Five Strategies To Get More Shows Out Of Town

One of the most common questions I get is “How do we get more shows out of town?” Or “Do you know who books in [insert city]?” So, assuming you’ve taken the time to establish your live show and build your fanbase locally, you’re likely ready to take the next step to get some shows an hour or two, or maybe even three or four, away from home.

Here are the top five strategies I would recommend for getting your band (or act) booked out of your hometown.

1. create good relationships with your local promoters & talent buyers

   A lot of artists get so eager to play out of town that they don’t take time to create relationships with the movers and shakers in their own hometown scene. Keep an eye on the national packages that come through your area; not the big leagues 1,000+ cap rooms, but the shows that are at the ~300-500 cap rooms. Those shows are most likely booked by promoters who are themselves connected on a more regional scale.

   A lot of times those promoters might even be part of a larger agency that books in your region. Do a little research, and make a good impression locally. Be on time, play well, bring a crowd, and treat people well. Once you’ve done that, you can ask those promoters for help. Even if they can’t get you a show, they can help point you in the right direction. If they are part of a larger network, they can even vouch for you directly, which greatly improves your chances of landing a solid show outside of your hometown.
   

2. NETWORK WITH OTHER BANDS & ARTISTS (SHOW SWAPS)

   At some point as you build your draw locally, you’re going to play shows with bands from out of town. If you put on a great show and draw a ton of people out to make a successful show, that band that’s touring from out of town is going to remember it. Strike up conversation, and ask them about their hometown scene; who the best promoters are, what are the best venues, etc, and share the same information about your scene. If you maintain and develop that relationship, you can rest assured that the next time that band comes back through your town, they’ll reach out to you. Then you can do the same to them to get a foot into their home market.

   A couple of important things to keep in mind: When you’re swapping shows, be sure that you don’t oversaturate your home market. You don’t want to have a local show every month just because you’re trading shows. You want to make sure each show you help put on for your homies from out of town is going to crush. Another note: Wherever the show is (whether it’s a hometown show for you, or you’re playing out of town) make sure that the out of town band is not headlining. Best practice is to sandwich between locals.

   One more thing: Some bands have agents that book their shows. Some bands have managers who decide their touring schedules. As much as they might want to show swap, they might not be able to. If they say it’s up to their team, just say ok and let it rest. Don’t take it personal. If nothing else, use that as an opportunity to ask about who their team is, and how they got the team together. Always learn!
   

3. RESEARCH, GOOGLE & SEND SOME EMAILS

   There are three parts to this that are very important.

   1. RESEARCH: First, find all the venues in your local area that host shows somewhere close to your genre. Keep tabs on the shows that they host. Definitely go to them if you can, but even if you can’t, pay attention to the bands that are on those shows. If there are bands that you know aren’t local to you, do some research on them. Find their socials and figure out where they’re from. Then, look at the other shows they’re playing. If they’re on a tour, you’ll be able to find the flyer and write down the names of the cities & venues they’re going to. If they’re just expanding regionally (like you want to), you’ll be able to find the sick hometown gigs they play. Again, write down the name of the venues.

   2. GOOGLE: With the notes you took during your research, now we Google. Find those venues and search through websites (or sometimes Facebook pages) to figure out who the point of contact is. Sometimes it will be the venue itself, but a lot of times it’ll be an up-and-coming promoter. If you can’t find the promoter information on the venue’s website, you can almost certainly find it on Facebook via an event. IMPORTANT: If there isn’t an event page, or information that’s easy to find, you probably shouldn’t work with that venue/promoter. If they aren’t organized and doing everything they can to make sure the shows they put on are easy to find, they aren’t worth working with.

      Once you have contact info, it’s time to send some emails.

   3. EMAILS: You want to make it as easy as possible for the promoter/talent buyer to say yes to your pitch. If you’re a band with zero history in the new market and/or you have little to no metrics to support your pitch, YOU are going to have to do more work to make the show happen. A promoter wants to make money (or at the very least not lose money). If it’s not immediately clear to them that you’re worth their time, your job is to save them time.

      Here’s a quick example of something I might write up:

      “Hey [name if you have it], my name is Chris. I play guitar in a post-hardcore band from Cincinnati, OH called Softspoken [hyperlink your band name to your best video]”.

      Over the past six months, we’ve been pulling ~100 [be honest here] people to our local shows, and we’re now looking to branch out. To prepare for that, we’ve been doing some marketing the past few months in [CITY], and have had a lot of requests to play there.

      I was curious if you have have [date] available to set up a show?

