We all know the scenario: you play at your local club to the same group of fans time and time again. Every week there may be a few new people there, but not enough to make a significant impact on the size of your fan base. On top of that, a lot of the new faces tend to be more interested in their drinks and friends than they are in your music. This is a very common situation that many indie musicians face when trying to climb the gigging ladder.
Consider House Concerts as a way to completely change this gigging dynamic.
On December 3rd, Dave Kusek is hosting a free webinar with Shannon Curtis, who was able to make $25,000 from a tour of 50 house concerts all while building her fan base.
On top of the very real potential to make more money, house concerts can help you forge a deeper, lasting relationship with new fans, allowing you to engage on a far more intimate level than you would be able to in any other gig setting. Here are some simple tips you can use to solidify long-term relationships with new fans.
The value of a trusted source
In Shannon Curtis’s model, the person hosting the house concert invites friends, family, co-workers, and anyone they think will appreciate the music to attend. This is the single most important reason why house concerts are so successful. Attendees are referred by a trusted source. You basically ask your fans to help introduce you to more of their friends, acting as your virtual marketing team. This is a very powerful strategy.
In today’s internet-dominated world, we are all hit with more information and product recommendations than we know what to do with. As a result, most of us refer to trusted sources – or friends, family, and acquaintances who have tried the product or service – for guidance. This is especially true in music. Internet radio and streaming suggestions are great, but for the most part we put more weight on a direct recommendation from a friend.
In the house concert model, every single attendee is there because of a recommendation from a trusted source. This means they are much more likely to give your music a chance than random people at a club.
Creating an intimate environment
To build on the initial foundation of trust, a house concert is also a more intimate environment free from many of the distractions usually present in a traditional venue, club, or bar. As a result, people have a chance to really listen and connect with you and your music. And you have a chance to reach out and connect directly with these new fans in ways that are just not practical in a traditional venue.
Shannon recommends setting up the concert area to really promote this intimate environment. Everyone should have seats, you should be the focus at the front and center, and the entire area should be relatively compact allowing all the guests to be as close to you as possible. She has found that guests at her house concert have been able to really relate to the music on an emotional level with this set up, some even being moved to tears and laughter. If you want to learn the details of how Shannon sets up her house concerts join us in the webinar!
Build super fans with direct interactions
Once fans are listening to your music, it’s time for you to relate to them! This step is extremely important if you want to foster the relationship and try and create some super fans. It can solidify the connection, bring your music down to a more relatable level, and give them something to tell their friends about.
Shannon always takes time before and after the show to mingle and talk to attendees. You may even end up finding other people who want to host a house concert of their own, for your next tour! Be sure to tune in for the free webinar to learn more about the value of direct interactions.
Solidify the long-term relationship with your email list
On top of simply building a relationship with fans, mingling before and after your performance also gives you the chance to build your email list. When house concert guests sign up for emails, you’ll be able to stay in touch even after the event is over. Join us in the free webinar to learn how Shannon Curtis was able to add 500 names to her email list during one house concert tour.
Continuous impressions are an important part of creating fans. You can’t expect people to start loving you after one concert, or even after buying one CD. It’s a process, and email can be a very effective tool for you to maintain that connection. After the concert you can send an email thanking them for coming, a week later you can send them a link to your album where they can buy all the songs you performed at the concert, and when the time comes, you can ask them to host a concert of their own.
As you can see, there’s more to planning a truly successful house concert than you may think. House concerts can be extremely lucrative for anyone if you have the right strategy. To help you, Shannon Curtis will be joining us for a FREE webinar. She’ll be sharing some of the best tips she’s learned by doing hundreds of house concerts. I hope you’ll join us and get the strategies you need to start growing your fan base from gigging.
If you are interested in learning more about how you have create a plan for success for your band or career, check out the New Artist Model, the alternative online business school for independent musicians, songwriters, producers, managers and new businesses. You can see a free video mini series here on musician strategies, team building, booking gigs, copyrights and setting up multiple revenue streams.
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