TOURING/WORKING Rhyming live or 9-5? Punch the gas pedal or punch the clock?

Okay my last post I covered the topic of spending money to tour etc. etc. This post I'm going to get into details of ways to stay on the road, keep touring, without going totally broke.

CAN YOU KEEP A JOB?
-Double edged sword. Hard to tour when you work, hard to tour when you don't have funds.
-Day labor. This is a place where you can go in every morning and they will set you up with work that day. You can come and go as you please. Now the pay is low and work is tough. I just keep my head down and work hard while I picture playing a sold out show and a green room full of girls. They pay at the end of each day. You can work 6 days a week in prep for tour. Leave, come back and go right back to work with them.
-Serving tables. This Is a good option because the pay is really good and most restaurant are pretty cool about letting you work short period of time. so I'll Tell them that I only need six months of work because I'm going on a music door and usually they are pretty cool about it. sometimes They let you come back to work when you get back, if not there's always plenty of restaurants, good thing about it is you only work 4 to 5 hours a day so you have plenty of time to prep for tool
-Check Craigslist for temp work.
-Look into big event centers. They usually always need people and you can pick which events you want months in advance. Easily working around tour.

CROWDFUNDING:
Crowd funding is a slippery slope for me. whereas I do believe it can be done right I am not really supportive of people that use Kickstarter just to get money to tour. That said this blog is not for telling you what to do or not to do, Its to provide info for you, so as to maneuver more affective lay. It can work very well and people can make a lot of money doing now if you're going to do it please offer some sort of actual reward

KICKSTARTER.
The big dog. The champ, however keep in mind you must raise your entire goal or it collects no money from anyone.

GO FUND ME.
Easy to set up. Collect even if goal is not reached. Social networking integration.

INDIEGOGO http://www.indiegogo.com/
Similar to the others however its allows you to collect worldwide.

Here is a website with a list of 50 crowd funding sites. So go google around til you find a suitor.
http://marketingmoxie.biz/the-big-list-of-crowdfunding-sites/


IM GOING TO SAVE "how to make money on tour" for my next post as I've recently put a lot of time into studying the topic and creating new dough opportunities.

HAPPY TOURING.
FAN TO FAM

Location Los Angeles

FUNNY MUSIC MONEY

FUNNY TOUR MONEY
How to pay for tours. "Pay for tours"? You may ask. And I say. "YES, PAY TO TOUR"!

I know that a surprising amount of people feel very entitled. I'm not quite sure if it's ego or just not being educated but I find that the entitlement that musicians feel is usually very unrealistic. So here is the truth you are probably going to have to pay to tour. It came as a shock to me that most musicians that I've worked with really expect to make money touring straight out of the gate.

All musicians have mixed feelings about what it's okay to spend money on. Is it okay to pay to play? Is it okay to pay to tour? Look the thing of it is, as a musician you're a business, and any business needs money to operate.

PAY DUES notice the first word here. PAY.
Not a whole lot of artists want to come out and admit, hey look I paid for this career, so I guess it makes sense that most young artists believe what they see so they think that all of these musicians are out there making big money.

This is a big part of why I think this blog is so important,realistically most musicians are actively and purposely covering up all of the difficulty endured through their career. When all musicians only put off the persona of the rock star,it's no surprise that these young musicians don't even understand what paying dues means.

Long story short make as much money as you can, save as much money as you can, and invest is much money as you can into your music career. In my next post I will give advice on how to make money and not give up touring.


FAN2FAM

Location:Los Angeles

COMMITMENT!!

If you are reading my blog, or any of the many other DIY tour blogs out there and you are thinking to yourself "shit this guy aint telling me shit. I already know all that" and you are still wondering why you are not booking massive sell out tours then I have a very plain very real answer for you.  YOU ARE NOT  COMMITTED !

If you are wondering if there are some super hush hush tricks that the pros don't want to share, there isn't.  There are two types of musicians that have made it big.. 

1. People that have rock solid commitment, that REALLY pay dues. Dues that most musicians cant even imagine let alone pull off. People that drag themselves out of the mud time and time again and keep fighting even when everyone and everything is against them. People that upon realizing that you don't just go on a few us tours and become famous and still get in the van time and time again.. 

