If you’re thinking of starting a new band, there are a few things you should know first to help you prepare. In this post, we’ll be covering some helpful tips from how to choose the right equipment you will need, to how to build awareness of your band.
Keep reading if you want to find out more.
Choosing Your Bandmates
It could be the case that you already have a clear idea when it comes to choosing your bandmates, but if not then consider some of the following points. These could be people who share your interests in music, long-term friends, or co-workers. Whoever you choose, it’s a good idea if you all have similar tastes in music and can agree on the type of music you want to produce. You should also be able to get on well on a personal as well as professional level, to help reduce the chances of clashing personalities. The people you choose will, of course, need to be able to bring something to the team in terms of their talents. So, you’ll have to consider what instruments or vocals they could perform.
Equipment For Your Band
You will also need to equip your band with the right equipment too. The type of equipment you will need can vary depending on the music you’ll be performing, and whether or not the venues you play at supply the equipment for you. It’s a good idea to make sure you have your own supply of equipment should you need to use it. The type of equipment you will need includes:
• Instruments
• Main speakers
• Amplifiers
• Mixers
• Microphone and stand
• Monitors
These constitute the standard pieces of equipment you might need but there could be other things you might need too. Be sure to research ahead of gigs the type of equipment you will need to ensure you’re fully prepared. You should also research whether there are specialist pieces of equipment you could use that would help to improve the quality of sound you produce. As you carry out more gigs and get to know your sound better when performing, you can invest in new pieces of equipment as you go along.
Getting Your Music Out There
The best way to get your music out to the masses is to use streaming platforms where you can list albums and singles you have produced. You could also consider selling physical copies of your albums such as vinyl records for people to collect. Make sure to feature your music on your social media, your website, and other music-related sites to help get recognition for your band and reach more people. Reach out to local and national radio stations and newspapers to see if you can be featured by them. Engage with your community and take up opportunities for gigs as much as you can to help make yourselves better known.
Going On Tour
To help your music reach a more far-reaching audience and engage with your fans, you should take your band on tour. You will need to plan ahead to decide the locations you want to visit and whether you want to take the tour nationally or internationally. You should conduct research into your audience before deciding to go on tour by carrying out surveys or social media polls. This can help you get an idea of the demographics of your fans and where they are mostly based. It will help you decide which locations you should take your tour next. You will either need to buy a van with which to travel between locations or hire one, as you will need to carry all your equipment. You will also need to reach out to venues to organise gigs. If you have a manager for your band, they will be responsible for overseeing making arrangements for your tour. It’s likely that you will spend a long amount of time travelling between locations whilst you’re on tour with your band, so you will need to find ways to pass time. OnlineCasinos has listed the best payout casinos for you to use whilst on tour to keep you entertained.
Branding your Band
To help create a following for your band you need to come up with branding and marketing. This is a lot easier to do with the benefits of modern-day social media, which also has the benefit of being mostly free to use to advertise your band. Make sure you’re using your social media to produce engaging content that will help to build up your followers and reach a wider audience. Consider using a number of different social media platforms and interact with your followers. Once you build your following you’ll be able to learn more about the kind of audience you have for your band and then tailor your content toward what you think they would like. You will, of course, need to come up with a name for your brand, as well as a logo, and ideally a unique, identifiable sound to your music that will stand out to people.
Invest In Merchandise
Once you’re happy with your branding, you can begin investing in merchandise for your band. Merchandise is one of the best ways to help make sure you can build funds for your band, which can either be reinvested back into it, used to cover the costs of touring or taken as profit. The type of merchandise you choose to sell for your band can consist of clothing such as T-shirts, hats such as beanies or bucket hats, sweatbands, hoodies, and backpacks. You could also sell stationery, stickers, pins and badges, and signed albums.
Have Goals In Place For Your Band
Perhaps most importantly, you should have goals and achievements in mind for your band and a vision for where you see yourselves going. You don’t have to be incredibly ambitious with your goals, you could just be happy with a small but loyal following and perform locally. However, it’s also fine to dream big and want to create a big name for yourselves. Whichever direction you see yourselves heading in, make sure you celebrate your achievements and remain focused on how to get to your next target.
