The People

The building blocks of any scene are the people in it. The talent, events organizers, and anyone and everyone who gets involved to help out, show support, or show up at events. You can't have a scene without all the crucial elements - mainly people, talent, skills, equipment, and support - so building excitement and getting people involved is a major priority. What it comes down to is building community.

Build a Scene

Help build a scene that your part of. Play shows with bands/artists that are in a similar genre. The idea being that their audience will be exposed to you and visa versa. It’s always better to play shows with similar bands/artists. If your extremely different than the band/artist that just went on before you, chances are their audience is going to leave as soon as you start playing your first song. Put on and promote your own shows with bands in similar genres. If you’re an Indie band promo an “Indie Night” with other Indie bands.

The difference between a scene and a few scattered struggling events is found in connecting with others and supporting each other, and making opportunities for people to get involved. You could have one event with a moderate attendance or, you could connect with band/artist so that the events have more variety, and the bands/artist have more places to play. Then, if you promote each others' projects and events, and encourage new events, you will have a connected growing scene. You will all benefit from the fellowship of others doing the same things you are doing, and you will all get more results from your collective hard work. And people will support you - your audience reach will stretch farther and wider, and the media and the general public will take you more seriously. Instead of a handful of people putting on one event you might find that your resources soon stretch to 300+ people who support what you are doing. The foundation to build any scene is based on networking and building an audience. Everyone benefits from doing this. The more cross promotion you do the faster you will gain fans.

Name Drop

Part of building a strong scene is making friends with other bands who are similar, and have healthy communication with them. If a club pays you and treats you right, tell them about it. Similarly, if they do you wrong, let them know as well. Always help promote anyone one who has helped you along the way. YOUR RECORDING STUDIO :), clubs, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Building an Audience

There are two aspects to building audience: (1) promoting, to draw new people in, and (2) keeping the people who come, coming back, and bringing their friends. There are three types of audience: (1) your supporters in media, (2) your supporters in the industry, and (3) your fan base. Supporters in media can be defined as all radio shows, TV shows, magazines, newspapers, websites, etc., who support what you are doing and are on your mailing list. When you promote to these people, often your promotional efforts are magnified as they pass on your events info through listings, radio spots, interviews, feature stories and announcements. Supporters in the industry can be defined as any and all businesses, nonprofit organizations, or people who have something to give who are supportive of your projects and are on your mailing list. In your immediate team, you may also have volunteers and a street team. Your fan base is the reason you put on the events - the people you hope to reach out to, with your music, and message.

Once you have a community, keep building it by having fun, staying real, entertaining, and always showing love to people. Keep it fresh. Create opportunities for people to get involved, and be prepared for growth. Keep promoting and building excitement. Remember, it's not about you, its about the people that come to your events, and what you give to them. The people are the reason you do the events, and without them, there would be no scene. If you don't reach out and touch them where they are at, why should they come? Give them something they want and need. A fun time, cool music, free stuff, and real people. Keep them wanting to come back, and bring their friends with them.

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