2. People with rich parents. 

WORK!

oops, probably not the best way to promote my blog haha. On a serious note though the purpose of the blog is not to provide some secret answer, but to take every little thing I learn along the way and share it so that things are easier for you.  I am going to try and provide more specific details of things you can do to make touring so much easier. But on top of that Im trying to raise awareness to fan to fam, because the more money that FANTOFAM

raises the more free resources we can provide to the musicians. We are very close to being able to offer roadside assistance for touring artists completely free, and we already can certainly help.

NEED TO SELL MERCH? HAVE NO MONEY?

NO FEAR, FAN TO FAM IS HERE with ''UTAH BAND MERCH" a website that will allow  every musician in UTAH to sell merch to their fans all in one place.  What makes it really great is that whether you already have tons of merch, or have none at all and no money we can still get your merch out there for your supporters. For those of you who have MERCH and would just like to have another outlet to sell we will post your items absolutely free.

However, if you are just getting started, a new band, or just a struggling artist with no merch in hand, we will offer you as much help as you need.  We can do anything from just selling your merch, with you shipping directly to fans, to storing merch and using our shipping service, all the way to designing, printing, and shipping directly to your fans with NO UPFRONT COST to you.  FAN TO FAM is dedicated to helping musicians every step of the way. So if you would like to get a jump start on your "merch game"  contact us at:
fantofam@gmail.com

A WHOLE NEW GAME PLAN

After years of touring the same city is same then use same types of shows and having pretty much the same outcome I have realized that is there must be other ways. 

I'm going to go over a few ways for you to reach fans without the typical use of playing the same washed up shows. 

FOCUS ON FANS OF A DIFFERENT GENRE: 

easy. book as many shows outside of your genre as possible. It does not matter what kind of music. If your a rapper, play rock shows, dubstep shows, jazz shows, raves, bluegrass festivals etc. you can usually find a way to connect with the fans such as freestyle while the band they came to see plays the beat live. 

MASSIVELY EXPAND YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE : 

We tend to narrow our target audience down and think that you will be wasting money or time by spending energy contacting people out of your comfort genre.  This is a very very big mistake, one that if changed can change your career. out of the people who have supported me as I tour, whether it be booking, supporting shows, giving me a place to sleep, buying merch, anything I would say 97 percent of them are not ''hip hop fans'' (my genre).  Support will be given for many reasons, so just treat everyone nicely, talk to everyone, and offer your art and heart to everyone. 

IF MUSIC DOESN'T DO IT FOR THEM, GIVE THEM SOMETHING MORE: 

Some of my biggest supporters not only are out of my genre, but don't even particularly have a music bug at all. They may just be supporting because they are excited to see someone pursue a dream. Lately I have been trying to come up with new ways to reach out to them besides the typical band merch that I load onto every one of my best supporters.  Be sure to take photos with them, it might mean more to them than a cd or shirt that they wont listen to or wear. The truth is a lot of them just want you to see them as a friend. So be sure to treat them that way, not like a fan. If you have the means pick up a tiny little item to give those most important supporters along the tour, even if its a 50 cent item. 

MARKET EVERYWHERE YOU GO. EVERY DAY.  TO EVERYONE YOU SEE: 

Pretty self explanitory, I have been on tour with a guy who literally promotes himself to every person that he comes within reach of every day, every situation. Eating breakfast at a diner, and he would go talk to every table. Maybe thats a little much for you, but just make sure you always have STICKERS, BUSINESS CARDS, and FLYERS, every day, everywhere you go. And DO NOT BE shy with it. Just talk to everyone you meet, tell them what you do, hand them a card, then immediately make it about them. Find something that you two have in common, DO NOT just talk about your music the whold conversation. 

CAN'T BRING LARGE CROWDS TO YOU?  GO TO THE LARGE CROWDS:

Lets be honest, most of you are not packing venues nationwide. INFACT most of you probably have a hard time getting people to come out to most shows on your tour.  So ask yourself this, Would performing in front of 15 people at YOUR OWN SHOW, THAT YOU ARE HEADLINING be more affective than showing up at an event that already promises 1000s of people, even if to only pass out flyers?  NO. Every day in every city some sort of event takes place that brings together huge crowds, so instead of playing the same washed up weekly's, open mics' and empty bars, go the the people. Really want to take it to the next level? Show up where there are public crowds and put on an impromptu live show. Whether it be acoustic guitar, or a small PA that you set up and rap with. 

