I’ve seen it happen too many times – artists will work hard to get as many bookings as they can. They record a new CD and order t-shirts and trinkets for their merch table.
Some of them have an online strategy – at the show and afterwards. And a few of the smart ones have convinced a company or two to sponsor them, or they’ve found a charity they believe in to partner with.
Yet they don’t take the time to get a vision for their show, woodshed the fundamentals, rearrange their songs to create moments, get creative visually… their audiences aren’t captured and engaged, they aren’t creating moments, and lives aren’t being changed. So there’s no real momentum, and they don’t understand why it’s not working.
Now, I’d like to be very clever and tell you something new here. But quite frankly, it’s a simple answer and it hasn’t changed over the years I’ve been doing this. Your live show is what gives you the most fulfillment as an artist, increases your fan base, causes audiences to want to buy your merch & see you again, and drives your career!
But so many artists do it backwards. They work on everything but their live show and assume they can get ready to work on that after the opportunities are already there. The truth is, in most cases, with that mentality the opportunity will never come.
I believe if you get ready, opportunities will come. Winging it onstage is the norm for most artists. But I hope you don’t want to be like most artists, because most artists won’t succeed.
I often get CDs from artists during my travels. Most of them sound very good – time is taken to write pretty good songs, money is spent on good artwork. Sometimes I visit these artists’ websites, and I often notice most of them are not playing a lot of shows. But I’m guessing that’s where most of them want to be – playing live onstage!
No doubt you’d probably like to gain some momentum and be playing more live shows, too. So here’s my suggestion… invest some money in your live show. Come and see for yourself what you can and should be doing on the stage to get some momentum going for yourself.
On September 26-27 we’ll be doing a 2-day Bootcamp in Nashville. Come find out what a rehearsal should look like. Learn how we create moments. See how you can develop confidence, authority, and even charisma onstage. Put some rubber to the road on how to make your live show more interesting.
I’m planning on seeing at least a dozen of you onstage, too, playing a song for me – and I will give you advice on how to make that song something that your audience can emotionally connect to. My team and I will be offering suggestions on what you can do to improve your musical, verbal, and visual communication from the stage. (But in order to be considered for one of these showcases you need to register sooner rather than later!)
I want you to be the master of your show, owning it, and bringing your personality to it. Learn the skills I teach. Woodshed them. Get a vision. Create moments. Make that emotional connection. Take your show to the people, and watch doors open and opportunity come your way!
Tom Jackson
Tom is uniquely talented and skilled at transforming an artist's live show into a magical experience for the audience; helping artists at every level create a live show that is engaging and memorable, teaching them to exceed their audiences' expectations and to create fans for life. Tom has taught indie and major artists of every genre. He has worked with Taylor Swift, Le Crae, Home Free, The Tenors, Shawn Mendes, The Band Perry, Francesca Battistelli, Jars of Clay, & many more. Tom also teaches at colleges, conferences and events worldwide.
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Hey do you have any more information pertaining to insight into live set ups and stuff like that.
Hey Austin! Give us more insight as to what you mean…are you talking about how you are set up on stage? If I have some specifics I can better answer this for you!