So Jeremy (Oade's booking guy) and I were talking the other night about some of the sad turn-outs at shows there recently, and I was given the go-ahead to post a blog here regarding this situation.
I spent quite some time the other night putting together a month-long calendar for upcoming shows at Oade's and sent it out to most of the people on the friends list. As I was setting up this Event Invitation, I went through, searched for each and every band's MySpace page that were/are playing during the month of June and linked them. I did this in hopes that people who would read it and think they might like to check out what Oade's has to offer could also check out each band's music as well.
There were only two bands who I could not find links for, which for an entire month, I think was pretty good. However, I did notice a couple of bands who didn't even bother to list the show on their calendars on their respective pages...
Bands, if you are within a 100-mile, or even 50-mile, radius of Oade's, please promote your show PRIOR to the day before you're playing it. MySpace alone has made this process so easy by simply adding it to your calendar with all the information a person could want to know.
Once you've done that, please send out an Event Invitation at least a week before the show to your friends list. If you have a real website, create an email list that people can join and send out monthly newsletters listing your upcoming shows...with links!
Those suggestions are all FREE. They only take a little bit of time and effort.
If you truly believe in your band, you should be doing even more than that and wanting to ensure that everyone and their sister's cousin's baby's daddy knows that your band exists. One word: FLYER.
Someone in your band probably has a computer or access to one. Make a flyer (and PLEASE...use common sense...include the date, time, place, cost, AND other bands on the show.) Put the image on a disc and take it to your local copy shop. Tell them to print it four-up; this way you get four flyers on one 8.5" X 11" piece of paper, cut the sheets into the quarter-page flyers, and you have a pretty cheap, easy to hand out promotional tool. Seriously, even if you only make 50 copies, you will get 200 flyers that will probably cost you $3.00.
Don't be afraid to go up and talk to people about your band and where they can catch you next (hopefully at Oade's!) Don't just stick a flyer in their face and walk away. And, by the way, there's plenty of places to legally post and distribute flyers as well.
Don't think that a great show will just happen without effort on your part. It doesn't end when you book the date; actually the work for you and your band just begins. Treat each show as important. Don't book in the same city more than twice a month, if even that. And please...make an effort!
Jamie