REMEMBER DO NOT BE AGRESSIVE BE AVAILABLE!!!.

  Don't be like those guys selling cds on venice beach or vegas blvd. Forcing your music on people, Just be polite, hand them a flyer, tell them about the tour, make sure you repeat your name a few times for good measure, then switch it up and ask about them.  

THERE ARE 7 BILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, AND IM SURE IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT YOU COULD FIND A WAY TO CONNECT WITH EVERY ONE.  MUSIC IS A SMALL PART OF WHAT YOUR TRYING TO PUSH AS A WHOLE.  CREATIVITY IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN POSSESS TO CAPTURE NEW CROWDS, BE CREATIVE, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, AND YES, WE BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN FIND SUCCESS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS!!!!!

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Useful resources

Click the link below for useful resources

http://fantofam.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/useful-resources/

Once you land a show, your work is not done

Once you land a show, your work is not done.

HOW TO WRITE A TOUR PRESS RELEASE

The first thing you want to worry about is format. I am going to lay out a very simple format, with some tips on content itself, however things can be  changed around for your own press release. This is not an exact science, and I am including some of the most basic things I have learned. So I recommend using this as only part of the advice you take in. Take a minute to google around for tips so you can create a release that fits you.

It should look something like this...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (with release date)  - this you will always add first.

CONTACT INFORMATION.  (add your managers or whoever is doing the handling of press here)

HEADLINE

i personally like to center my headline. however it works just fine putting everything to the left. Your headline should be simple, bold, eye catching, and to the point.

PARAGRAPH 1

The first paragraph will contain the basic tour information. WHEN, WHERE, WHO, HOW LONG, etc. However do add your own flair to make it interesting. IE. "The Touring Toury Tour, Feat. Toury McTOURGUY and DJ TOURSKY. From JUNE 1-17. Starting in Blank city and Ending in Blank City.

PARAGRAPH 2

The second part of the release should include more information on you, or the band, and should really sell your tour. Without using to manly adjetives such as, McTOURY is amazingly,  beautiful. Stay away from epic words like Breakthrough, or State of the art, Or one and only. Just be factual with what you have achieved, and why people should be interested. Do not put a full bio here.

FINAL

list your tour dates. Then add your site links at the bottom of that. I also like to follow it all up with some quotes from previous press. FINALLY ADD A TOUR FLYER OR A PIC then

### three of these to indicate your finished

This is a very simple layout. Again depending on tour type, band type, genre, who your sending it to, etc it can all vary a bit. That being said i just tried to stick to the few pointers that are pretty universal. In the end it should look something like this.......................................................

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     MAY 15, 2013

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT.

Derek Brass

pigpenbooking@gmail.com

tel:801-897-8860"

aliveandwell music 446 east. 300 south

Following the release of the long awaited "DOUG" E.P.  rapper MC PIGPEN lives up to his catchphrase "STAYS ON TOUR".  This time joined by up and coming dub step producer DJ XSPAND. W/ opening act  BLACK LION (BLACK SOCKS & DJ 2HYPE).  MC PIGPEN & BLACK SOCKS have two very different styles of Hip Hop, and XSPAND & 2HYPE are both dub-step producers/dj"s with sounds of their own. Combining Hip Hop, Dub-step, Grime, Glitch, and more , 

IN 2007 MC PIGPEN booked his first U.S. tour, since then he has been on more than 15 tours, both headlining and alongside names like PHAROE MONCH, SEAN PRICE, MASTA ACE, EDO G, UGLY DUCKLING, SWEATSHOP UNION, KOSHA DILLZ and many more. He has been showcased at SXSW 3 years in a row, and has played numerous big festivals including a3c, CMJ, Warped tour, and Audio Circus. PIGPEN released 2 albums including "THE LAST YEAR" the collaboration album with PAT MAINE which had great success with fans, and the college radio charts. 

