Despite the surging popularity of listening to music digitally as of late, people are still interested in seeing their favorite artists playing live in front of them or listening to new undiscovered talents. However, playing in local venues as a starting musician has been more difficult than ever, as more artists are starting their careers every day. Here are some tips on how to start playing live regularly at local venues.
The first location we advise young musicians is open mics. In these open mic events, the stage is perfectly set up for the new emerging star to shine, because most of the performers are doing it for fun or they’re not really committed to making music for their careers. This creates the perfect opportunity for committed performers to showcase their raw talent and become regular performers at these local coffee shops, pubs, and bars.
The second piece of advice is to play for the crowd. Many artists disregard what the audience wants or need as they are determined to showcase their vision or experimental elements. These are attributes that will be prominent later on in your careers but starting out, you should feel and play for the crowd and most importantly, entertain them.
The third piece of advice is to connect with fellow starting musicians and make yourself a regular member of the local community. This will benefit you the most because of how things are done in the music industry, where they help out not the most fitting talent, but the one they already know. Therefore, familiarizing yourself with the community will only boost your career and add clout to your live performances.
