I've been playing guitar for 20+ years. I took up singing at some point because I'm stubborn as hell, and didn't trust anybody else to do it right.
I've been in a bunch of bands over the years. The one in the video is The Oxford Coma. The pics of me performing with The Oxford Coma are all at venues in or around Phoenix, AZ (which is where I live).
We struggled for years to get even 30 people out to our shows.
My parents told me to quit.
Well-meaning friends and family told me things like, "Can't you just change up your sound to make it more appealing?"
A friend of my father's told me "If you can't fill a room with people at $20 per ticket, you're doing something wrong."
I'm in my mid-thirties, have a degree, a bunch of marketable skills and a lot to be grateful for. It's understandable why people thought I was nuts for continuing to pursue such an...unprofitable dream.
If you're anything like me, you have a compulsion to play and create and share music. It doesn't matter how ridiculous it seems to everyone else. It doesn't matter what it costs in terms of financial security, mental health, social ridicule, or strained relationships. The need to create and perform music is there.
I've pumped every spare dime I've made into music for years. We went and recorded with Steve Albini in 2017 (if you aren't familiar, he recorded Nirvana's In Utero and The Pixies' Surfer Rosa...plus like 2000 other awesome records). That wasn't cheap.
I prepared for that record for 2 years. I spent every hour that I wasn't working, sleeping, or occasionally exercising at the rehearsal space writing, demoing, and practicing. I was bound and determined to make the best record within my capability. I set aside $8000 JUST FOR HIRING A PR COMPANY once the record was out. I had to take two weeks off my job for the trip to Chicago. I spent $4k getting it pressed to vinyl. I set aside $2k to cover touring expenses. I had to borrow money so I could meet my basic expenses. I'm still paying down credit card debt from it!
I truly gave it my all. I financed the whole thing. I flew a guest musician out to play on a track. I payed for the whole band to have lodging the whole time we were in the studio. If there was a dime to throw at this...I threw it.
All things considered...we made a good record. It wasn't earth shatteringly great, but it was definitely good. It was the best I could do with all the resources at my disposal (I didn't realize until much later that I used all the wrong resources).
It was met with lukewarm reception and a mediocre press response. I hosted a listening party at a local venue and 2 people showed up.
The release show, that I marketed on both TV and the radio got maybe 50-60 people to show up. It didn't even cover half of the ad cost...much less recoup any of the recording expenses.
We toured and played to a bunch of empty rooms.
I was heartbroken.
The culmination of all my years of trying...my most focused and dedicated musical effort...all of my money...my mental health...my physical health...and no one cared.
Pretty depressing right? It was made worse by the fact that I could see all the privilege and prosperity I enjoyed in other areas of my life, but I couldn't figure out how to truly appreciate it because I was so devastated by not getting the one thing I REALLY cared about. It made me feel selfish, spoiled, unappreciative, and just generally like scum.
Why tell you all this?
I just want you to know that I get it. I get the struggle. I get the frustration. I get the irrational need to continue no matter what. I get how painful and corrosive the envy felt toward those "making it" can be. It's like love gone bad. It's mental aguish to the point that you can feel it physically.
I also tell you this because things changed.
I started spending money on music marketing courses. I found a bunch of people who knew nothing. I found more who had no useful information. I found some who gave outright terrible information. I found some who even caused damage to my previous efforts (showed methods for 'like building' that resulted in thousands of bots from 3rd world countries flooding our page and ruining all organic engagement).
I finally stumbled across Indepreneur, who I still think are the biggest game-changers in music marketing since the Internet itself. In fact, I hesitated to make this course for months because I didn't want to make something that would compete with them (that's the power of great content and great customer service, people).
To mitigate that, I will refer you directly to them any time I use a method I learned from their material.
With a combination of what I've been taught, and years of personally hard-won lessons, I've found a way to do it.
In late 2018, the rubber met the road with this when we got a show opening for a mid-sized touring act. This band kills in other markets, but the last few times they came to Phoenix, they played for maybe 30 people.
I set out to put everything I'd learned to work. My goal was to sell out the show. I knew I wouldn't be getting help from the promoter or the touring band, so I went into it not counting on it. My bandmates were...not much for promotion, so I tackled this solo.
And guess what? I fucking did it. I sold 190 tickets before doors, and sold the remaining 110 by the time the show started. I could track those ticket sales, and 600+ event responses directly to my efforts. The show made $4500 gross, before any merch sales. The video at the top of this page is from that show.
As it turns out, this wasn't a one-time fluke. I've since put these methods to work for a festival in Germany, a festival in Denver, and several other shows for various bands. It has consistently shown results in both sales and attendance.
It doesn't rely on luck or any "mindset" hocus-pocus. It is comprised of ONLY actionable steps.
