In addition to being a Product Manager here at Sonicbids I also play drums in a few bands. One of them is a power pop group called Oranjuly. We recently played a showcase at Millennium Music Conference (MMC) in Harrisburg, PA. I thought it might be helpful to outline a few of the things we did to make our showcase a success. There’s a lot to read to here so why don’t you listen to a few Oranjuly songs while you get through the rest of this post ; )
Research before submitting
Oranjuly is just getting started. We hadn’t played a gig outside of Boston before the conference and we don’t even have a record out yet. Playing SXSW or CMJ is a bit of a long shot right now (though our goal is to play both next year). Our friends in the band Stereogrove played MMC last year. Based on their feedback and MMC’s pick-o-meter rating on Sonicbids I thought we’d have a decent shot at being selected and it would be a good conference to start building our resume.
Put a budget together
After we were selected we had to figure out how to get all 5 of us plus our gear from Boston to Harrisburg (about a 7 hour drive). Here’s the budget I put together prior to the conference along with the actual cost:
I was a little off on some things, but overall it helped keep us from buying things we didn’t really need (like expensive fliers) and set the expectation about how much of our band fund would be left after the trip.
Cleanup online profiles
If we can get people who see our show, meet us at the conference or even just come across our flier to do one thing it would be to come to our website. From there anyone who’s interested in what we’re doing should be able to find their preferred method to stay in touch:
- Signup for our email list
- Friend us on MySpace
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Follow us on Twitter
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel
- Subscribe to our website’s RSS feed
The hard part is getting all of those different profiles to have a look and feel that is consistent so bouncing around between them doesn’t feel disjointed.
Document everything
Bring a couple cameras to get photos and videos. All those profiles need content and a music conference is a great place to create some.
Make it personal
Don’t be afraid to talk to strangers at the conference. It’s a networking event after all and the other bands and industry folks you meet might be the connection to your next gig. Oranjuly spent a bit of down time writing silly notes on our fliers so even if we didn’t get a chance to talk to the person who ended up with it, they still got a sense of our personality. Since we documented everything I have some photos and a video of it for you:
Don’t stop working when you get home.
Playing the showcase and getting home safe is only part 1. After the conference follow up with people you met so you can keep the connection alive. And start thinking about all the ways you can leverage the photos, videos, recordings, and stories you collected on the road.
I hope this helped. If you have any tips on how to really rock a music conference please share them in the comments.
Rock on,
Lou
