“Let your community feed your creativity.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 313
When we put on concerts, we work hard to ensure that everything goes well.
All too often, though, we only give one performance in a community, when, with a bit more effort, we could touch countless more people.
This post sums up three avenues to boost the impact of our programs.
3 Ways to Boost the Impact of a Concert
1. Stream
It has never been easier or more affordable to broadcast our shows, and new live streaming tools appear each year, some with ticketing functionality.
Along with promoting streamed events to our followers, we can contact the likes of hospitals, retirement communities and nursing homes, offering our feeds for their clients to enjoy.
Staff at such facilities often have activity budgets they can tap to pay us for our streams. And when we make such events happen, our music becomes available to people who otherwise couldn’t be part of a live event.
2. Visit Community Venues
Schools and healthcare facilities hunger to bring in musicians, and our appearing at such non-public venues doesn’t dilute the number of ticket buyers for our public concerts – a crucial consideration for presenters who hire us to perform publicly.
When we self-produce concerts, though, we can also book smaller-scale public appearances in the same vicinity – shorter daytime concerts, let’s say, at libraries or community centers, in the days leading up to a main show. We can even partner with non-profit organizations to fund such performances.
By repeating a program in a given community, especially for youth and non-traditional audiences, we can draw more press coverage and also attract reviewers because the reviews can be published ahead of our main show.
3. Appear On Local Broadcast Media
Community events make our work extra newsworthy, particularly when we present broadly relevant programs that stir interest among diverse listeners and journalists.
In the months before a concert, therefore, with a potent concept to pitch, and with several appearances lined up in a given community, we can approach local TV, radio, and other broadcast media to propose interviews and performances – even brief ones can make an impact.
* * *
Overall, as we expand the audiences we serve, we brighten more lives with music, and some of those people, in turn, support us.
Show after show, our music-making reveals itself as an act of community-building, growing the connections that give rise to long-term career sustainability.
The Musician’s Way provides far-reaching guidelines to prepare and present high-impact concerts.
Related posts
Healing with Music
Partnering with Non-Profits
The Secret to Sustainable Music Careers
Self-Produce Concerts in 8 Steps
© 2016 Gerald Klickstein
Image © Stokkete, licensed from Shutterstock