger crowd in big cities, simply because more people live there. And people on the fringes, in smaller cities, will likely make the trek to big cities to attend a show.
I still think the big-city tour schedule just assumes an even distribution of fans. I also don't think that's always a safe assumption. It's an easy one, because it means the manager booking the tour dates doesn't have to make any effort to figure out where the fans actually live.
Imagine you're a big musical act...not the Rolling Stones, but let's say you've sold a couple hundred thousand albums. You're comfortable enough to have options. On tour, you skip Boise, ID, because less than 10,000 people live there. And that's your right. But...what if there are 500 really dedicated fans who love your music? What if they really want to see you perform live? What do you think it would mean to them if you performed in their town? Isn't it worth figuring out where the dedicated fans live and going to them?
Maybe big name acts are worn out, tired in their old age, or maybe most of them don't have to care. I can buy that possibility.
But I still think most of them don't know where their fans actually live. Maybe there are tools for this for bands with MySpace pages, that let you analyze where clusters of fans live based on their location. But not everyone is on MySpace. And it's not clear from looking at those numbers who the dedicated, passionate fans are, versus the occasional listener.
So, if you're a smaller act just getting off the ground, here's a suggestion if you really want to thrill your fans. I'm not a touring manager, and I've never been on tour as a musician, so this is untested, but I think it could work if done correctly.
Record every live performance you do. How you do it is up to you, but it can be as simple as hooking a simple mic up to a Sony Digital Voice Recorder, recording the whole set as a single MP3, and then splitting it up into separate tracks later with a free program like Audacity.
In the middle of your set, tell the audience that you're making a live recording of your set, and that it will be available for free download or purchase in a few day's time. Tell those interested to sign up on a list by giving you their email address. (I'm assuming you're not playing to a stadium full of people, but in a much smaller venue.) When the album is ready, you say, you'll send everyone an email with a link to where they can download/purchase it.
Follow through on your promise. Ask them if you can contact them again in the future if you come back on tour through their town, or if you release a new album. Let them opt-in to receiving relevant news about you. Save this list of emails in a database, noting the location where you got each email address. It can be an Excel file or Google doc spreadsheet, but use something you are capable of managing, and don't lose it. On future tours, update it with new entries. Make note of the people who showed up a second time.
It's an imperfect approach. I know that for acts with a minuscule fan base, this tactic isn't worth the trouble, and for quickly growing acts, it would quickly become unwieldy. And it's difficult to say what portion of a dedicated fan base would actually take you up on your offer. But I think it would help smaller bands out, because it helps engage them directly with their fans, and later, when you plan your next tour, you have permission to contact your fans to let them know you're coming.
And if nothing else, at least you know where they are.