Opener Indie.
For all indie artist and bands an important leap in their career is to get a big kickstarting opportunity. Your talent is immediately noticed if a video goes viral or you get a chance to work with someone who has already done something big in his career. You can climb the ladder of success if you manage to get your name out to new listeners and larger audience by being an opener for a national touring artist. It is not impossible to achieve this without a booking agent or a manager. You don’t necessarily need contacts in the industry to make this happen. Here are some helpful tips to achieve this.
Keep trying and you will get it. You will find, if you seek. It’s hard but not impossible to get an opportunity to work with a big star. As I have written in my blog Single or Album? a lot of problem comes from simply following or ignoring the advertiser’s advice. We are naturally programmed to believe that big is better and in this, we tend to ignore smaller achievements that we can or could have made. Internet, social networking and all the online tools available today make life much easier for indie artists in a lot of ways. If you think that you are suitable for the position of a drummer or an opener for a band coming to your town, you are probably right. Walk-in to the venue directly and present a demo of your work to the event manager. Or write a grammatically correct e-mail to them. Before doing this, prepare your pitch. Find pointers on the web. When you send an e-mail to a booker make sure you add a link to your website. Presentability is as important as your lyrics and instruments. So take this seriously; it helps you in getting the spot that many others are eyeing simultaneously.
Actively look for a major artist to come to your city if there is one touring your state. It is not a good idea to contact them for opening in another city unless you have fans there. Local organisers prefer artists from the same city as they are aware of your local popularity through your professional bio, and they need you to attract your fans to the show and warm up the rest of the crowd before the main performance starts. In return, you get a chance to share a big stage and perform before a bigger audience. Your demo will decide if you stand a chance to be the opener in your city.
Do spend some money in getting a professional biodata made for yourself. A professional bio is a specific kind of bio which every indie artist must have. Unless you have one, don’t waste your time in trying to book yourself as an opener for a famous artist. You can also learn online about making a professional bio and make it yourself if you are sure about your writing skills.
Today, it is very important for an artist to have his own website. Getting booked as an opener is going to be very hard to achieve without it. Your website is a proof of your authenticity as a professional artist and it is probably going to be the first place where the bookers will try to get information about you. If you have no idea about creating and maintaining a website, there are companies like Hyper Effects that can help you connect with your target audience efficiently. Hyper Effects is one stop for your website, marketing and cyber development requirements. It helps you to create a website to display your talent or sell your indie music or indie art. Their websites are easy to navigate. However, your professional bio would be required even for the website. So get that and your latest videos, pictures, and a link of your videos on YouTube and other social networking sites, to provide for your website.
If you plan to form a band, make sure that it is a strong one. Your band is your identity as an indie artist and you cannot afford to go wrong with your identity. Take your time in making decisions, but make sure they are right, at least at that point in time!
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