One of the clients I work with in The Farm Team advisor program is heading out on Warped Tour for some west coast dates.  Without a booking agent, they had to route themselves out there with club dates in order to keep the tour profitable and the schedule full.  But with a few weeks left before heading out, there were still a few holes in the calendar.  They asked me if I had any ideas of how they could fill the dates.  I responded by asking them if they had reached out to their fan base in those areas?  They hadn’t.  I didn’t know if it would work, but the amount of time and energy required to post something on facebook was minimal so why not give it a shot.

The next day they posted a geo-targeted facebook status update for fans in the mid-western states asking if anyone would like to host a house party with them on the available dates.  The response was fantastic.  Within a week they were able to book 3 more shows.  This not only brought them more money for the tour, but it gives them a chance to connect intimately with fans, and to make new fans in an intimate environment (think of how much easier it is for you to say yes to a free party versus saying yes to pay for a show of a band you haven’t heard of before).

Grass roots development is incredibly important for the early stages of your career.   At this stage, if you can see that there really are no gatekeepers telling you what is possible then the world is your oyster.  In this specific case, why try to cajole a promoter to give you a gig when you can go directly to your fans? Helping fans become promoters is a win-win scenario.

If you’d like to be part of The Farm Team advisor program contact me at ben(at)theartistfarm.com or fill out the application at: http://thefarmteam.com/