FULL BIO AND LINKS TO ALL MC PIGPEN SITES CAN BE FOUND HERE <a href="http://onesheet.com/mcpigpen/splash/#">http://onesheet.com/mcpigpen/splash/#</a>

SHOWS IN:

UTAH

COLORADO

NEBRASKA

NEW MEXICO

ARIZONA

CALIFORNIA

OREGON

WASHINGTON

IDAHO

AND MORE

PRESS:

"MC PIGPEN"s career was born in the back of a tour van" (LA TIMES)

"PIGPEN tours relentlessly" (<a href="http://urb.com/">UR</a><a href="http://b.com/">B.COM</a>)

"MC PIGPEN reps hard, and does a lot of touring." (ROCK THE DUB)

"PIGPEN and PAT MAINE" are all over the us on that DIY grind (KOSHA DILLZ)

GET ASKED TO PLAY AGAIN

DONT OVER PLAY...

Try not to oversaturate the market. Do not play every show that is offered you, if there is no obvious reason to play. Eventually people quit paying attention if you play 15 small boring shows a week.

BOOK ONE OPENING ACT YOURSELF

Often the venue says they will book openers etc. however you never know what you are going to get. Do some research and find out who really draws in the market you are going to play. Ask everyone, and then invite a solid opener personally.

CREATE YOUR OWN BUZZZZZ!!!

This goes a long way. Before every show, make sure you send them a flyer, if they have not created an event page do so, and share it with the venues facebook page. Like the venues page. Post on their wall, Find everyone that is opening and playing with you, add them, and post the event on their wall.  Contact everyone that is playing, as well as fans in the area and ask them to push the event, then update it often. Post links to your sites on the event wall. ETC.. you would be surprised the buzz you can create...

PHONE CALLS

This is a very simple thing that i learned that is really easy to do, however most people out of ease or whatever reason ignore this. If you are trying to book a show, or really get anything done in the music business, PICK UP THE PHONE.. Alot of times nowadays we tend to contact people via facebook, twitter, and email. Which can work, and for some it may be the primary way of contact. However, i have always found a phonecall will get you so much further. So next time you want to contact that rapper about getting you a show in chicago. Just give him a call instead of using social networking.

EMAIL VS SOCIAL NETWORKING

OK GUYS believe it or not. email is still the biggest recourse in marketing. We tend to kind of forget because of Facebook, and twitter, HOWEVER email has 5 times the amount of active users as facebook and twitter combined. EVERY WEB search performed every day only makes up 1/100th of the traffic that email generates. Email is taken much more personally as well. you are just shouting in a crowd with social media. The numbers Dont lie.

EMAIL IS STILL THE KING. So that being said. Lets talk about getting email addys and how not to piss off all your fans by getting all spammy.  So there are many widgets, pages, and etc for collecting email from fans via web. they all work pretty well. just google around til you find one that works for you. Keep in mind though that people are hesitant to give out their email address for no reason, so i recommend offering some sort of incentive. Such as a free song download if they sign your email list etc. The old carrot on a stick works. And give away something good, not some bullshit song that you made with a wack rapper because he let you sleep on his couch on tour.  Appreciate the fans.  Now, i recommend that you immediately start an email list of bloggers, websites, news papers, etc. Be very careful when emailing people though.

YOU do not want to email 2 dope boys five times a month every time you wipe your ass. Keep the blogger emails out of your regular email blasts.  Also i dont know how some of you feel about buying fame, but many rappers, bloggers etc have pretty huge email lists that they will sell you for pretty cheap. I personally have an email list of over 100,000 bloggers, sites and papers, some of which i collected, some of which i purchased.

And finally DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE without a notebook. Every day, every where you go, on tour or not take a notebook with you and collect collect collect. Or just use your iphone if that is easier for you.  Before i leave on tour i usually make up a fancy smancy email list on photoshop with my name. the tour name and some cool graphics etc. and print out a few thousand copies. Or you can just set up your ipad and have people sign that directly. I usually give away a free sticker for those that sign up. And i always tell people my intentions. Why i want the email and what i plan on

using it for.  AND I DO NOT SPAM PEOPLE. keep it short, keep it rare. DO NOT SEND 10 emails a month.  There are many mass email programs out there that allow you to make nice newsletter looking emails and send it to thousands of people at once. I use mac mass mail. or direct mail. Both of which are downloadable software, but they also have websites such as mad mimi that work really well too. you will have to pay a little bit monthly, but its worth it. HAPPY TOURING..

