What’s the best place to find local music artists?

Question by Rodolphe P: What’s the best place to find local music artists?
I am planning on starting a small music video business over the summer. I’m a video director/editor so I’d like to take the opportunity to make some cash by making music videos for local artists. The problem is that I have no idea where to find these potential clients to propose my help to. What’s a good way to find local artists/bands and talk to them? I already tried the internet and email some bands, but it’s been a month and no one replied. I want to meet them face to face.

Best answer:

Answer by Dave LaBuda
I’m a songwriter from Albuquerque, NM who also has a home recording studio. I have been on a campaign to try to associate myself with local musicians and singers for about a year now and in the beginning, it always seems like a huge task but, the reality is that local musicians actually want to know who you are and if you just make yourself visible to them, they will actually find you. The first thing you need to do is set yourself up at myspace.com. I was unaware until just last year that myspace was initially created for people in the music industry. My first two days on myspace and I was all of a sudden friends with several local bands, singers, music promoters, radio stations and recording studios. I had also made contacts with many national promoters, a few record labels, and several big name groups and singers. So, myspace is a MUST DO if you are in the music industry. Next idea is to find out where are the one or two best places to buy music equipment in your local area? In Albuquerque, that is Grandma’s Music & Sound and Guitar Center. These local music equipment dealers usually provide a way for musicians and singers to connect with each other through a free bulletin board or newsletter. Get yourself posted there. Go to Yahoo Groups and see if there is a local musicians Group for your city there and join it. If not, start one it’s free and it will help you find musician’s who are looking to connect. If there is a local FREE music scene or add sheet newspaper that you can pick up at convenient stores, super markets, or other places locally, like the Alibi (our local entertainment sheet) take out a small ad in this paper just to let people know who you are. If this free local paper publishes articles about the local music scene, talk to them about writing some articles for them about what you know best like recording or promoting yourself in the music business. Write the articles to genuinely help the reader. Don’t sell yourself. Usually at the end of the article they will allow you to write a small description of who you are and how to contact you. Take advantage of that. People who read and like your articles and find than helpful will remember you and will very often want to contact you personally. Try to find the time to write and continually improve a collection of articles that will be helpful to musicians in your local area. Find our about TAXI.com, CD Baby, how Amazon.com will promote Indie artist CDs and helps Indie artists, find out about all the Performance Rights Organizations (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC – as a studio you can join all of them – they can help you connect), join the Songwriter’s Guild of America (SGA) and the International Songwriter’s Association (ISA) and take advantage of their newsletters. In short, become an EXPERT on the music industry and write articles that will help local musicians understand it better because it’s a total mystery to them and they will want to know you if you can help them understand it better. You might consider using MEETUP.com and organize a local group that is serious about being successful in the music industry. Maybe more than one group. Meet at your studio so, they can see first hand that you can help them. Local songwriter’s for instance love to meet and critique each other and get their music heard. You might sponsor a local songwriter’s showcase where they can come and play their songs and/or a local battle of the bands or even tie into or help promote Ernie Balls Battle of the Bands (search for it at Google). You might consider giving away FREE recording time through local music dealers to promote your studio. If you want to connect with musicians, you need to learn to think like them and to be as helpful as you can to them. For instance, find a local group that is playing cover music and is REALLY REALLY good. Go hear them play. Buy a drink for the band leader and suggest that they consider recording and promoting their own Christmas Music Album. Tell them you will help them promote it at CD Baby, Amazon.com, local music stores (in Albuquerque, Hastings sells Indie CDs of local artists off the shelf). Tell them you will record them for FREE for the promoter’s share of the proceeds of all music sales. I guarantee you if they sell anything they will be back to get you to record them again and this time they will be willing to pay the cost of recording. Link them up with local songwriters and get them to do an original album and promote that for them too. It’s easier than ever before for Indie artists to get into the music business today than ever before in history because of the Internet. Best way to promote your studio, is to help them promote their careers as inexpensively as possible but, always share in the proceeds of future sales. One successful group, will pay all the overhead on your studio and from that point on you are home free. Good luck to you!

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