How is it done?
Back in my band days we tried our hardest to get into venues but never really worked out in our favor.
So what did we do wrong? How do you get a completely unknown band to play venues?
Do you mean “how do you get venues to book a completely unknown band”?
Lots of work. Phone calls, mailed CD, emails, networking. Begging, badgering, pleading, used-car-salesman level persuasion, etc.
One factor that always helped me to book bands into places was being able to legitimately say “We played Club X the other week for 2 nights and brought in x people. I can get you in touch with the manager there if you’d like to verify that.”
Club owners want to know that the band is going to bring people in to the club. If you can show that, then they’ll want you there.
Nowadays, myspace and Facebook can help with that. A local band in a city of 1 million with 40,000 Facebook friends is gonna make a club owner think “hmm, some of them are gonna show up to see these guys”.
First of all YOU TUBE YOU TUBE YOU TUBE! I follow several talented people who may or may not make it, but enjoy following them all the same.
Be willing to start small and stoop that low.
MC Hammer used to sell cassettes out of his trunk while he was a bat boy for the Oakland A’s. (Obviously I don’t endorse the MC Hammer business plan, lol.)
Justin Bieber used to play to 12 people at a time in amusement parks during the pouring rain. (And before that he was stone cold busking because his mom couldn’t afford to feed them without the local foodbank.)
You have it or you don’t.