Build a foundation

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QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. This one is a slippery slope, while it seems the more content you have      out there the better. However, if you really focus on quality in everything you do whether it be the music. Your web design. Your Blog. Your Merch.   The music biz is way over-saturated  So take the time to put out a good product, something that will stand out.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS .  Building relationships is the most important part of this whole dang thing. But this is so much more important and serious than you know. I am not just talking about meeting some rappers, some fans ,and some promoters. I mean you need to talk to and build with every single person you come in contact with. Sound guys, Bartenders, Coat check girls. I really hope that you are still not in the mindset that you need to act like a superstar and not mingle with people. And do not get in the mindset of you being to good to associate with other musicans, Juggalos  Hippies, Ragers, Ravers, Cool Kids, Hipsters, Club Djs, Rockers, Backpack rappers, I have gotten help from someone in every one of those categories.

ASK QUESTIONS  This one is important mostly because it is very underutilized. As you play shows, and tour, you suddenly tend to find yourself in the company of “famous” or what i like to call Successful musicians, which is great.  The problem is that everyone tries to impress instead of learn. Its hard to learn from someone when your busy trying to convince them that you already know everything. I hate to be this guy but ” NOBODY CARES”. Nobody cares about  how famous you think you are, but more often than not they are glad to share the information that they have worked so hard to get. So next time you are opening for that band that you grew up listening to, when you are in the green room say “Hey man,  do you guys have any tips on how to connect with fans better after the show” or  ”Hey man, bar owners usually dont return my calls or emails, what has been successful for you when dealing with promoters, and bookers?”  INSTEAD OF ” Yeah Eric Clapton saw me play and said I am better than Johnny Lang”  or ” Oh yeah, Kendrick Lamar? he is like basically my best friend, were going to be doing a tour together blah blahh BLAHH BLAHHH”

How do I get started?

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

I feel like it all kind of happens in steps. But the first one sometimes stumps a lot of musicians. Not knowing how far you are, i will assume. You are brand new. You are just now finding out that you have talent. Now what to do with it? here are 5 easy first steps that can get you going right away.RECORD AN EP. you just need a few tracks to get things going. If you  cannot find a friend with a studio, then just look around for a cheap one. They usually start at about 20 an hour and it should only take a few hours.GO TO OPEN MICS. maybe you or your band are not in a position to start booking a ton of shows. Open mics are a great way to get your music out there, and start to meet all the other people in the music industry in the area.GO ONLINE. as well as local, get right on top of getting yourself out there in every way. Start a website, blog, facebook page, twitter, and PRESS KIT. Put a lot of time and effort into all of them. You want them to be accurate, complete, and uniform. But do not forget to add your own flavor to all of it. and by uniform I mean whatever your name is stick to it. Dont have a bunch of different site names that seem to have no relation to each other or you.MAKE SOME POSTCARDS OR FLYERS.  You have no music to give away or sell yet. However you can still really make a presence, If you are at Every show, every open mic, every where your fan base goes and your presenting them with material. They are going to get the idea that you guys are making a name. Make sure to add all of your web content to the flyer/business cards and then just give them to everyone you can.MAKE SOME YOUTUBE VIDEOS, even without that studio quality music, you still have the option to make videos to post to youtube, You can do Live blogs about upcoming shows or open mics. Little comedy bits. Show off your musical talent. there are all sorts of things you can do to catch the eye. And people love watching videos. If you cant access a really nice cameral use your iphone.If you do all of these things, and really commit. The shows will start booking themselves. You will find yourself in the middle of your local music scene very quickly. It does not take long for everyone in your city to start saying. HEY that  guy is really doing stuff. I know you see other people touring selling merch booking big shows etc. and  you want to jump in as fast as you can. But keep in mind, if you go too fast you will get burnt out. There will always be a fanbase waiting for you to come to them.BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOULL BE  OUT OF THAT SMALL TOWN.