      I’ve already reached out to some bands in your area, and have this lineup confirmed if the date is available. [insert lineup].

      Thanks for your time!”

      This is important: DON’T MENTION MONEY UNTIL YOU GET A RESPONSE. You don’t want to ask, ask, ask. Check if the date is available. The promoter/talent buyer might respond and tell you how they handle payout. If they don’t, you’ll want to ask in your next email. If it’s your first time playing there, just say you’re ok with a door deal. If you don’t have numbers, or an agent, or a label, you have to prove yourself… just like you have to in your home market.

      It’s also important to not lie about anything in your email. You don’t have to have a local lineup set, but if nothing else mention that you know some local bands in the area and name drop the ones you were going to contact.

      If you don’t do marketing to build an audience in a new market before you go there, you should. We can help with that.

      It’s ok to follow up a week after your first email if you don’t get a response. I’d even follow up 2-3 times before just giving up. If you get a “no”, or if the date isn’t available, I would ask how far ahead of time they typically prefer to book. It’ll help you get a hold on dates you want in the future.
      

4. UTILIZE ONLINE BOOKING PLATFORMS

   There are a handful of great online platforms that can help you find shows, or venues. In general I would put more effort into building direct contacts with promoters or talent buyers at venues and avoid using a third-party app or platform to book for you. The options below are ways to find the contacts you need so you can still pitch yourself.

   1. Facebook Groups: If you haven’t tried to utilize Facebook groups yet, you absolutely should. DIY Tour Postings has helped me find shows more times than I can count. If you also just search “DIY Shows [City Name]” on Facebook, you’ll likely find a group focused on booking shows in specific cities or regions. Be sure to give as much as you take!

   2. Booking Agents Directory: The Booking Agents Directory contains contacts for over 2,000 promoters and agents across 200 countries. This is a paid option, but it can save you some time by cutting out the Research and Google steps above.

   3. Sonicbids: Another directory, this one website-based, Sonicbids is a platform where you can create an EPK and then pitch it to any gigs listed on their system. I’ve personally never used this platform, but I know some people who have and have seen great results.

   4. LiveTrigger: Similar to Sonicbids, LiveTrigger is a platform that allows you to search for shows based on region and specific keywords. I also have never used this platform. It does have a free sign up option, though.
      

5. GET A BOOKING AGENT

   I could write an entire blog post on how to get an agent (and I probably will eventually), but the ultimate step in getting shows out of town is to have an agent do that work for you. In my experience, a lot of bands try to get agents before they’re ready for one. I know that booking takes a lot of time and is difficult. To drop a hard truth: The reason it’s difficult is because your band/brand doesn’t have enough weight behind it to convince a promoter that you’re worth their time.

   If you’re having a hard time booking shows on your own, you aren’t ready for an agent. But, just for the sake of sharing knowledge, here are a couple of important things to know about booking agents:

   1. What a booking agent does: Typically three things. (1) They book your solo tours/runs out of state. (2) They pitch you to festivals. (3) They pitch you to larger tours that are looking for opening support. Keep in mind that agents find success through building connections and relationships. That said, they will not jeapordize their relationships with other agents / players in the industry just to pitch your band to a tour that you don’t fit on. Just because they can pitch you, doesn’t always mean they will or even should.

   2. How a booking agent gets paid: Industry standard is 10-15% of whatever payout they secure for you. Most agents will invoice for their percentage as soon as a tour has finished.

   3. How to get a booking agent: I’m sure you can guess what’s coming: You have to prove that you’re worth it. You know that booking is hard and takes time. An agent can’t build demand for your band/brand - YOU have to do that. All an agent can do is take advantage of their connections to get better deals / opportunities for you to help enhance the hype that already exists. If you play out of town to 20 people, an agent isn’t going to magically put 100 people at the next show. Again, that’s on you.

      I generally recommend that bands book themselves out of town as much as possible and build up some tour history. Keep track of where you’ve been, and how many people came out. When you’re at a point where you know you can reasonably bring out 30-40 people to any given market, and you have clear demand in specific markets, then it makes sense to reach out to an agency. Start small. Find someone who’s growing and grow with them.
      

WRAPPING UP: Hopefully this breakdown gives you some ideas for how you can approach booking more shows out of your home market. I’m sure you’ve heard that music is all about “who you know” - and that’s absolutely true. Take time to network, meet people, help people, and you’ll see a return that helps you as well in the end.

If you need any help with growing the hype behind your band/brand, drop us a line. We’d love to help you build your numbers before you start pitching to new venues / promoters.