It starts with music not how many local gigs you play

Written by Jason Euler  |  March 18, 2020

The biggest misconception I see in the local music scene and where so many artists start down the wrong path is the thought process that playing shows comes before making music. Not just making music but learning how to perfect your craft and distribute your music so it finds the right ears. Too many times I see so many Artists thinking they’re making huge progress playing a ton of local gigs only to see that the following year they’re still in the same place. Don’t get me wrong for some Artists that’s all they’re looking for! This article is for the Artist who has aspirations to play Festivals around the globe one day and wants to take their music career as far as they possibly can. While gigs are great and your local peers will be sure to hype you up and tell you that you’re doing big things the truth is you’re going to be spinning your wheels never progressing beyond your local market.

The goal is to become an Artist for so many but they fail to produce Art or fine tune their craft to produce great Art. Great Art aka great music is the key. Honing your craft and becoming a quality producer will take you further than anything. If you can tie that art to a great brand then boom you have the formula for success and growth. It starts with the music though, without that foundation the framework you build with a brand is useless. You can build a brand through local gigs and playing shows but at the end of the day you have no Value to offer people beyond the 1 hour you get in front of them at a show. When you create music or art you have so much more value you can give to people. This allows people to develop close ties to a brand or person because they appreciate and respect the art form that is being created.

It’s easy to get sucked into this path and this way of thinking through the validation that comes through from a local community especially one that has a strong local scene. At the end of the day though those people no matter how supportive can’t propel you to the next level if that’s what you seek. You have to propel yourself to the next level and create art and figure out how to brand yourself. The more time you spend preparing sets, networking to get booked at the local bar, going out to every show cause that’s the only way you think you’ll get booked, and so on… The less time you’ll spend honing your craft, developing a cohesive idea around the music, and branding yourself and your music. We have limited time to chase our dreams. If you truly want to chase this then create, build yourself, and build a brand.

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